Member Article

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council upgrades to SaaS to transform business management and finance systems

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has awarded enterprise software provider TechnologyOne a contract to help digitally transform its financial and business planning systems.

The council provides services to more than 140,000 residents and businesses in a part of Northern Ireland known for its stunning coastline and the Giant’s Causeway.

By switching to TechnologyOne’s industry leading OneCouncil Software as a Service (SaaS) solution the Northern Ireland council expects to improve business processes, make efficiency savings and future-proof IT systems by moving them online. It had previously operated on aging on-premise software, used by the boroughs of Ballymoney, Coleraine, Limavady and the District of Moyle before the councils merged in 2015.

TechnologyOne’s partnership with Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council marks further growth for the enterprise SaaS provider in Northern Ireland, which has been replacing legacy software from Totalmobile at a number of councils. More than half of Northern Ireland councils now entrust TechnologyOne to digitally transform their operations, including Mid & East Antrim Borough Council, Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council and Fermanagh & Omagh District Council.

TechnologyOne will help hundreds of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough council employees access important business decision making tools and information through a modern, intuitive web portal, helping the council juggle remote working needs, created by the pandemic. The council will also switch its payroll systems to TechnologyOne, as part of the contract.

Managers and the executive team will be equipped with fully integrated, modern financial and business management tools, including general ledger, accounts payable, purchase to pay, expense management, procurement and financial reporting.

Mark Smyth, Director of Finance at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council said the council chose TechnologyOne as the local authority wanted to modernise and digitally transform its finance and payroll systems, making them securely and remotely available to our employees via any device, at any time, from anywhere.

“By switching to TechnologyOne’s Software as a Service our employees will be able to access finance and payroll systems online, wherever they are working, giving the council even greater business resilience,” said Smyth.

“It will also give employees access to better management information and aid decision making, while also freeing up time, by l reducing the need for manual data inputting,” said Smyth.

Switching from on-premise systems and servers to a highly secure SaaS platform will also reduce the burden and up-keep of council IT systems. Instead of the council having to physically manage and constantly update technology systems and software at council offices, future upgrades will be carried out virtually by TechnologyOne online and at its data centres.

TechnologyOne UK Executive Vice President, Leo Hanna said: “It’s been a tough year for councils, as they face increasing pressures as a result of the pandemic and squeezed budgets. Our OneCouncil SaaS solution removes the burden of local authorities having to manage their own technology environment, and the associated costs, meaning they can focus on delivering better services for their communities.”

“Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council is the latest local authority in Northern Ireland to digitally transform their business management systems and I look forward to seeing both employees and residents reap the benefits,” he said.

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 Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

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