FEATURE ARTICLE

Subject: August 2001 ECMgt.com: New Standards and Rules Create Opportunity
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August 1, 2001 *4,200 subscribers* Volume 3, Issue 8
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Igniting the Services Value Chain
Atul Vashistha, Chief Executive Officer of neoIT

Business leaders in companies ranging from startups to the Global 2000 struggle continuously with pressures to deliver affordable, quality service and consulting solutions for their organizations. Unfortunately, from the sourcing stage to delivery, these leaders are also faced with other pressures, including cost, time to market, varying levels of expertise among team members, and a shortage of skilled, qualified professionals. With these pressures, companies are forced to turn to outsourcing as a solution. Gartner Dataquest estimates that Global 2000 companies that outsource technology projects through traditional methods currently spend over $75,000 per project in the RFP process, and up to six months sourcing and selecting an external services provider for each technology services project. The competitive advantage that companies lose due to the delay of their projects is a cost that cannot be recovered nor weighted. Gartner further states that 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises do not have a formal process for procuring IT services.

To alleviate these issues, software companies are opening up a new way to manage not only the technology services procurement cycle, but the business services procurement cycle as well. They are providing solutions in enterprise services procurement software. What CommerceOne and Ariba did for commodities procurement, these innovators are destined to do for technology and business services procurement.

eProcurement: A New Buzz Word?

Services eProcurement is the latest eBusiness buzz word to describe this phenomenon. Back in the good old days all you needed to do was add an "e" at the beginning of a word - and presto, you had a new and exciting "buzz word", a new topic for happy hour conversations. Now that all the VC's, and consequently the business executives, have figured out that all these "e" words may not really mean that anything new and exciting has evolved, there had better be a pretty good definition for any new "e"-word. So, what are the characteristics of a good Services eProcurement solution?

Significantly increases process savings for outsourced services, with a streamlined, automated buying process
Technology can reduce the amount of time to secure a service vendor from 6 months to 3 weeks. Again, Gartner estimates that 80% of the Fortune 1000 do not have a formal way to procure services. Well, here it is. What are you waiting for?

Increases collaboration and productivity by providing visibility into the procurement and development processes
Everyone has waited - sometimes patiently, sometimes not, for approval of an RFP, an RFI, a budget, etc. Services eProcurement technology provides a way to oversee the entire process, from RFP to bidding to final delivery of a product.

Provides comprehensive services to help ensure quality end-products for your customers
The Services eProcurement companies are paving the way to a new level of customer. From consulting services to quality verification programs for new service providers, the new Services eProcurement companies provide the tools needed to help you make sure you satisfy your customers.

Increases the ROI of strategic vendor partnerships by capitalizing on global competition
Stale relationships can often lead to dissatisfied customers. Services eProcurement solutions can dramatically enhance current relationships with vendor partnerships. By introducing competitive global bidding, vendors are sure to pick up where they were lagging behind.

Encourages global collaboration, within the organization, partners and the vendor network
With any company strategy or tool, the easier it is to access, the more people will use it. Many Services eProcurement solutions are web-native; thus global companies can finally have one procurement system, one network of preferred vendors and partners and one way to access and recruit additional qualified, high-quality services vendors.

Encourages competitive bidding, resulting in greater cost savings
Lack of competition can lead to higher prices, lower creativity, and slower processes. However, in addition to new innovative procurement technology, these Services eProcurement companies are offering to recruit and verify quality services companies in a "Global Services Network". Now companies can outsource technology and business projects to their existing/pre-qualified IT and business consulting services firms, or can link to a Global Services Network to find and add new qualified IT and business services firms. With the new Services eProcurement technology, business leaders in companies ranging from startups to the Global 2000 shouldn't have to struggle much longer. In fact, armed with tools to streamline the procurement process, they will be able to save their companies time and money and deliver better, quality products to their customers. Maybe they'll even get a raise!

Atul Vashistha is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board for neoIT, a firm providing technology solutions to better source, procure, manage and deliver technology and business services projects.

neoIT is the leading provider of Services Value Chain technology and provides solutions for the sourcing, procurement, management, and delivery of services globally. Leading companies - from the Global 2000 to fast growth leaders - use neoIT's proprietary technology and software to more effectively source, procure, manage and deliver technology and business services globally - resulting in fast time to market, reduced costs, and superior results.

 

 

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