NetSuite Helps Transform State Of Texas Procurement Into A Billion Dollar Ecommerce Enterprise

SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce suites, today announced that the State of Texas has replaced its legacy procurement systems with NetSuite SuiteCommerce as the commerce platform for its enterprise-scale TxSmartBuy (www.txsmartbuy.com)  B2B procurement marketplace.

The SuiteCommerce cloud-based solution has enabled nearly $1 billion of annual transactions, connecting 4,700 buyers from state agencies and local governments to more than 1,000 vendors selling 3.5 million items, from office equipment to road paving materials. With SuiteCommerce, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA) delivers a modern and intuitive B2C experience to all TxSmartBuy users. The superior procurement experience and the system's improved efficiency has helped drive rapid adoption among both buyers and sellers. User adoption is expected to increase from 4,700 buyers in 2015 to more than 6,900 in 2017.

"The tool essentially sells itself," said Michael Telfeyan, Division Director at the CPA Project Management Office. "So many organizations and state agencies use the tool that vendors are incentivized to get on there and give the best possible price. That's the real value. And we have more functionality planned. We're going to flex NetSuite as much as we possibly can."

TxSmartBuy 2.0 went live in 2014 and replaced a collection of on-premise systems in place since 2008 that were costly to maintain. In just one year, annual system costs have plummeted 77 percent from $11.5 million to less than $3 million. Other benefits include:

• Help desk staff reduced by more than 50 percent
• Average support call reduced from 30-45 minutes to less than five minutes
• Average time to place an order reduced from 10 minutes to three minutes

The previous system suffered from issues with usability, search functionality, scalability and speed. Lack of integration slowed key business processes, made it difficult to make system upgrades and forced personnel into labor-intensive spreadsheet manipulations and manual reporting to piece together critical spending data.

"There was a lot of glue under the hood to try to make it work," said Telfeyan. "If one piece of software had to be upgraded, it would impact the others. The user experience wasn't that great because of lags between all the components. NetSuite has been unbelievably more flexible, intuitive, faster and more responsive."

The SuiteCommerce solution delivers the Texas CPA:

A great user experience that drives business results. The ease-of-use and streamlined purchasing process of TxSmartBuy continues to drive rapid user adoption.

One comprehensive system with built-in flexibility. Statewide contracts, supplier and catalog information all reside in one central location, with the ability to quickly add new features and fields as contracting and online purchasing needs evolve.

Upgraded search and mobile support. SuiteCommerce delivers enhanced search performance, results presentation, filtering features and item comparison. Responsive web design enables a mobile-optimized experience, allowing users to access TxSmartBuy on any device. 

Improved order/reconciliation process. Buyers can update purchase orders with necessary changes or cancellations that are captured in a viewable audit trail.

Elimination of cumbersome punchouts. Buyers order all awarded contract items directly through the SuiteCommerce-based system, without visiting an individual vendor's system to "punchout" a transaction.

Real-time business visibility and reporting. TxSmartBuy replaces manual processes that provided limited insight into spending and marketplace metrics with real-time visibility into critical data, robust reporting and drill-down to detail.

Learn More
Anh Selissen, Director of Application Services at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, and Andy Lloyd, NetSuite's GM of Commerce Products, will be speaking at the Gartner Symposium /ITxpo in Orlando on Wednesday, October, 7, 2015 from 3:45 PM – 4:30 PM where they will discuss how the State of Texas transformed its procurement systems and processes.

NetSuite has been experiencing strong momentum with its SuiteCommerce platform since its launch in 2012 and has now become the leading cloud-based omnichannel commerce platform used by both B2C and B2B businesses to drive their commerce strategies. SuiteCommerce is the only unified cloud omnichannel commerce platform that brings together all the capabilities required to deliver a complete omnichannel commerce solution from ecommerce and point of sale, to marketing, financials, order and inventory management. Learn more at suitecommerce.com.

Today, more than 24,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of enterprise-ready cloud business management suites of enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and ecommerce applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management suites to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.

Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuite Twitter handle for real-time updates.
For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.com.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.  

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090924/SF81218LOGO-b

SOURCE NetSuite Inc.

Related Links

http://www.netsuite.com