Bristol, UK, 26 September, 2011. UNIT4 Business Software Ltd, the UK division of UNIT4, the world’s leading provider of business software for Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC™), today announced that the Royal Veterinary College in London has selected Financials and Procurement solutions from the Agresso Campus Platform as part of a ground-breaking shared services agreement with the University of London Computer Centre (ULCC).
This is one of the first Higher Education Finance system shared services in London and is expected to help the College adapt to increased funding challenges. UNIT4 will supply the Royal Veterinary College with the Agresso Campus Platform and together with ULCC they will implement, support and deliver the solution across ULCC’s technical infrastructure. The fully integrated Financials and Procurement solutions will provide the College with the tools and visibility needed to increase operational efficiency, improve employee productivity and maximise financial control.
“We chose the Agresso Campus Platform and shared services delivery because of the efficiencies it will deliver to us,” said Andrew Dyer, Director of Finance at the Royal Veterinary College. “Firstly, the Platform approach will allow us to grow an integrated enterprise-wide systems infrastructure according to business need, secondly, because the software is flexible we will be able to easily and cost effectively alter it to adapt to ongoing change, and thirdly, as the leading solution in the sector we know that it will benefit from ongoing investment and improvement.”
By entering into a shared services agreement with ULCC the Royal Veterinary College will benefit from financial and operational economies of scales that come from sharing. Additionally by using the Agresso Campus Platform to underpin the shared services both organisations will profit from a low total cost of ownership because the solution can easily be altered as required by ULCC’s support team, without having to engage expensive external consultants.
“UNIT4 has been actively promoting shared services in the sector,” said Andrew Dyer, Director of Finance at the Royal Veterinary College. “They introduced us to the University of London and ULCC, who as existing users of Agresso, with a similar business model, were ideally positioned to provide us with the service. These are exciting times and it is just this kind of partnership that will help institutions be more efficient in light of Lord Browne’s recommendations, the Government’s Higher Education whitepaper and the comprehensive spending review.”
Agresso will, at the click of a button, provide real time business reports whenever they are needed. This means that the amount of time administering and looking for data will be dramatically reduced. This improved visibility will enable executives and budget holders to make better informed business decisions and have greater control of finances across the College’s three service areas - education, research and clinical veterinary surgeries.
The Procurement solution will present a truer picture of the College’s purchasing operations so that improved contract terms can be negotiated with suppliers and spending can be closely controlled via workflow.
This agreement has extended UNIT4’s position as the number one supplier of enterprise solutions into the post-16 UK education sector. The company now counts over 250 Further and Higher Education institutions among its customers.
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About UNIT4
UNIT4 is a global business software and services company aimed at helping dynamic public sector, and commercial services 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, our flagship ERP suite for mid-sized services intensive organisations 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, follow us on Twitter @UNIT4_UK
About ULCC
Established in 1968, University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) has evolved into a highly respected and innovative brand within the academic and not-for-profit sector.
ULCC is the UK’s largest provider of managed and supported virtual learning environments for education. It now hosts and supports e-Learning services for close to 200 Higher and Further Education institutions, helping over 700,000 students perform in excess of 10 million online learning activities per month.
ULCC has a long history of providing system hosting to the UK education sector and are the ideal safe pair of hands for any institution considering a shared service partner.
For more information on ULCC please visit the website at www.ulcc.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter @ulcc.
