GSA Using Spend Data Management to Drive e-Marketplace Adoption

General Services Administration taps Zycus for solution to classify item master data

General Services Administration taps Zycus for solution to classify item master data

Rutherford, NJ — March 18, 2004 — The Federal Supply Service (FSS) of the U.S. government's General Services Administration (GSA) has tapped a spend data management (SDM) solution from Zycus for its GSA Advantage! e-marketplace to increase usability and drive additional sales.

GSA Advantage!, which was set-up to facilitate the supply chain needs of the federal government, has, from the outset, faced the challenge of making it easier for customers to find products.

As part of its efforts to overcome this challenge and encourage adoption by end users, the GSA has opted to adopt UNSPSC, a global commodity coding standard, to classify its item master data.

Using a manual approach, this task could take several years and cost many millions of dollars. Instead, GSA selected Zycus SDM software, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to classify item master data.

GSA is counting on the SDM software to drive increased adoption of e-business among the 2 million-plus U.S. government federal workforce by providing detailed visibility to millions of products sourced via the e-government portal. Zycus said that the visibility to products will benefit both end users searching for the products as well as procurement managers looking for additional savings.

"The Zycus' SDM software, integrated with the GSA Advantage! system, will automatically help categorize more than 5 million product and services data within the system to UNSPSC standards, and help people find what they need more easily," said Al Iagnemmo, director of e-business for the FSS.

"Zycus SDM software provides in-depth visibility that is key to discovery of savings," added Sandip Maiti, director of marketing for Zycus. Maiti said that the AI-based classification technology in Zycus' solution has helped GSA effectively define a strategy to increase the user-friendliness of Advantage!

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