Archive for the ‘Sourcing News’ Category

Cost of NOT Using Modern Supply Chain Systems: 6.8 Billion

Monday, November 30th, 2009

A recent article on CNN Money that noted that  US retailers lose $6.8 Billion a year due to poor  processing, supply chain errors, and frauds which could be eliminated with good systems and processes.

 
There’s should be no excuse for any sourcing, procurement and processing errors. Good end-to-end e-Procurement systems can match every invoice against the purchase order and contract and make sure you’re only paying for what you ordered at contracted rates. Good forecasting and inventory tracking systems will prevent costly errors. And good visibility systems will allow you to spot any exceptions as soon as they occur and stop frauds, and fraudsters, in the act.

 
The reduction in loss alone over their service life-time will more than pay for such a system. (Not to mention the savings that a good sourcing, e-procurement, or inventory system can help you identify!)

Cost-cutting remains top priority

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Cutting costs will continue to be the most pressing issue for purchasing next year, according to a poll of delegates at the ProcureCon conference in Brussels this week.
 
In response to the question “What is the key issue for your department in 2010?”, almost one-third (32 per cent) said it was reducing costs by 5 per cent or more.

Managing risk and maintaining continuity of supply was voted the second most important issue.

Asked “What has helped increase your organisation’s efficiency most?”, 36 per cent gave the answer SRM, while 20 per cent said shared service and purchase-to-pay technology has proved most effective. For 16 per cent, outsourcing and offshoring had led to greater efficiency and a further 16 per cent had seen the greatest improvements through e-sourcing and e-auctions.

Für Implementierungen als SaaS-Modell geeignet

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

MicroStrategy, Anbieterin von Business Intelligence-Software (BI), gab die Erweiterung ihres OEM-Programms um neue Produktfunktionen für “Software-as-a-Service”-Unternehmen (SaaS) bekannt. Die BI-Plattform des Unternehmens stellt integrierte Reporting- und Analysefunktionen bereit. Softwareunternehmen und Technologieanbietern können ihr vorhandenes Produktangebot, um Funktionen für Reporting, Dashboarding, Analyse und automatische Warnmeldungen erweitern.

 

Mit dem aktuellen Release “MicroStrategy 9″ bietet das BI-Unternehmen besonders für das SaaS-Modell geeignete neue Funktionen. Diese umfassen unter anderem erweiterte Designfunktionen für Fachanwender, In-Memory-BI für eine höhere Datenskalierbarkeit in größeren mandantenfähigen Systemen und eine verbesserte Sicherheit bei der Integration mit Drittanbietern. Zudem unterstützt eine vereinfachte Plug-in-Architektur und die Möglichkeit unternehmensspezifische, eigene mehrsprachige Reporting-Terminologien innerhalb derselben Multi-Mandanten-Anwendung zu verwenden, den Einsatz im SaaS Umfeld.

 

Die MicroStrategy BI-Plattform ist bestens für Implementierungen als SaaS-Modell geeignet:

• Skalierbarkeit und hohe Leistung für wachsende mandantenfähige Umgebungen

• Einheitliche Metadaten zur Minimierung von Entwicklungs- und Wartungsaufwand

• Zentrale Administration zur Senkung der Supportkosten

• Umfassendes Sicherheitsmodelll für die Nutzung und den Schutz sensibler Daten

• Skalierbarkeit auf mehrere tausend Benutzer

• Intuitive Bedienung für unterschiedlichste Anwendergruppen

• Offene Plattform zur Anpassung, Personalisierung und für das Re-Branding

• Entwicklungsumgebung für Internationalisierung und Sprachvarianten

 

Die Zahl der MicroStrategy-OEM-Partner wächst stetig. Dabei verzeichnen Unternehmen, die mit ihren BI-Implementierungen auf das SaaS-Modell mit MicroStrategy setzen, im OEM-Programm den größten Wachstumsanteil. Zu den SaaS-Anbietern, die kürzlich dem MicroStrategy-OEM-Programm beigetreten sind, zählen u. a. Autologue (USA), Claritum (GB), FreeWheel Media (USA), GAPbuster (Australien), TradeBeam (USA) und Xtiva (USA).

 

“SaaS-BI-Lösungen entwickeln sich zu einer zunehmend attraktiven Alternative für Unternehmen, die unternehmensweit wichtige BI-Daten nutzen wollen, aber nicht über die Ressourcen verfügen, diese Technologien im eigenen Hause zu implementieren”, so Sanju Bansal, COO bei MicroStrategy. “Unternehmen, die ein SaaS-Modell anbieten, finden in MicroStrategy einen Partner, der es ihnen ermöglicht, eine flexible und skalierbare, mandantenfähige BI-Architektur äußerst kostengünstig aufzubauen.”

MicroStrategy enrichit son programme OEM de nouvelles capacités technologiques pour les éditeurs SaaS

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq : MSTR), le leader mondial de la Business Intelligence (BI) d’entreprise, annonce l’extension de son programme OEM avec des nouveautés technologiques destinées aux éditeurs SaaS (Software-as-a-Service).

 

La plate-forme décisionnelle de MicroStrategy intègre des outils de reporting et d’analyse qui permettent aux éditeurs de logiciels et fournisseurs d’ajouter facilement (avec un minimum de coûts et de ressources de développement) des applications de reporting, de création de tableaux de bord, d’analyse et d’alerte ? leurs offres de produits. Les éditeurs SaaS choisissent MicroStrategy pour son évolutivité, ses possibilités de personnalisation et ses fonctions de sécurité.

 

MicroStrategy 9, dernière version de la plate-forme, offre de nouvelles capacités spécialement conçues pour les éditeurs SaaS, notamment : des fonctions améliorées de conception pour l’utilisateur final, une BI en mémoire pour accueillir un volume supérieur de données dans les systèmes partagés, une intégration plus sûre aux outils tiers, une architecture plug-in facilitant la personnalisation et une possibilité pour différentes entreprises d’utiliser leur propre terminologie de reporting, en plusieurs langues, dans la même application partagée.

 

La plate-forme décisionnelle MicroStrategy répond parfaitement aux exigences des éditeurs SaaS pour les déploiements BI :

• Évolutivité et performances élevées pour les environnements partagés en expansion

• Métadonnées unifiées pour réduire au minimum les efforts de développement et de maintenance

• Administration centralisée pour réduire les coûts et ressources de support

• Modèle complet de sécurité pour distribuer et protéger les données sensibles

• Évolutivité pour accueillir des milliers d’utilisateurs

• Facilité d’emploi pour une communauté d’utilisateurs très diversifiée

• Plate-forme ouverte qui facilité l’intégration, la personnalisation et le rebranding

• Capacités de développement pour gérer l’internationalisation et les dialectes

 

Le portefeuille de partenaires OEM de MicroStrategy n’a cessé de se développer, les sociétés qui choisissent MicroStrategy pour leurs déploiements BI SaaS représentant le plus important secteur de croissance du programme OEM. Parmi les éditeurs SaaS qui ont récemment rejoint ce programme, on trouve Autologue (États-Unis), Claritum (Royaume-Uni), FreeWheel Media (États-Unis), GAPbuster (Australie), TradeBeam (États-Unis) et Xtiva (États-Unis).

 

« La plate-forme décisionnelle de MicroStrategy contient les outils de sécurité, de personnalisation et Web en self-service requises pour offrir une solution matérielle, logicielle et applicative unique, tout en répondant toujours aux besoins spécifiques des clients », explique Daniel Schmidt, CIO de Constellation Software. « Cette capacité, associée à une évolutivité pour accueillir de nombreux utilisateurs et d’importants volumes de données, fait de MicroStrategy la plate-forme décisionnelle idéale pour les déploiements SaaS partagés. »

 

« Les solutions décisionnelles SaaS représentent une alternative de plus en plus attirante pour les entreprises qui doivent partager des données décisionnelles essentielles dans l’ensemble de leur structure, mais qui ne disposent pas de ressources suffisantes pour l’implémentation et la maintenance de ces technologies en interne », conclut Sanju Bansal, COO de MicroStrategy. « Avec MicroStrategy, les entreprises qui proposent un modèle SaaS peuvent créer, de façon extr?mement rentable, une architecture BI flexible, évolutive et partagée. »

 

Pour plus d’informations sur le programme OEM de MicroStrategy, consulter notre site web : http://www.microStrategy.com/partners/OEM

Public sectors and Non-profits save money and manage cost

Monday, October 26th, 2009

The recent economic turmoil not only forced many small and large companies in the private sector to rethink their cost management strategies, but also prompted governmental bodies and not-for profits to emphasise agility and be more efficient.

The current climate has meant local authorities have been hard pressed to “do more with less.” With this backdrop, it not surprising for public sectors to follow the lead of private companies in using advanced Sourcing and purchasing technologies hitherto available only to large organisations to drive down cost and improve efficiency.

 

With an On-Demand deployment model, companies pay predictable fees to gets the results of efficient strategic sourcing and competitive bidding without worrying about managing software and hardware or stretching their already slim IT staffs to manage the technology infrastructure.

More and more public sector and governmental agencies are using the power of these new Procurement delivery platforms to achieve significant savings that can then be put to work in other areas. And the added intangible is that it also makes the Sourcing process more transparent.

 

James Samuels, CEO of Claritum Said - “We’re seeing huge demand for our SaaS spend management application from private and public sectors. The combination of spend analysis, sourcing, e-procurement, supplier network and catalogue delivers significant and measurable benefits.

Our clients love the quick ROI and the significant hard cash savings. Clients such as the London Borough of Enfield, Ealing and Greenwich have announced 17-25% savings and there’s more to come”

eWorld highlights focus on complex spend categories

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

The recent eWorld Purchasing and Supply exhibition demonstrates that more and more organisations are focused on cost savings and efficiencies from complex spend categories. A number of exhibitors and speakers focused on the importance of addressing complex spends and delegates highlighted this as a priority area of interest.
eWorld is the UK’s leading event focusing on the use of leading-edge technologies and techniques within the procurement and supply chain functions. Claritum were able to showcase their on-demand spend management solution for complex categories such as print and related services.

 Delegates expressed significant interest in Claritum’s track record of delivering significant, measurable and sustainable cost savings and process efficiencies to leading enterprise, SME and public sector clients.
James Samuels, CEO at Claritum said “It was a fantastic opportunity to meet and talk at length with a whole variety of procurement professionals from a range backgrounds and sectors. 
Over the next few weeks we will be following up on many new potential clients, consulting partners, technology partners and managed service providers, and exploring in more depth how we can work together in the future.

I would like to extend my thanks to the eWorld team for an excellent 2 days and to all who visited our stand or expressed interest in our offering”

Procurement weathering the storm

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Procurement professionals are ideally placed to weather the economic downturn, despite the widespread rise in unemployment hitting other fields, according to sector experts within Printweek Magazine (http://www.printweek.com/)

Peter Fennah, director of career development at the Cranfield School of Management, said procurement and supply chain graduates were doing markedly better than other professions.

“In a recession, companies are looking to make efficiency savings through their supply chains, therefore, the procurement components within those domain areas tend to be areas that can create efficiencies and savings,”

Matthew Parker, director of consultancy Print and Procurement (http://www.printandprocurement.com/) said: “A good purchasing department will focus on total cost of acquisition, and ensure that they are using the most efficient purchasing processes in order to deliver maximum value to their companies. E-procurement should now be a serious consideration for busy departments as they seek to maximise the efficiency of their buyers and the transparency of their operations. It is also essential for buyers to be trained in effective negotiation and to have a thorough understanding of the marketplace in which they operate.”

Public Sector Outsourcing contracts are 75% above market rate.

Friday, July 24th, 2009

According to research from Compass Management Consulting, Public sector outsourcing contracts are 75% above the going market rate.

Public sector procurement focus is to drive costs down meaning suppliers feel pressured into lowering their bids, sometimes to an unprofitable level in the early stages in the contract, and often try and claw back their initial loss by increasing prices.

Many suppliers price their contract up to 18% below the market rate. From the first day of the contract they increase the price, with many getting 30% above the market rate.

Even the threat of retendering is often meaningless as the power is embedded with the supplier.

These issues can be controlled through the use of E-procurement applications such as Claritum.

Claritum’s Contract Pricing capability enables print buyers to enforce pre-negotiated prices from approved suppliers for a wide range of print specifications. This ensures the agreed pricing is maintained for the life of the contract and will not be flexed up at the supplier’s discretion.

Claritum’s Print Procurement software also has the capability for users to “spot buy” printed materials, through both instant estimating and Fastrack RFQ platform.

Instant Estimating interrogates thousands of options at hundreds of suppliers to deliver optimum prices within seconds. Suppliers can flex their prices up or down to reflect changes to capacity on an hour by hour basis, if required.

For more complex specifications, Claritum’s Fastrack RFQ profiles supplier capabilities against the production requirements to ensure only appropriately profiled suppliers are sent a request-for-quote. Spot prices can often be lower than contracted prices, comparing both will give the buyer the best price possible.

The system controls the complete processes of quoting, ordering and invoicing meaning suppliers can’t quote low then add additional costs at invoice stage.

Claritum’s vendor management capability enables real time monitoring of supplier performance against SLA’s or KPI’s. The solution enables buyers to rate performance against criteria such as quality, response times, adherence to delivery schedules and compare quote, order and invoiced costs. Not only does this ensure supplier performance is monitored on a job-by-job basis, buyers can assess changes in performance over time.