The Dublin Airport Authority has signed a deal with the global technology firm Oracle for a suite of financial software that is designed to cut operating costs.

The authority said yesterday it is buying a range of Oracle's flagship E-Business Suite applications for managing finances, procurement, and human resources, among other business processes.

A study undertaken by technology consultancy IDC forecast that the authority would save up to €3.8 million by re-engineering its finance systems.

Mr Ray Gray, director of finance at the authority, said the authority was now shifting its focus following the loss of duty free revenue in recent years.

"Adapting to the new circumstances, we had to shift our focus from duty-free shops to hotels and duty-paid retail business in and around our airports. But before we could do this, we needed to modernise our technological infrastructure. We needed to start leveraging much more profitability for the rest of the business, but we lacked the business information to do that."

The study said savings would come from several improvements, including more efficient procurement; centralised financial management; payroll automation, self-service applications and more efficient IT maintenance and support.

Mr Nicky Sheridan, managing director, Oracle Ireland, said the Dublin Airport Authority had been very aggressive in its use of technology and the strategy was now delivering for them.

"Technology is being seen more and more by companies as an enabler of agility in all departments, not just IT. It makes the organisation more adaptable and competitive in the market place," he said.

Oracle is one of the biggest software firms in the Republic with almost 900 employees.