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Allows Improved Visibility to Drive Down Procurement Costs
Vancouver, BC and Herndon, VA, December 1, 2004 – Antarctica Systems Inc. (ASI), a Business Analytics software provider, and ePlus, a leading provider of Enterprise Cost Management, today announced the release of Spend+ VisualEngine™ as part of ePlus' e-procurement solutions.
Spend+ VisualEngine™ can reduce the time spent by procurement managers analyzing complex corporate spend data, by presenting the data in easy-to-understand graphical maps. The software is available either as an installed or a hosted application, along with other Spend+ services and software modules such as data collection, cleansing and analysis. The technology that drives the Spend+ VisualEngine application provides a paradigm that can represent dozens of data dimensions on one screen in interactive color-coded boxes to reveal spending patterns, non-compliant spend, supplier performance metrics, savings opportunities and other vital information at a glance.
“Many organizations miss opportunities to trim excess procurement costs because they simply cannot ‘see’ where and how big these opportunities are,” says Ken Farber, President of ePlus Systems and ePlus Content Services. “By presenting corporate spend graphically, we provide procurement officers the visibility to zero in on information that has traditionally been buried in spreadsheets, charts and graphs. Partnering with Antarctica has enabled us to round out our product suite and give our customers state-of-the-art information management tools. The results are very compelling.”
“We are thrilled to be working with ePlus on this exciting initiative,” states Barry Yates, President & CEO of Antarctica Systems. “By enabling procurement officers to spend more time on action, rather than analysis, ePlus customers will be able to dramatically reduce procurement costs.”
This graphical representation of spend data makes it much easier to identify problems that are difficult, time-consuming and in some cases, nearly impossible to detect in tabular reports. With Spend+ VisualEngine:
- Size, shape, color and other visual cues are used to graphically illustrate factors such as the amount of off-contract spending in a category or the relative dollar volume spent with each supplier or by each business unit. The largest exceptions based on client business rules float to the top of each map, making it easy to spot the most critical areas of concern.
- Macro and micro views are presented simultaneously, enabling users to see as much or as little detail as desired while maintaining a big-picture view of corporate spend. One box might list the total amount of packaging materials purchased, for example, while also showing all packaging SKUs for which less than 50% of orders were placed on contract.
- Users can be presented with a dozen or more dimensions of data on each screen, compared to two or three with conventional business intelligence tools. This is achieved in part with mouseovers that dynamically display category and order line details on the same screen, eliminating the need to scour multiple reports to extract the information. Detailed key information can be viewed by drilling down to associated layers of data.
- The Spend+ VisualEngine application can be configured to visually identify specific trends that are of interest to the purchasing department, ranging from the top 10 items purchased off-contract to spending by geographic region, suppliers that are more than two days late on 50% of orders, or commodities that are purchased from more than six vendors. With this powerful analytical tool, enterprises have the opportunity to reduce maverick spending; establish contracts with suppliers where no contract exists; consolidate purchases within suppliers as well as across locations and commodities; reduce purchase costs where individual buyers are realizing lower than contracted prices; and so on.
Available immediately, Spend+ VisualEngine is 100% Web-enabled and can be deployed in weeks.
About ePlus Inc.
A leading provider of Enterprise Cost Management, ePlus provides a comprehensive solution to reduce the costs of purchasing, owning, and financing goods and services. ePlus Enterprise Cost Management (eECM) packages business process outsourcing, eProcurement, asset management, supplier enablement, strategic sourcing, and financial services into a single integrated solution, all based on ePlus' leading business application software. Profitable since inception in 1990, the company is headquartered in Herndon, VA and has more than 30 locations in the U.S. For more information, visit http://www.eplus.com, call 888-482-1122 or email info@eplus.com.
About Antarctica Systems Inc.
Antarctica Systems Inc. is a Business Analytics software provider founded by XML co-creator and Open Text Inc. founder, Tim Bray. Antarctica's mission is to provide the last mile of Business Intelligence. Its flagship solution, Visual Net, is an intuitive and visual console geared specifically towards the business user. It allows them to explore and investigate their businesses in order to understand root causes of performance, identify threats and opportunities and answer the question 'why'. Visual Net also enables users to explore and distill vast amounts of data, shifting their focus from analysis to insight and action.
The company is privately held with headquarters in Vancouver, BC and sales offices across North America. For additional information, please visit http://www.antarctica.net/.
Antarctica and Visual Net are trademarks or registered trademarks of Antarctica Systems Inc. in Canada and foreign countries. All other referenced trademarks belong to their respective owners.
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Read about ePlus' customer win.
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