We are beyond delighted to share that we have been named the winner of the Technology Innovation Excellence award at the Business Consultancy Awards 2026. It’s a huge moment of pride for our team, and a meaningful recognition of how we approach technology-enabled change: thoughtful, people-centred and focused on outcomes that last.

This award recognises consultancy firms that use technology in intelligent and practical ways to enhance services, optimise operations and deliver transformative change. For us, it reflects not just what we delivered, but how we delivered it – and why that makes such a difference to the lasting outcome.

Technology as an enabler, not an end in itself

At CMC, we don’t see technology as the solution on its own. We see it as an enabler – something that supports better decisions, smoother delivery and more sustainable change when it’s designed around real user needs.

That philosophy was central to the work recognised by this award: our partnership with the Government Digital Service (GDS) to design and deliver the Parish Council Domains Helper Service (PCDHS). The programme set out to tackle a long‑standing and complex challenge – improving digital practices and cyber security across England’s parish councils.

Before the service launched, the majority of parish councils relied on non‑government domains and personal email accounts to conduct official business. This created cyber risk, operational inefficiencies and barriers for citizens trying to find or engage with their local council. At the same time, parish councils are autonomous, volunteer‑led, geographically dispersed and often operating with limited budgets and low digital confidence. There was no single lever to pull and no mandate to enforce change.

Designing a service that could scale

Rather than focusing on a single technical fix, we worked with GDS to design a scalable, user‑centred service that addressed the real barriers councils faced – behavioural, financial and capability‑based as well as technical.

Using user research, personas and empathy mapping, we shaped a service that combined:

• Practical, tailored workshops to build confidence and understanding around the improved use of technology
• Clear, accessible self‑service guidance hosted on GOV.UK
• A trusted ecosystem of approved domain registrars to provide technical support

Alongside this, we introduced automation and data‑driven tooling to support delivery at scale. We developed a live dashboard to track adoption, forecast uptake and reduce the administrative burden on delivery teams. This enabled evidence‑based decision‑making, improved efficiency and allowed the service to grow without increasing cost.

Measurable impact, lasting value

The results were significant. Adoption of .gov.uk domains accelerated dramatically, exceeding targets ahead of schedule and delivering a step‑change in cyber resilience, accessibility and professionalism across the sector. Thousands of parish councils moved to secure domains, professional email addresses and accessible websites – many for the first time.

What’s just as important is what happened beyond delivery. The service helped build confidence and capability within councils, supported better conversations between clerks and councillors, and raised awareness of good digital and cyber practice. We also worked closely with national and regional representative bodies and commercial suppliers to embed change into sector standards and market behaviour, helping to ensure the benefits would be sustained long after the project ended.

The tools and approaches we developed had value beyond this programme too. The automated dashboard created for PCDHS has since been adopted across other GDS projects, demonstrating how technology innovation can be reused and scaled across organisations.

Why this award matters

This award was assessed specifically from a consultancy perspective, evaluating how effectively technology was used to enhance services, optimise operations and deliver transformative outcomes. It recognises the role of consultancy in designing the right interventions, using technology intelligently and creating solutions that work in the real world.

It’s also particularly special because it’s our second award for the same programme, following our Digital Transformation Project of the Year win at the UK IT Industry Awards. Together, the two awards reflect both the outcomes achieved and the consultancy approach behind them – combining digital transformation, technology innovation and creative problem‑solving.

Thank you to all who made it possible

We are incredibly proud of our CMC team who delivered this work, and grateful to our partners at GDS for the trust, collaboration and shared ambition that made it possible. This recognition reinforces what we believe at CMC: that meaningful change happens when people, process and technology are designed together, and when innovation is grounded in real needs.

You can read more about this multi-award-winning piece of work here, and if you’d like to learn more about how we approach technology‑enabled transformation, or discuss how we can support your organisation, we would love to hear from you.