East Riding of Yorkshire Council selects Unit4 ERPx, FP&A and Embridge Consulting for finance transformation

ArticleJune 20262 min

Unit4, a leader in enterprise cloud applications for people-centric organisations, today announced that East Riding of Yorkshire Council will move to Unit4 ERPx, its next-generation, cloud-native Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Together with the adoption of Unit4 FP&A (Financial Planning & Analysis) this decision is critical to the Council’s Finance of the Future transformation programme designed to remove complex legacy business applications and improve transparency and governance, while reducing infrastructure dependency. Embridge Consulting, Unit4’s UK Public Sector go-to-market partner, will lead the implementation as East Riding recognises success depends on organisational change alongside modernisation of core business processes.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is one of the largest unitary authorities in England by land mass with a population of approximately 342,000. It is a largely rural area split into 26 wards and is the largest employer in the area with over 10,000 staff delivering more than 600 services including education, social care, housing, highways, planning and environmental services. Unit4 ERPx and Unit4 FP&A were chosen because these Cloud-based applications provide a modern, flexible platform to redesign and simplify financial structures, rather than replicate historic complexity. By adopting Unit4’s pre-configured packages and testing and iterative design, East Riding of Yorkshire Council will be able to develop a scalable, futureproof platform to support controlled transformation, improve data validation and move away from bespoke, heavily customised finance systems.

By selecting Unit4, the Council will also benefit from:

Fewer manual workarounds due to more intuitive, automated processes which support the Council’s vision for on-going transformation
Less employees reliant on the finance team to provide information thanks to self-service reporting
A single secure source of all relevant organisational data to enable real-time availability of information and insights
Improvements in the accuracy and transparency of financial planning cycles, and enhanced graphical visualisations and dashboards.

Embridge Consulting will lead the implementation using its Business Transformation as a Service [BTaaS] delivery model, part of its Expandable Services approach within Elastic Change. Combining deep sector expertise, Excellence in Technology and Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, Embridge will help the Council deliver change in manageable stages while redesigning its financial operating model, including the chart of accounts, reporting structures and data model.

Moving to the Cloud is a significant step in modernising our finance systems and supporting the council’s wider transformation ambitions. “By implementing Unit4 ERPx and Unit4 FP&A, we will have a flexible, integrated and data-driven platform that improves transparency, strengthens financial management and provides greater confidence in financial reporting. This investment will help reduce manual administration, improve efficiency and allow staff to spend less time processing information and more time supporting services. Ultimately, it will help the council make the best use of taxpayers’ money and ensure resources are focused on delivering the services residents rely on.

Paul Simpson, Interim Executive Director of Corporate Resources, East Riding of Yorkshire Council

We are looking forward to working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council which has clearly understood the benefits of moving to the Cloud. With policy around local Government reform in flux it would not be surprising for local authorities to postpone key decisions for IT modernisation, but East Riding of Yorkshire Council shows the importance of prioritising transformation strategies. The move to Unit4 ERPx and Unit4 FP&A will enable much more than simply adopting next-generation finance systems, it will help give employees back time to serve the public.

Christoffer Crona, SVP Global Sales Public Sector, Unit4

Moving to the Cloud is not just a technology change. It requires organisational change, modernised processes and emotionally intelligent leadership to help people evolve with confidence. Through our Elastic Change approach, we’ll support East Riding of Yorkshire Council with clear milestones and expandable services that help deliver tangible progress in manageable stages, while making effective use of resources.

Daniel Chilton, Chief Experience Officer, Embridge Consulting

For more information on how we serve the public sector, visit Public Sector Digital Transformation or click for more information about the East Riding of Yorkshire Council or Unit4.