How can local councils keep up with innovations?

TechnologyOne’s SaaS Plus uses a transformed ERP implementation process to address the three greatest impediments to investing in digital transformation – time to value, cost, and complexity.

TechnologyOne’s software is being adopted by many councils to benefit the community

Technology is advancing at breakneck speed, and with each innovation lowering the cost and threshold for access, that pace is only going to keep accelerating.

For the average consumer, these new digital breakthroughs slot seamlessly into our already technologically advanced lives as apps or background automations. And while it is saving us from tedious administrative tasks, it is also lowering our tolerance for any services that can’t keep up.

The inefficiency of typical enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations in local governments, which often span three to five years, leaves the installed software quickly outdated due to changing community and council needs. This inefficiency is further underscored by statistics from Technology Evaluation Centers, indicating that most ERP implementations end up costing three to four times the initial budget.

And that’s not just in local government. Across the board, traditional ERP implementations often suffer from high costs, lengthy timelines, and low success rates, impacting budgets and hindering digital transformation efforts.

We’ve also found that the industry exploits the complexity of IT to hike up the price of execution – on average, for every dollar spent on the SaaS software the implementation can cost anywhere between $7 and $70, courtesy of the systems integrators and large consulting businesses incentivised on projects being complex and running over.

So how can councils break free of this traditional model and adopt more efficient and cost-effective approaches to IT implementation?

At TechnologyOne, we have transformed the ERP implementation process to address the three greatest impediments to investing in digital transformation – time to value, cost, and complexity. We call it Solution as a Service, or SaaS Plus.

Leaning on our 36 years of experience, we are the only SaaS provider with the capability to provide customers with not only the software but take responsibility for delivering the complete ERP solution. This includes the implementation, operation and support all for a single annual fee, avoiding the high initial outlay that usually comes with an ERP implementation.

This means ratepayers and staff get to experience the benefits of new technology much sooner.

While a typical council asset management system implementation used to take six to nine months, we’ve driven this down to just 16 weeks.

But we won’t stop there. Our vision is bold: implement an ERP in 30 days by 2030.

Loretta Libke is TechnologyOne’s local government expert

And importantly, while a council previously needed to allocate 90 days to configure the SaaS Plus solution, we have brought that down to just 12 days, giving council back significant manpower.

Historically, local councils have been cautious entities, and rightfully so. Given their responsibility for managing public funds, they must carefully weigh every investment decision to benefit the community.

While ERP implementations are certainly complex, our experience has allowed us to develop valuable expertise tailored to the needs of local government. And advancements in technology, particularly in machine learning and automation, are playing a crucial role in streamlining and mitigating the risks associated with such implementations.

When Software-as-a-Service was introduced more than a decade ago, it was transformative for the local government sector, allowing councils to discover efficiencies and savings and redistribute funds to community initiatives.

SaaS Plus goes much further, it is the next innovation that will bring an end to the long, complex, risky and expensive consulting ERP implementations that have become synonymous with digital transformation.

I am sure most residents would rather see their rates invested in a customer-centric platform that serves the community and can be scaled and updated to move with the pace of modern life, allowing greater funds to flow to broader council projects.

Loretta Libke is TechnologyOne’s local government expert.