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Zycus Releases Exclusive Research Report: Driving High Performance Procurement Initiatives

PRINCETON, N.J. September 15, 2011 - Zycus, a world leader in Procurement Technology Solutions, has released results of an in-depth study into which tactics and technology combinations work best for convincing employees to adopt and embrace procurement-led corporate performance initiatives. Nearly 600 procurement professionals - representing an estimated $370 billion in collective spending power - participated in the study. The report contains both industry average and tiered performance benchmarks for the following indicators: compliance to enterprise supply contracts and preferred procure-to-pay (P2P) processes, stakeholder participation rates in strategic sourcing and supplier performance management activities, procurement technology adoption and use (broken out by procurement technology category), and procurement technology utilization (as % of total available functionality). Key conclusions from the study:

• Companies achieving the highest internal compliance rates to enterprise supply contracts and preferred procure-to-pay (P2P) processes employ a combination of policy, persuasion (business case/communication), performance objectives, metrics, monitoring, compliance reporting, and ease-of-use tactics. Contract Management, Spend Analysis, and eProcurement solutions appear to be the most powerful enablers of these compliance tactics. Adopting an integrated suite of solutions pushes the positive performance gap between best of class and laggards to as much as 40 points.

• Procurement organizations that win high levels of stakeholder participation in strategic sourcing and supplier performance management activities achieve compliance rates three to four times greater than those that neglect to engage internal stakeholders. Effective tactics for winning stakeholder engagement include: persuasion (business case), clear and effective communication, stakeholder input into decision making, ease of participation, and consistent execution of standard and transparent, fact-driven processes. Top three technology enablers for these tactics are: Spend Analysis, eSourcing and Supplier Performance Management.

• Organizations implementing procurement technology but failing to achieve high adoption, and utilization of their solutions show substantially (50-75%) lower performance for compliance and stakeholder engagement compared to companies that obtain high adoption and utilization. winning the highest technology adoption and usage rates employ a combination of compulsory tactics -policy, usage monitoring, reporting, workflow management - along with ease of use (as a key solution-selection criteria), training, and ongoing mentoring.

• In spite of procurement technology adoption and use playing a big role in winning corporate cultural acceptance for procurement-led performance initiatives, few believe their organizations fully utilize the technology already available to them. - We often hear from our customers that winning genuine adoption and support from internal customers and stakeholders is the greatest challenge for procurement leaders looking to drive corporate performance improvement using procurement levers, remarks Anurag Dixit, Vice President of Marketing for Zycus. - Our study - which garnered a remarkable participation rate - provides valuable insight into how leading procurement organizations gain acceptance and support from complex corporate populations. There are no easy answers in the results, but we expect this report to help procurement leaders focus on the most effective tactics and technology investments.

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About Zycus

At Zycus we are 100% dedicated to positioning procurement at the heart of business performance. For more than a decade we have been the world's most trusted leader in Spend Analysis. With our spirit of innovation and a passion to help procurement create even greater business advantages, we have evolved our portfolio to a full suite of Procurement Performance Solutions - Spend Analysis, eSourcing, Contract Management, Supplier Management, and Financial Savings Management. Behind every Zycus solution stands an organization that possesses deep, detailed procurement expertise and a sharp focus on being responsive to customers. We are a large - 600+ and growing - company with a physical presence in virtually every major region of the globe. We see each customer as a partner in innovation and no client is too small to deserve our attention. With more than 200 solution deployments among Global 1000 clients, we search the world continually for procurement practices proven to drive competitive business performance. We incorporate these practices into easy-to-use solutions that give procurement teams the power to get moving quickly and to continue innovating and pushing business and procurement performance to new heights.

Press Contacts
Rahul Awtaney
Manager - Public Relations & Analyst Relations, Zycus Inc.
rahul.awtaney@zycus.com
Direct: +1 866 563 9219

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