Ooreoluwa Yusuf: Spartan Stories – delivering user-centred digital transformation

Meet Spartan Ooreoluwa Yusuf, who is driving user-centred digital transformation at a major UK public sector organisation through Business Analysis. After joining the Sparta AI & Tech Institute, Ooreoluwa now works closely with stakeholders, users and delivery teams to shape digital services, improve processes and ensure solutions meet real user needs.

7 mins read

Business Analysis, Careers, Public Sector, Spartan, Women in Tech

Applying transferable skills in a new environment

Before joining Sparta Global, Ooreoluwa had recently graduated with a degree in Accounting and Finance and was considering a career within technology and business solutions. One of her biggest concerns was a perceived lack of industry knowledge, particularly when compared to others who appeared to have spent years studying or working within the sector.

What she soon discovered was that many of the skills she had already developed were highly relevant to a career in Business Analysis.

“What I found through Sparta’s training was that I already had many of the skills needed to succeed in the industry. I simply needed to understand how to apply them in a different context.”

The analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities and communication skills developed through her studies and previous employment provided a strong foundation, while Sparta’s training helped her understand how those strengths could be applied to real business challenges. Exposure to stakeholder engagement, requirements gathering and business analysis methodologies gave her a much clearer understanding of the role and how Business Analysts support successful project delivery.

Supporting digital transformation in the public sector

Today, Ooreoluwa works as a Business Analyst within a major UK public sector organisation, acting as the link between users, stakeholders and delivery teams.

Her role centres around understanding user needs, gathering requirements and ensuring digital solutions deliver meaningful outcomes. A typical day can involve:

Speaking with users and stakeholders to understand requirements
Facilitating discussions and clarifying business needs
Translating requirements into user stories
Collaborating with software engineers throughout delivery
Reviewing user journeys and identifying opportunities for improvement

No two days are the same, but each project is united by a common objective: ensuring technology solutions are designed around the people who use them.

Creating better outcomes through early collaboration

A standout achievement in Ooreoluwa’s role has been leading the design of a new digital process that enabled users to continue carrying out their work digitally. By engaging stakeholders early and focusing on user experience from the outset, she helped shape a solution that better met user needs before development progressed.

Recognising the value of gathering feedback as early as possible, Ooreoluwa introduced visual prototyping into the process, allowing users to interact with the proposed solution before significant development work had taken place.

This approach helped identify potential usability improvements at an early stage, reducing the risk of issues emerging later in the project while giving stakeholders greater confidence in the final solution.

“The response from the users was positive; they felt more confident in the usability of the proposed process.”

The experience reinforced the value of user-centred design and highlighted how early collaboration can lead to stronger outcomes for both users and delivery teams.

Embracing AI responsibly

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the way organisations work, understanding how to use it effectively and responsibly is becoming an increasingly important skill for Business Analysts and technology professionals alike.

Through Sparta’s AI training, Ooreoluwa gained an understanding of both the opportunities and responsibilities that come with using AI in a professional environment. Today, AI forms part of her toolkit for processing information, exploring ideas and challenging her thinking, while maintaining responsibility for validating outputs and applying business context.

“It has helped me work through information more quickly and challenged my initial thinking while I remain responsible for questioning its output, validating the information and applying the appropriate business context.”

Rather than replacing human decision-making, Ooreoluwa sees AI as a tool that can support better analysis, improve efficiency and encourage more informed thinking when used appropriately.

Looking ahead

Reflecting on her journey so far, Ooreoluwa believes one of the biggest barriers preventing people from pursuing a career in technology is the assumption that they need a perfect technical background before getting started.

Instead, she encourages people to focus on their willingness to learn, adaptability and the transferable skills they may already possess.

“Don’t let your initial lack of experience intimidate you. Being willing to learn, being adaptable and understanding how the skills you already have can be applied to new problems is the key.”

For Ooreoluwa, Sparta provided the foundation to build confidence, develop specialist knowledge and apply her skills within a professional environment. Through her work as a Business Analyst, she is now helping deliver digital transformation that improves services, supports users and creates meaningful impact across the public sector.