Bristol, U.K., April 19, 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 the East Kent NHS Finance Consortium will extend its Agresso Managed Services (AMS) agreement for another five years to help expand the shared services it provides and meet the challenges its clients face in the sector, as General Practitioners (GPs) replace Primary Care Trusts (PCTs).
The East Kent NHS Finance Consortium was set up in 2002/03 to provide a local shared financial services function to the East Kent Hospitals Trust, the PCT and the Eastern & Coastal Kent Community Health Trust. The services currently provide financial transactional support to 2,500 users across the three bodies. This agreement will see the continuation of AMS from UNIT4 to manage the Agresso Business World Platform that underpins the services and its technical infrastructure, all of which is held in a central and secure environment.
Recent plans set out by the coalition Government will see the decommissioning of PCTs with GPs taking over their commissioning role. The East Kent Finance Consortium believes it, supported by AMS, has a key role in helping smooth this transition throughout Kent.
“We have a true partnership in place with UNIT4 and they have provided excellent support during times of considerable change. The post implementation agility of both Agresso and the UNIT4 managed services have enabled us to adapt to the changes necessitated by the recent health reforms,” said Mike Deal, Corporate Finance Manager at the East Kent NHS Finance Consortium.
The Consortium believes that the economies of scale and back-office expertise delivered by shared services make for an attractive proposition to other public sector bodies looking to cut costs and the GPs who will be taking over commissioning duties of the PCTs.
“The configurability and proven track record of Agresso makes it the ideal solution for shared services provision and local health bodies and GPs who may wish to outsource the burden of financial transactions at minimal cost,” Deal continued. “The managed services from UNIT4 means that the consortium can focus on its core finance expertise safe in the knowledge that our clients will be provided with the very best technical support that is both responsive to their needs and secure.”
This latest announcement follows a string of shared services deals for UNIT4 that further demonstrates Agresso’s suitability in meeting the diverse requirements and ongoing volatility in the public sector.
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About UNIT4
UNIT4 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)™. 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.
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.
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 €421.7 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 www.unit4.com or follow us on Twitter @UNIT4_UK
