Bank reveals 'phenomenal' savings from e-procurement

Commerzbank has cut the average time taken for large procurement deals from six months to six weeks by handling the process online.

The investment bank has used software from Ariba to handle a range of procurement deals, from IT systems to catering and hospitality across Europe.

Commerzbank currently spends more than £500m a year on procurement. The Ariba software spans the entire process, from inviting suppliers to bid, right through to signing the deal and paying suppliers.

The use of Ariba’s software - accessed via a web portal hosted by Ariba from an employee’s desktop - is part of a shake-up to modernise the bank’s procurement procedures and cut costs.

Previously most of Commerzbank’s procurement was paper-based.

Michele Edis (nee Lane), in her former role as global implementation manager for e-sourcing at Commerzbank, said the Ariba software had speeded up and standardised its procurement cycle across European subsidiaries.

"It has given us the opportunity to look at our sourcing opportunities in different countries and come up with one global sourcing process," she said.

"The efficiency savings are quite phenomenal. Historically in the UK, it usually took about four to six months to identify a sourcing requirement and award the contract. Since using Ariba we have reduced this to an average of about six weeks."

Commerzbank also revealed that it had cut its telecom bill for fixed-line charges by 43% after holding an online reverse auction for prospective suppliers.

By: Nick Huber

IT Management: Outsourcing

Computerweekly.com

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