Q: Tom, can you provide a quick overview of ERM?

A:  With our ERM solution, researchers can quickly find, source and track commercial chemicals and other research materials required to conduct their work. Since many of these chemicals are hazardous and have detailed regulations regarding storage and use, it’s critical that organizations are able to track, store and use them appropriately. Researchers and key staff can view supplier catalogs, preferred pricing rates, internal inventory and commercial databases all via a streamlined, intuitive and highly visual interface.

Q: What new features are available in ERM 7.0?

A: The newest version of ERM includes a number of upgrades that help improve inventory management and the ordering of essential chemicals and materials. For example, ERM’s physical hazard classifications are now fully aligned with the Global Harmonization Standard (GHS) classification of chemical standards. This is a widely-used standard that was recently adopted by OSHA and is being implemented in Europe and Asia.

Building on our experience implementing solutions for the world’s leading research organizations, we’ve revisited nearly all of ERM’s core material and container capabilities to make them more powerful, flexible and easier to use.

Many research organizations, especially universities, typically buy chemicals or materials under specific grants or for specific research projects. With ERM 7.0, materials purchased for a particular project or under a certain grant can be automatically reserved for use until released for use by others.

Q: What are some key benefits SciQuest’s customers experience using ERM?

A: ERM helps researchers get the materials they need more easily by consolidating all of their available sources under a single search.    That single search also helps researchers find materials that may be available from other labs — reducing the waiting time to utilize essential materials. These efficiency gains help make ERM more attractive to end-users, resulting in increased usage of the solution.

ERM also provides strategic benefits to research organizations as a whole. With ERM 7.0, organizations can avoid redundant purchases, reduce excess inventory, simplify reporting for hazardous materials and direct more chemical spend to preferred suppliers. As a result, ERM clients are able to demonstrate positive return on investment within six months of implementing the solution.

More to come tomorrow with Tom in part 2…

Feel free to share your comments below. Tell us about your challenges in ordering and managing research chemicals. What would you like to see in future versions of ERM? Learn more about our Enterprise Reagent Manager solution..

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SciQuest Enterprise Reagent Manager Container Screen

We sat down with Paul Bowman, director of purchasing at Utah State, to learn more about his efforts to transform purchasing.

Why did Utah State decide to implement an eProcurement platform?

We wanted to create a more user-friendly purchasing system, enabling staff and personnel to review products and catalogs online, submit orders electronically and track purchases. The goal was to increase visibility throughout the supply chain while reducing expenses and inefficiencies. We also wanted to make it easy for staff and faculty to buy essential goods and services and be able to quickly identify preferred vendors – improving contract compliance.

Before using SciQuest, what key challenges did your purchasing staff grapple with?

Before creating our current purchasing platform – USU EZ-Buy – our hybrid system was largely manual very time-consuming with orders being sent directly to purchasing for processing. Personnel had limited visibility into the status of their orders. Among some personnel, there was a perception that the purchasing department was a “black hole.” Purchasing staff were also spending a large amount of time manually processing orders – hindering their ability to undertake more strategic tasks such as identifying new suppliers.

What benefits has Utah State realized using SciQuest?

Since implementing EZ-Buy, we’ve increased overall efficiency, streamlined purchasing and gained deeper visibility into spending. Prior to the current platform, processing purchase orders took about 72 hours. Now, the majority of all orders are submitted to vendors the same day purchasing receives them. The costs of processing orders went from about $75 per order to just a few dollars. We’ve also dramatically reduced the amount of paper we use. A small example from our office is that we used to fill up six, 33-gallon recycling bins on a weekly basis. Now, it takes over a week to fill one half ways up.

With the staff  spending less time “pushing paper,” they can now expend energy on more strategic objectives such as providing guidance to departments regarding which contracts to use, discussing best practices regarding purchasing and helping departments analyze their overall spending. The other benefit is that the staff and faculty are much happier with the new system, which enables them to track orders and receive orders more quickly. Plus many of the researchers are able to order using “just in time” principles, reducing the cost of having large surpluses of chemicals and equipment. About 2,100 staff and faculty members are registered users out of the close to 3,500 we have on campus.

What’s next for Utah State?

We have an ambitious five-year plan in place that includes specific ROI goals such as saving the university $2.5 million within two years, and within five years achieving a $4 million savings every year. Utah State will also rely on SciQuest to help us meet our goals and identify areas where we can achieve greater efficiencies. SciQuest provides us critical feedback including ways we can gain more value from EZ Buy. We also plan to continue to add new features to EZ-Buy ensuring that it encompasses all areas of the purchasing cycle. For instance, one area we’re exploring is settlement. Our accounts payable team is very excited about SciQuest’s Accounts Payable solution and is eager to learn more about what other new developments are on the horizon.

What lessons can organizations learn from procurement in higher education?

Organizations of all sizes are under increasing pressure to reduce expenses and increase overall efficiencies. In this atmosphere, procurement professionals have an opportunity to take on a more strategic role – providing critical guidance and becoming a trusted advisor. However, in order to do so, there must be systems in place that free procurement and purchasing personnel from manual and time-consuming tasks.

Traditionally, higher education institutions have a reputation of being slow to embrace technology. However, it is possible for organizations to leap over several generations of technology and implement a cutting-edge solution. We did it. When looking at technology, choose a solution that best meets your needs and integrates with existing solutions. While adopting new technology may seem overwhelming, the benefits to the bottom line are invaluable.

The world of accounts payable (AP) is and has been changing. Has your organization kept up? If your answer is yes, that probably means your organization has taken steps to automate some or all of the activities within AP (i.e., Invoice receipt, processing and payment). If your answer is no, it likely means your organization’s AP process is still largely manual and involves time-consuming and costly tactical activities, including data entry and responding to supplier calls. It also means that you’re missing a huge opportunity to not only reduce costs and improve efficiency and visibility, but to also generate significant strategic value to the enterprise through AP. The benefits (and the ROI) to automating AP are clearly positive, and the value grows exponentially as automation expands throughout the procure-to-pay process, enabling previously disparate processes to be linked together.

AP has long been considered a back-office function. The role of AP is changing, however, much in the way procurement has changed its place in the organization. In recent research, Ardent found that best-in-class AP operations have invoice processing costs that are 80-90 percent less than other organizations, and process 2.8 times the number of invoices per AP staff member. These organizations have heavily leveraged technology to be able to perform at this level.

Getting started with AP automation does take some work, and is ultimately left to the AP groups and leaders to make their case for transformation. To make a compelling business case for AP investment and focus, these groups will need to (1) identify and involve key stakeholders (2) understand their current state (process, systems, challenges, costs, etc.) (3) gather organizational requirements and (4) define the ideal future state.

This is just a flavor of what I’ll be discussing in a webinar on May 23 with SciQuest’s director of product marketing, Max Leisten. During the webinar, titled Getting Started with AP, I’ll also discuss key trends shaping the AP market today. These trends are drawn from an Ardent Partners’ report  – Ten Trends that Will Shape the AP Automation Market 2012 – which will be made available to those who register and attend the webinar.

Here are some of the trends discussed in the report:

• Paper Remains Public Enemy #1
• Networks Will Continue to Rise
• Increased Focus on True P2P
• Enterprises Seek Greater Cash Management Visibility and Expertise
• Business Gets More Social

Thanks to SciQuest for inviting me to be a guest blogger at the Open Kitchen. I look forward to “seeing” you at the webinar and helping your organization get started with AP!

As Product Manager for our brand new Accounts Payable solution my goal is to continue enhancing the product,  enabling accounts payable departments to increase their efficiency by automating invoice capture and management, and streamlining all supplier communication (I am pretty sure your vendors dislike hold music as much as your team does).

In developing SciQuest’s AP solutions, we considered the fact that not only is the accounts payable process one of the most critical steps in the purchasing lifecycle, but it is also often one of the most time-consuming and inefficient areas. I know from experience. I’ve spent more than 10 years in finance, with roles including financial analyst and accounts payable manager. I’ve been involved in implementing accounts payable automation for global companies through the redesign of processes, automating invoice entry and automating payment processes. So when I hear the challenges our customers face in dealing with their accounts payable processes, I feel confident in saying “I’ve been there.”

The functionality we’ve built into our product will help address many of the challenges that exist in accounts payable, including the elimination of tedious and error-prone manual data entry.  At the end of the day, this translates to a significant impact to your organization’s bottom line. But our work is far from over. And, in the coming months we’ll continue to release new modules that will help further automate accounts payable.

I will share what we’re doing and how on our Open Kitchen blog as well as our SciQuest customer community forum, and would love to hear from you! Tell me about the challenges you’ve faced with your accounts payable processes, and what functionality you’d like to see us focus on. Drop by our booth (#732) at Fusion 2012 next week, or share a comment here.

At the bottom line, the EC has concluded that EU states can save a total of €100 billion annually from the €2 trillion procurement spend. In addition to these hard cost savings, the EC sees a downstream effect as well, believing that SMEs will benefit from a “simpler and cheaper process.”

We’ve done some related research on U.S. private sector spending and found that the average Fortune 500 Company spends about $6 Million per day on indirect purchasing. If you apply the EC’s e-procurement savings metrics to these numbers, each company stands to save itself $300,000 per day!

Europe has traditionally been ahead of the curve on so many issues—mobile technology, pollution control, consumer product safety, food safety—is it really a surprise these leaders would bring the benefits of purchasing lifecycle technology to the forefront as well?

I want to share two upcoming opportunities to further shape your vision of accounts payable automation:

First up is Fusion 2012. SciQuest will be exhibiting at the annual Institute of Financial Operations conference, which will be held May 13-17 in Nashville. The leading event for Accounts Payable professionals, Fusion offers a lot of great sessions, keynotes, networking events and opportunities to meet with solution providers. Of course, if you will be going you need to come straight to booth 732 to meet our product manager, Debra Warner, check out our special trade show surprise, and – if you’re a customer – get your cool SciQuest AP t-shirt!

Following Fusion, we invite you to join us May 23rd for a joint webinar with Ardent Partner’s Vishal Patel to discuss how to get started with accounts payable automation, what initiatives deliver the biggest bang for the buck, and our vision for Strategic Accounts Payable.

Of course we really want to hear from you at any time. Not sure where to start with automating your accounts payable? Maybe you’ve started your automation process but aren’t sure you’re seeing true benefits just yet.  Feel free to leave a comment. We’d love to hear where you are on your journey! And, if you’re a client today join us in the SciQuest Community Accounts Payable forum to let us know your top priorities for AP automation.

That is why we are excited to announce today that we are launching a new, advanced solution to automate accounts payable from invoice capture to settlement. Part of our SaaS source-to-settle suite, Accounts Payable Director equips organizations with a comprehensive tool to achieve true touchless invoicing.

1. Capture your invoices through SciQuest’s managed eInvoicing network and the SciQuest Digital Mailroom
2. Accelerate process cycle times and cut error rates by automating the matching & approval of invoices
3. Reduce supplier support costs through automated on-boarding and SciQuest’s vendor self-service portal
4. Gain critical AP performance insights & identify discount opportunities with actionable, on-demand reports

If you are a SciQuest customer, I hope you were able to join us for our preview yesterday and see our vision for strategic accounts payable first-hand (contact your SciQuest Client Partner if you did not have a chance to participate). You will also have met our AP ninja (and product manager) Debra Warner who was an AP Manager in a prior life and is laser-focused on delivering a solution that eliminates all that is manual, transactional and non value-add. You can engage Debra on our customer community and share your AP vision, or vote in our Idea Forum on some of the ideas we have.

Head on over to www.sciquest.com/ap to learn more about Accounts Payable Director, join us for our introductory webinar on May 23rd (click here to register) or better yet, meet us at the upcoming Fusion 12 conference (we’ll be in booth 732) for some cool air.

Let’s go AP!

Today, we launched our new web site, and as with everything we do here at SciQuest the new site has been developed with an eye on our customers. We have listened to what our customers said they wanted and worked hard to deliver improved navigation, more in-depth solution pages, better search capabilities, and easier access to support. The web site also introduces The Power of Q. We’ll be telling you much more about Q  in the weeks to come, but for now we’ll say this is yet another way that SciQuest is showing our customers the true commitment we have to ensuring their long-term success. The Power of Q is the driving force behind turning your spending into a source of real savings.

So take a look around! We’d love to hear what you think about the new site. This has been a collaborative endeavor from day one, and we continue to look to our customers for feedback – both good and bad – on how we can make the web site THE place to go for all your collaborative procurement and supplier management needs.

About 40 states were represented at the event – a testament to the fact that now, more than ever, state governments are looking for innovative technologies to help them save money in procurement. In fact, most procurement officers we talked to said the question isn’t if they will buy technology to automate their procurement processes, but when and how.

According to Governing magazine, state budgets last year faced cuts in the neighborhood of $200 billion. So while the economic forecast is slightly better than past years, states are still struggling with their budgets – making procurement savings even more critical. I had the privilege of serving on a panel that directly addressed this challenge and discussed why eProcurement is good for business. We looked at the value of the supplier network and why collaboration is key.  We also discussed some real-world examples of states implementing eProcurement solutions along with the benefits they realized from doing so. Those benefits include reducing state spend, decreasing average cycle times, increasing productivity and process efficiencies, just to name a few.

Thanks to NASPO for a great event, and to all the state procurement officers we met in Orlando! We’re looking forward to seeing how eProcurement and technology will help many state governments improve their supplier relationships, and ultimately help their organizations be more successful.

• The three-year job losses in state and local government are the deepest since the Labor Department started tracking this in 1995.
• State and local government employment has shrunk by 2.5% since 2009, reversing the trend that would have seen a 2.5% increase.  The gap is 1.2 million jobs.
• Local governments have cut 482,000 people, and states have cut 39,000 more in just the past year.

In a way, it’s no surprise. The Great Recession has clobbered home values, reduced tax collections and hit state and local revenues very hard. Something had to give, and that something is government payrolls and services.

The politics of all of this aside, this also has major implications for state and local procurement.  There are fewer people in state and local government departments to identify and specific necessary purchases. There are fewer procurement professionals to run the purchasing process. There is enormous pressure to make every penny of spending count by negotiating new deals, squeezing suppliers, stretching out reorder intervals and other steps.  For state and local procurement pros this may be the toughest times they’ve ever faced.  Their professional capabilities are critically important, and the consequences of their decisions have real impact on peoples’ lives.