IT executives name Oracle vendor of choice for procurement and sourcing applications over next 12 months

The report, "The Procurement and Sourcing Application Spending Report, 2003 - 2004," surveyed information technology (IT) executives at 499 mid-size and large enterprises spanning multiple industries.

The study also found that Oracle is currently a top provider of procurement and sourcing software. This finding combined with the positive 12-month customer growth outlook further solidifies Oracle's leadership position for procurement and sourcing applications.

Oracle Procurement helps optimize and automate all steps of the procure-to-pay process, with an added emphasis on supplier collaboration and sourcing capabilities to reduce purchasing costs, improve process efficiencies and increase profit margins.

Many Oracle customers in the Middle East have selected Oracle Procurement including Abdullah Hashim Ltd - the Honda agent in Saudi Arabia, Dubai Internet City, Emirate Telecommunications Corporation (ETISALAT), Juma Al Majid Group, Dubai Duty Free, Dubai Government, Emirates Airline and Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) in Kuwait and The Lebanon based Middle East Airline.

"As the adolescent technology market in procurement and sourcing begins to grow up, as companies come to grips with fixing their data quality issues, and as IT architectures are beginning to get specified in earnest, companies are voting with their dollars and rolling out these applications as a matter of normal course," said Pierre Mitchell, vice president of research, in the AMR Research Report.

Major procurement and sourcing trends found in the report include:
•Potential cost reductions on corporate spending continue to fuel investments in procurement and sourcing.
•Penetration remains high as procurement and sourcing applications have come front and center for delivering bottom-line impact.
•Technology will continue to decrease as a root cause of a failed procurement and sourcing applications implementation.

"The report findings validate our vision, recognize our ability to execute, and highlight our customer-centric development approach," said Husam Dajani, Oracle's vice president for the Middle East. "We are committed to providing our customers with mature applications that support all their procurement and sourcing needs, thereby helping organizations maximize their return on investment."

Oracle Procurement, part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, offers a comprehensive set of solutions including iProcurement, Purchasing, Sourcing, iSupplier Portal, Purchasing Intelligence, and Payables to manage a company's procurement process, a platform to integrate other e-business solutions, and professional services to help organizations formulate purchasing strategies.