Action concentrated on proposed changes to pension schemes, yet the sentiment associated with the strike seemed to draw on wider themes – the UK economy is struggling, conditions are only going to get tougher and public sector bodies must get a grip on spending.

Executives faced with making spending decisions face a tough job. On the one hand, citizens require a set of services that continue to meet their needs, particularly at a time when economic constraint means demands for support are likely to increase.

On the other hand, continued pressure from the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) means that the public sector must prove value for money and demonstrate means to reduce spending. The CSR will lead to an £81 billion cut in public spending between now and 2014/15, with average departmental cuts of 19% (see further reading, below).

Spending visibility can only be gained through the implementation of the right technologies. Public sector bodies will not be able to keep procurement in check if they do not have the right level of awareness about how much is being spent by different departments and on what.

And so now is the time to invest in budgeting, forecasting, planning and analytical technologies that will provide transparency into how public sector cash is being spent. Certain bodies are already investing in these technologies as a means to deliver greater spending transparency and to help cut costs.

Cheshire West and Chester Council is implementing a budget monitoring and forecasting system from Advanced Business Solutions to enable £500,000 cost savings during the next three years (see further reading). The system will go live in 2012 and is being integrated into the Council’s existing Oracle system to enable the quick download of data.

Such integrated use of technology creates a single version of the truth, enabling better-informed spending decisions. Trying to make serious spending cuts without such technologies in place is akin to trying to climb Mount Everest in a pair of slippers.

Further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spending_Review

http://www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/abs//news/cheshire-west-and-chester-council.php

http://www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/abs/resources/pdf/AdvBS216_FS_spend_analytics.pdf

Public sector bodies need to get a grip on spend is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

You’ve heard all about the cloud and how utility-based technology can help you save money through the purchasing of on-demand technology. But that’s a large-scale transformation project which requires much thought and buy-in. What about smaller technology investments that reduce process variability while cutting time-consuming and costly manual processes?

By automating your procure-to-pay (P2P) cycle, you can produce quick business benefits for a relatively small investment. You might not want to pay for a fully-automated procurement process, but you cannot afford to scrimp and save on P2P.

Automating P2P is inherently cost-effective, meaning justification fears around return on investment are reduced. Automating P2P will always produce benefits and help your organisation to remove time-consuming administration in a cost-conscious climate.

Automation means that the business impact of purchasing is reduced because goods and services can be procured quicker and therefore more cost effectively. Take Gloucester City Council, which has cut the time taken to procure an item by 75% – imagine what your business could do with such time savings!

Procurement automation also delivers greater control over spending by eliminating  maverick purchasing. An automated record of orders, approvals and payments ensures financial visibility and errant activities can be monitored and stamped out quickly.

In addition, the electronic capture of information encourages smarter decision making and reduces costs. A sensible combination of electronic communication and automated procurement processing can produce as much as a 75% reduction in requisition processing costs and an 80% cut in central processing costs.

Cost savings can also be achieved as a result of rationalising suppliers down to one or two key suppliers of each main product/service, thereby taking advantage of greater efficiencies of scale. An automated approach is more able to identify key suppliers, bring about supplier rationalisation and ensure only approved suppliers are used across the organisation.

Finally, procurement automation can help your organisation deal with the increasing regulatory bind associated with corporate governance. Manual processes are inherently error-prone and open to abuse. Moving towards automation can ensure procurement is carefully managed and the risk of fraud is reduced.

So automation of procurement can produce big wins for the business. Moving to new automated processes is never an easy decision, especially when the cost of implementing new technology is hard to justify. However, the business benefits should reassure you that this is a move that would be worth every penny!

Top reasons for automating procurement is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Many different people are often responsible for a range of relationships with a series of suppliers. Managing that level of engagement can be an incredibly complicated task.

The focus on procurement has heightened considerably during the trying economic conditions of the past two years. Executives, particularly within the public sector, are under greater pressure to cut costs across their organisations which has encouraged them to scrutinise their procurement processes more closely.

What many organisations have discovered is that the tools to undertake such an analysis are often lacking. Procurement spending stayed flat through 2009, according to researcher Forrester (see further reading, below), just as the recession began to bite.

The lack of clarity became apparent in 2010, as analyst Aberdeen Group reported that as much as 21% of business leaders listed a lack of visibility into enterprise purchasing as one of their key concerns. But what also became evident is that the only way to address such procurement process concerns is through technology.

Proof comes in the form of research from Forrester which shows that sales in procurement systems grew by 12% last year and are due to grow by a similar amount through 2011. Business, then, has woken up to the fact that procurement is a priority. To fulfil this increased demand, we have recently formed a strategic partnership with specialist e-procurement solutions provider, Science Warehouse. As a result, many of our customers are enjoying enhanced visibility of spend and greater financial control over their purchasing processes.

Spending money to save money might seem a contradiction. But a relatively small, up-front investment will pay dividends in the long term. Implementing systems that provide in-depth spend analysis make it so much easier to identify potential cost savings before the money has been spent. This can result in annual procurement savings in excess of 10%.

Sometimes, you really do have to spend money to save money – and procurement technology shows how the right investment in a crucial area can tighten processes and cut costs.

Further reading:

http://www.cpoagenda.com/current-issue/features/technologically-speaking/

Streamlining procurement processes is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

After factoring in grants from central government, local government can expect to see a 26% overall decrease in funding across the next four years (see further reading, below). The effects will be felt everywhere, whether at the broader administrative level or at the individual point of the household.

Consultant KPMG has gone as far as to warn that local authorities and a number of companies in the government supply chain could be bankrupt within four years  (see further reading). Such concern means that smarter procurement and having the right systems in place to enable intelligent purchasing, have never been more significant.

Rather than knee-jerk cuts, organisations must manage transformation in a systematic manner. Smart leaders need to concentrate on technologies in four key areas to help deliver cost-effective and efficient procurement – analytics, sourcing, requisitioning and invoicing.

Spend analytics will enable procurement professionals to identify direct cost savings and crucial process improvements. By using metrics, measures and reports, officials can ensure that best practice is followed and value is derived from continued areas of public investment.

Electronic sourcing makes the most of web-based collaboration tools. Across tendering and auctioning, e-sourcing will help government professionals to utilise the best and most competitive suppliers across the procurement lifecycle.

Electronic requisitioning and invoicing solutions help the public sector to streamline the purchase-to-pay (P2P) cycle from the electronic creation and approval of purchase orders through to the imaging, electronic approval and reconciliation of invoices, providing further procurement control whilst ensuring purchase-to-pay efficiency. With automated P2P solutions, controls are in place to ensure invoices are paid within the suppliers’ payment terms, thereby avoiding late payment penalties.

Whatever happens and whatever cuts are made, local authorities are likely to remain under continued scrutiny. Already they have been called to report to government in early December about their progress on savings and reforms (see further reading).

One of the only possible solutions to the public sector spending cuts is that local government officials roll-out the use of smarter procurement strategies underpinned by intelligent procurement technologies to achieve the deep public sector spending cuts required of them. Those that procure smartly will survive the dark years ahead without dramatically impacting the quality of front line services.

Further reading:

http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=92640

http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37411:councils-face-collapse-kpmg-warns&catid=83:economic-development&Itemid=1021

http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=14521

Smarter procurement to achieve public spending cuts is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Rather than the all-encompassing strategy of the NPfIT, the new decentralised approach will give greater opportunities to medium-sized and smaller IT players (see further reading, below). The hope is that these nimble providers will be able to succeed where some of the larger suppliers on multi-million pound contracts have failed.

There are many reasons why the big players tended to dominate the original programme, and public sector procurement more generally. Industry experts recognise that certain larger players have a market monopoly (see further reading).
 
Existing NPfIT procurement arrangements have created an approved list that tends to limit government departments to procure products from certain suppliers (see further reading ‘ukprocurement.com’). The tendering process is expensive and few companies can go down the road of taking on the detailed demands of bidding for government IT work, while also recognising the financial risk of failure.
 
Of all the initiatives, the National IT Programme has favoured the large providers most – and in many cases the NPfIT has simply demonstrated that big players also bring significant cost, ongoing maintenance and slower delivery.
 
The hope is that the changes will lead to more opportunities for IT providers at a local level. More to the point, an open market could lead to opportunities for smarter and more flexible IT providers.

Modern business IT is all about drawing on a range of providers to suit organisational requirements. It is the smaller, nimble firms that will be able to meet such demands and are driving IT innovation. The smaller IT companies are also more able to provide flexibility and speedier delivery. And this has to be the diagnosis for a healthy NHS IT programme.
  
Further reading
 
http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/editors-blog/2010/09/nhs-national-programme-for-it.html
 
http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn/news/2270142/nhs-reforms-benefit-smaller
 
http://ukprocurement.com/tendering-guide/the-tender-process/bidding-for-smaller-public-sector-contracts/approved-suppliers-list.php

The Scrapping of the NHS National Programme for IT – every cloud…. is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Here we share some of our favourite industry blogs, and explain why.

• Taking Stock

Taking Stock is a well-read blog from the people over at Accountancy Age. Expect plenty of “Gags and Gossip” from this popular site.

• CIMA

This blog from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and includes comment and analysis on key industry issues. Last month, CIMA also offered members the opportunity to blog on CIMAsphere,

• AccMan

Here, Dennis Howlett, industry veteran and prolific blogger, gives his views on the major issues of the day, providing comment on everything from SAP to Sage. The latest addition to the blog is AccMan TV, live streaming from the man himself – what more could we ask for?

• Telegraph.co.uk

Tracy Corrigan is a columnist and assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph, focussing mainly on business and finance. Her regularly-updated blog takes a thought-provoking stance on interesting stories hitting the headlines in the UK and across the world.

• AccountingWeb

The A-Team Blog is from the team behind AccountingWEB.co.uk, providing topical news and insights on a range of issues relevant to accountants and accounting professionals. Definitely worth a read!

A list of our favourite HR and payroll blogs will follow soon….

Top of the blogs…. is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

As outlined in the previous blog posting, the UK government has created guidelines to help public sector organisations pay their contractors in a timely fashion – and those guidelines just got tougher.

Following the recent budget announcement, all central government departments are now required to pay 80% of all undisputed invoices within five days (see further reading, below). The target – although tight and considerably less than the standard invoice terms of 30 days – is more than achievable.

The success of certain trailblazing authorities shows that the target can become a means for ensuring public sector best practice, helping to smooth interaction and collaboration between councils and contractors. The key to achieving such best practice is automation.

More than just a nice-to-have objective, all 22 central government departments will be required to collate and report five-day payment performance from May 2010.

Central government organisations will also be expected to explore the option of moving to immediate payment through electronic invoicing for all suppliers. Such aims create a strong business case for government organisations that are wishing to implement electronic purchase-to-pay (P2P) processes.

Without automation, there is simply no way that public sector bodies will be able to meet ever-reducing payment targets. The onus, then, is on public sector FDs and IT leaders to automate timely payment – and there are a host of available technologies that can help push such a transformation.

Scanning purchase invoices and capturing the invoice data electronically can significantly reduce the time associated with manual processing. The documents held electronically can then be circulated quickly for authorisation and retrieved as required, allowing swift approval and high purchase-to-pay efficiency.

Such automation highlights how there really is no excuse for public sector organisations failing to demonstrate sympathy with wider government payment objectives. Faster, automated payments will help your organisation prove it is one step ahead of equivalent organisations in the enterprise sector.

And more than just a means to faster payment in a recession, automated P2P systems will help your organisation work more effectively and productively in the long term.

Further reading

http://www.ogc.gov.uk/whats_new_budget_2010.asp

Automate to achieve the government’s five day payment target is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Large businesses, smaller firms and single contractors all innovate to speculate; they use the cash they earn to create new opportunities. Late payments create cash flow concerns that lead to a range of problems.

A reduced cash flow makes it harder to bid for new and upcoming work. And at a time of constrained economic conditions, a lack of incoming cash can make the difference between life and death – particularly for a small business.

Thankfully, the UK government recognises the concerns. Legislation is helping to ensure public sector organisations pay their suppliers in a timely fashion.

In late 2008, the government set out new guidelines that urged local authorities to settle invoices within 10 days and keep cash flow moving during the recession (see further reading, below).

The guidelines have helped cut payment times, but their implementation is far from the end of the story. Research from the Forum of Private Business (FPB) towards the end of last year revealed a tale of considerable differences in payment times (see further reading).

While some authorities settle more than 90% of their bills in ten days or less, other councils appear oblivious to the 10-day target. Overall, the average time local authorities take to pay invoices is almost double the 10-day target.

So much, then, for meeting the government’s aim of speeding up the cash flow to small suppliers. But there is a significant glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel.

Success at trailblazer organisations has caused the government to return again to payment terms. These trailblazers make best use of available technology to ensure that payment terms are kept as tight as possible.

More than just a means of ensuring contractor survival, pressure on meeting the terms means firms that have taken advantage of electronic purchase-to-pay systems, including eProcurement, document management and workflow technologies, are best-placed to meet government guidelines.

And with more public sector guidelines recently unveiled (see next blog), FDs and IT leaders would be well advised to take a long, hard look at electronic procure-to-pay technologies.

Further reading

http://www.bis.gov.uk/about/procurement/prompt-payment/guidance-for-public-sector-organisations

http://www.ccrmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2116

Prompt payment and the need for electronic purchase-to-pay systems is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

The main surprise of the project was that the level of adoption of Source to Pay automation is so low – and this was the case across both the Public and Private sectors (we had always assumed that the Public Sector was more advanced).  The survey showed 47% of the organisations have little or no automation and 72% are still manually processing documents!

In these current times, where organisations are looking to reduce costs and improve processes, we find it surprising that more organisations aren’t looking to automate procurement processes to capitalise on the benefits available.

The other area of interest was in the green agenda.  Whilst 69% of organisations thought that automating the procurement process could help organisations with their green strategies, we can’t help feeling that 80% of green effort is about saving money and 20% is about saving the planet.  Perhaps it really will need regulation and legislation from a higher authority to get this further up corporate agendas.

As we move through 2009 we will be running a series of events and workshops to help our users understand where they can control costs, improve processes and prove return on investment.  Automating Source to Pay remains an area where real cashable savings can be achieved.

Making sense of Source to Pay is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment