06 January 2023

St Helens Borough Council has selected a combination of Unit4 ERP, Unit 4 FP&A and Proactis Invoice Capture to replace its existing systems.

The council is to move its finance systems to the cloud, which will enable it to retire elements of its in-house IT infrastructure and reduce the reliance on internal IT teams that currently supports the business.

Internal staff will now have the time to invest in more strategic tasks. Additionally, the FP&A solution will enable the finance team to spend less time generating reports and more time analysing and acting upon insights. The cloud solution is underpinned by the Unit4 micros services architecture, which means that keeping integrations between applications will become easier to maintain, and ensures that data flows between different systems are maintained and there is a consistency of information across the council’s systems.

“Unit4’s credibility in the public sector, coupled with a really positive engagement experience has cemented the ‘trusted partner’ approach we are taking,” said Asad Mushtaq, director of finance, St Helens Council. “We have collaborated closely to determine the resources and skills required to implement a successful project and, as we do so, we are very excited about our future and delivering even more efficient services for our residents.”

Unit4 will deliver enhancements to both employees and residents within the borough. The council will also benefit from automation to reduce the time spent on administrative tasks and increase productivity and reduce costs; integrated asset tracking with accounting, procurement and other financial functions for full financial control and visibility; improved control to drive efficiencies throughout the entire procurement process; increased speed and accuracy in planning; and deeper insight into operational and financial information for informed decision-making

“We are delighted to welcome St Helens Borough Council as a new customer, and partner with them as they transform their back-office finance and business applications,” said Chris Richards, Regional President, UKI, Unit4. “Public Sector is about reputation – a safe pair of hands – and, as Unit4 continues its growth in this sector, we have already demonstrated that we deliver a great customer experience in the local authority space.”