ICG Commerce Enters Into Procurement Business Process Outsourcing Agreement with Avaya
Proven Track Record of Delivering Measurable Savings Helps Comprehensive Procurement Services Provider Expand Portfolio of Outsourcing Customers
PHILADELPHIA - Monday, February 23, 2004 - ICG Commerce, a leading procurement services provider, today
announced it has come to an agreement to provide procurement business process outsourcing (BPO) services to Avaya Inc.
(NYSE: AV), a leading global provider of communications networks and services for businesses. ICG Commerce will provide
Avaya with supplier enablement, transaction processing and content management services to address the company's full
range of indirect purchasing commodities. In addition, ICG Commerce will provide in-depth strategic sourcing, category
management and contract management for a majority of indirect buying categories.
ICG Commerce is a comprehensive procurement services provider committed to helping companies maximize
procurement cost savings and achieve other procurement objectives through a full suite of procurement services
including Sourcing, Purchase-to-Pay Automation and Procurement Outsourcing. The company is considered to be
at the forefront of procurement outsourcing, leveraging a comprehensive infrastructure of technology, category experts and
process specialists, to manage key activities for over fifty companies. As AMR Research analyst Pierre Mitchell has stated,
"ICG Commerce is the poster child of a burgeoning outsourced procurement industry."
"Our selection of ICG Commerce factors into our overall procurement strategy to leverage the expertise and resources
of a leading procurement services provider to realize gains in cost savings and improve the delivery of procurement
services to Avaya," said Onye Uzoukwu, vice president, Avaya Global Procurement. "Outsourcing select non-core
commodities and processes to ICG Commerce gives us the ability to concentrate on more strategic objectives while still
effectively managing Avaya's indirect commodity spending."
As companies seek to focus more on their core competencies as vehicles for top-line growth, outsourcing becomes an
attractive means to retain that concentration. According to Aberdeen Group, outsourcing non-core procurement
activities or commodities allows companies to avoid the burdens of building and maintaining an advanced procurement
infrastructure for categories of spend that are either non-strategic or do not warrant additional resources, while
improving savings levels, visibility and control. Such strategic benefits have led nearly 20 percent of large enterprises
to outsource at least a portion of their procurement activities already, with that figure expected to more than double
over the next three years.
"We believe companies should view outsourcing as a key part of their broader procurement strategy and a cost-
effective means of maximizing savings and performance in non-core spend categories," said Jason Gilroy, vice
president of Outsourcing for ICG Commerce. "Naturally, many of our customers want to focus their time and resources
on their most strategic, direct buying categories and activities and thus do not have dedicated experts to support those
that are non-core. ICG Commerce can deliver cost-effective resources, expertise and technology to strategically
manage these other categories and ensure savings are driven to the bottom line."
"We view ICG Commerce's established processes and strategies for managing indirect spend as an enhancement to our
internal processes," said Joe Siciliano, Senior Manager of Global Procurement Operations for Avaya. "The procedures
and measurements they have in place to increase compliance and improve supplier performance are expected to play a
role in achieving our savings targets."
ICG Commerce currently provides a variety of outsourcing services to meet company specific objectives. Select
examples include: provision of an onsite procurement team and fully hosted suite of purchasing tools for a major IT
network services firm; management of transactional buying for a Fortune 100 conglomerate; and management of
sourcing, purchasing and supplier performance for a major industrial manufacturer.
"Avaya is among the leaders that have already recognized the significant value a procurement outsourcing relationship
can bring to a company," said Edward H. West, chairman and CEO of ICG Commerce. "We look forward to delivering
this value in a measurable way and to a long and successful partnership."
# # #
About ICG Commerce, Inc.
ICG Commerce is the leading Procurement Services Provider delivering total procurement cost savings through an
unmatched combination of deep expertise and hosted technology. ICG Commerce provides a comprehensive range of
services to help companies identify savings through strategic sourcing, realize savings through implementation and
transaction management, and drive continuous improvements through category management. ICG Commerce, Inc., a
privately held company founded in 1992, is a member of Internet Capital Group's (Nasdaq: ICGE) network of partner
companies and has been named among Forbes' Best of the Web: B2B, honored as an UPSIDE Magazine Hot 100
company and a Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies Top 100 solution provider and had its executives
recognized among Supply and Demand Chain Executive magazine's "Pros to Know".
About Avaya
Avaya Inc. (http://www.avaya.com) designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million
businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a
world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications
and services. Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications — and
distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services — Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to
achieve superior business results.
Contacts:
Genevieve Brill
ICG Commerce
215-649-1494
Brittany Morris
Ruder-Finn
312-329-3983
morrisb@ruderfinn.com
|
