The University of Central Missouri Selects SciQuest

CARY, N.C. (Map) - CARY, N.C., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- SciQuest, Inc., the global leader empowering enterprises to realize the potential of strategic procurement, today announced that the University of Central Missouri (UCM) will implement the company's on-demand eprocurement solutions as a core component of its efforts to achieve more with taxpayers' dollars. UCM will deploy SciQuest's HigherMarkets Express, a complete eprocurement solution designed specifically for mid-sized colleges, community colleges and universities.

HigherMarkets Express includes the essential capabilities mid-sized institutions and smaller purchasing departments need to automate the procurement process and bring spending under management. The solution features the intuitive online shopping platform inherent in the SciQuest suite and is also offered in a pre-configured package that allows customers to quickly and easily integrate HigherMarkets Express with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. With HigherMarkets Express, UCM will gain unprecedented, real-time visibility into spending on goods and services.

"Now more than ever, it's absolutely crucial that colleges and universities put the systems in place needed to gain visibility over spending on goods and services, aggregate their buying power and put strategic sourcing agreements in place," said Dr. Betty Roberts, vice president of administration and finance at UCM. "With HigherMarkets Express, we can now realize our vision for strategic procurement with a cost-effective system that has the potential to redefine how institutions of our size manage spending."

Dr. Roberts, who served in lead procurement roles at Penn State and the University of Missouri prior to joining UCM, notes that mid-sized schools face the same economic challenges and opportunities as their larger counterparts, but often lack the resources required to change existing processes or systems. Nationally, less than five percent of all colleges and universities have the technologies in place needed to gain visibility over spending by faculty and staff. And among mid-sized schools, the percentage is even less.

"When brought under management, spending on goods and services can be decreased by five to 20 percent without sacrificing quantity or quality--a point of singular importance because these savings can be gained without impacting people or programs," said Michael Sibert, director of procurement and materials management at UCM, and a veteran of municipal government and operations management in the private sector. "At UCM, our goal is to show that you don't need to be an exceptionally large school to maximize the value of taxpayers' dollars. Automation will enable our users to easily buy from our contracts and provide us with the data we need to renegotiate even more favorable terms and conditions with suppliers--all while making it easier and more cost-effective to do business with UCM."

HigherMarkets Express automates time-consuming tasks, such as approvals and the creation of purchase orders that usually require significant paperwork. The resulting purchasing process for UCM will be transparent and interwoven with the University's ERP system--providing procurement and financial leaders with the complete picture they need to optimize the value of every dollar. An on-demand solution, HigherMarkets Express is also designed for an exceptionally fast implementation that requires limited IT resources.

The new system will also offer convenience for users. UCM's faculty and staff will be able to buy the goods and services they need in an online shopping environment similar to those found on popular e-commerce sites. Through the eprocurement platform, users will be able to browse extensive electronic catalogs or "punch-out" to suppliers' Web sites, all while utilizing contracted rates.

"UCM is proof positive that you don't need to be a large institution to benefit from the savings and efficiencies that a strategic approach to procurement is proven to deliver," said Stephen Wiehe, president and CEO of SciQuest. "Small procurement staffs are in an ideal position to significantly impact the institutions they serve amid rising costs, declining endowments and constrained budgets. Pioneers like UCM should be applauded for setting a higher standard for procurement protocol and practices."

All buyers within the faculty and staff serving UCM's 11,000 graduate and undergraduate students will utilize the new system. For more information on UCM, visit UCMO.edu. Procurement professionals can also attend a complimentary Webinar on HigherMarkets Express by visiting http://www.sciQuest.com/resource-center/webinars/.

About SciQuest

SciQuest's procurement automation and supplier enablement solutions empower leading organizations to realize the potential of strategic procurement. The company's specialized knowledge, on-demand software, and service-first approach enable public and private enterprises across the globe to manage spend, drive ROI, and advance their critical missions.

SciQuest's deep understanding of its served vertical markets combined with a broad supplier network and intuitive, online shopping experience increase user and contract adoption while improving operational efficiencies. Through software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment, organizations can quickly implement the right eprocurement solution to augment existing ERP investments or fully enable all aspects of purchasing from sourcing to settlement.

For more information about SciQuest, please visit www.sciQuest.com or call 877-710-0413 in the U.S. or +44 1794 341182 in Europe.

SciQuest is a registered trademark of SciQuest, Inc. Other trademarks contained herein remain the property of their respective owners.

SciQuest media contact: Ken Phillips Davies Murphy Group 781-418-2437 sciQuest@daviesmurphy.com