Cloud Sourcing™

Iasta helps organizations solve traditional business problems in new ways by providing cutting-edge tools for making strategic decisions on how to save and spend their valuable resources. Our approach to procurement, Cloud Sourcing™, ensures ongoing success by bringing together people, proven processes and technology into a scalable, turn-key solution that addresses spend anywhere in the enterprise.

Our mission is to improve our clients' bottom line performance with proven procurement strategies and processes. Our solution provides various customizable levels of service and programs such as:

• Procurement/Sourcing consulting and transformation
  
  
• Spend visibility and opportunity assessments
  
  
• Full service sourcing and category management
  
  
• Zero Budget Impact™ programs
  
  
• Strategic initiatives: energy management, green supply chain and procurement outsourcing (BPO)
  
  

The Iasta Consulting Team is the cornerstone to our Cloud Sourcing strategy. The team ensures ongoing success by applying lasting sourcing methodology and delivering sourcing team training to our customers. The proper use of advanced sourcing, analysis and optimization tools, combined with strategic sourcing methodologies, delivers high ROI and cost savings. At Iasta, we...

• Focus on results - a strong ROI for the overall engagement (5-10x minimum)
  
  
• Focus on positive project cash flow ensure rapid savings implementation
  
  
• Create spend visibility - how and where money is spent
  
  
• Continuously measure effectiveness and efficiency - across cost, quality & service dimensions
  
  
• Focus on knowledge transfer, building the internal sourcing team and extending intellectual property for sustainability
  
  

People	Process	Technology
Assess organization skill set & structure Conduct training to fill in the gaps Implement sourcing best practices Fully managed project support	Evaluate & map current processes Conduct spend analysis & opportunity assessment Apply strategic sourcing processes Create Key Performance Metrics (KPMs) & reporting dashboards Establish Steering Team & Leadership briefings Establish ongoing communication plan	Use Iasta platforms as a foundation SmartSource SRM® SmartAnalytics® SmartOptimization® SmartSupplier® SmartContracts® Access to software as an Iasta delivered service

With current economic conditions, organizations are re-focusing on the purchasing organization. This has led to an increased drive to improve costs and optimize the Supply Chain function and its processes, and improve overall spend visibility. Often, a lack of resources and skills exist to adequately address these initiatives. Working harder and putting-in more and more hours does not solve the problem. Working smarter does.

Today's Sourcing teams can be the drivers of cost, quality and service improvements across the entire organization. Sourcing and Procurement can serve as the catalyst for positive change as they are cross-functional teams comprising of procurement, operations, marketing and other key stakeholders.

Iasta has a holistic approach to Procurement Transformation. This approach has 5 key elements and has proven to be successful for Iasta's customers. Our team works hand-in-hand with companies to transform their sourcing team into a Best-in-Class Procurement organization. We work with your team to assess your current structure and processes then design a skills-transfer program that includes both classroom and on-the-job training. Iasta software technology serves as a facilitator of this procurement transformation. The end result is a Procurement Center of Excellence staffed and supported by your own Sourcing team.

Establish a pattern of success	Begin Sourcing Team transformation initiative	Invest in a technology infrastructure; critical components include	Pursue alternative savings initiatives	Integrate with the organization
Begin with low hanging fruit - high profile, big savings Find your champions Establish communication channels & self-promote Ensure Executive level sponsorship Develop & track KPIs	Start with the end in mind for the future team structure Create goals & objectives Develop standardized processes & a Center of Excellence Invest in training & evangelism for both the sourcing team and stakeholders	eSourcing capabilities: auction, RFx, document management Contract management Spend analysis Advanced eSourcing - optimization & award analysis	Continue pursuing overt cost savings opportunities Creatively rethink the way business is currently being conducted (Lean principles)	Formalize touch points with Business Units Leverage existing corporate communication tools Deliver regular Executive briefings

Spend analysis and visibility tools fuel better business decisions by aggregating data into a comprehensive, high-quality database.

• Visibility - Companies have greater visibility as the information is consolidated from multiply file formats and systems, resulting in improved spend classification structures, insight into supplier relationships, buying patterns and trends.
  
  
• Analysis - Spend analysis enables users to evaluate data through user-defined reports, dimensions and graphical charts for improved leverage of spend, sourcing project identification, contract compliance and contract terms and structures.

Iasta, in addition to SmartAnalytics software, offers a broad range stand alone spend analysis services that can give companies the insight they need to make better business decisions.

• Custom Launch (data classification services) - Iasta provides a secure point for each customer to deliver their corporate data (A/P, PO, Pcard data, etc.). With our own SmartAnalytics platform, Iasta cleanses and classifies transaction and supplier information based on either a custom category sourcing structure, a generic industry structure (such as UNSPSC) or a combination where UNSPSC classifications are rolled into a custom category classification structure. During this time Iasta will:
  
  
  • Consolidate and normalize data
  • Validate data files
  • Cleanse suppliers
  • Categorize transactions and suppliers
  • Supplier data augmentation (optional)
  • Review and validate data classification structures (data workshops)
  • Publish to standard spend reports and views
  • Launch SmartAnalytics
  
  
• Custom Refresh - Iasta manages updates to the data set to ensure spend data remains fresh and relevant. Iasta works with each customer to determine the optimal refresh frequency (monthly, quarterly, annually, etc.) and outlines the process steps to ensure refreshes occur. SmartAnalytics customers also have the option of managing refresh cycles themselves.
  
  
• Supplier Data Augmentation - SmartAnalytics helps organizations manage their diversity programs and supplier risk issues more effectively. In order to track and measure results it is necessary to associate suppliers with relevant diversity 'flags' or risk ratings. As part of this optional program, Iasta works with a third party partner to associate your supplier database with diversity information where appropriate and available. Supplier Data Augmentation is a multi-phased approach to matching your supplier list with the diversity information found in a centralized database.
  
  
• Spend and Opportunity Assessment Services - Identify target savings opportunity areas. Savings indicators include categories where you are buying the same commodity from many suppliers; situations where you are buying from the same supplier across companies, countries or projects, but are not coordinating the contractual pricing; situations where you are bypassing existing preferred suppliers, etc.

The Iasta Consulting Group has a proven track record for helping companies strengthen their current assets and improve their decision making abilities. Our team combines deep sourcing experience with technical knowledge and high levels of customer service to help companies meet their goals.

Often companies need tactical, project-specific help just to "get more things done." They may need to quickly hit savings targets in a short amount of time. Or, perhaps they are temporarily short-staffed and need interim staff augmentation support to manage sourcing projects and train new team members. Or, sourcing teams may need specific expertise regarding a particular commodity, region or set of suppliers.

Iasta is available to fully-manage one, individual sourcing project or an entire commodity and set of sourcing projects. Depending on your company's needs, we can provide project support for any type of sourcing requirement.

• Fully managed sourcing projects (CS-Project) - To help organizations meet its sourcing goals, Iasta will fully manage any type of sourcing project - with the primary goal of obtaining goods or services from a high quality supplier at lower costs. The Iasta Consulting Group uses SmartSource SRM advanced technology to power the sourcing projects.
  
  
• Staff augmentation services - The Iasta Consulting Group is also available to provide tactical project support for our customers. No project is too big or too little. The team can help with a wide range of activities such as:
  
  
  • loading project data into SmartSource SRM
    
    
  • managing supplier communication and training
    
    
  • building and loading RFx templates into SmartSource SRM
    
    
  • managing data collection initiatives
    
    
• Category management services - The Iasta Consulting Group can tap into deep category experience in both direct and indirect materials. We can help manage the sourcing strategy for an entire category that would include category analysis, project prioritization, specific commodity strategy, project execution, supplier management and award optimization and analysis. Our category management services help companies quickly get control over any category so that they meet aggressive savings targets and supplier optimization strategies.
  
  
• Opportunity/Spend assessment services - The Opportunity/Spend Assessment is a critical element to a successful sourcing engagement. It reviews information about categories and suppliers then provides proper information as to the ideal commodities and sub-commodities that will yield the greatest savings potential. Several factors that will be considered during this phase of the project include:
  
  
  • Complexity of the commodity including requirements and specifications
    
    
  • Total spend and breadth of spend across business units
    
    
  • Contractual obligations
    
    
  • Supply base dis-aggregation
    
    
  • The last time a commodity was sourced
    
    

Iasta's sourcing professionals can assist companies in analyzing bid results to select the best combination of suppliers, products and services. Our services provide companies with an optimal mix of business objectives, risk aversion tactics, quality standards and supply base consolidation. And, customers decide how much support they want from Iasta - a little tactical support or fully managed project support.

• Fully managed optimization projects (CS-Optimization) - The Iasta Consulting Group will leverage our platform, SmartOptimization, to deliver a custom optimization project. SmartOptimization allows Iasta to layer different constraint types and supplier factors together to build 'real world' award scenarios. These custom scenarios help companies minimize risks by analyzing a wide range of risks associated choosing suppliers. Some risk scenarios could be low-cost country suppliers, new vs. incumbent suppliers and high vs. low product quality issues.
  
  The use of award scenarios can also help companies consolidate their supply base by evaluating costs associated with a small or large supply base. This allows them to optimize the correct number of suppliers that should provide goods and services for a particular commodity.
  
  
• Staff augmentation services - The Iasta Consulting Group is also available to provide tactical optimization and award analysis support for our customers. No project is too big or too little. The team can help with a wide range of activities such as:
  
  
  • Project planning
    
    
  • Project strategy
    
    
  • Project development
    
    
  • Project management
    
    
  • Data alignment
    
    
  • Post-event reporting
    
    
  • Award optimization
    
    

The Zero Budget program is part of Iasta's Cloud Sourcing solution. For some organizations, the Zero Budget Impact program helps them meet savings targets without incurring up-front fees. Iasta utilizes trusted Subject Matter Experts that have deep experience in specific categories that have been traditionally complex.

Targeted categories in the Zero Budget program include:

• non-medical insurance benefits (Life Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Disability Insurance, AD&D)
  
  
• pharmacy benefits
  
  
• telecommunication services
  
  
• energy
  
  
• print management
  
  
• relocation services
  
  
• software contracting
  
  
• and others
  
  

Iasta has developed pre-defined programs that complement our sourcing technology, so that we can maximize the value delivered to our clients and qualified prospects. Iasta's Zero Budget Impact program is a great way to kickoff and fund Strategic Sourcing or Sourcing Transformation initiatives. It can also provide a jumpstart for meeting aggressive savings targets without compromising on quality and service.

Increased complexity stemming from corporate goals requiring a mix of 'green', 'diversity', low-cost country and incumbent suppliers - while keeping costs low - keep today's sourcing teams on their toes. Sourcing must ensure supply across the wide network of facilities.

Iasta's Advisory Services can help. Our team offers sourcing expertise to companies who wish to strengthen their assets, reduce costs, and increase efficiency through better decision-making. Our team of sourcing professionals, the Iasta Consulting Group, will facilitate knowledge-transfer of best practice information regarding all aspects of sourcing projects.

Iasta's menu of services helps companies to:

• Develop streamlined business processes
• Expand use of technology across the organization
• Run more sourcing projects
• Maximize the use of limited resources
• Improve influence and credibility within the organization
• Accelerate results

Iasta's spectrum of services includes spend analysis services, detailed or high-level opportunity assessments, full-service sourcing, award analysis and optimization services, sourcing organization transformation and best practices training. Services can be performed at Iasta's headquarters, on-site at company locations or any combination.

Iasta Advisory Services provide value to customers by:

• Minimizing the risks of eSourcing for resource-constrained teams
• Helping to seed eSourcing expertise in resource-constrained teams
• Identifying and capturing cost savings in a short amount of time
• Creating a neutral bid environment
• Enabling data-driven decision making

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