01 May 2024

A west Midlands local authority has awarded Absoft the contract for its SAP S/4HANA implementation. The landmark partnership marks the first SAP Public Cloud implementation within a UK local authority.

Absoft won the contract following an internal ERP evaluation of the council in April 2023. And with the impending contract renewal for its finance system by the end of 2024, the council sought a new ERP solution through a tender process. After selecting SAP as its preferred ERP provider, the council extended the tender process to its partner network, leading to Absoft’s success with a tailored package outlining a seamless cloud migration strategy.

The upcoming SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud implementation, scheduled to go live in December 2024, encompasses SAP SuccessFactors, and SAP Analytics Cloud. By integrating these products from the SAP suite and leveraging continuous innovation by SAP, the council aims to make data driven decisions that will result in cost savings across the organisation. This means that the local authority will be able to be more efficient with a single source of accurate and up-to-date information with cloud-based ERP solutions, automating and streamlining processes. With intuitive analytics, the public sector organisation will be able to forecast and plan for changes in business rates, council tax rates, headcount, or inflation.

Local authorities throughout the UK are facing growing pressures to accelerate their digital transformation programmes and budgetary demands are making it imperative to explore the power of technology to automate processes, improve efficiency, and enable effective service delivery at a time of endemic skills shortages. The benefits of digital transformation are clear. Not only are the cloud-based ERP systems incredibly functionally rich and intuitive, but the supporting tools are designed to ensure a local authority can get the best out of the system from day one.

“Absoft knows the public sector industry through and through, and we are very excited about the scale of this SAP S/4HANA implementation. Our services will ultimately enable the council to cut costs, improve efficiencies, and streamline their current processes. As a trusted advisor, we operate as an extension of our clients’ businesses, and our dedicated team is committed to providing high quality support,” said Don Valentine, commercial director, Absoft. “The contract for the Council is the first public cloud implementation into a local authority in the UK, a significant win for SAP and Absoft alike. We’re thrilled to support the council’s digital transformation, and we look forward to seeing what the future holds.”