"Current economic conditions are driving a marked increase in demand for e-procurement solutions, because e-procurement solutions provide an effective means to reduce costs…
Consider an investment in e-procurement if you need a proven means to reduce spend immediately and/or a means to drive casual requisitioner compliance to your negotiated strategic sourcing agreements."
Gartner (June 2009)
In a recent study* by leading analyst firm Gartner, an investment in e-procurement for indirect spend has been recommended as an effective means to cut costs both in the short term (by slowing down or redirecting spend) and in the long term (by improving compliance to the strategic sourcing agreements). A tremendous uptake of e-procurement solutions has been observed since late 2008, with the four major drivers behind this surge being: cost cutting, proprietary systems, modernisation advantages and sunsetting of major offering.
In their report: ‘Critical Capabilities for Best-of-Breed E-Procurement Vendors’,* Gartner looked at what functionality is important when evaluating best-of-breed eProcurement vendors. Four major use cases have emerged for the deployment of eProcurement systems: the shared service, the public sector implementation, the purchasing module extension, and the unified purchasing/eProcurement solution.
The report features an in-depth review of 14 best-of-breed eProcurement offerings for these four major use cases. In terms of product viability, Gartner state that PROACTIS’ strong scores for product functionality, support and customer satisfaction, its leadership role in the UK and its improving financials indicate excellent prospects for this solution.
As a specialist in Spend Control software, Proactis Group helps mid to large size organisations take control of costs and streamline procurement. Incorporating Purchase-to-Pay, eSourcing, eCommerce and Supplier Relationship Management systems, it empowers employees to easily purchase the goods and services they need to effectively perform their jobs, increasing productivity and reducing purchasing process costs, while bringing such spend under control.
PROACTIS replaces traditional paper-based purchasing procedures with an Intranet-based system that lets employees help themselves, quickly and easily. They can browse online catalogues, request goods or services, track the progress of their orders and do just about anything related to purchasing, without any of the paperwork, red tape or hassle.
Key benefits of the solution include:
· Removal of time consuming purchasing authorisation processes through one button sign-off
· No need to chase approvals, invoices, goods received notes etc
· Highlighted exceptions based on pre-defined thresholds ensure that problems such as invoices not matching goods ordered or delivered are immediately highlighted and dealt with
· Support budget holders with commitments and actuals
· Real time visibility of information enables managers to monitor spending patterns and ascertain the impact of each requisition on the budget
· Significantly improved financial control
· Monitor, control and measure supplier performance
· Seamless integration with existing ERP, financial management or back-office systems, as well as the ability to link to pre-existing eProcurement modules from other vendors.
Proactis Group is one of the latest partners to join Computime's ever growing list of business partners. Speaking about the collaboration, Mark McCarthy, the Sales and Marketing Director at Proactis, said: "Our partners are crucial to us as we continue to develop the global footprint of PROACTIS and build a solution portfolio that meets the ever-changing needs of our global customer base. We have aggressive growth plans for the Middle East and Africa regions. This partnership represents the next stage of our growth in this market and signifies Computime's commitment to delivering new and innovative solutions to its chosen markets"
*Critical Capabilities for Best of Breed E-Procurement Vendors, Debbie Wilson, June 8, 2009