GlaxoSmithKline's e-Procurement Program Goes Global with Sciquest's Supplier Management Technology

Business Wire, Dec 12, 2006

GSK Expands e-Procurement to Verona, Italy Site, Eliminating Paper Purchase Orders, Streamlining Procurement Operations, and Improving Contract Compliance

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- SciQuest, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand supplier management and procurement automation solutions, today announced it has provided supplier content management technology to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a world-leading research-based pharmaceutical company, allowing the corporation to globally expand its e-procurement initiatives. Seen as a logical next step for its organization and the right way to conduct business in the global marketplace, GSK recently selected its Verona, Italy site to pilot a program providing online catalog content in a non-English format.

GSK centralized its global purchasing process through both internal systems and external purchasing agents and licensed the SciQuest Spend Director solution as well as content packs to enable key suppliers. While the company's initial strategy focused exclusively in the US and UK markets, the positive impact of content to the e-procurement process in these two countries encouraged GSK to expand into other global markets.

"We've been very pleased with the success of the global evolution of our e-procurement initiatives," said Luca Guzzabocca, director - procurement Southern, Eastern, Central and Northern Europe & European systems development for GSK. "The Verona roll-out serves as an example of how GSK is pushing e-procurement capabilities further into the business and instituting a global content management strategy in order to gain even greater efficiencies and savings."

By integrating SciQuest's Spend Director with Ariba Buyer software in the United States and with SAP in the company's international sites, GSK enables 18,000 users access to hundreds of suppliers enabled on the company's global e-procurement platform. GSK can now take advantage of global spend visibility across sites that were once disjointed due to disparate ERP and purchasing systems. SciQuest's technology allows GSK to promote global suppliers (driving the massive purchasing power of GSK worldwide), while still supporting local and diversity vendors specific to individual regions.

SciQuest's intelligent spend analytics empower GSK with the capability to facilitate smart relationships and contracts with preferred suppliers while taking full advantage of their existing investments in procurement technology. To date, GSK's global procurement platform contains over 2.1 million items representing more than 90 percent of their total laboratory spend.

GSK Verona has experienced immediate value since implementing its global e-procurement program over six months ago. The site has virtually eliminated paper purchase orders, streamlined its procurement operations, and greatly improved contract compliance in catalog-rich supply categories. "While we are slowly increasing our preferred supplier compliance rate, we have already increased our less expensive purchasing item compliance rate over 40%," commented Guzzabocca.

In addition, GSK Verona has reduced its purchasing transaction time by 30%, resulting in significant operational savings of up to 5 minutes per transaction. The company has also achieved 100% end-user compliance by creating a positive environment for preferred suppliers and providing extra support and educational materials on the local intranet.

"Consolidating procurement data and enabling spend analysis on a global level enables an organization to further optimize its supply chain and reduce costs, maximize performance and reduce risk," said Steve Wiehe, president and CEO of SciQuest. "By extending its e-procurement capabilities and instituting a global supplier management strategy GSK is revolutionizing its procurement strategy and gaining even greater efficiencies and savings. We are pleased to be a part of this innovative process and expect many other global organizations to follow GSK's example."

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.