Hitachi Consulting UK Enables UKAS to Drive Efficiencies

Aug. 2, 2010 - PRLog -- LONDON, UK Hitachi Consulting UK today announced that it is helping the United Kingdom Accreditation Service Ltd. (UKAS) to overhaul its current internal system and processes by implementing a new software solution, run on a Microsoft Dynamics® AX platform, to support operational requirements around the accreditation process and specific back-office finance and human resource management functions. ‘Project Evolution’ is expected to help UKAS meet its key objectives to drive greater efficiencies, improving its business processes, to facilitate the company’s delivery of higher quality services to its customers today, and as the business grows.

UKAS is the sole national accreditation body recognised by Government to assess against internationally agreed standards, organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services. Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators. UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company, limited by guarantee.

The overall process for the assessment and accreditation of organisations carrying out testing, calibration, inspection, certification, reference material production, proficiency testing and other types of evaluation has been in place for a number of years. During that time, there have been modifications and improvement made to the processes in order to enhance the customer experience and improve operational efficiency. UKAS has identified that investment in its internal systems is required as the company grows and seeks to better serve its customers.

“’Project Evolution’ has been initiated to help enable these process simplifications to be realised and also deliver greater integration of UKAS’s business processes to improve our customer experience,” said Alan Hill, Finance Director, UKAS. “These improvements will be delivered through the implementation of this new ERP system with the help of experienced consultants from Hitachi Consulting UK, who understand not just the Dynamics product, but Best Practice processes to help ensure a successful implementation which is expected to meet our key objectives.”

Following a comprehensive selection process, UKAS chose Microsoft Dynamics AX as its platform and awarded the implementation project to Hitachi Consulting UK. UKAS was impressed by the calibre of the consulting team and one of the main reasons for selecting Hitachi Consulting UK was their ability to quickly understand the company’s complex business requirements and internal infrastructure, providing not just technical competency and experience, but knowledge gleaned from successfully completed client implementations such as the Met Office. The use and articulation of Hitachi Consulting UK’s Dynamics AX Delivery methodology, known as ’Consensus, ‘ helps Hitachi Consulting UK to achieve significantly reduced risk, delivery times and cost.

The business benefits that are expected to be realised from the roll-out of the Microsoft Dynamics solution include:

o Improved responsiveness; faster more efficient audit cycles
o Improved automation; increased efficiency, UKAS resources can be allocated to other key tasks
o A scalable platform for future business growth
o Business efficiency; increased visibility of processes and methodologies
o Improved customer service and quality delivery

Hitachi Consulting’s consultants are currently implementing the solution at UKAS’ headquarters in Feltham, London. Hitachi Consulting will also be providing UKAS with managed services support on completion of the project.


About Hitachi Consulting Corporation
As Hitachi, Ltd.'s  global consulting company, with operations in the United States, Europe and Asia, Hitachi Consulting is a recognized leader in delivering proven business and IT strategies and solutions to Global 2000 companies across many industries. With a balanced view of strategy, people, process and technology, we work with companies to understand their unique business needs, and to develop and implement practical business strategies and technology solutions. From business strategy development through application deployment, our consultants are committed to helping clients quickly realize measurable business value and achieve sustainable ROI.
Hitachi Consulting's client base includes 25 percent of the Global 100 as well as many leading mid-market companies. We offer a client-focused, collaborative approach and transfer knowledge throughout each engagement. For more information visit www.hitachiconsulting.com

About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE- HIT / TSE- 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2009 (ended March 31, 2010) consolidated revenues totaled 8,968 billion yen ($96.4 billion). Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

About Hitachi Europe Ltd.
Hitachi Europe Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., Japan. Headquartered in Maidenhead, UK, it has operations in 11 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and employs approximately 460 people.
Hitachi Europe comprises of nine business areas: air conditioning and refrigeration systems; digital media and consumer products; display products; industrial components and equipment; manufacturing systems; information systems; power and industrial systems; power devices and procurement and sourcing. Hitachi Europe also has three Research and Development laboratories and a Design Centre. For more information about the company, please visit http://www.hitachi.eu.
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Hitachiuk

About UKAS
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national body recognised by government to assess evaluating organisations to international standards. UKAS operates under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and is a non-profit-distributing company limited by guarantee. UKAS accreditation involves assessment and verification (against international standards) of certification, inspection, testing and calibration activities. UKAS employs over 300 assessors and technical experts, and has over 40 years’ experience.
The accreditation process determines, in the public interest, the technical competence and integrity of organisations offering testing, inspection, calibration and certification services (collectively known as evaluation services or conformity assessment services). For more information about UKAS or accreditation, call 020 8917 8400 or visit www.ukas.com

For further information, please contact:
Vanessa Land
Devonshire Marketing
Tel: 0870 242 7469
Email: vanessa[at]devonshiremarketing[dot]com

Distributed on behalf of Hitachi Consulting by NeonDrum news distribution service (http://www.neondrum.com)

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