Category Archives: SaaS

The Sourcing Maniacs 2008 Vendor Tour Part XI: Integration Point

When we left off in our tale of the Sourcing Maniacs 2008 Vendor Tour, they had just finished meeting with the CEO of Iasta who told them all about bringing e-Sourcing to the mid-market masses and, in particular, the benefits of applying decision optimization and supplier relationship management to your sourcing process. We catch up with the maniacs in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The post is a little lengthy, so I’ve again broken it up into parts; Interlude and Integration (which contains the content).

Interlude

Wakko Faster, faster!
Dot Go! Go! Go!
Yakko Floor it!
For the sake of clarity, I should point out that the maniacs are currently at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway watching the cars take practice laps in preparation for their next race.
Wakko Do you think I can take one for a lap?
Dot Given your penchant for mischief, I’d be surprised if they’d even take you for a lap in the 2-seater experience.
Wakko Why not?
Yakko What happens every time you drive fast?
Wakko I tend to crash on occasion.
Yakko I didn’t hear you!
Wakko I usually wreck the car.
Yakko So do you think they’re going to let you take a mulit-million dollar piece of precision equipment for a spin?
Wakko solemnly
No.
Yakko Now that that’s settled, ready to move on?
Dot Where next?
Wakko I thought you said it was eSourcing Place now?
Dot glares at Wakko.
Yakko Well, we’re on the I’s and the doctor strongly suggested that we check out this place called Integration Point (acquired by Thomson Reuters).
Dot Where are they?
Yakko North Carolina.
Wakko Sweet Home Carolina
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Carloina
I’m coming home to you
Dot Don’t you mean Sweet Home Alabama?
Wakko Yakko said Carolina!
Dot But …
Wakko Works, don’t it?
Dot Yes …
Wakko Okay, then!

Sweet Home Carolina
Where the skies are so blue
Yakko & Wakko Sweet Home Carloina
I’m coming home to you
Dot, reluctantly, joins in
Yakko, Wakko, & Dot Here I come, Carolina!
  We catch up with the maniacs a few days later.
Dot Are we here?
Wakko reaching for his mini-mallet
I’ll check!
but before Wakko can tap-tap-tap, the door opens … a woman, who appears to be dressed like a marketing-type executive, answers
Marketing Executive Oh. Sorry. Can I help you?
Dot Is this Integration Point?
Marketing Executive Yes it is.
Dot What do you integrate?
Marketing Executive Now that’s a strange question. Who are you?
Dot I’m Dot.
Yakko And I’m Yakko. And that fella over there …
pointing to Wakko who has decided to bonk himself on the head with the mini-mallet, presumably in disappointment in not getting to use it on the door
is Wakko.
Marketing Executive I can see that. Is he okay? Do I need to get help?
Dot Oh, he’s fine. Don’t worry about him.
Marketing Executive Dot. Yakko. Wakko. Why do those names sound familiar?
Yakko & Dot We’re the sourcing maniacs!
Marketing Executive guarded
Oh. Well …
pause
we don’t have any open positions right now. Sorry. Have a nice day.
she starts to close the door … obviously, she’s heard of the maniacs and their antics
Dot Wait. We’re not hear for jobs, unless you have them.
Marketing Executive Then what are you hear for?
Wakko who has grown bored of his mini-mallet
Knowledge!
Marketing Executive I can see that you could certainly use some!
Yakko We want to know what you do and why it’s important.
Marketing Executive Why us?
Yakko the doctor said you’d broaden our horizons!
Marketing Executive Well
glancing at Wakko
I don’t think that will be too hard!
Dot So will you tell us what you integrate?
Marketing Executive If you’re sure you want to broaden your horizons. They say ignorance is bliss, and
glancing back at Wakko
it seems to me that he likes his blissful state of ignorance.
Yakko & Dot We want to broaden our horizons!
Yakko And you can ignore Wakko.
Dot Everyone else does.
Marketing Executive OK.
Looking sternly at Wakko. But the construction tools stay in your backpack. Got it?

 

Integration

Dot So what do you integrate?
Marketing Executive I think you misunderstand what we do. We’re not your run of the mill software development or consulting shop … we don’t “integrate” anything, except data.

Let me ask you this, how much do you know about global trade?
Dot You call up your supplier in China, tell him you’d like 20,000 DVD players, and then call up your 3PL to handle the delivery to your warehouse. Easy-peasy!
Marketing Executive Are you sure?
Dot What do you mean?
Marketing Executive What about government regulations? Import and export classifications? Duties and Tariffs? Consignment? Free and Secure Trade Zones?
Dot Aren’t regulations the supplier’s problem?
Yakko And don’t the suppliers know the classifications?
Dot And doesn’t the supplier just add the tax?
Yakko And doesn’t the 3PL take care of consignment …
Dot and the free and secure trade zones?
Marketing Executive No, not necessarily, maybe sales tax and VAT, not always, and definitely not.

Regulations are your problem. You’re the one taking ownership, you’re the one trying to import the goods, and you’re the one who’s going to sell them. You’re the one who has to make sure that the goods meet material and quality regulations, or face the consequences.

The supplier might know the right export code, and the supplier might not. But it’s definitely your responsibility that the right (HTS) import code is utilized. Otherwise, you could face huge losses if the wrong code is used and the tarriff is higher, or huge fines if the wrong code is used and the tarriff paid is lower than it should be. Your 3PL might be able to help you, but proper classification is ultimately your responsibility.

Identification of the appropriate duties and tariffs, and prompt payment, is ultimately your responsibility.

And whether or not you consign goods, and when you do it, is totally up to you.

As is the determination of whether or not you use free or secured trade zones in an effort to take advantage of what they have to offer.

Are you at least familiar with the basic Global Trade Import Cycle and Export Cycles?
Dot The Global Trade What-Now?
Marketing Executive You say the doctor sent you. Didn’t you at least take the time to read his introductory wiki-papers on Global Trade, Customs & Security, Free Trade, and Regulatory Compliance?
Dot Uhm … no. Were they important?
Marketing Executive Very. And they’d help you better understand what we do.
Dot Which is?
Marketing Executive Global Trade Data Management solutions that help customers with import management, export management, free trade zones, compliance, and other aspects of global trade.

Our solutions, which are web-based and true SaaS, help suppliers with classification; advance notification (as required by 10 + 2); denied party screening; free trade zones, foreign trade zones, and special economic zones; customs warehousing; AEO, C-TPAT, and PIP; free trade agreements; and import/export safety.

If you understand the cycle, you understand that there are significant documentary requirements at each stage. These documentary requirements can only be fulfilled with good, up-to-date data. Our systems maintain that data and help you with the creation and, where possible, the electronic transmission of the forms you need to the required parties — which include your supplier, your 3PL or import/export broker, and various government agencies. And, to go bo back to your “what we integrate” question, we can also integrate with a wide range of ERP (and competitor trade platforms) to pull the data you need for form creation out of your ERP and then push the data your missing back into your ERP for archival purposes.
Dot So you generate e-paper?
Marketing Executive Sort of. In terms you can understand, we generate e-paper that keeps you compliant. How much do you know about 10 + 2?
Wakko 10 + 2 = 12?
Marketing Executive It’s the new secure freight initiative from the US Government that requires a more detailed Security Filing that is being dubbed the “10+2” because it requires 10 data elements from the importer and 2 data elements from the carrier that must be electronically filed 24 hours prior to loading cargo onto a shipping vessel ultimately bound for the US. And it’s a doozy. Besides the fact that some estimates believe that it might cost importers 690 Million annually to implement, there’s the little caveat that if the principal fails to comply with the proposed Importer Security Filing requirements, the principal and surety (jointly and severally) would pay liquidated damages equal to the value of the merchandise involved in the default. So, if you’re importing a 1 Million dollar shipment, and you screw up, that’s a 1 Million dollar fine.
Dot That’s a lifetime of Prada bags!
Marketing Executive giving Dot a strange look
At least!
Marketing Executive And how much do you know about REACH? WEEE? RoHS? ELV?
Yakko What now?
Marketing Executive REACH: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, WEEE: Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, RoHS: Restriction Of Hazardous Substances, and ELV: End of Life Vehicles. The European directives that specify what can, and more importantly, can’t be in products you want to import into the EU. Failure to comply can result in seizure and destruction of your entire shipment.
Yakko But that’s just in the EU, right?
Marketing Executive For now. But similar acts, especially with regards to RoHS, are popping up all around the globe in countries like India, China, and Korea, for starters.
Yakko But China’s the biggest user of coal. Why would they care about electronics?
Marketing Executive A few grams of certain metals and chemicals, which are restricted or banned by acts like RoHS and REACH, in old electronics equipment can contaminate over a million litres of ground water!
Yakko Wow!
Marketing Executive And even the third world countries are trying to clean up their acts these days. But back to topic. These aren’t the only compliance directives out there … different countries, and sometimes even industries, have their own. Our product can track any product-specific data you like, compare it to the regulatory requirements of major acts that we track, and even allow you to add your own industry or company specific regulatory requirements to compare the product data to. This helps you maintain compliance and, more importantly, helps you to avoid large fines and stay out of the headlines.
Wakko So your product helps companies get a complete view of their global operations from a regulatory and compliance perspective?
Marketing Executive stunned (since no one really expects Wakko to listen)
Yes.
Wakko Cool!
So, can we go get some pulled-pork now? I’m hungry!
Yakko stunned (since he usually asks for baloney)
Uhm, sure!
Dot I guess we have to go now. Thanks for the insight. I never knew global trade was so involved.
  And with that, the maniacs take their leave.

At this point, we take another short break in our story.

 

Hackett Hacks Away at Recession Declines

Hackett recently published a research piece on how “G&A Spending Cuts Can Offset 21% to 45% of the Anticipated Decline in Pre-Tax Profit During Recession” as part of their Enterprise Strategy Series which noted that their 2008 benchmark data reveals a savings of 184 – 400 Million for a typical global 1000 company that’s worth a re-read. Unlike most of their pieces, this was available to the public (registration required), and, if it’s still available, you should definitely download it – as it is jam-packed with more information than a single blog post can cover.

The piece starts off that by noting that while mandated G&A cuts are the norm in times of recession, arbitrarily cutting costs across the board can lead to serious deterioration in service-delivery capacity. It’s critical that cuts are made in ways that minimize impact on business value delivery, but this requires an understanding of the strategic alternatives, current cost structures (as compared to those of world-class organizations), and clear-eyed risk assessments. Furthermore, Hackett found that average companies can reduce G&A cost between 15% and 41% simply by optimizing process cost. Furthermore, reduced technology spend can take out another 6% to 7%.

The research brief also points out that you should not determine a savings target before understanding what a “normal” spend level is in a world class organization. For example, a typical Global 1000 company (with 23.4B in revenue and 56,100 employees) spends 3.6% of its revenues on four core principle G&A functions (Finance, HR, IT, & Procurement), but world-class companies execute significantly better by combining process excellence with technology leverage. They perform at lower cost levels (22%+) and enable the business to succeed by producing improved financial results and cash-flow; by recruiting, training, and retaining talent; by driving costs out of the supply chain; and by making superior use of technology.

The research brief also identified 10 targets for G&A reduction across the four core functions that, when combined, should allow for a cost reduction of at least $158M in a typical Fortune 1000 company in process costs alone (labor and outsourcing) that can be achieved by way of best practices, simplification, and standardization. Specifically, the 10 functions, and potential cost savings were:

  • Infrastructure Management : 25.1
  • Revenue Cycle : 22.7
  • Application Maintenance : 21.6
  • General Accounting : 17.9
  • Application Development & Implementation : 15.8
  • Compliance Management : 13.4
  • End-User Support : 12.7
  • Transactional HR : 11.7
  • General Disbursement : 10.6
  • Purchase Order Processing : 6.4

The research brief identified a cost difference of 55.6 Million in technology spend between average and world-class organizations.

Hackett also identified another 74.9 Million in cost savings that may be available through globalization (and outsourcing).

So how do you start identifying these cost savings? You start by reading the research brief and focussing on the specifics in the identified areas. You also apply the expertise the doctor and his fellow bloggers have imparted to you over the years while noting that most of the savings opportunities are in technology (75.2), finance (51.2), and procurement (19.8). If you have been paying attention, this should screen one acronym to you: SaaS. If you’re currently using bloated behind-the-firewall software, switching to SaaS will simultaneously reduce your infrastructure (the largest), application maintenance (the third largest), application implementation (the fifth largest), and end-user support (the seventh largest) costs. Plus, if it’s e-Sourcing or e-Procurement, you’ll also reduce your revenue cycle (the second largest), compliance management (sixth largest), general disbursement (ninth largest), and purchase order processing (tenth largest) costs. That’s eight cost reductions with one decision! How can you go wrong?

the doctor Gives You A Very Important Reason to Go SaaS

Those of you who read the On-Demand / Software as a Service Application Platforms wiki-paper on the e-Sourcing Wiki [WayBackMachine], already have fifteen (15) great reasons to go SaaS, which include:

  • Pay As You Go
  • Instant Deployment
  • Single Instance
  • Economies of Scale
  • Provider Handles Administration, Maintenance, and IT Headaches
  • Free Upgrades
  • The Customer Has the Leverage
  • Anywhere Access
  • Buy What Is Needed, And Only What Is Needed
  • Single, Accountable Entity
  • Regular, Automated Data Backup
  • Built for Change
  • Unparalleled Collaborative Capabilities
  • Integration with Office Applications
  • Low Total Cost of Ownership

However, perhaps the biggest reason you should go SaaS, is:

  • Sustainability

Reading the article “Analyzing Costs and Benefits”, I was reminded just how fast energy costs are rising (much faster than the referenced rate from the Energy Information Administration) and how much savings there is to be had just by reducing your energy needs.

And if you maintain all of your systems in house, then, unless you are manufacturer, one of your biggest energy needs is your IT data center – especially since you probably can’t afford to be updating all of your hardware every other year (like many modern data centers do). If you maintain PC-based servers for 4 (or 5 years), and mini-computers / racks for that long or longer, than your hardware needs are probably three or four times what they would be if everything was running on latest technology with real-time load-balancing and virtualization. Furthermore, chances are each of these machines is requiring at least twice as much energy to run as a modern machine with a lower power utilization processor and much better energy conservation technology. All in all, you’re probably consuming at least eight times as much energy as you need to be, especially when compared to an up-to-date data center used by a SaaS provider.

Furthermore, not only are you allowing for significant energy savings by using SaaS, but you’re also contributing to green in a big way, because the hardware resources of a SaaS provider are shared between multiple organizations. This not only allows for even more efficient resource utilization, but also reduces the amount of hardware, and thus the amount of future electronic waste, that will need to be recycled.

Coupa + Amazon EC2 = Energized Procurement!

One of the great things about the blogsphere is we don’t have to wait for them to stop the presses to get a great story in at the last minute. We just type, save, publish – and presto! – you get the latest news as soon as we get it, as it happens, and, when you’re really lucky, before!

Tomorrow, the latest press release from Coupa will blanket the wire, traditional e-Procurement companies will cringe, and new age technophiles will rejoice. For tomorrow, the world’s simplest e-Procurement system will be available on-demand to enterprises of all shapes and sizes at a fraction of the cost of traditional e-Procurement systems. Just like SalesForce.com revolutionized the CRM world, Coupa is revolutionizing the e-Procurement world – and then some! By basing their new services on Amazon’s EC2 Virtual Grid Computing Cluster, they are ensuring that they’ll always have the computing power required to ensure rapid response times, regardless of how many users decide to use the system at exactly 4:55 p.m. to get that last order of the day out before they leave.

Normally it takes a big merger, acquisition, or introduction of a brand-spanking-new technology to shake-up a market – but Coupa has achieved puree with nothing but open source and a revolutionary pricing model. They don’t know it yet, but I’d say at least three quarters of the e-Procurement companies I track over on the resource site are in dire straits once procurement professionals realize everywhere that it doesn’t cost in the high six, or even seven, figures for basic enterprise e-Procurement anymore – and that it doesn’t require a six month roll-out plan either! Specifically, I predict that any company trying to make a living just selling decade old order management, e-RFX, e-Invoicing, and catalog management technology is headed for extinction. Unless they are also providing advanced payment solutions, supply chain finance, inventory visibility, or other advanced service offerings – they’re going to have a very tough time competing with a true multi-tenant on-demand e-Procurement platform with unlimited scalability and exponentially decreasing costs on a per-user basis as your organization grows.

This brings us to their transparent four layer pricing model – the first of its kind – that is designed to make the Coupa e-Procurement system affordable to even the smallest 3-guys-in-a-garage start-up while simultaneously making it best-value for your large enterprise who’s still struggling to embrace the 21st century and just needs a basic e-Procurement system. How affordable? How valuable? Although the exact prices won’t be available until tomorrow, I have it on good authority that a 10-user organization can get started for as little as 3K a year (and maybe a little less)! And – you better be sitting down for this one – a 1000 user organization can get started for under 50K per year! That’s less than $50 / user / year! And the enterprise package also includes their new “Quick Start” program which gives you a dedicated solution delivery expert, guidance on collection of key company information, and assistance in configuring your Coupa-On-Demand instance – including chart of accounts, users, suppliers, contracts, catalogs, approvals, and integration advice.

Coupa has also been working hard since their last release to extend their functionality, and now supports a number of common office supplies and electronics vendors using punch-out and cXML order delivery (including Office Depot, Office Max, Dell, and VWR), direct quickbooks order import via Traxian for small businesses, and an integration web services layer that automates the movement of data in and out of Coupa-On-Demand using XML and an open API that supports seamless integration with accounting systems and ERPs.

And I’m sure there’ll be goodies aplenty on their newly designed web-sites that will be live tomorrow. That’s right – Sites! In addition to Coupa.com, there’ll also be a new Coupa.org site as well that will provide a dedicated home for Coupa Express, the world leading open source project for e-Procurement that has already surpassed 9,000 downloads and will probably pass the 10,000 mark before the month is up!

So watch the wire – and check out Coupa*! The e-Procurement revolution is at hand!

And, for those of you still wondering, this post fits in perfectly with the Sustainable Sunday theme : On-Demand e-Procurement that uses Amazon EC2 Virtual Computing Grid to only consume as much resources (and energy) as is required to support your needs and keep your costs low helps you sustain your procurement initiatives!

*Wouldn’t Coupa make a great sponsor of Sourcing Innovation? They’ve been pretty innovative lately.  Feel free to leave any comments – including dissenting ones! – below. I know they read this blog from time to time.

The Arena Solution

The effectiveness of your Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution and its ability to manage the information associated with the entire lifecycle of a product from conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal, can be the difference between costly inefficiency and profitable efficiency. However, the complexity and cost associated with many traditional PLM solutions often puts these solutions out of reach of most small and mid-size companies. That’s why the on-demand PLM solution from Arena deserves due consideration from any product manufacturer looking to increase their efficiency and productivity and why sourcing and procurement professionals should be familiar with it, and its benefits, since the greatest cost reductions result when sourcing is involved in product development from day one.

Arena, founded in 2000 by ex-manufacturing executives who needed an easy to use, affordable, and quick-to-implement PLM solution that could take advantage of the internet as a delivery mechanism to allow for collaboration both within and beyond their four walls, is different from traditional PLM providers in that it is easy to implement, easier to use, and accessible to all of your partners, to whatever extent you want it to be.

Whereas a typical behind-the-firewall PLM solution is often challenging even for trained power-users, as expensive as SAP (comparative speaking), and significantly complex and time-consuming to implement (with implementation and configuration cycles of six months to two years not uncommon – and sometimes only for basic functionality), small to mid-size users of Arena can often be up and running in a day, with the most complex implementation maxing out at about a month.

Arena also has all the traditional benefits of an on-demand solution – including no large up front cash outlay, economies of scale, free upgrades, rapid responsiveness, and collaboration in addition to an ultra-configurable fine-grained security model, cirriculum-based on-demand training, and multiple role support to allow you to buy just the capabilities you need for each user. This makes the application very secure as you can control, right down to the domain and IP address, who has access to what and when the information expires and ultra-deletes, very useable as a user can access just the training resources she needs when she needs them, and makes the application very affordable as a company only has to pay for full access for the users that need it.

Furthermore, Arena is a very stable company with over 300 customers from garage shop operations all the way up to entire divisions of companies like Xerox. Many of these companies use the application across departments and with suppliers and partners distributed all over the globe. And when you factor in that they do a quarterly analysis on application usage on a customer-by-customer basis to determine not only what customers are using what features but what customers are not using the capabilities they paid for, so that they can contact those customers and find out what they need to improve either in the application, the training materials, or the customer support, you know that they’re not going anywhere.

Arena is particularly suited to the mid-market that they’re focussed on. Their on-demand model allows them to offer a flexible pricing model that can support three guys in a garage all the way up to large mid-market companies and their focus on the Product Information Management (PIM) aspect of PLM allows them to offer a PLM for mere mortals solution that anyone can (learn to) use. So if your mid-market company is looking for a PLM solution, make sure that the candidate solutions are those that can also be used by sourcing professionals like you and consider pushing to have Arena added to that list. After all, when it comes to on-demand, there just aren’t that many PLM providers, and fewer still that built their solution on-demand from the ground up. In the former category, I believe there’s PTC’s Windchill solution, which is resold by IBM, and Oracle‘s hosted Agile solution (which isn’t really true SaaS), but in the latter category, and I’ll admit I’m not an expert in the PLM space, I don’t know of any other on-demand PLM solutions that were built to be on-demand SaaS from the ground up.