Phoenix, AZ April 5, 2002 According to the Center for Advanced Purchasing Studies, over half of today's corporate purchasing budget is spent on services. Many companies are opting to use external suppliers and contract staff to provide services outside their core competencies. In light of this Elance Inc., a services procurement company, announced the availability of Elance 3.0, a services procurement and management (SPM) application suite.
According to Elance, the Web-based software integrates contract and project-based services onto one platform. It works within a company's existing structure and methodologies and integrates with existing corporate guidelines and legacy systems, including e-procurement, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and HRMS applications. In addition, Elance 3.0 can be used to manage all categories of services expenditure, including information technology, marketing and other business services.
Elance 3.0 consists of four modules: a management and reporting console for visibility into services costs and efficiency, process automation for project sourcing, process automation for contingent labor hiring, and a services transaction engine. Service, support and expert SPM consulting are also part of the offering.
Our studies show that an effective SPM solution can reduce service expenditures by 5 to 15 percent, making services procurement and management one of the largest untapped profit levers in companies today, said Fabio Rosati, president and CEO of Elance. Elance 3.0 provides easy-to-use tools that improve the visibility of those expenditures and the quality of sourcing and management practices.
Elance 3.0 is currently in Beta at companies including Pequot Capital, a Westport, Conn.-based investment firm. Pequot Capital has been using Elance's service procurement and management application for several months," said Carol Holley, partner of Pequot Capital. "Before Elance, we had a hard time tracking the money we spent on marketing services, and determining if the expenditure was appropriate. Elance gave us a much better understanding over where our money was going, eliminated maverick spend, and streamlined a cumbersome manual service request and approval process."
Elance 3.0 is now available for general release. For more information, please visit www.elance.com.
