Establishing a user’s identity and access rights is a fundamental capability of any IT system, underpinning secure permissions, reliable records, and optimising user experience. In this blog, Paul Crisp, an Enterprise Architect at Opencast, explores the importance of bringing a holistic service design mindset to Customer Identification and Access Management (CIAM).

If you’ve ever spoken to someone at Opencast, you may have heard the phrase “People Success.” It’s in my job title, it’s the name of our team, and it’s something we talk about a lot internally. But it’s also a question I’m asked regularly: “What actually is People Success?” The short answer is that People Success is how we enable our people to build their skills and progress their careers at Opencast. The longer answer is even more interesting.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing how analysis decision-making, and delivery happen, but it cannot replace human judgement, empathy, or ethical responsibility. Here Opencast Business Analyst (BA) Olawumi Joy Oladeji explores how Business Analysts (BAs) and Data Performance Analysts (DPAs) can use AI responsibly while maintaining trust and accountability to deliver better outcomes, particularly in complex, regulated environments such as government.

Tuesday 3 March is World Hearing Day. To mark the occasion and raise awareness, Opencast Junior Software Developer John Owens has written about his experience of deciding whether to have cochlear implants. He takes us through how he made his decision, his surgery, his recovery and how he feels about it now.

Modifying legacy systems presents real challenges. Whether its an unfamiliar code base, disregarded business logic which controls the flow of the application, or other aspects of an ageing system such as outdated norms, practices and repository structures. Senior Software Engineer Liam Treacy explores techniques and strategies which make the task easier.

Opencast’s senior service designer Dr Angela Orviz co-led a workshop at the 2025 SDinGov Conference. The session was co-led by Dr Priscilla Cheung-Nainby, from the University of Edinburgh, and was entitled From Awareness to Action: Co-creating a framework and guidelines for trauma-informed digital services.

Whether you’re a data practitioner or someone who works alongside data, you’ll know how daunting it can be to make sense of it – or help others do the same – but you rely on the numbers to shape the insights you need to make decisions that matter. This blog explains how storytelling techniques and service design bridge the gap between technical complexity and real-world understanding, all while shattering silos and shaping shared success.

Opencast’s Chief Executive Tom Lawson reflects on a year of challenge, change and growth, from tough decisions to renewed momentum and purpose-led progress.

This summer, Senior Enterprise Architect Paul Crisp became the first Opencast employee to complete a secondment into government through the Civil Service Digital Secondment Programme – after spending a year at National Savings and Investments (NS&I). He describes his experiences, including the challenges, opportunities and lessons he’s learned.