AGILISYS LAUNCHES TASKFORCE TO IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES AND UNLOCK SHARED SERVICES POTENTIAL FOR REGIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
9 November 2005
Leading councils join in demonstrating results achieved through shared services In addition, close to 150 councils have expressed an interest in national council tax data exchange and tracing service
London, UK, 9 November – Agilisys, the leading technology and business process services provider, today launched a taskforce to demonstrate the savings and benefits shared ICT platforms and services offer local and regional government. North Yorkshire County Council in partnership with Hambleton District Council, Cumbria County Council, and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham have already agreed to participate in the project and Agilisys will be engaging with a number of other Councils in the next few weeks.
Agilisys will publish the taskforce’s recommendations as a report for the public sector so that decision makers can see clear and immediate opportunities to collaborate. The savings from joint procurement, shared IT services contracts, and co-investment in technology platforms are seen as one of the best ways for the public sector to increase the output of services and free up resources that can be recycled into front line delivery. The report will be submitted to the e-Government unit of the Cabinet Office. The Agilisys taskforce follows Sir Peter Gershon’s Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency published last year calling for £20 billion in annual public sector efficiencies to be achieved by 2007-8.
North Yorkshire County Council and Hambleton District Council have already entered into an innovative partnership with Agilisys to unlock the value of shared services. Phil Morton, Chairman of the Partnership, and Director of Resources at Hambleton said, “The concept of the Partnership is to deliver electronic services seamlessly to the citizen irrespective of which tier of local government is responsible. The contract itself delivered immediate cost savings to the Council as not only was it more economical than purchasing each of the component parts of the solution individually it also allowed Hambleton and North Yorkshire County Council to benefit from the economies generated by a larger contract. In addition we have started to make efficiency savings through using the technology to enable a front office/back office split and more savings are envisaged in the near future as more services are re-engineered.”
Agilisys is also highlighting the benefits that shared ICT platforms and services can deliver at a county and district council level through a seven-year strategic partnership with Cumbria County Council. By investing in a solution which may be shared by both the county and the district councils, the Agilisys and Cumbria County Council Partnership is helping to modernise the entire region by providing districts with access to a technology platform and expertise that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive to deploy over such a large geography.
Agilisys has already demonstrated the significant benefits that investment in shared ICT platforms and services can achieve. At a national level, Agilisys has been procured as the technology partner by Mid Sussex District Council, supported through the ODPM’s e-Innovation fund, to develop an interactive portal that will provide 354 local billing authorities across the UK with up-to-date information on Council Tax absconders as well as sharing best practice. This innovative new national approach to Council Tax debt collection service is expected to help local councils collect an estimated extra £100million in unpaid council tax per year. Prior to the shared data exchange service provided by the portal, absconders that relocated across Local Authority boundaries would often slip through the net.
Spokesperson for Customer Services and ICT at Cumbria County Council, Councillor Elizabeth Mallinson says “Cumbria County Council is fully committed to providing the best possible services and ensuring value for money for the people of Cumbria. By working with our partners to share an investment in new technology we can explore ways of improving our services and make the best use of our resources. We are delighted to be working with Agilisys as they look to identify further options for shared technology and services within local government.”
Charles Mindenhall, Agilisys CEO adds “There is very strong commitment in regional and local government to find ways to modernise and improve the efficiency of public service provision. Agilisys has already proven how our expertise in shared platforms and services can be a leading force in the transformation of public services. However, while the will to modernise is there, the opportunities for collaboration aren’t always clear. We hope that through this taskforce we can help regional and local government identify the benefits of shared services. We are delighted to have the support of Cumbria, North Yorkshire, Hambleton and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on this project.”
For further information:
Becky Kiely/Helen Chung
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7608 2500
Email: agilisys@hotwirepr.com
About Agilisys Ltd
Agilisys is a leading technology and business process services provider for the UK public and private sectors, dedicated to helping our clients transform their customer services through innovation, flexibility and partnership. We design, build and operate technology-enabled business solutions and have earned a strong reputation across many sectors, particularly within local government, travel and tourism, and retail financial services. Agilisys has over 1,000 employees in the UK, Ireland and India. www.agilisys.co.uk