Mark Gibbison, Global Head of Public Sector at Unit4, explores how the focus on People Experience delivers more of what matters: helping citizens and communities thrive
With the need to reduce costs and ensure resources and people are assigned to service delivery rather than admin, cloud services are an obvious choice for investment. But transformation is never without its challenges, and meeting targets requires a measured approach.
While the workplace is being reshaped, working from home for non-essential functions could be here to stay, and this will demand that processes be re-engineered to support remote decision making. And what’s more, because everyone is at home, demand for digital government services is rising, forcing a change in strategic priorities.
In this environment, organisations have no choice but to break away from legacy systems to evolve business processes, improve remote working, and optimise the way they work. The result is efficient integrated solutions that give staff the ‘private sector’ technology experience they expect.
A new E.T.H.I.C. for public sector
For many organisations, it seems as though only a complete overhaul of existing processes can deliver the transformation they need. An overhaul that implements new solutions and systems to help streamline mission-critical processes and enable remote working.
Given these challenges, public sector organisations must adopt a new E.T.H.I.C. for the public services they deliver. This means being:
- Efficient.
- Trusted.
- Highly responsive.
- Inclusive.
- Convenient.
By shifting the focus and rethinking how they work, public services can produce more with less by reframing work and removing or automating manual tasks to enable them to focus on delivering citizen value.
New tools for new challenges
With these challenges, cloud solutions are the obvious choice for investment. Not only does it provide the scalable storage and professionally-handled security needed to house and safeguard data, but also the computing capacity to automate routine manual workflows and introduce AI and data analytics to your services.
And what’s more, many organisations are currently facing this choice as more of a necessity than others as legacy on-premise solutions reach end-of-life. Forcing a move to the cloud that many are both reluctant and are ill prepared to make.
The leap to cloud has been a source of anxiety for many – and it isn’t always misplaced. Despite its undeniable advantages, cloud migration presents real risks. Risks in the form of disruption to operational continuity and the ability to deliver services in the form of lengthy implementation and learning periods.
Mitigating these risks requires that organisations take care to pick the right technology, but also that they take care to pick the right vendors, one’s that understand the sensitivities around data analytics and AI usage.
Unit4 creates a model to de-risk transformation
Unit4 helps public sector organisations boost productivity, reduce costs, plan effectively, and improve citizen value. The Unit4 Public Sector Industry Model approach provides finance and HR teams with solutions that transform how their people work, empowering them to spend more time serving citizens.
It’s built on specialised knowledge of the public sector, and designed specifically to help your teams combat the complexity of the kind of operating environments that exist there.
This means Unit4 doesn’t just provide you with cloud ERP, HCM, and FP&A tools, it allows your organisation to harness real-time visibility and control over every stage of the record-to-report cycle, anytime, from anywhere – streamlining budget planning and analysis while consolidating organisation-wide data in one unified system.
Unit4 also provides your organisation with a framework that helps you to implement these tools and take advantage of industry standard best practices “out of the box.” This results in reductions in implementation time of up to 50%, with faster time to value and reduced total cost of ownership – without sacrificing capabilities.
Case studies: making transformation pay and upholding continuity
Unit4 is the UK’s preferred public sector partner for digital transformation and operational success – currently serving over 150 councils and counting. Here’s a snapshot view of just 3 of their public sector customers.
Southampton City Council operates more than 400 services, and is using Unit4 cloud ERP to drive improved collaboration, increased resilience, and data visibility across services. So far, Unit4 has helped SCC to save £250,000 in total procurement costs, reinvest £200,000 into service delivery, and save 500 hours in staff time annually.
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust moved to a cloud implementation of Unit4 ERP in just 4 months, and expects to save 70 hours of employee time a year through automated invoice scanning alone. Says the Trust’s Finance System Manager, “Unit4 flexes to fit the users, so they are using a system designed around their needs – not vice-versa. Our staff really likes the intuitive interface, the workflow, and the automation.”
Middlesborough Council implemented Unit4 ERP on an aggressive 7 month timeline, launching on schedule and increasing productivity and efficiency across their entire financial estate. Says Chief Accountant Justin Weston, “I can’t understate the value that Unit4 Professional Services provides. They understood our objectives and worked as a team, bringing their public sector knowledge and experience to bear, and helping the council achieve its goals on time and on budget.”
Find out how Unit4s solutions can de-risk your transformation, making effective use of cloud migration to hit targets and enable faster decision making.
*Please note: this is a commercial profile
