News | July 13, 2005

IBM and SciQuest Partner to Provide Spend Management

Research Triangle Park, NC - SciQuest, Inc. announced its partnership with IBM Business Consulting Services to provide a comprehensive Spend Management Solution designed to meet the unique purchasing needs of higher education institutions. This partnership combines the strength of IBM's world class procurement services with SciQuest's industry leading supplier management and procurement automation technology.

SciQuest's on demand, modular procurement solution can be configured to work with existing financial and ERP technology. Procurement and accounting professionals receive data they can act upon in comprehensively analyzing their organization's spending and in measurably reducing cost. To this technology, IBM adds the benefits of its Procurement Services Practice, the world's largest, with over 500 experienced purchasing professionals. IBM's procurement experience and expertise can help higher education institutions optimize their procurement functions.

"SciQuest's procurement solutions ensure cutting-edge spend management at leading academic institutions throughout the country," said Patrick Carey, higher education leader for IBM Business Consulting. "IBM's extensive procurement consulting experience combined with SciQuest's proven technology can significantly increase procurement savings for our clients."

The partnership allows universities to:

  • Improve savings campus-wide

  • Analyze spending to determine the most efficient spend solutions for the institution

  • Make spending more visible, leading to greater cost savings

  • Aggregate the analysis of spending with multiple suppliers, increasing contract compliance, order efficiency and user adoption

  • Bring significantly more campus-wide spend under management

  • Continuously realign supplier relationships through strategic sourcing and strategies to maintain maximum sustainable cost savings

"IBM's high-level procurement consulting and SciQuest's industry-leading technology, together, yield an unparalleled opportunity for higher education institutions to customize and manage their ideal purchasing system," said Stephen Wiehe, president & CEO at SciQuest. "This comprehensive solution covers every base of an institution's procurement structure, before and after implementation."

SOURCE: SciQuest