Building an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) in the Public Sector: Why it matters now

How can government departments deliver joined-up public services when their systems barely speak to one another? From fragmented data to incompatible legacy platforms, integration challenges are one of the biggest barriers to digital transformation in the UK public sector.

Establishing an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) is a strategic step towards overcoming these issues. It enables consistent integration practices, improved data sharing and long-term cost control, all while accelerating innovation and ensuring compliance with evolving regulations like UK GDPR.

In this article, we explore why now is the right time for UK public sector organisations to invest in an ICoE, what it should look like and how to build one that delivers real, measurable outcomes.

What is an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE)?

An Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) is a dedicated cross-functional team or framework that centralises integration expertise, tools, standards and governance across an organisation.

Rather than tackling integration on a project-by-project basis, an ICoE acts as a strategic hub, developing reusable assets, ensuring compliance, promoting best practice and supporting departments with the delivery of integration initiatives.

The key functions of an ICoE include:

• Establishing standards and patterns for integration development and architecture.
• Providing shared services and platforms (e.g. iPaaS, API gateways).
• Enabling knowledge transfer and training across teams.
• Supporting compliance with regulatory frameworks (UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018, NCSC guidance).
• Accelerating delivery by offering pre-approved integration components.

Why now? Strategic drivers for the Public Sector

The urgency for the public sector to modernise integration and adopt an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) model is a current strategic imperative. Several external and internal drivers are converging, making integration governance a top priority for government bodies, local councils and public health organisations across the UK.

1. Digital public services mandates

Citizens increasingly expect digital-first, joined-up public services. Whether it’s applying for a parking permit, accessing health records, or managing tax affairs, users expect the kind of immediacy and cohesion they experience in the private sector.

Government initiatives like the UK’s Digital Strategy and Local Digital Declaration explicitly call for service transformation through common APIs, open standards and system interoperability. A structured ICoE ensures that integration efforts support these strategic goals consistently across departments.

2. Data-driven decision making

From environmental planning to social care, local and central government agencies are under pressure to improve outcomes by making better use of their data. However, fragmented systems and poorly governed integrations make data-sharing risky, error-prone, or simply impossible.

An ICoE can break down silos by establishing shared integration standards, cataloguing data sources and enabling secure, governed interoperability. This turns isolated datasets into shared assets, supporting smarter policies and faster decisions.

3. Security and compliance pressures

Cybersecurity remains one of the most pressing risks in the public sector. As integration links grow between cloud apps, citizen services and legacy systems, so do the potential vulnerabilities. Combined with strict legal obligations under UK GDPR, FOIA and sector-specific regulations, integration must now be approached with the same discipline as security or procurement.

An Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) embeds compliance checks, role-based access controls and secure design into the integration lifecycle, reducing audit exposure and strengthening public trust.

4. Legacy system modernisation

Many public institutions are still reliant on mainframes or vendor-locked software. While full replacement may not be feasible in the short term, the integration layer can be modernised today. APIs can decouple front-end experiences from back-end constraints and event-driven architectures can allow legacy data to flow in real-time.

With the right integration governance, legacy modernisation becomes incremental and lower-risk. An ICoE ensures that this is done in a planned, future-proofed way, rather than through short-lived patches.

5. Budget accountability and shared services

There is increasing pressure to demonstrate value for money, reduce duplication and share capabilities across regions. By centralising integration expertise, assets and templates within an ICoE, public bodies can avoid redundant spend, shorten project timelines and support common platforms such as Gov.UK Notify, Verify or Data Standards Catalogue.

How to build an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) in Public Sector

Establishing an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) is a strategic process that requires clarity of purpose, organisational alignment and phased execution. Rather than launching as a fully formed unit from day one, a successful ICoE typically evolves, starting small and scaling up based on early value delivery.

Below are the key stages to building a high-functioning ICoE tailored to the needs of public sector institutions:

1. Define a strategic vision and secure executive support

Begin by clearly articulating why your organisation needs an ICoE. Link this to broader public sector goals: improved citizen service delivery, secure data sharing, regulatory compliance, or technology modernisation.

Secure commitment from executive leadership by demonstrating the value of reducing duplication, controlling costs and standardising integration efforts. Make sure your vision aligns with national or departmental digital strategies (e.g., GDS, NHS Digital, DDaT capability frameworks).

Key deliverables:

• Business case or strategy paper.
• Executive sponsor and budget approval.
• Stakeholder alignment across departments.

2. Assess your current integration landscape

Conduct a thorough audit of existing integration capabilities. This should include:

• Tools currently in use (middleware, APIs, ETL, file-based exchanges).
• Key integration points (e.g., systems used in benefits, case management, healthcare).
• Pain points (manual processes, failures, legacy bottlenecks).
• Team capabilities and resourcing.

This discovery phase will inform your scope, highlight quick wins and expose risks you may need to mitigate.

Key deliverables:

• Integration capability map.
• Skills and tools inventory.
• Risk and opportunity assessment.

3. Define the operating model and governance structure

The success of an ICoE depends on how it operates. Decide whether your ICoE will act as:

• A governance body, setting standards and reviewing projects.
• A delivery team, building and maintaining integrations centrally.
• A hybrid model, providing guidance while enabling federated delivery.

Establish a clear governance framework to control quality, security and data compliance. This includes defining how APIs are approved, how data flows are audited and how integration efforts are prioritised.

Key deliverables:

• RACI matrix and engagement model.
• Integration governance policies.
• API lifecycle and reuse standards.

4. Choose the right tools and platform

The tools you select must support your operating model, be scalable across departments and meet security and regulatory standards.

Common platform considerations:

• Boomi for low-code, cloud-first iPaaS use cases.
• WSO2 for API-first, governance-heavy scenarios.
• Azure Integration Services for deep Microsoft ecosystem compatibility.

Tools should support versioning, access control, monitoring and developer enablement.

Key deliverables:

• Tooling and platform evaluation.
• Procurement or subscription plan.
• Integration with existing CI/CD and DevOps workflows.

5. Build a cross-functional team

Your ICoE will need a blend of technical, operational and policy skills. This includes:

• Integration architects and API developers.
• Security and data protection leads.
• Service owners and business analysts.
• Governance and compliance officers.

Upskill internal staff where possible and supplement gaps with external partners.

Key deliverables:

• Skills matrix and resource plan.
• Training programme and onboarding guides.
• Partner and consultancy agreements (if needed).

6. Deliver early value with a pilot

Choose one or two integration use cases with clear benefits and limited dependencies—such as connecting citizen identity services to a CRM, or automating data exchange between housing and finance systems.

Use this pilot to test your tooling, governance model and internal engagement approach. Capture lessons learned and refine your framework accordingly.

Key deliverables:

• Pilot project plan and KPIs.
• Feedback loops and retrospective sessions.
• Iterated playbooks and templates.

7. Scale and Evolve

After proving value, you can gradually extend the ICoE’s remit. This may include:

• Supporting cross-agency initiatives (e.g. integrated care records).
• Building a central API catalogue and service registry.
• Advising on data strategy and interoperability frameworks.

Regularly assess performance against KPIs (reuse rate, delivery speed, risk reduction) and adapt your approach based on organisational maturity and policy changes.

Key deliverables:

• Quarterly reviews and roadmap updates.
• Community of practice or knowledge hub.
• Continuous improvement metrics.

How to measure the impact of your ICoE

Establishing an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) is a significant investment of time, talent and technology. To ensure long-term value and sustain support from stakeholders, it’s essential to define and track measurable outcomes. The impact of an ICoE extends beyond technical delivery: it also influences governance, collaboration, cost control and service performance.

1. Integration reuse rate

One of the clearest indicators of value is the percentage of integration assets (e.g. APIs, connectors, patterns) reused across departments or projects.

• Why it matters: Reuse reflects standardisation, reduced duplication and better return on effort.
• How to measure: Track how many integrations reference shared assets from a central registry or version control system.

2. Time to delivery

Measure the average time it takes to deliver a new integration from initial request to deployment.

• Why it matters: A well-functioning ICoE should reduce delivery time through repeatable processes, standard tooling and skilled teams.
• How to measure: Compare current delivery times against historical baselines before the ICoE was established.

3. Defects and incidents related to integrations

Monitor how many integration-related outages, bugs or support tickets are logged per month or per deployment.

• Why it matters: Reduced incidents suggest better quality control, documentation and governance.
• How to measure: Use ITSM or DevOps platforms to filter tickets tied to integration components.

4. Adoption across departments

Assess the number of teams actively engaged with the ICoE, either consuming shared services or requesting support for new initiatives.

• Why it matters: Widespread adoption demonstrates trust, relevance and value beyond a central IT function.
• How to measure: Track service requests, platform logins, onboarding sessions or active users across directorates.

5. Cost avoidance or efficiency gains

Quantify savings generated through reuse, reduced rework or simplified procurement.

• Why it matters: Financial impact supports investment cases and strategic prioritisation.
• How to measure: Estimate avoided development hours, license consolidations or project overruns that were prevented thanks to ICoE involvement.

6. Compliance and audit performance

Track integration audits, data protection checks and policy enforcement outcomes.

• Why it matters: Strong governance reduces regulatory risk and builds confidence with internal and external auditors.
• How to measure: Record how many integration flows are policy-compliant or pass internal security reviews without remediation.

Real‑world example: Transport for London (TFL) intelligent road management

Transport  for London (TFL) serves over 8 million daily commuters across the city. Facing growing road congestion and the need for effective coordination of over 7,000 junctions and associated infrastructure, Transport  for London (TFL) required a data-first integration platform to improve real-time visibility and control.

Challenge

Transport  for London (TFL) collects massive amounts of IoT, traffic sensor and location-based data, yet lacked a central unified view. Delayed detection of incidents and poorly coordinated road works meant commuter journeys were often disrupted and the infrastructure underutilised.

Solution

Transport  for London (TFL) introduced a data-driven Surface Intelligent Transport System built on WSO2 solutions hosted in a private cloud, including:

• WSO2 API Manager: A central API layer to expose real-time road and traffic data.
• WSO2 Integrator: To orchestrate and connect numerous sensors and systems.
• WSO2 Identity Server: For secure authentication and access control across services.
• WSO2 Analytics/CEP: To monitor, analyse and alert on road network events in real time.

Results

• Faster incident detection. The time to identify traffic disruptions improved by around 15 minutes on average.
• Better coordination of road works. A unified view of active and planned road events via the LondonWorks registry enabled improved planning, inspection and public safety.
• Smarter commuter experience. Real-time data feeds into journey planning tools, enabling more reliable and proactive updates to users.
• Secure governance and scale. The WSO2 platform supported over 7,000 junctions, ensured secure API access and delivered federated analytics at scale.

How this reflects ICoE principles

Conclusion

The creation of an Integration Centre of Excellence (ICoE) offers the public sector a big opportunity to design public services around people. With a well-structured ICoE, departments can collaborate more effectively, share technical knowledge and deliver integrated digital services with clarity, consistency and speed.

At a time when data-driven decisions, real-time responsiveness and secure citizen experiences are becoming fundamental to public trust, an ICoE provides the framework to deliver all three. It brings structure to innovation, accelerates delivery and creates a culture of shared responsibility across technology and policy.

At Claria, we specialise in helping public sector organisations design and implement Integration Centres of Excellence. As partners of Boomi, WSO2, AWS and Azure, we bring the technology expertise, delivery capability and governance know-how to help you build a scalable, compliant integration practice. Contact our team today to arrange a discovery session.

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