e-purchasing services provider IBX Group AB has fleshed out its purchasing lifecycle product portfolio with a new line in on-demand hosted contract lifecycle management.
IBX Contract Management is being launched as a fully hosted system that maintains a central repository of contract contents and templates that help minimise the administrative overheads involved in contract creation, negotiation and management.
The on-demand service option is a latest addition to a range of software, managed services and consulting offerings from IBX, all of which focus on elements of the purchasing cycle from sourcing and procurement to payment and invoicing, Mark Masterson, MD at IBX UK told us.
“We have a comprehensive and robust portfolio” he said, “and we estimate deployment can lead to savings of anywhere between 4% and 8% of a company’s addressable procurement budget.” Content management software that can be used to clean up a company’s online purchasing catalogue and improve the way items in it are categorised, has been particularly well received. “A key success has been the development of our sophisticated catalogue search engine for use with e-procurement systems,” he explained.
Formed out of a spin-out by the chief procurement officer of Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson in 2000, IBX has developed an affinity with large enterprises and ranks among its client base the likes of Lufthansa, IKEA and Allianz.
“A multinational enterprise may have 20 offices and 50,000 staff ordering different products from a wide range of local and central contracts, at different times and from different sources, resulting not only in a huge cost, but also a huge administrative nightmare. Automating the process through one centralised system can reduce spending and cut risk.”
Masterson explained IBX aims to bring efficiency to the purchasing process by bringing more of the procurement spend under tighter control. “We work at three levels so that enterprises can negotiate better contracts, manage contracts for compliance, and enhance the purchasing process for cost efficiency. We drive better visibility of e-procurement processes and look to automate aspects to streamline end-to-end processes.” Often this will involve IBX adding features and functions to existing enterprise systems such as SAP’s Supplier Relationship Management system, and building out from that.
Masterson said SAP’s approach to sourcing automation had benefited from its acquisition a couple of years ago of specialist Frictionless Commerce. Analysts with Forrester commented at the time that while the Frictionless acquisition did significantly improve SAP’s product offering in sourcing, there were gaps in SAP’s SRM suite, such as contract management, spend analysis, sourcing bid optimisation, and supplier enablement.
“The IBX proposition is that we can provide end-to-end support using a proven on-demand infrastructure, and can also embed very latest sourcing, payment or invoicing management features into a platform. The aim is to add an element of agility to ERP.”
Last month the company signed a global agreement with SAP in the area of business process outsourcing, which includes co-operation related to full source-to-pay and contract management applications. Through this agreement, IBX will leverage SAP applications to underpin its service delivery, while at the same time, complementing SAP services with purchasing expertise as well as support and full source-to-pay solutions using SAP SRM applications and e-sourcing technology.
The new contract management process draws on this partnership with SAP, harnessing the SAP Contract Lifecycle Management application, and also integrates with IBX eSourcing, effectively closing the loop between sourcing to procurement.
Masterson said that the business has been operating in the UK for two years, naming the likes of Vodafone and JCB as customers and claiming that the company has been growing at rates in excess of 20% a year in recent years.
