Budget documents reveal that the government is aiming to save $31.4 million over two years through consolidating enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
The savings have been booked from 2017-18.
“The number of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems will be consolidated, to reduce the costs from running multiple platforms and to deliver more common business processes,” budget documents state.
“A further $12.9 million over two years in savings from the Department of Defence will be reinvested in Defence capability. This will contribute to streamlining the public sector and help ensure resources are deployed efficiently.”
"While there are certainly opportunities to leverage common ERP platforms, the most significant gains here are usually made outside the technology itself – in areas such as employment terms and conditions for HR platforms for instance," commented Gartner’s Asia Pacific head of research Ian Bertram.
"Greater attention should be given to these before assuming that simply choosing an IT solution can act as a panacea for existing problems."
The government will also push forward on whole-of-government procurement arrangements, which are estimated to save $13.7 million over four years.
"The Government will expand coordinated procurement arrangements to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of procurement of ICT products and services, including software licensing by Non Corporate Commonwealth Entities that are subject to the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013," budget documents state.