Making it easy for employees in complex organisations
to buy the right things from the right suppliers
at the right prices

Wax Digital is Europe’s leading provider of on-demand P2P. Our web3 solution set for P2P comprises the following application modules:

Master Data Management
Purchasing
Transaxions
Invoice matching
Reporting
Forecasting

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The Bullet-Proof Business Case

Find out more about the industry's most compelling business case for eProcurement.

Modular Architecture         Please click here for a graphical overview of how our web3 modules for P2P and eSourcing work together

ERP or Best of Breed: The Deciding Factors

Recent years have seen a marked trend in enterprise software towards the consolidation of disparate software assets into a single, homogenous ERP system that often spans multiple operating companies and geographies. The attractions of such a single standard enterprise system for core business functions are obvious. Processes are standardised, integration problems melt away, there are fewer points of management to deal with and, while expensive, the risk of failure is typically low.

However, the case for extending that homogenised approach to ‘non-core’ areas such as supply chain collaboration and procurement is very much in question, and recent findings from AMR Research, whilst indicating that ERP providers are leading the sourcing and procurement market in revenue terms, show they come a clear second in terms of market share thanks to the rapid expansion of indirect procurement.

It is in this area that on-demand vendors have made the real running and the most striking element of AMR's research was the growth seen in on demand revenues.

To understand what is driving this growth, our conversations with procurement and IT professionals who are attempting to weigh the pros and cons of an On Demand approach vs ERP show a number of central issues that recur repeatedly.

Time and Cost
Intractably linked to one another, the twin drivers of time to market and cost are perhaps the most powerful ones behind many organisations’ decision to enhance rather than expand their ERP system(s). A report from the Software and Information Industry Association (SIAA) claims SaaS deployments are 50% to 90% faster with a total cost of ownership (TCO) five to ten times less expensive than installed software.

Usability
Driving compliance means capturing and keeping occasional users, which is all down to making sure systems can be picked up with the absolute minimum of effort for basic users. Unfortunately, ERP systems are designed around expert users, not occasional users. On-demand solutions, thanks to an intuitive web interface, ought to be deployable to standard users with no face-to-face training and facilitate procurement control and compliance by actually making the purchasing process easier for employees, rather than more laborious and process-bound.

Flexibility
Of increasing concern to many IT buyers is the fact that the big enterprise systems are installed working on the principle that so long as the functionality fits 80/20 then client business processes can adapt to make up the shortfall. The unspoken question that poses is how, if so many organisations are using the same systems and processes, can they ever innovate for competitive advantage or realise improvements in product development and service delivery for their businesses?

Uniquely amongst on-demand providers, Wax Digital solutions employ a highly flexible product architecture that allows our engineers to configure each implementation to meet each client's exact requirements rather than imposing standard processes. Our long experience in this field means we can advise on and deliver best practice where appropriate, but our unique ability to deliver a platform that can easily and robustly accommodate tailored processes gives large businesses complete control and visibility of enterprise spend, helping cut costs without compromising established practices that deliver competitive edge.

Security
Historically a major concern for organisations when considering working with an on-demand vendor, the issue of security has faded away for many in recent years as the on-demand model has proven its robustness. Strong data encryption, on-site and remote backups, disaster recovery, dedicated hardware in high security hosting facilities and many other measures besides ensure that data and systems are extremely secure.

In Summary: ROI Closes the Case

According to the 2007 eProcurement Benchmark report from Aberdeen Group, implementing eProcurement to control indirect spend typically delivers a 41% reduction in maverick spend, reduces requisition to order costs by around 48% and more than halves transaction cycle times.

Critically, however, the report goes on to say that ‘best in class performers on average displayed 56% more usage of on-demand eProcurement solutions to manage spend that integrates with the ERP system than all other enterprises’.

Why? Because on demand users get more spend under management faster than users of installed supply management software.

On demand users are able to drive 28% more spend under management within the first year of deployment than those using installed software. For a £1 billion company, Aberdeen estimates that, in year one, this increase in spend under management yields a £410,000 to £2 million hard cash supply cost savings advantage for on demand users over those using installed supply management software.

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For a more detailed examination of these and other issues in the comparison between ERP and on-demand solutions, please click here to request a copy of our ‘ERP vs On-Demand White Paper’

	P2P Delivery		P2P Return on Investment		P2P On-demand
There's no escaping the fact that enterprise P2P is a large scale, complex project. Be prepared...		The potential efficiency gains and cost savings are huge - here we examine just a few.		Why on-demand, web-based solutions work for P2P, and why we think ours work best of all.