Bristol, UK., February 23, 2011: UNIT4 Business Software Ltd, the UK division of UNIT4, the world’s leading provider of business software for fast changing organisations, today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to partner with Hampshire County Council to create a back office shared services programme that will be offered to public sector organisations across the UK in a bid to help them reduce costs and reform service delivery.
The services will be delivered collaboratively by Hampshire County Council and other public sector partners. Hampshire County Council will be the hosted service provider and through the partnership provide support and functional expertise for finance, procurement, asset management and HR & Payroll. UNIT4 will underpin the shared services delivery with its Local Government Platform, which is founded upon Agresso Business World and best-in-class partner solutions.
Hampshire County Council, widely respected across the UK as a technological leader, believes that the proposed services will help to address some of the impact of the current Government funding restrictions.
“This is an important partnership”, said Councillor Keith Evans, IT Champion for Hampshire County Council. “These shared services will be available to other public sector organisations across the UK. They will generate worthwhile economies of scale to all participating organisations and, equally important, will provide a more assured and quality-based mechanism and environment in which to undertake new initiatives. UNIT4 is a progressive company with innovative ideas that match our own. The agreement provides us with access to a cost effective ERP solution that can address the urgent needs of our potential customers today and provides a robust and scalable platform that can support any future expansion.”
UNIT4 is the number one supplier of ERP systems to local government and post 16 education in the UK and has enjoyed considerable success with its innovative approach to supporting public sector organisations during these challenging times.
“UNIT4 is extending its position as the leading specialist ERP supplier to local government,” said Darren Hunt, Director at UNIT4. “Last year the Local Government Platform was selected for the UK’s first cross sector shared services within a county boundary and also worked with a local authority to help it become the very first to publish open and linked data. Hampshire is leading the way for technological innovation in the sector to help address the public sector funding crisis, and there are many other organisations with a hunger to make the delivery of public services more efficient.”
A number of organisations have already expressed an interest in the provision of shared services through this partnership and are involved in advanced negotiations with Hampshire and UNIT4.
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About UNIT4
UNIT4 is a global business software and services company aimed at helping dynamic organisations to embrace change simply, quickly and cost effectively in a market sector it calls 'Businesses Living IN Change' (BLINC)™. The Group incorporates a number of the world’s leading change embracing software brands including Agresso Business World and CODA financial management software.
Agresso Business World is our flagship ERP suite for mid-sized services intensive organisations. It is widely acknowledged for delivering ongoing, post-implementation changes without the typical external IT costs and services that cost firms huge sums of money each year. This is achieved thanks to its powerful VITA™ architecture, which is unmatched in the ERP world.
CODA Financials is our award-winning suite of best-of-class financial management software designed to integrate with your industry- and company-specific applications. CODA’s LINK™ architecture sets it apart from ordinary accounting systems by providing a financial information backbone for companies with fast changing and mixed application environments. It is a global accounting solution for mid-to large sized organisations, offering a "no compromise" approach to financial modelling, process control and application choice.
In the UK we focus strongly on the public sector, where we are the leading provider of ERP systems to local government and post 16 education organisations, as well as having a considerable presence in the emergency services and health sectors. We also focus strongly on professional services organisations and a range of commercial sectors including Financial Services, Retail and Media and Publishing. Overall we aim to be the UK’s foremost business software company, providing solutions that transform the delivery of public services and comprehensively support commercial organisations in their ability to adapt and prosper in rapidly changing environments.
UNIT4 is a top six mid-market ERP software player globally and the 2nd largest European ERP supplier. With offices in 17 European countries, as well as 7 countries across North America, Asia Pacific and Africa and sales activities in several other countries, a revenue of €379.4 million was realised in 2009. UNIT4 is headquartered in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands. The company has around 4,160 employees.
UNIT4 is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext 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 www.unit4.com
About Hampshire County Council
Hampshire County Council is the third largest shire county in the country, serving 1.28million residents, educating 170,000 children in around 540 schools, maintaining over 5,000 miles of roads and looking after 80,000 vulnerable residents with a budget of £1.8 billion.
