Outsourcing procurement to ICG Commerce adds up to sizable savings for leading management consulting firm

Situation:

For the leading management and technology services firm, outsourcing operational functions became part of a corporate-wide initiative to reduce costs and focus on core competencies. The company identified procurement as a key area within its company that offered significant savings potential and decided to outsource a significant portion of its global purchasing to ICG Commerce in efforts to reduce costs by $60 million within 12 months.

The company wanted ICG Commerce to help them identify savings for nearly all of its purchasing categories. Additionally, the consulting firm wanted to accelerate the ROI for their recent eProcurement implementation by increasing end user compliance.

Solution:

The firm selected ICG Commerce for their ability to quickly deliver considerable savings through a unique combination of exceptional people and technology. ICG Commerce strategically sourced a number of high volume categories for the company by leveraging their specific category expertise and eSourcing tools. ICG Commerce played an integral role in accelerating the use of the company's eProcurement software by effectively implementing suppliers and enabling end users to place orders with those suppliers through pre-built e-catalogs. To ensure ongoing cost and supplier improvements were achieved, ICG Commerce provided category management services.

The two companies worked together to transition the firm's purchasing staff to ICG Commerce. In total, 60 procurement professionals worldwide were migrated to ICG Commerce. The transition allowed the service company to retain company-specific procurement knowledge while obtaining access to ICG Commerce's services.

Results:

Within the first 12 months the consulting firm had fully outsourced its procurement operation to ICG Commerce. All told, the firm exceeded its original savings goal of $60 million by 20%. And the seamless transition of resources was completed flawlessly, providing the company a key advantage of focusing on core competencies and growth opportunities.