Beyond the member experience, the platform presented real operational risk: no in-house PHP skills, deployment processes that didn’t meet modern standards, and growing incompatibility with the enterprise systems - CRM, Genesys, Dynamics - that the business depended on.
PPL’s ambition wasn’t a lift-and-shift. They wanted a platform that could grow with them: personalisation at scale, data-driven content decisions, governance-ready workflows, and a foundation for a full digital experience platform further down the road.
Our Approach
A full programme, not just a build.
Mando Group’s engagement with People’s Pension covers the full delivery journey - from an initial discovery in early 2025 through to a build going live in 2026. Each phase was structured to build on the last, with an Optimise programme ready to follow.
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Phase
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What happened
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Discovery
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Audited the WordPress estate, redesigned customer journeys, built a KPI framework, and defined what to build, what to accelerate and what to descope.
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Design
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14 weeks of iterative UX and UI development, working closely with PPL’s own design language (‘Fabrik’) and weekly sign-off sessions to ensure full alignment.
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Build
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Parallel development and QA across accelerated and bespoke components, two UAT batches, and a March 2026 go-live target for the core site.
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Optimise
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A 90-day mobilisation across 19 workstreams - strategy, insights, operating model and performance - ready to begin once the build goes live.
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What the build actually involved.
The component audit during discovery was critical. Every element of the existing WordPress site was reviewed, categorised and assigned a path: accelerate using Mando Group’s pre-built component library, build bespoke, or descope. This meant the build phase had no ambiguity about priorities from the start.
Complex calculators - the AMC charges tool, the pension consolidation comparison, the life expectancy calculator - were assessed individually for member value before a decision was made. Some were rebuilt, some were migrated (most were already in React), and some were deferred to fast-follow delivery to protect the core go-live date.
The three-audience architecture - members, employers, advisers - was built into the platform from the ground up, with audience-specific navigation, content governance and IA. This wasn’t a post-launch addition; it was designed in from discovery.
Throughout design, PPL’s own design language - ‘Fabrik’ - was the reference point. Weekly sign-off sessions kept both teams aligned, and the client’s UX and marketing teams shaped final decisions on brand consistency, iconography and colour. The result is a site that feels distinctly theirs.
Laying the groundwork for richer financial data.
Alongside the core build, Mando Group led the scoping and early delivery of a Morningstar integration - a significant step in how People’s Pension will present dynamic financial data to members and advisers. Working directly with the Morningstar team, we navigated the technical and data complexity, defined a scalable implementation approach, and used detailed journey design to identify exactly where and how this data would be most meaningfully surfaced.
The goal: move members and advisers from static content to genuinely insight-driven experiences - clearer visibility of investment information, better-informed decisions, and greater trust in the platform. The integration blueprint is in place; the richer data experience follows as the platform evolves.
Making sense of a complex digital ecosystem.
The CMS was only part of the picture. People’s Pension operates across a fragmented estate of tools, microsites, data platforms and legacy systems. With Optimizely as the unifying foundation, the ambition is to consolidate this estate and unlock the full value of Optimizely One - across content, experimentation, data and personalisation.
Mando Group worked collaboratively with stakeholders to turn an initial wish list into a structured, prioritised roadmap for migration and modernisation - one that balances business value, technical complexity and delivery risk, and gives the organisation the clarity it needs for business case development and long-term planning.
Outcomes: A platform ready to do the work that matters.
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What we delivered
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What it means for People’s Partnership
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Full CMS migration from WordPress to Optimizely CMS, delivered to a fixed March 2026 go-live
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A modern, secure platform with no legacy PHP dependency and enterprise-grade deployment pipelines
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Three-audience architecture: members, employers, advisers - each with tailored navigation and content
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Right content to the right person, without workarounds or manual intervention from the team
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Complex calculators assessed, rebuilt or migrated - AMC charges, pension consolidation, life expectancy
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High-value member tools retained and improved, with deferred features on a clear fast-follow roadmap
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Morningstar integration scoped and underway - journey-mapped, vendor-aligned, blueprint defined
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The foundations for dynamic, insight-led financial data experiences for members and advisers
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Fragmented digital ecosystem mapped and a prioritised modernisation roadmap defined
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A clear, phased path to consolidating the full estate onto Optimizely One - with business cases ready to follow
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Google Analytics and Optimizely Experimentation integrated, with KPI framework built during discovery
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Data-driven decision-making from launch, with a clear baseline and the infrastructure to test and improve
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WCAG AA accessibility compliance across all components
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A site that works for every member - legally compliant and genuinely inclusive
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Optimise mobilisation scoped and ready: 19 workstreams across strategy, insights, operating model and performance
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The platform goes live with a clear programme already defined to drive ongoing value - optimisation starts from day one, not as an afterthought
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The platform is live. Next comes the work that makes it perform.
With the build complete, People’s Pension and Mando Group are about to begin the Optimise mobilisation - a structured 90-day programme that establishes the strategic, operational and performance foundations for ongoing improvement. The 19 workstreams cover:
- Customer and competitor insights - building the evidence base for every future decision
- Digital vision and roadmap - aligning the platform’s direction to PPL’s broader business goals
- Channel strategy - clarifying the role of the website alongside other member touchpoints
- Digital ROI framework - linking platform investment to measurable business value
- Platform and technology direction - mapping the path to full Optimizely One capability
- Personalisation, experimentation and CRO - the tools to move beyond generic content, for good
Further phases will bring the full People’s Pension web estate onto Optimizely - peoplespartnership.co.uk, the Adviser Centre, Developer Hub - alongside the completion of the Morningstar integration and headless integration with member and employer portals. The ambition is a fully unified digital experience platform, with personalisation and insight running across every touchpoint.
