The lavish GSA spending was only exposed because two years later the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) decided to investigate excessive spending and produced a report.   What did the OIG find out about the GSA conference?

* $136,500 just to plan the conference ($455 per person for the 300 person event)
* A $58,000 contract awarded to big business in spite of small business set asides
* Over $41,000 in overpromised catering charges
* Over $145,000 in excessive food costs ($44 per person for breakfast, $95 for reception/dinner)
* Free rooms to contractors’ employees
* A $75,000 team building exercise that turned out to be building a bicycle
* $3,200 for a mind reader

OIG also cited GSA for disclosing maximum conference budgets to vendors in advance, with no intention of negotiating lower rates. The Secret Service likely conducted their clandestine negotiations in a more savvy fashion.  Unfortunately, they failed to understand that short-paying a pimp creates an entirely different set of confidentiality issues.

Which brings us to the real question – how can this lavish and out of control spending even happen?

These agencies probably have purchasing systems. They no doubt budget for these events and have request-for-proposal (RFP) capabilities that ensure competitive pricing. They surely have policies regarding approvals and sign-offs based on spending limits.

They may even have automated travel and expense (T&E) policies that bake spending rules into expense reports.   And while it is painfully obvious that utilizing proper P2P technology could have saved taxpayers a lot of money, the problem here isn’t a lack of tools and policy. It is the willingness of those in authority to blatantly disregard whatever policy exists.

As long as people who make poor decisions are in charge of even the best systems, scandals like these in the GSA and Secret Service will continue to happen.   After the dust settles, let’s hope those in authority not only employ P2P  technology to increase spending visibility, reduce maverick spending, and create impressive audit trails, but also ensure only individuals deserving of the public’s trust are placed in these positions of immense responsibility.

Let’s also hope they don’t need a $3200 mind reader to figure that out.

CyOptics designs, develops and markets a full line of InP optical chips and components for integration into access, metro and long-haul communications. The company’s products are enabled by an automated “nano-tech”-capable manufacturing process that delivers the best performance, uniformity and cost.

“We’re seeing a growing demand in the marketplace for a requisitioning and approval workflow tool that integrates easily with SAP, Oracle or other ERP systems,” said Ganesh Sundaresan, Senior Product Manager for Verian. “In fact, CyOptics will be the third customer this year to integrate Verian’s requisitioning and approval workflow solutions into SAP. Organizations are finding Verian’s solutions are much easier to learn and adopt than tools within the major ERP systems.”

The flexibility and modular nature of Verian’s purchasing and invoice processing platform allows customers like CyOptics to choose only the modules and functionality they need from Verian’s full suite of purchasing and invoice processing solutions.

“We are excited to welcome CyOptics to the Verian family of customers,” said Tehseen Ali Dahya, President and CEO of Verian. “We look forward to helping CyOptics increase their visibility into SG&A expenditures.”

About Verian

Verian is the world leader in universal purchasing and invoice processing systems. Regardless of the number of users, implementation complexity or deployment preference, Verian’s broad and flexible offering provides affordable, easy-to-use solutions that fit companies now – and when they change. Founded in 1997 with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., Verian helps companies in a wide array of industries – including oil & gas, retail, healthcare, financial services and government/nonprofit – control spending and enhance visibility by providing clients with a single software platform to automate their entire purchase-to-pay process. Learn more at Verian.com.

About CyOptics

Built by industry founders and leveraging its Bell Labs heritage, CyOptics has a unique set of optical device integration and manufacturing capabilities supporting its leadership position in the supply of packaged devices to the optical communications and defense/avionics markets. CyOptics is an industry leader in both hybrid, using different elements in a single package, and monolithic integration on a single chip. The Company’s products are enabled by an automated “nano-tech” capable manufacturing process that delivers best performance, uniformity and cost. The Company’s InP design, device fabrication and high performance packaging operations are located in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania; its silica PLC fab is located in South Plainfield, NJ; its planar automated packaging and testing operations are located in Matamoros, Mexico. CyOptics is ISO 9001:2008 certified. For more information, please visit CyOptics.com or call 1-484-397-2061.

There are some people who become irritable, demanding, and yes – somewhat emotional, for about a week at the same time very month.  Sometimes their physical demeanor changes, they look tired, break out and sometimes appear flush in the face.

They are accountants.

Each month they face the pain of month-end closing and we should do something to help them.  For many, one of the biggest month-end issues is the “transaction trickle.” Like water coming under a closed door, transactions trickle in as closing is underway, throwing a monkey wrench into an already chaotic environment.

The best way to stop the transaction trickle is to establish, publicize, and adhere to realistic cutoff dates for all types of transactions. Here’s a handful of suggestions on how to make that a reality and stay ahead of the curve. 

Orders in approval: Understand what your typical approval timeline looks for both large and small items. If you’re a week away from the cutoff date and large item approvals typically take two weeks, you know those transactions won’t be closing that month. But do a spot check for unusually large invoices stuck in approval that may throw off the balance sheet: work to get those approved. Many organizations use advanced workflow functionalities like approval auto-escalation to keep things moving.  

Purchase Orders: Like approvals, understanding the typical life cycle of a PO within your organization will give you a much better idea of where to draw the line and what will move before and after your established cutoff date. Also look at small dollar/high volume vs. high dollar/low volume: what is the typical life cycle on each category and what’s currently in the pipeline for each? 

Travel & Expense: This category will get the greatest response since employees are the sole beneficiaries of reimbursement. Make sure it’s clear that expense reports paid in the same month need to be submitted by the cutoff date. And that includes reports not submitted, in approval and un-reconciled. Anything submitted after the cutoff date is paid the following month. 

Inventory: Another transaction type that is rife with fluctuation is inventory. It’s not uncommon for goods to arrive at a warehouse or other location and not be received for weeks. Adjustments, write-offs, warehouse transfers and counts can also add to the challenge of closing inventory with confidence. Remind warehouse staff that all these items need to be wrapped up by the closing date each month.

In addition, P2P systems like ours offer several non-obtrusive ways to gently remind users that closing is around the corner. You can send a broadcast reminder to all users about closing dates. You can even change the screen theme to a different color as a visual clue to approaching close.

Unfortunately, month-end will always be a difficult time of the month for A/P departments. But with proper planning, cooperation, and advanced tools, it doesn’t have to be nearly as painful.

Regards,

Mark Schaffner
VP of Marketing
Verian

SSAE 16, developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), is the most widely recognized authoritative guidance that provides service organizations a uniform method for disclosing independently assessed information about the design and operation of internal controls related to their services.  Companies who complete an annual SOC 1 examination are able to demonstrate a substantially higher level of assurance and operationally visibility than those companies who do not.

The completion of this examination exhibits Verian’s continued commitment to create and maintain the most stringent controls needed to ensure the highest quality and security of services provided to their customers.  The report also demonstrates that Verian’s control activities are effectively designed.

“The successful completion of the SOC 1 examination provides third-party validation that our services adhere to the highest levels of quality and security,” said Tehseen Ali Dahya, President and CEO of Verian. “While we are proud and excited about this distinguished achievement, we will continue to measure, assess, and improve how we serve our customers.”

About Verian

Verian is the world leader in universal purchasing and invoice processing systems. Regardless of the number of users, implementation complexity or deployment preference, Verian’s broad and flexible offering provides affordable, easy-to-use solutions that fit companies now – and when they change. Founded in 1997 with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., Verian helps companies in a wide array of industries – including oil & gas, retail, healthcare, financial services and government/nonprofit – control spending and enhance visibility by providing clients with a single software platform to automate their entire purchase-to-pay process.

For example, dealing with the alienated cousin is pretty easy, like consolidating spend on contingent general labor.  However, saying no to a mother-in-law is like suggesting the CFO switch law firms – fraught with danger.

We all know that in-laws can be difficult, but why is managing services spend hard? Well, the spend is highly fragmented and rarely PO driven, making it difficult to track, control and analyze. In addition to flying under the spend radar, each service comes with its own unique set of availability, quality and political issues.

However, just like with in-laws, with great challenge comes great opportunity. Because of the savings potential (listed below), more and more organizations are dealing with the relationship issues in order to get a better handle on services spend. According to industry analysts, the savings opportunities include:

Getting services under control is no different than managing other major categories of spend – it comes down to evaluation, screening and execution. We’ve included some general guidelines for each step below:

1. Evaluate

Before you do anything, you need to know what you’re dealing with. The Rosetta Stone for spend evaluation is in the vendor master. Evaluating the vendor master will help you create a map of your services spend: where is it, who’s using it and what are they paying. It will make your improvement strategy much easier when you see it all in front of you.

Make a spreadsheet of your services suppliers and include: unit price and volume by supplier; category of worker; and employees/departments requesting services. Make sure to identify any contracts that are in place along with expiration dates.

2. Screen

With services now parsed out in categories, give them a priority based on financial impact and difficulty in achieving success. But before you select a service to bring under management, you’ll need to do a temperature check on market conditions. If you find out that it’s a skill in short supply, move onto the next service – you’ll have difficulty generating huge savings in that area.

3. Execute

Group services categories into a series of phases for bringing under management.  Don’t try to do it all at once!  We suggest grouping them based on upon business impact vs. ease of implementation. Many times, we see the three phases shake out like this:

Phase 1 – Simple Services (contingent labor like temporary staffing)

Phase 2 – Advanced Services (scope-of-work like IT contractors)

Phase 3 – Complex Services (hybrid like legal services)

Within each wave, we suggest that you begin a cycle of tracking, automating, and managing that category.  Leverage the success you mine in the first wave to gain political buy-in for the more complicated phases that follow. Of course, purchase-to-pay automation technology can make all this faster, easier and more structured.

Whether you want to start big or take baby steps, you’ll find significant savings by better managing your services spend. And I promise you, it will be much easier than getting your mother-in-law to stop giving you unsolicited advice.

Sincerely,

Mark Schaffner
VP of Marketing
Verian
mschaffner@verian.com

After completing a large acquisition, the bank migrated all its branches onto one set of enterprise computer and network systems. As part of the migration, the bank also needed a new solution that could standardize the purchasing and invoicing process across all branches and countries. With nearly 30 different currencies being used, the solution needed to handle complex conversion calculations as well.

After a thorough vendor search, the bank selected and deployed Verian’s Purchase Manager, Invoice Manager and Advanced Budgeting modules in the cloud. The Verian system will integrate directly with PeopleSoft at the bank. 

“With our branches purchasing on the same system that we process invoices with, we are able to better control and analyze all of our spend,” said the bank’s VP of Procurement and Strategic Sourcing. “We are using this data to consolidate vendors, validate contract pricing, and gain significant savings.”

The Verian system was also able to accommodate a complex web of approvals for the bank. “Through a series of simple check boxes, users relate each requisition to a project and identify as a CAPEX or OPEX item,” said Ganesh Sundaresan, Senior Product Manager with Verian. “These user-entered attributes automatically send the approval on the correct routing path, streamlining workflow and saving time.”

“This is a great example of an organization taking advantage of our platform’s superior flexibility to create a solution that meets a very unique set of requirements,” said Tehseen Ali Dahya, President and CEO of Verian. “We look forward to helping this organization become more successful now and down the road.”

About Verian
Verian is the world leader in universal purchasing and invoice processing systems. Regardless of the number of users, implementation complexity or deployment preference, Verian’s broad and flexible offering provides affordable, easy-to-use solutions that fit companies now – and when they change. Founded in 1997 with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., Verian helps companies in a wide array of industries – including oil & gas, retail, healthcare, financial services and government/nonprofit – control spending and enhance visibility by providing clients with a single software platform to automate their entire purchase-to-pay process.

Media Contact
Adam C. Slick
Verian
704.971.6992
aslick@verian.com

Although these specific claims haven’t been attributed to the cloud just yet, the cloud has been so exaggerated and misunderstood that the average organization isn’t really sure of what the cloud is.

If the cloud is not a panacea, what is it? The best and most accurate description I’ve ever heard came from our CTO, Bilal Soylu. The cloud, in his words, is simply another utility, delivering computing as a service, rather than a product.

The concept may be simple, but the impact of the cloud is extreme. Just as power delivery made electricity affordable, the driving force behind cloud adoption is cost. In one fell swoop, the cloud can provide shorter time to productivity, decrease IT costs, and rapidly increase ROI.

But the cloud’s benefits are much deeper than cost savings. The affordability of cloud computing removed the economic barriers that kept great ideas from seeing the light of day, putting tools within reach of any business, regardless of size or budget. The speed of cloud deployment allowed organizations to experiment and take risks that were unthinkable before. It also created new businesses and models because the cloud changed the way IT is perceived and expected to behave.

Of course, the cloud has limits. As with any utility, there is a finite limit to what the service provides. The power company will deliver electricity right to your door, but they won’t rewire your box or plug in your appliances.

In the cloud, your hardware, network, technology stack and maintenance are someone else’s responsibility – but that doesn’t mean you can “set it and forget it.” Like any utility, there are things still left on your plate, namely supplier risk, data interoperability, business process know-how and oversight. If you’re fully prepared to handle the remaining responsibilities, you’ll gain maximum value from its benefits. We’ve offered some suggestions for those who have their eyes fixed skyward:

• Choose your weapons wisely – solve your business challenge with the best solution, regardless of how it’s delivered.
• Befriend the firewall – make sure your cloud solution can play nice with your on-premises solutions, avoiding data silos that don’t talk or integrate.
• Call security – Make sure to ask the vendor who is managing and monitoring the data at rest and during transport. Be sure to ask if processes to handle equipment, data and application are documented and verifiable.
• Anticipate the auditing – Auditing physical facilities, storage devices and IT processes tend to be more complicated in the cloud. Of course, auditing can be done in the cloud; you just need to set clear expectations of your company’s requirements upfront.
• Have an exit strategy – what happens if your company decides to move off the cloud? Does your provider offer an on-premises option or will you need to rip and replace?

Undoubtedly, the cloud is a powerful delivery system that is changing the way we look at computing and IT. But like any other utility, it’s not a cure-all. If you’re heading into the cloud, make your organization understand its benefits – and limitations.

Sincerely,

Mark Schaffner
VP of Marketing
Verian

January – Verian breaks ground on a 25,000 square-foot headquarters just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. During the first month of the year, Verian picks up a handful of new clients, including Norse Energy, an E&P company based in Upstate New York.

February – Verian signs Brown Brothers Harriman, one of the largest privately-held financial institutions in the US. Verian also welcomes Evergreen Films into the fold, a motion picture and television studio. Their work has been seen on the Discovery Channel and in movies like 300, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Fantastic Four.

March – In March, Jason Busch of Spend Matters conducts a thorough analysis of Verian’s suite of products and adds the provider to his shortlist of P2P vendors he recommends. In the same month, Verian signs Beusa Energy, an E&P company based in Texas. Verian also signs Jacobs Technology, an engineering and technical services firm that serves clients including the Department of Defense, NASA, Boeing and Rolls-Royce.

April – Verian partners with Cortex Business Solutions, a leading supplier network in the E&P industry, to offer paperless invoicing. Verian also welcomes three new clients into its portfolio, including People’s United Bank. During the same month, Allstate Canada completes a Verian system upgrade and Members 1^st Credit Union goes live with Verian solutions.

May – More E&P companies come onboard in May, including Linc Energy, a global energy company based in Australia. Verian is also named one of the top 100 technology providers by Supply and Demand Chain Executive magazine for the eighth time.  Go-lives for the month of May include Privatin, a procurement consulting firm and GMX Resources, based in Oklahoma.

June – Verian releases version 10.5 of its purchasing and invoice processing software. The release includes several key enhancements developed exclusively for Verian’s growing list of E&P clients. The Verian client portfolio grows with the signing of Piedmont Natural Gas, a natural gas provider serving more than one million residents in the Southeast US.

July – Verian signs another large financial institution as RBC Financial Caribbean inks a deal with the company.

August – Filling out the credit union side of its financial services portfolio, Verian signs Chevron Federal Credit Union as a client in August. Three more clients sign with Verian during the month.

September – Calculations show that Verian’s cloud-based offering is now completing over one million customer transactions per month. During the same month, Verian signs St. Jude Medical and launches a new website.  Harbin Clinic, a healthcare provider in Georgia, completes an upgrade of Verian solutions.

October – In October, Verian signs another handful of clients, including a major cable and wire provider in North America. The Corporate Executive Board, a global research and consulting firm, goes live with Verian solutions in its US locations.

November – Verian announces is has been ranked as a top 5 vendor in four categories of Gartner’s “E-Procurement Market and Vendor Landscape” report. The company also releases Version 10.6 of its suite of purchasing and invoice processing solutions, making it even faster and easier for cloud customers to start getting returns from their investment. Verian also signs on more new clients, including DeJour Energy.

December – In December, Verian is named one of Charlotte’s 50 fastest-growing companies by the Charlotte Business Journal. Kennedy Krieger Institute, an international leader in research and treatment of pediatric disabilities, completes an upgrade while the Corporate Executive Board’s Canadian locations roll-out Verian solutions.

“For Verian, it’s always been about the success of our customers and we are truly excited to help so many new clients gain spend control and visibility,” said Tehseen Ali Dahya, President and CEO of Verian. “We expect 2012 to be even more successful, making Verian one P2P provider to watch in 2012.”

About Verian 

Verian is the world leader in universal purchasing and invoice processing systems. Regardless of the number of users, implementation complexity or deployment preference, Verian’s broad and flexible offering provides affordable, easy-to-use solutions that fit companies now – and when they change. Founded in 1997 with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., Verian helps companies in a wide array of industries – including oil & gas, retail, healthcare, financial services and government/nonprofit – control spending and enhance visibility by providing clients with a single software platform to automate their entire purchase-to-pay process.

We know this is a bad idea, but we also like to keep the guardians of our wired worlds happy. In the end, the not-so-best practice of letting IT “go rogue” when purchasing goods and services causes more pain for everyone - including IT.

Without visibility into IT spend, purchasing has no ability to consolidate vendors, leverage volumes, or negotiate better contracts – let alone assure that IT is spending prudently. AP often has to hunt down non-PO invoices that are sometimes found under a coffee mug in the server room.

As a result, IT finds itself in the center of a mess it never meant to create: answering endless calls and emails from AP looking for invoices, packing slips and other documentation; fielding inquiries from purchasing about the value, location, warranty status, repair and maintenance history of IT assets; and conducting its own frantic searches for software, hardware and documentation.

Instead of giving your IT department their wish list minus 10%, we suggest a more thoughtful approach. With enablement from a purchase-to-pay system and guidance from you, here are five IT buying tricks that will make everyone’s life easier:

1.  Purchase Orders – Get IT on an automated PO system. Front-end approvals and visibility make all the difference on the back end. Since most IT users are natural techies, they warm up to the automated PO creation and approval routing pretty quickly. With the visibility gained from our PO system, one of our customers was able to consolidate all printer purchases to HP – who in turn provided $75,000 in free printers (how’s that for a stocking stuffer?).
2. Online “IT Only” Catalogs – Move IT goods and services to online catalogs or punch-outs that IT users can easily browse through from any computer.  Every item has the negotiated price built-in, giving you peace of mind that you’re properly leveraging contracts. If a user doesn’t find what they need, they simply open a free-form request. And since the catalogs can only be viewed by IT, you eliminate the risk of other departments making unauthorized purchases.
3. Kit Creation – Several of our customers create new employee kits for IT, grouping a phone, laptop, docking station, mouse, etc. into one package that can be ordered in just one click, saving countless hours of tedious and costly search time.
4. Asset Management – One grossly overlooked activity is the tracking of IT assets after they are purchased. Look for a system that can track the location, work order history, warranty status and even the total cost of ownership of all IT assets. Make sure it’s flexible enough to apply IT-specific attributes like hard drive size and installed software.
5. Automated Invoice Processing – kill the paper IT invoices that choke the back-end productivity of your AP department by storing, coding, matching and routing invoices digitally. Your IT department will wonder why their vendors are so much happier – until you tell them they’re getting paid much faster.

So this season, give your IT department what it really wants: more time to focus on what they do best.

Happy Holidays,

Mark Schaffner
VP Marketing
Verian

An interfaith organization that serves poor and homeless people with love, compassion and tangible help, the Urban Ministry Center conducts an ongoing meal drive called ‘Operation Sandwich’ to help feed the needy with volunteer-prepared homemade sandwiches. Though the program, the Ministry delivers almost 300,000 sandwiches every year. A group of thirty Verian employees worked together to make over 300 sandwiches and delivered them to the center, located in downtown Charlotte. See the team in action.

“After last year, we decided to make ‘Operation Sandwich’ a Verian tradition,” said Eric Wilson, event organizer and VP of Operations for Verian. “To give back to the community – especially during the holiday season – is something truly special for the Verian team.”

About Verian 
Verian is the world leader in universal purchasing and invoice processing systems. Regardless of the number of users, implementation complexity or deployment preference, Verian’s broad and flexible offering provides affordable, easy-to-use solutions that fit companies now – and in the future. Founded in 1997 with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., Verian helps companies in a wide array of industries – including oil & gas, retail, healthcare, financial services and government/nonprofit – control spending and enhance visibility by providing clients with a single software platform to automate their entire purchase-to-pay process.

About the Urban Ministry Center
The Urban Ministry Center opened its doors in December 1994 as a partnership of uptown congregations and businesses to address the needs of the poor and homeless with compassion and tangible help.  The Urban Ministry Center serves as a point of entry to services offered by a network of agencies that work closely to provide necessary opportunities for the homeless population. The Ministry is an interfaith agency drawing support and volunteers from more than 130 congregations.

Media Contact:
Adam C. Slick
Marketing Communications Manager
704-971-6992
aslick@verian.com