Procurement Outsourcing Vendor Profile: IBM Procurement BPO

Company Profile: IBM is a global technology & consulting company that manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services to clients in areas ranging from mainframes to nanotech. The company has more than 426,000 employees worldwide & generated revenues of US$106.9 billion for the fiscal year 2011.

Managed Spend: Manage more than US$50 billion in annual spend (core & non-core spend) for clients. IBM offer end-to-end outsourced S2P services in the global market and has more than 1,200 procurement specialists. Close to 40% of Global Multi-Process PO market share. Close to 50 clients & PO contributes around US$800 million. Developed a joint FAO & PO offering and expanding it to related supply chain processes like logistics, asset management and supply chain visibility. 

Sourcing & Category Management: Complete procure-to-pay indirect & direct procurement outsourcing, market intelligence, sourcing strategy, supplier selection, spend analysis, category management, supplier performance management, compliance, tactical sourcing, catalog management, negotiations, supply base development, GERS Travel & Expense management, etc. 

Category Expertise: Management of all indirect & direct categories across all industry verticals. Marcom, IT related, Travel, business services, facilities/real estate, MRO, HR services, energy & utilities, etc. 

Key Clients: Telstra, Unilever, Sara Lee, Korea Exchange Bank, DTCC, Colgate-Palmolive, Sunoco, Solectron, etc.  

Vertical & Geography Mix: Hi-tech & Telecom vertical with more than 30% lead followed by CPG & Retail (25%+), Manufacturing (15%+), Financial Services( 5%) and rest other verticals. Asia-Pacific has more than 40% share followed by US (35%+), Continental Europe(10%), UK (5%). Strong presence in Asia Pacific and CPG & retail verticals is a major advantage. 

Locations: IBM PO delivery locations include Bangalore, Shanghai, Budapest, Hortolandia, Raleigh, Endicott, Manila. 

PO related Activities: Acquisitions:

2006 : Viacore (Business Tone) & Key MRO Maximo (Strategic Sourcing).

2008 : Acquired Cognos ( Decision Support).

2009 : Acquired Redpill Sol & SPSS for analytics,

2010 : Acquired OpenPages (Risk Management), CoreMetrics (Web Analytics), Clarity Systems, Cast Iron, Datacap for Technology capability, Sterling Commerce and Lombardi for B2B and workflow capabilities.

In 2011 IBM acquired Emptoris, a specialist in supply chain and contract management analytics.  

IBM also has partnerships with Ariba, SAP and Hubwoo. 

IBM PO is based on the Enterprise Process Innovation Continuum (EPIC) methodology and technology tools based on this methodology automate and standardize the processes.