London School of Economics transforms its financial processes ahead of the new academic year

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has implemented  TechnologyOne’s enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, transforming its core financial processes ahead of the new academic year (2019/20).

The go live with TechnologyOne’s Financials software this week is part of an ongoing transformational programme the university is undertaking to streamline, standardise and automate processes, and support a more mobile workforce.

As such to the 4,000 LSE staff this will represent a smaller desktop footprint, with any time anywhere access via the TechnologyOne SaaS platform. 

The 19,000 students studying at the school, will also have access to a single portal that will enhance their experience at LSE.

The 120 year-old university chose to replace its disparate legacy finance systems with TechnologyOne’s integrated enterprise finance solution last year, after a comprehensive tender process.

Mike Ferguson, Director of Finance at LSE, said TechnologyOne’s software “is now enabling the university to modernise and automate the way that it handles its financial operations”.

“The launch of our OneFinance project represents a transition to a modern, responsive, user-friendly financial system. It will reduce time spent completing transactional tasks, allowing time to focus on core research, teaching and professional service activities. It will also offer enhancements to the way in which students view and pay their fees.

“For us, it was an easy decision to partner with TechnologyOne, because they were the only supplier who could deliver a truly innovative, integrated enterprise SaaS solution.

“By being available any time, anywhere and on any device, it has enabled us to create an environment that allows efficient and modern ways of working for our people, freeing staff up to work on more value-added activities for the university.

“We previously had a large number of disparate legacy systems, with many integrations and user interfaces that needed regular, time consuming and costly maintenance. We also had too many paper-based and manual processes.

“The next stage will be to implement TechnologyOne’s Research Management solution to support our diverse research activity and internationally renowned researchers who create world-leading publications and impact.” Mr Ferguson added.

Anwen Robinson, Operating Officer UK at TechnologyOne said TechnologyOne’s Financials solution will enable LSE to eliminate inefficiencies and reap the benefits of a future-proof solution.

“The London School of Economics and Political Science has truly embraced the power of a single, integrated enterprise solution and we are thrilled to be their chosen partner to deliver against their transformational aspirations, with the financials product launched on budget and on time.

“It’s fantastic to see our solutions continue to power the best universities across the UK. Our deep knowledge of this sector allows us to form partnerships that elevate leading organisations like LSE, and provide them with a competitive advantage through preconfigured solutions that are fit for purpose, and incredibly easy to use,” Robinson added.

TechnologyOne CEO, Ed Chung said: “it is a fitting honour for TechnologyOne’s cornerstone Financials product to be selected by one of the world’s most admired economic learning institutions.”

“This implementation with LSE further cements our leadership position with our enterprise SaaS, being the only true integrated solution for universities of the future. Through partnerships like this we must optimise the resources of the university whilst delivering a compelling experience for students, through highly scalable software that is accessible via any internet-enabled device and offers the continuous innovation deployment of SaaS,” Chung concluded.