Aberdeenshire Council pioneers cost reduction in software licensing

BASINGSTOKE, U.K. - Oct. 15, 2015 - PRLog -- Aberdeenshire Council has implemented new technology and analysis methods from The Business Software Centre Ltd, to measure and improve their software licensing efficiency. Utilising research and methods developed by University of Portsmouth and The Business Software Centre Ltd, the council is implementing a continuous improvement process to identify and cut the cost of unused software and associated services.

Recent research by staff from University of Portsmouth and The Business Software Centre reveals that across the UK councils waste around £168millinon every year on unused software and services. Professor Ashraf Labib from Portsmouth University commented “Put simply, most councils are spending more on software licenses than they need because they have no way of knowing who is using what and, as a result, most are over-estimating how much they have to pay.”

Aberdeenshire Council manages IT services including software contracts for up to 5,000 council computer users and over 40,000 educational users. The council aims to get value for money from their investments in information technology whilst providing the services that their employees need to do their jobs effectively. The adoption of best practices and benchmarking in Aberdeenshire council is key to the drive for efficiency within the IT function.

Craig Morton, ICT Change Manager at Aberdeenshire Council, commented “As a public sector organisation we have a responsibility to ensure that we get maximum value from our ICT spend. Being able to measure  our software licensing efficiency and implement best practices is critical in ensuring that we have a continuous improvement in reducing costs and improving our return on investment. The Business Software Centre has implemented their technology which shows us at a glance how efficiently we are using our software and where we can reduce waste. By benchmarking and implementing best practices we hope to become the leading council in Scotland for ensuring we maximise our software usage efficiency”.

The Business Software Centre specialises in helping their customers improve software licensing efficiency, their Managing Director, Phil Hames, agreed “Aberdeenshire Council is far ahead of most public sector organisations in recognising that efficiency doesn’t just happen by itself. The first step is to measure how efficient you are currently using your software and then use best practices to make improvements. Having regular reports on how your efficiency levels improve is vital in implementing continuous improvements. In essence if you can’t measure your efficiency levels you can’t improve them. Our technology automatically calculates this and clearly displays the efficiency rating against similar organisations by using an internationally recognised standard. Other councils and public sector organisations can get efficiency savings by learning from what Aberdeenshire Council is doing”.