London Fire Brigade has deployed a new cloud-based finance and procurement platform developed with SAP and excelerated, designed to automate purchasing, strengthen financial controls and free firefighters from administrative tasks.
London Fire Brigade has moved its finance and procurement operations to the SAP public cloud in a major overhaul designed to cut administrative workloads, automate purchasing and strengthen financial controls across more than 100 fire stations.
The deployment, delivered by SAP and excelerated, will give firefighters greater control over equipment purchasing while streamlining financial operations for an organisation employing more than 6,000 people.
SAP was selected in close collaboration with excelerated, a global finance, procurement and supply chain transformation consultancy, which is providing both short and long-term operational and implementation services.
With more than 6,000 employees and over 100 stations across the city, the Brigade required a modern, scalable finance and procurement platform that will drive organisational efficiencies and deliver robust control of income and expenditure.
As part of a five-year managed service, London Fire Brigade has implemented a host of SAP solutions, including SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance, SAP Analytics Cloud and excelerated’s invoice processing application Intelligent Invoice Express.
This portfolio will enable firefighters to have greater autonomy and ownership of kit and equipment purchasing, while enabling the Brigade’s finance team to capture and register invoices in one application for verification, validation and efficient processing.
This partnership will reimagine how LFB’s finance and procurement systems operate, following a ‘fit-to-standard’ principle that will drive automation, minimise customisations and support the organisation to be resilient to future service demands.
Catharine Gregory, Assistant Director of Finance, London Fire Brigade, said: “This is the culmination of years of planning to find the right transformation partner. We wanted a trusted organisation with proven experience in public sector innovation, that would support our drive to deliver positive outcomes to Londoners through technology. Our partnership will have an immediate impact, freeing up valuable time for firefighters to focus on serving our communities, while allowing our finance teams to focus on adding real value to the future of the organisation.”
Co-sponsor of the Project at London Fire Brigade, David Rowell, Assistant Director of Procurement and Commercial, said: “The collaboration with all parties across all stages of this project has been a critical success factor. I warmly welcome the improved purchasing experience that our colleagues across the organisation will experience going forward to set them up for maximum success in meeting their requirements.”
Craig Mill, Head of Public Sector, SAP UKI, said: “This cloud migration and modernised technology platform will transform back-office functions and enable the organisation to be more efficient, agile to change and deliver exceptional services for many years to come.”
Craig Brawn, Head of ERP, excelerated, said: “Along with SAP, we are delivering real impact and improving how London Fire Brigade operates. The institution will benefit from the speed, security and reliability of modern ERP processes, as well as twice yearly upgrades and new system functionalities as they are released, whether that’s AI or in data analytics. We are also enabling our key emergency services personnel to do what they do best with smart, efficient operational support.”
