Emory University’s Decision to Implement Zycus Spend Analysis and Strategic Sourcing Solutions Noteworthy

The recent news that Zycus had cracked the education market with the announcement that Atlanta-based Emory University has decided to implement the company’s “SaaS based Spend Analysis and Strategic Sourcing solutions,” is noteworthy on many levels.

One of the most demanding sectors in which the dynamics of decentralized purchasing practices at the departmental level doesn’t quite mesh with the compliance requirements of a centralized implementation strategy, the higher education sector has never been lacking in terms of providing interesting anecdotes.  North Carolina’s November 2004 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with its institutions and the challenges associated with the University of Washington’s Ariba “experience” immediately come to mind.

As a result, one might be inclined to wonder if the SaaS-based Zycus solutions have in fact hit the proverbial sweet spot by addressing the issues that have made the road to targeted savings for most higher education institutions an elusive achievement.

Having written a number of white papers in this arena including a detailed analysis of Colorado State University’s strategic sourcing initiative to reduce transactional volume, and the State of Tennessee’s efforts to piggyback SciQuest unto its education sector’s entrenched SunGard installation base, may very well signal a change in direction that has been a long time in the making.

Looking beyond the press release and the usual references to moving “from spend visibility to savings realization,” and the “accelerate ROI from our sourcing initiatives” statements, this may be the first yet most significant indication that the shift away from traditional application models within mainstream consciousness has taken hold.

Think of it for just a moment.  Here is a company whose success has largely been in the international corporate world – impressive wins to be certain – landing a contract with one of the most prestigious private research universities in the land.  (Note: Emory’s undergraduate program is ranked 17th among national universities, while its medical, law, and business programs are among the top 25 in the country.)

It is not that long ago, that penetrating the higher education market in general was an inconceivable uphill battle, let alone landing a high profile university like Emory as your first client in the sector.

For this reason alone, Zycus is proving that our identifying them as an Emerging Titan of the SaaS World is very much warranted.  It will be interesting to see what happens from this point on relative to the expansion of its client base within the higher education market.

Stay tuned . . .

Zycus’ Re-Introduction to Spend Management Series Focuses More on Providing Insight Versus Creating Brand Awareness

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Date & Time – Topic of the Session
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28-Jan, 2:30 CET – Unlock Higher Value with Spend Management
09-Feb, 2:30 CET – Fundamentals of Spend Analysis
18-Feb, 2:30 CET – Spend Analysis – Real World Best Practices
02-Mar, 2:30 CET – Maximizing the Value of eSourcing
17-Mar, 2:30 CET – Contract Management the Last Mile
30-Mar, 2:30 CET- Connecting the Dots – Identify, Negotiate and Realize Savings

CET : Centeral European Time

The training program supports a limited number of participants – so please hurry and book your seats now. Register using the link below to book your seat:

http://www.zycus.com/resource-centre/Webinar_European_Series_LP_LinkedIn.html

‘A Re-introduction to Spend Management” is a FREE online educational program for procurement professionals by Spend Management experts. In this series of online seminars you will learn both the basics as well as advanced concepts of Spend Management solutions. This online program will empower you with knowledge and insights, that best-in-class companies have used to achieve tremendous benefits, such as:

-> 25 % increase in savings opportunities
-> 13% increase in bottom-line savings
-> 55% increase in contract visibility & compliance
-> Enterprise-wide spend visibility by categories, suppliers, geographies and others

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