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London councils splurge wildly differing amounts on Oracle software

Some shell out £100k+, while others pay more than half a million

The vast majority of London Councils use Oracle as their ERP provider, but some bodies are splashing out less than £15,000 while others are forking out £500,000, according to research.

The findings were based on Freedom of Information responses sent to enterprise IT business TmaxSoft, which quizzed 27 councils.

Of those, 92 per cent of London’s councils use Oracle in their IT estate. However, the research did not say how many software licences each council separately holds with the provider.

TmaxSoft said the exceptions were Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, which have no Oracle within their IT estates, and Barnet, which is currently in the process of de-commissioning their Oracle estate.

One third of respondents answered the question regarding how much they spend on Oracle licences.

Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth spent less than £15,000 with the provider; while, Croydon, Greenwich, Havering and Hillingdon each spent over £500,000.

The Register recently conducted research which found massive variations in police forces' spend on software licences, with some constabularies shelling out up to four times more than others of a similar size.

For example, Durham Constabulary, which employs 2,910 staff, spends £55,000 per year on Oracle licences and £87,500 on Microsoft. By contrast, Surrey Police, which has 3,930 employees, splashes out £343,000 on Oracle licences and £541,481 on Microsoft.

The Register has contacted Oracle for comment and will update if we hear back from them. ®

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