BasWare Purchase Management Cuts the Cost of Procurement

Shared pricing model guarantees financial savings and efficiency gains for large organizations

BasWare Corporation, the leading provider of financial automation process solutions, today launched BasWare Purchase Management 3.3.  Used as a stand alone tool, or as part of BasWare’s wider purchase to pay portfolio, BasWare Purchase Management cuts the cost of operational and indirect purchases, for example IT and office supplies, marketing materials and service contractors such as cleaning, for large organizations.

BasWare Purchase Management is intuitive to use. This makes it simple to rollout across an organization because there is no need for extensive employee training. Straightforward navigation and enhanced catalogue features ensure items can be easily purchased and requisitions are quick and easy to complete. The order review and approval functions have also been enhanced enabling quick and efficient approval process.

The software is sold with a comprehensive set of Business Consultancy services. These have been designed to ensure seamless integration with the organization’s existing purchase to pay infrastructure, and to guarantee maximum cost savings and process efficiency are achieved.

“We believe this combined software and consulting approach is the first of its kind in the purchase management field.  We have designed it to help organizations manage the migration from a manual to an electronic procurement system, and to maximize potential purchasing efficiencies and cost savings,” said Esa Tihilä, General Manager, BasWare Europe and North America. “However, software can only facilitate improved business practices. The best results will only be achieved if all parties, from senior management through to associated suppliers, buy into the changes and ensure that the processes are followed.”

The decision to include consultancy in the software sales results from the key findings of a recent pan-European industry program - BECS (Boost Efficiency Compliance and Savings) for Procurement*. The program interviewed senior procurement executives who cited ease-of-use and integration, content management and supplier interaction, as well as strong involvement and support from senior management, as essential to the successful implementation of automated procurement process.

BasWare took into account these findings in the development of BasWare Purchase Management 3.3. Its straightforward interface takes the user step-by-step through the electronic purchase requisition, from catalogue search and free-text ordering through review and approval, and goods receipt. Defaults ensure that all necessary information is included while removing the opportunity for employees to buy off catalogue. This ensures strict order controls are complied with while introducing efficiencies that make the workflow quicker and more efficient.

“We are confident that any organization that uses BasWare Purchase Management and follows the processes laid out by our consulting teams will save significant amounts of money and see major improvements in procurement process efficiencies,” explained Tihilä.  “In fact we are so confident we’ve introduced a shared risk pricing structure. Under pre-agreed terms customers will pay for software licenses on a sliding scale. Pricing will be set on a ratio of savings made against savings guaranteed. These will be worked out with our business consultants.”

The first step in the Business Consulting process is a comprehensive analysis of the customer’s current procurement process and expenditure. This will review the number of suppliers and costs against each category and sub-category.

On completion the consultant will work with the key stakeholders to establish their own objectives.  These will be integrated into the company-wide strategy and the potential cost savings will be calculated against these and set out in the ‘Framework for Successful Implementation’. This is the contract between BasWare and the customer against which the objectives are measured and the shared pricing scale set. It is essential that at this stage the buy-in of senior management has been secured. They will be vital to ensuring the procurement processes are rolled out across the company successfully.

BasWare PM 3.3 integrates seamlessly with BasWare’s Enterprise Purchase to Pay solution.  Providing an extension to a business’ existing ERP systems, BasWare increases the control and management of an organization’s back-office financial operations to improve, streamline and automate business-critical financial processes.

For further information, please contact:
Esa Tihilä, General Manager, BasWare Europe and North America Tel:  +358 40 052 2053 mailbox@basware.com

*A copy of the full report, BECS (Boost Efficiency Compliance and Savings) for Procurement (January 2006) is available from www.basware.com/whitepapers

About BasWare
BasWare is the global leader in Enterprise Purchase to Pay and Financial Management solutions. More than 400,000 end-users in over 20 countries use its software to automate back-office financial operations to enhance efficiency, gain process control and transparency, and meet compliance requirements. BasWare’s products are widely used in Shared Service Centres.

In 2005, net sales reached EUR 42.8 million. The growth target for net sales in 2006 is approx. 45% and will continue to be supported by a growing network of value-added resellers.

Founded in 1985, BasWare Corporation is a public company listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, it has eight subsidiaries in the US and Europe. The company currently has 500 employees.