SciQuest Expands Reach in Global Market
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., January 30, 2007 – SciQuest, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand supplier management and procurement automation solutions, announced today its continued success in the global market as marked by an expanded relationship with the University of Edinburgh, notable international speaking opportunities, and a newly-implemented European best practices webinar series.
Scottish-based University of Edinburgh (UoE) recently integrated SciQuest’s Chemical Manager to its existing suite of e-procurement solutions. With Chemical Manager, the university is looking to manage and track chemicals and hazardous substances from purchase through disposal to minimize risk associated with non-compliance. The e-procurement needs of the University have evolved and will continue to develop to meet internal and external demands to suit the changing procurement landscape in Scotland.
Prior to implementing its e-procurement strategy in 2002, the university laboratories struggled with pricing, process, end-user, and management inefficiencies. After implementing several modules of SciQuest’s suite of e-procurement solutions, including Spend Director, Requisition Manager, and Order Manager, UoE enabled an electronic workflow of requisitions and orders for a critical mass of preferred suppliers through an improved process for end-users with increased efficiency, spend visibility and savings. UoE can now monitor very detailed information on spend in excess of £2M annually for the purchase of laboratory consumable products and will be able to closely track chemicals usage internally too.
“We have developed a process that benefits our end users and suppliers,” said Margaret Lochhead, procurement manager, University of Edinburgh. “SciQuest’s solutions have helped suppliers by driving contract compliance, reducing shipping costs, order processing and invoicing errors, and allowed new collaborative tenders to be based on more accurate usage data.”
UoE recognizes that end user adoption is crucial to success of e-procurement initiatives. The university’s efforts to first help provide a lab-friendly service have paid off. One particular post-doctoral research fellow commented that SciQuest’s solutions have “provided a number of significant benefits to the way we work within the School of Chemistry. Chemicals can be purchased easily and quickly from a chosen supplier without resorting to time consuming catalogue searches. Overall, the service is extremely efficient – with both orders and goods being approved promptly.”
Luca Guzzabocca, GlaxoSmithKline’s director – procurement Southern, Eastern, Central and Northern Europe & European systems development, is scheduled to discuss how the world-leading research-based pharmaceutical company rolled out a SciQuest-based e-procurement initiative to 18,000 international users. Guzzabocca will present his organization’s experience, best practices, and lessons learned at SAP’s Logistics and Supply Chain Management conferences in Orlando, Florida (February 12-14, 2007) and Barcelona, Spain (January 31-February 2, 2007). In addition to reviewing GSK’s global procurement strategy and unique challenges faced in successfully implementing the company’s roll-out throughout Europe, Guzzabocca will provide advice on how to form local procurement teams to help manage currency, language, and platform variances.
To further assist European higher educational institutions, SciQuest hosted a webinar series earlier this month to offer insight into a more inclusive model of procurement that helps universities meet needed change. In the webinar, SciQuest officials demonstrated how an on-demand/hosted IT approach to e-procurement and supplier enablement is helping many higher education institutions meet common issues and challenges head-on and realize the benefits that result from the opportunities presented. Future European webinars discussing how to streamline purchasing processes and improve supplier relationship management are planned for the near future.
About SciQuest, Inc.
SciQuest provides on-demand supplier enablement and procurement automation solutions that reduce operating costs, drive end-user adoption, bring more spend under management and increase visibility into organization-wide spending. Through SciQuest solutions, organizations gain immediate cost savings and rapid ROI.
Organizations can quickly enable a critical mass of suppliers through the SciQuest Supplier Network (SQSN) and leverage SciQuest Managed Services to fully manage catalog data and order delivery on an ongoing basis, significantly reducing the need for in-house IT and support resources. With an integrated supplier base, organizations can maximize on-contract spending and gain real-time visibility and reporting capabilities throughout the entire order process.
In addition to a source-to-settle suite of e-procurement applications, SciQuest also offers supplier and order management modules that seamlessly integrate with existing ERP and enterprise financial systems, driving greater return from existing investments.
For more information about SciQuest, please visit www.sciquest.com, or call 919.659.2100.
