Axon and SAP partner with Manchester City Council to                         01/03/2005
deliver £16.5 million Business Transformation Programme

Today, Manchester City Council announced that it has awarded a £16.5m contract to business transformation consultancy, Axon and the world’s leading provider of business software solutions, SAP, to help improve its citizen services whilst delivering operational efficiencies.

The ‘Pathfinder Programme’ will simultaneously improve council services for Manchester City Council’s 420,000 citizens whilst creating a more effective working environment for its 26,000 employees. The business improvements driven by the programme will be supported and enabled by a new SAP Enterprise platform that will support the council’s back office, Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) and Electronic Social Care Records (ESCR).

Under the five year contract, Axon will work with the council to identify business improvements which it will then implement and support using the state-of-the-art SAP platform.

Steve Mychio, Deputy Chief Executive, Manchester City Council said:

“We are delighted to be commencing this programme with Axon and SAP. Their combined track record of delivering large business transformation programmes underpinned by reliable business applications, aligned with our vision for Manchester will deliver an unprecedented step change in the ability of Manchester to serve its citizens.”

Mark Hunter, Chief Executive of Axon, commented:

“I am delighted that Manchester City Council has selected Axon and SAP as their partners on the pathfinder programme, and I have every confidence that together we will deliver an improved service for citizens and employees alike. The programme is ambitious and will put Manchester City Council at the leading edge of local government efficiency and service delivery in the UK.”

Simon Etherington, Director of Public Services, SAP UK said:

”The programme will deliver a back office finance, HR and procurement solution, with
fully integrated CRM and Electronic Social Care Records Management. This is the broadest scope local government SAP project in Europe.”

For further information, please contact:

• Axon - Mark Hunter - 01784 480800
• Grandfield - Marc Popiolek, Charmaine Elliot - 020 7417 4170