Remedy and American Express are teaming to automate the purchasing process from requisition through payment using Remedy's Purchas-ing@Work software and the American Express Corporate Purchasing Card.

Through the alliance, American Express will automate the payment, reconciliation, and data reporting processes while Purchasing@Work will automate and speed the purchasing process for non-production materials and services.

"Together, American Express and Remedy now offer a web-based solution that streamlines the electronic purchasing process," said Todd Basche, vice president and general manager of Remedy's Employee Workplace Automation (EWA) division. "Companies can gain significant bottom line improvements by linking Remedy's automated routing and approval solution to the cost control offered by American Express' Corporate Purchasing Card.

Vendor Catalogs in Real-Time

The product includes a unique "distributed catalog" feature, thanks to an exclusive agreement with catalog specialists PartNET.

Purchasing@Work customers can create vendor catalogs which will be accessible through the customer's internal network. Rather than creating a copy of price and item lists, however, the software "allows the purchasing organization to actually go to servers at the supplier's location and get real-time data," according to Wendy Hilton, senior business development manager at Remedy.

By simplifying access to preferred vendors and improving their ability to track transactions, companies can both gain bargaining leverage and benefit from increased economies of scale. "They can negotiate better, because they can see, 'I'm not spending $1 million with you guys I'm spending $3 million," she adds.

The American Express alliance also allows Remedy to fulfill a frequent customer request. "We've been asked by a lot of our clients to add purchasing card capabilities into our purchasing system," says Hilton. "They want to be able to use the purchasing card they already have to make purchases through the Purchasing@Work system."

Remedy's system will take advantage of the approvals already built-in to each purchasing card. "For example, employees with approval to purchase items under $500 with their p-card can use our system and that eliminates the need for an actual paper purchase order," says Hilton. "We can bypass that process a bit and that adds cost efficiencies for companies."

An Auspicious Start

The alliance marks an auspicious start for both Remedy's new EWA division, formed just last summer, and their first product, Purchasing@Work, which was released March 20.

The EWA group is creating a suite of web-oriented applications that aim to reduce operating costs by automating everyday workplace functions. In addition to Purchasing@Work, two other products have been announced.

The second EWA product, ExpensAble@Work, is "basically an expense reporting and management system," according to Hilton.

"Finally, SetUp@Work is an IT-focused HR system in the sense that it allows companies to easily manage everything that has to happen when you either get a new employee or want to physically move an employee from one location to another," she explains.

The new division represents a diversification of Remedy's existing product line, which has established itself as the industry-leading help desk software.

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