Belmin launches ARIES service

Everyone's aware of the Gershon Spending Review that identifies savings in Government spending of at least 2.5% per annum. In response to this, Belmin has developed ARIES - an innovative and technically advanced service.

The direct result of a Government initiative with input from the National Audit Office, Customs & Excise, and the Office of Government Commerce, ARIES is a new automated reconciliation and invoicing service designed to deliver significant efficiency savings. Procurement process savings are key to meeting the Gershon savings targets and ARIES can be offered to all UK public sector organisations to reduce costs and capture spend analysis. It will replace existing manual methods of invoice processing and complement other Government initiatives such as GPC.

ARIES was formally launched on 31 October 2005 at IBM Warwick, with guest presenters highlighting the opportunities afforded by ARIES to achieve significant efficiency savings in the public sector.

David Court CBE (Non-Executive Director of Belmin Group and former Chief Executive of OGCbuying.solutions) discussed the pressures facing the public sector in the wake of the Gershon efficiency review and how ARIES could help. The NHS perspective was presented by Sue Jacques, Director of Finance for County Durham & Darlington Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, who described how she sees ARIES as the final piece of her organisation's e-procurement jigsaw and a key component in her drive for further efficiency savings.

Director of Finance for Jobcentre Plus, Peter Ward, outlined the numerous benefits he anticipated from ARIES, both for his organisation and its providers. Dennis Keeling, Chief Executive of BASDA (Business Application Software Developers Association) explained the benefits to be achieved from the application of the eBIS-XML standard which BASDA has developed in conjunction with the OGC and other government bodies, a standard with which ARIES complies. The final presenter was IBM's Graham Knight, who illustrated how IBM is working closely with Belmin to provide a robust, dynamic and integrated solution to the public sector's pressing need for efficiencies.