Cost-Effective Innovation in the Public Sector

You only have to read the papers or watch the news to know that the public sector is under intense scrutiny when it comes to budgets. So, for businesses in this industry, the magic word is efficiency – you need highly cost-effective solutions to manage day-to-day activities. 

“There is a demand to drive down cost but also to create a fit-for-purpose IT estate that meets the demands of the organisation today and in the future,” says SAP Concur Specialist for Public Sector, Karl Seward.

“With a changing workforce full of employees demanding more efficient ways to work, the public sector needs to embrace automation and offer mobile systems that are easy to use so employees can focus on their core responsibilities and not heavy admin tasks.”

What 2018 Trends Mean for the Public Sector
Inevitably, one of the hottest topics is the impact of Brexit. There’s some concerns about funding levels after 2020, as well as existing relationships with European partners – how will cyber security and the sharing of data be affected?

Shorter term, there are changes in the digital landscape too, with a blurring of boundaries between public and private sectors.

Conversations around software that drives cost-effectiveness and productivity, show that cloud-based technology could be what the public sector needs. And there’s a lot of promise for technology to improve relationships between internal departments and private suppliers. 

Manage Tight Budgets More Effectively 
Public sector businesses are under monumental pressure to effectively manage budgets and tackle challenges in a way that improves the sustainability of the economy, both locally and nationally. A huge challenge.

While the Spring Statement for the 2018 budget has shown that GPD is growing, the UK still has a target to reduce deficits, so any increase in public sector budgets is highly unlikely. That means, for now, it’s all about cost efficiency. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Deloitte’s recent research, “A Government Perspective: Tech Trends 2018”, shines the spotlight on tech trends around governmental strategy and operations. A key theme in all this is ‘The symphonic enterprise’ – a fancy term for describing a way of working that integrates strategy, technology and operations across boundaries (whether departmental or geographical). 

Basically, the more interconnected your strategy, technology and operations, the more efficient you’ll be. And that’s exactly the premise behind SAP Concur solutions – combining all aspects of spend management, compliance and reporting to give you full visibility, so money can be spent wisely. 

Harness the Power of the Cloud
While new technology offers better ways of working, integration with older systems can be a struggle. Given how restricted budgets are in this sector, investing in updating all systems to improve one or two just isn’t top of the list. That’s where the beauty of the cloud comes in (and why SAP Concur solutions are cloud-based). 

“SAP Concur can be implemented in as little as three months with minimal input from system integrators,” says Karl Seward. “It integrates with all major finance and HR systems, which makes it ideal to prove the benefits of cloud applications and to quickly unlock hard cash savings.”

“Optimised for mobile and desktop use, employees can quickly request budget, manage invoices, book travel or submit and approve expenses. With this improved productivity comes improved visibility to the public sector save money in a variety of areas.”
    
If controlling costs, improving productivity and embracing innovation is on your agenda, ask yourself – are you ready to act? 

Visit our website to learn more about SAP Concur in the public sector