Capgemini’s t-Government Solution Helps Organizations Transform and Thrive

The need for transparency is one of the biggest challenges faced by local governments. Both citizens and central governments want greater transparency into the services local governments deliver, as well as insight into their value. Furthermore, these services also should be provided in a more personalized, integrated, and effective manner. Local governments have a clear need for more-efficient operational strategies, including shared services. A growing number of forward-thinking city councils are looking for ways to improve their existing corporate IT systems to better meet public demands. Oracle Platinum Partner Capgemini is helping its public sector customers in the U.K. achieve these objectives with its Transformational Government Delivery Portfolio (t-Gov) solution. The company recently won the 2010 Oracle Partner Network Partner Specialization Award for the Industry Partner of the Year in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Calum Macleod, head of Local Government U.K., Capgemini, says, “IT is one of the first areas in the public sector where scrutiny is now being applied, so there has to be a clear justification for every pound spent on IT. This means that our IT projects in local government no longer just have to run to plan and to budget, but must also deliver the benefits expected so that councils can bank the savings they expect each financial year. ”

Shared services involves centralizing corporate functions once performed in separate divisions or locations, such as customer services, finance, purchasing, payroll, and human resources. Implementing shared services can lead to significant cost savings, better efficiency, improved service delivery, and greater economies of scale. While already common in private industry, shared services are now beginning to progress across the U.K. local public sector. The focus is on flexible arrangements, so councils are teaming up with other councils or other local public sector providers, in order to provide a platform for shared services.

Capgemini’s t-Gov offers a phased approach to deliver performance improvement in corporate services and is aligned to world-class benchmarks in the public and private sectors. It combines proven leading practice processes, accelerated delivery, and business transformation services to drive through sustainable efficiency improvements. Using Oracle Business Accelerators, Capgemini is helping clients to accelerate the deployment of Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Business Intelligence, and Oracle Fusion Middleware. Paul Luckett, head of Oracle, Capgemini U.K., says, “All local governments have some unique processes or legacy systems. We first understand the challenges in the organization, and then provide them with benchmark levels and business process consultancy to address their specific requirements.”

The use of external benchmarks from the private sector to evaluate back-office processes is a critical component of t-Gov. Luckett says, “That way, we know that the processes we are delivering to customers are best-in-class.” When public sector organizations implement best-in-class processes and use standard applications in the back office rather than customized or legacy systems, they are much better prepared to move to a shared services environment where they are required to share back-office operations and work more closely with other local authorities.

He adds, “Our template solutions actually fit 80 percent of local government requirements in the U.K.—out of the box. We can accelerate the build, which reduces upfront capital costs.” He adds, “And by having a standard solution for preconfigured services, we create something that is upgradable, so total cost of ownership going forward remains relatively low.”

Capgemini’s close relationship with Oracle is also helping attract interest in t-Gov beyond the local government niche. Luckett says, “We’re working with Oracle to move into some new markets where t Gov back office processes could be repurposed for different industries, especially where the back-office function needs to be commoditized.” The company is also looking to repurpose the solution and expand to other countries beyond the U.K., in particular the Netherlands.

Capgemini is set to continue its growth and success by achieving Oracle PartnerNetwork Specialized status for Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Business Intelligence, Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle Hyperion solutions, and Oracle Policy Automation by the end of 2010.

Luckett says, “Being a Specialized partner of Oracle is valuable for Capgemini and for our employees, but more importantly it adds value for customers, so they know they are getting a certain standard when they choose to engage with an Oracle partner.”