Lincolnshire County Council aims to cut costs with UNIT4 Agresso ERP platform

Serco purchased platform on council's behalf as part of wider project to save more than £14m over five years

Lincolnshire County Council is attempting to reduce costs by implementing business software provider UNIT4's Agresso local government ERP platform to underpin business services.

The software has been purchased on behalf of the council by services and outsourcing provider Serco, and will be used to deliver a range of support services including finance, HR, payroll, recruitment, invoice processing and income management.

"The new system will give us the flexibility we need to improve efficiency and reduce costs," said Judith Hetherington Smith, chief information and commissioning officer at the council.

"It will cut back on administration and improve collaboration between departments, while its real-time reporting will mean strategic decisions can be made using the very latest information.

"The end result will be more streamlined and effective processes, bringing taxpayers much better value for money," she added.

The implementation forms part of a larger contract, won by Serco to deliver support and customer services to the council. The deal promises savings of more than £14m over five years.

Sean Hanson, regional director at Serco, said that the most important thing is a "smooth transition, with no drop in service for citizens and council staff" - something that the outsourcing provider will be working on in the next year.

Serco won the £85m-£110m contract from Lincolnshire County Council, following the issue of a tender for services in April 2013.

At the time, the council said the winning bidder would take over from contractor Mouchel, whose contract expires in 2015. Mouchel has run the council's back-office services for a total of 15 years, and there will be a 12-month transitional period from April 2014 from Mouchel to Serco.