Member Article

Cumbrian Council To Digitally Transform Business Operations Through SaaS

Allerdale Borough Council has chosen TechnologyOne to provide a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, to help it future proof business processes, deliver efficiencies and provide better services for its residents, staff, and suppliers.

The local authority, which serves a population of 98,000 in the Northwest of England, will work with the ERP provider to digitally transform Finance, HR and other business processes using TechnologyOne’s OneCouncil Software as a Service (SaaS) technology. The council expects to deliver significant improvements and savings through the new system, which will help strengthen the organisation.

TechnologyOne’s SaaS solution will replace the council’s current finance, HR, and payroll legacy systems, to enable greater agile and mobile working for employees. It will also help improve and automate many workflow and business processes for the local authority.

The ERP system will be part of Allerdale Borough Council’s Digital Transformation Programme, which has been instigated to explore how technology can be better utilised to change, and improve, the way the council provides services and support residents, staff, and companies in its supply chain.

The new SaaS system will also support the council in achieving central government targets for local authorities to become financially self-sufficient by 2030, as OneCouncil can be easily adapted and integrated into new income generating companies the council might create.

Catherine Nicholson, Chief Officer Assets & S151, at Allerdale Borough Council said the new ERP software will provide the council’s 234 staff with a far more intuitive, easier to use, joined up business management system. By integrating different business tools, the council will create a single source of financial and HR information across the business, she said.

“Business managers across all departments will be able to access easier-to-understand, real-time information through new reporting dashboards allowing them to take appropriate and prompt action,” said Catherine. “And, by automating and moving more processes to employee self-service, a greater number of council workers will benefit from time savings, improved business insight and better decision making.”

The council’s 234 employees will also be able to access and manage a range of self-service HR activities through the secure, online portal, including booking annual leave, recording sickness absence, updating training and performance objectives, and managing their employee data. Managers will also be able to access live dashboard information about team performance, resourcing, and recruitment, while also benefiting from time savings through greater employee self-service.

TechnologyOne CEO Ed Chung said the company was seeing more UK local councils moving to SaaS given the greater demands facing them to become financially sustainable following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Given the financial pressures caused by the lockdown, and new central government funding requirements, local councils are finding it harder than ever to balance the books,” said Chung. “By digitally transforming the way they operate using Software as a Service, local authorities are finding they can achieve both time and cost savings through self-service and automation. In turn, this frees up management time which can be better reinvested into strategic decision making around how best to adapt and better service citizens.”

TechnologyOne is Australia’s leading enterprise software company, having partnered with local councils in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK for 33 years. In the UK, its technology helps provide better business insight and operational efficiencies to councils across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lionel Jones .