Purchasers would use eProcurement - if they could

A survey of UK purchasing professionals in over 100 leading organisations has shown that 41% would prefer to use Web-based 'software as a service' for eProcurement given the opportunity.

A survey of UK purchasing professionals in over 100 leading organisations has shown that, whilst only 4% currently employ them, 41% of those questioned would prefer to implement web-based 'software as a service' solutions for eProcurement given the opportunity.

The survey, which was undertaken by eProcurement specialist Wax Digital, questioned Purchasing Directors and Managers in public and private sector organisations with a UK turnover in excess of GBP 250m.

"Specialist vendors who can offer applications On Demand were identified as the preferred option for respondents - lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), user-friendliness and faster implementation time were identified as the biggest reasons for wanting to adopt that model," said Daniel Ball, director, Wax Digital.

Concerns still exist, however, over the ease with which On Demand can be integrated with existing internal systems, with 21% of respondents citing this as the major implementation challenge.

Other common concerns included difficulty in driving user adoption (15%) and uncertainty over how much solutions could be customised to meet bespoke business needs (11%).

As a result, over 25% of respondents said that they would implement a pilot solution to identify and eliminate risk factors, while 22% said the best way to mitigate risk was by implementing SLAs with clear performance metrics, penalties and incentives.

The survey also showed that, when it comes to the On Demand licensing model, the market remains confused about how best to pay for software as a service.

When asked which pricing model they would prefer for On Demand solutions, most recipients (24%) answered Don't Know, with the remainder very much split between flat fee payments, usage-based charging, traditional up-front license fees and performance-based fees.

"Supply Chain Collaboration and eProcurement often demand considerably more in the way of dynamic change than ERP systems are capable of delivering and it is the specialist vendors that can provide it," said Ball.

"Everyone is pretty clear about the strengths of the software as a service model - particularly ease of use, rapid deployment and cost-effectiveness - but what is also clear is that hard questions should be asked of vendors." Ball added: "Making sure the solution architecture is flexible enough to not only accommodate, but enhance bespoke processes is key, as is ensuring that vendors have a proven integration capability, ideally with a dedicated integration bus (ESB) and support team." * About Wax Digital - Wax Digital's On Demand purchasing and spend management solutions accelerate performance at every stage of the P2P lifecycle for some of the world's leading companies.

Three key principles underpin these solutions.

1 - No software - Wax Digital solutions are typically delivered on a hosted, managed basis to deliver business-critical resilience without the IT overhead.

2 - No training - a highly intuitive user interface renders complex processes simple and means thousands of users can be accommodated without lengthy training.

3 - No compromise - a highly flexible product architecture means solutions are configured to meet each client's exact requirements, rather than imposing standard processes.

Wax Digital solutions are in operation with over 230,000 business users.

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