University of Exeter to save over £10 million in new partnership with TechnologyOne

The University of Exeter, a notable research specialist and member of the Russell Group, has signed a new eight-year deal with TechnologyOne, implementing the vendor’s OneUniversity Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to transform financial services and save millions per year.

The implementation underpins the university’s ambitious Future Finance programme, aimed at uniting and improving the finance function. TechnologyOne was selected as the University’s preferred technology partner, following a competitive tender which included suppliers such as Oracle and Unit4. The OneUniversity solution, which includes Research Finance Management and Financials, delivers on the University of Exeter’s mission to increase efficiency, improve quality of service and harness SaaS technologies.

Andrew Connolly, Chief Financial Officer at the University of Exeter, comments:

“TechnologyOne’s superior functionality, and user look and feel, provide the best fit to our own ambitions to transform our finance function.

“Working in the most efficient way, we can now deliver quality and timely information, insight and advice to colleagues to empower them in their roles, meeting the University’s transformational plan needs for the next decade.”

With over 60 integrations with existing systems, the solution is already delivering significant back-office time savings for the finance team, as well as academics, business managers and researchers. The Future Finance programme is on track to deliver £1.3 million a year in recurrent staff savings, all of which will be reinvested into frontline academic services.

Anwen Robinson, Operating Officer UK at TechnologyOne said:

“Universities today face a multitude of challenges, from improving efficiencies to enhancing the quality of service and preparing for the future.

“We’re delighted that our long-term partnership with the University of Exeter and our true SaaS solutions will help them address these challenges and drive transformative working practices.”

The new system provides access to real-time information on the status of grants, budgets, expenses, forecasts and budgeting, as well as an end-to-end view of financial research grants – something that was not possible with the legacy solution.

With TechnologyOne’s Ci Anywhere functionality, the University’s core finance and research finance systems are available on any mobile device, with a secure and consistent user interface.

Jo Smith, Future Finance Project Manager at the University of Exeter added:

“It was important to us that the new system offered our staff a good user experience and wouldn’t require extra training.

“We believe that Exeter chose the right product in OneUniversity; not only is it right for our users but TechnologyOne is the right company for us to partner with because of their proven track record in innovating and creating outstanding products.”