Overview
Our client is one of the UK's largest and most diverse local councils, providing a broad range of services across the city, from educating the city's children and providing adult social care to housing support, public health and street cleansing. To continue to provide high levels of service to both citizens and staff, the council decided to embark on an ERP modernization journey with HCLTech and replace their existing on-prem legacy ERP solution with a cloud-based SAP Software as a Service (SaaS) product.
The Challenge
An aging legacy ERP and the need for a modern, cloud-based platform for growth
Rapidly growing and serving a diverse constituency, the council faced a challenge common in the sector. Due to the cost and complexity involved, their heavily customized on-prem legacy system had not been updated or modified to take account of new requirements for some time. This had left them saddled with a clunky system that was:
- Increasingly expensive to maintain and support
- Lacked access to innovative technology, such as new data and analytics solutions
- Relied on manual workarounds and processes, with an outdated user experience
The Objective
A "future-proof" platform to support growth plans with speed and agility
The council needed a "future-proof" platform able to support the council's plans for growth with speed and agility. The system needed to be adaptive, easy to use and deliver a fast time-to-value. Importantly, the council expected to use out-of-the-box functionality and implement the system "as standard" as much as possible.
The council decided that a cloud-based solution following the key principle of “adopting the technology, not adapting for localised requirements” would be the most cost-effective path forward.
The cloud-based SaaS solution needed to deliver:
- Self-service for most functions and transactions — a wholesale channel shift for council employees and managers
- Quality data and the right structures to enable the transformation of back-office functions across Human Resources and Finance
- Increased efficiency by allowing the council to redirect staff currently engaged in manual and transactional tasks to focus on more value-adding activities
The Solution
Implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud GROW with SAP
The council considered both integrated ERP systems and 'Best of Breed' (BoB) systems. During the procurement process, several potential solutions were identified and evaluated. HCLTech demonstrated that SAP had an integrated ERP solution that could deliver the council’s requirements and eliminate the need for — and risks associated with — creating something from separate BoB components.
As a result, the council decided to implement SAP S/4HANA Cloud GROW with SAP.
Their choice was driven by:
- Alignment of the SAP Intelligent Enterprise vision with council goals
- Breadth and depth of the SAP solution
- Proven migration path for their existing Payroll solution to the SAP SaaS solution.
- Focus on client experience so that staff are motivated to adopt the changes introduced with the new system
Why HCLTech?
Strong public sector track record and client-centric approach
The council wanted a long-term partner who could help them achieve the best possible outcomes — and not just a solution implementer. They also needed certainty that the solution was a strong fit — and that the partner could deliver. This meant choosing a partner with deep experience in the sector who could bring an innovative approach to meeting the requirements and particular challenges faced by local authorities.
HCLTech's track record of successfully delivering similar projects to local government authorities and our demonstrated "relationship beyond the contract" approach to long-term client relationship management, were key to our being chosen for this partnership.
Other differentiators included our:
- Client-centric approach and ability to prioritize user needs and feedback
- Track record of successful SAP S/4HANA and SuccessFactors implementations in the public sector
- Close relationship with SAP
- Demonstrable approach to governing the project and adhering to the "adopt, not adapt" principle
- Cultural alignment, including a strong commitment to the council’s social value and sustainability objectives and goals
