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UK Councils Set Benchmark for Public Sector Shared Services in the Cloud
SLIEDRECHT, The Netherlands, January 9, 2012/PRNewswire/ --
- Stockton & Darlington Borough Councils announce major milestone completed
with 10 Academy schools live in less than six months
- Schools and councils see potential for cost savings and operational efficiency
- Underpinned by UNIT4's flexible Shared Journey cloud shared services platform
UNIT4, the world's leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN
Change (BLINC(TM)), today announced the shared services joint venture between Stockton &
Darlington Borough Councils in the UK (known as Xentrall) has successfully reached a major
milestone and implemented cloud shared services using Shared Journey from UNIT4 for
finance and accounting in ten Academy schools in just six months.
The service, which originally focussed on Academies in the area, is also starting to
garner interest from other public sector organizations and schools outside its geography
that are looking to reduce costs and improve service delivery.
Using Shared Journey Xentrall offers schools affordable subscription-based Finance, HR
& Payroll transactional shared services that includes shared technical IT and operational
support services. Xentrall first discussed its cloud shared services initiative in April
2011, and by the beginning of November this year 13 schools had signed up to the services
with ten of them already live. The Academies are already benefiting from the rich
functionality and flexibility of Agresso Business World in the cloud, delivering the
control and visibility of resources they need to create exceptional educational
facilities.
The Academies Programme lets UK schools opt to receive funding directly from central
government to independently manage their own affairs rather than relying on local
authority services and national curriculum guidelines. Like other public sector
organizations they need to find suppliers that can help them lower costs and increase
performance. Xentrall's services, underpinned by Shared Journey, are proving to be a
popular choice amongst schools looking to deliver against this objective. Word of mouth on
the expected benefits of the service has led other public sector organizations, including
councils, to invite Xentrall to bid to supply their back-office transactional systems
also.
"We have been very pleased by the uptake of the services so far and hope that we will
come to be seen as a benchmark for other public sector organizations setting up shared
services in the cloud," said Ian Coxon, Head of Transactional Services at Xentrall. "It
demonstrates that in the new economy there is appetite for innovative operating models and
technologies. UNIT4's Shared Journey is at the forefront, combining two of the pillars
that the government is heralding as central to efficiency - shared-services and the cloud.
We have been told that this, along with Xentrall's shared-services heritage and
not-for-profit status, makes the services attractive to public sector organizations
looking to adapt to funding challenges."
As Shared Journey is cloud based it allows Xentrall to rapidly scale to meet demand
while the Academies only pay for what they use. There is no capital outlay and no
redundant capacity and the flexibility of Agresso means that the cost of tailoring the
solution to each Academy's specific needs remains low.
"We are receiving enquiries from other public sector organizations that are concerned
about the extra cost of maintaining their 'big-brand' ERP shared services," said Ton
Dobbe, VP Product at UNIT4. "Organizations have spent too long re-engineering themselves
to fit their legacy ERP and we know many are concerned about the forced upgrade path of
some ERP vendors because it is such a major financial commitment both now and in the long
term. There are alternatives and we are having many more conversations with prospects
about cloud computing because it can help provide the required flexibility and
efficiencies the public sector craves."
About UNIT4
UNIT4 [http://www.unit4.com ] is a global business software and services company aimed
at helping dynamic public sector, and commercial services organizations to embrace change
simply, quickly and cost effectively in a market sector it calls 'Businesses Living IN
Change' (BLINC)(TM). The Group incorporates a number of the world's leading change
embracing software brands including Agresso Business World, our flagship ERP suite for
mid-sized services intensive organizations and Coda, our best-of-class financial
management software.
With operations in 17 European countries, as well as 7 countries across North America,
Asia Pacific and Africa and sales activities in several other countries, its revenue was
EUR421.7 million in 2010. UNIT4 is headquartered in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands and has
over 4,000 employees. It is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and is included in the Amsterdam
Midcap Index (AMX). For more information on UNIT4 or any of its operating companies,
please visit the website at http://www.unit4.com, follow us on Twitter @UNIT4_Group or
contact:
Emma Keates
Group PR Manager, UNIT4
+44(0)1423-537977
Emma.keates@unit4.com
Source: UNIT4
UK Councils Set Benchmark for Public Sector Shared Services in the Cloud
SLIEDRECHT, The Netherlands, January 9, 2012/PRNewswire/ --
- Stockton & Darlington Borough Councils announce major milestone completed
with 10 Academy schools live in less than six months
- Schools and councils see potential for cost savings and operational efficiency
- Underpinned by UNIT4's flexible Shared Journey cloud shared services platform
UNIT4, the world's leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN
Change (BLINC(TM)), today announced the shared services joint venture between Stockton &
Darlington Borough Councils in the UK (known as Xentrall) has successfully reached a major
milestone and implemented cloud shared services using Shared Journey from UNIT4 for
finance and accounting in ten Academy schools in just six months.
The service, which originally focussed on Academies in the area, is also starting to
garner interest from other public sector organizations and schools outside its geography
that are looking to reduce costs and improve service delivery.
Using Shared Journey Xentrall offers schools affordable subscription-based Finance, HR
& Payroll transactional shared services that includes shared technical IT and operational
support services. Xentrall first discussed its cloud shared services initiative in April
2011, and by the beginning of November this year 13 schools had signed up to the services
with ten of them already live. The Academies are already benefiting from the rich
functionality and flexibility of Agresso Business World in the cloud, delivering the
control and visibility of resources they need to create exceptional educational
facilities.
The Academies Programme lets UK schools opt to receive funding directly from central
government to independently manage their own affairs rather than relying on local
authority services and national curriculum guidelines. Like other public sector
organizations they need to find suppliers that can help them lower costs and increase
performance. Xentrall's services, underpinned by Shared Journey, are proving to be a
popular choice amongst schools looking to deliver against this objective. Word of mouth on
the expected benefits of the service has led other public sector organizations, including
councils, to invite Xentrall to bid to supply their back-office transactional systems
also.
"We have been very pleased by the uptake of the services so far and hope that we will
come to be seen as a benchmark for other public sector organizations setting up shared
services in the cloud," said Ian Coxon, Head of Transactional Services at Xentrall. "It
demonstrates that in the new economy there is appetite for innovative operating models and
technologies. UNIT4's Shared Journey is at the forefront, combining two of the pillars
that the government is heralding as central to efficiency - shared-services and the cloud.
We have been told that this, along with Xentrall's shared-services heritage and
not-for-profit status, makes the services attractive to public sector organizations
looking to adapt to funding challenges."
As Shared Journey is cloud based it allows Xentrall to rapidly scale to meet demand
while the Academies only pay for what they use. There is no capital outlay and no
redundant capacity and the flexibility of Agresso means that the cost of tailoring the
solution to each Academy's specific needs remains low.
"We are receiving enquiries from other public sector organizations that are concerned
about the extra cost of maintaining their 'big-brand' ERP shared services," said Ton
Dobbe, VP Product at UNIT4. "Organizations have spent too long re-engineering themselves
to fit their legacy ERP and we know many are concerned about the forced upgrade path of
some ERP vendors because it is such a major financial commitment both now and in the long
term. There are alternatives and we are having many more conversations with prospects
about cloud computing because it can help provide the required flexibility and
efficiencies the public sector craves."
About UNIT4
UNIT4 [http://www.unit4.com ] is a global business software and services company aimed
at helping dynamic public sector, and commercial services organizations to embrace change
simply, quickly and cost effectively in a market sector it calls 'Businesses Living IN
Change' (BLINC)(TM). The Group incorporates a number of the world's leading change
embracing software brands including Agresso Business World, our flagship ERP suite for
mid-sized services intensive organizations and Coda, our best-of-class financial
management software.
With operations in 17 European countries, as well as 7 countries across North America,
Asia Pacific and Africa and sales activities in several other countries, its revenue was
EUR421.7 million in 2010. UNIT4 is headquartered in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands and has
over 4,000 employees. It is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and is included in the Amsterdam
Midcap Index (AMX). For more information on UNIT4 or any of its operating companies,
please visit the website at http://www.unit4.com, follow us on Twitter @UNIT4_Group or
contact:
Emma Keates
Group PR Manager, UNIT4
+44(0)1423-537977
Emma.keates@unit4.com
Source: UNIT4