Are you really controlling costs, or just watching them rack up? Today, with the specialised software available, there’s no excuse for revenue-sapping delays, maverick procurement and mistakes in your supply chain.

At Four we recommend iPOS procurement management software, which we seamlessly integrate into our customers’ core systems and data. This powerful solution gives you real control over the purchase of goods and services, and your corporate spend. Over the years, we’ve used it to help organisations save millions.

What is iPOS?

  • iPOS Procurement for SunSystems is a role based, end-to-end, browser procure-to-pay solution.
  • It helps you put an end to rogue purchasing, control spend across your organisation, manage complex workflow requirements and ensure comprehensive transparency and auditability.
  • iPOS is the only procurement or spend control solution to integrate with Infor SunSystems.
  • iPOS can interface with 3rd party systems such as logistic systems, and can allow for purchasing via an external website.

The benefits

  • Full visibility of your cost pipeline
  • Every purchase order checked and approved
  • Integration across finance, procurement, employee expense and workflows
  • Digital signatures, for total transparency over approval
  • Reporting and inquiries, to review purchasing across your operation
  • Streamline the purchase of goods, services, and achieve greater control over corporate spend
  • Model your existing supply chain, set goals and forecasts, optimise, and schedule time, materials and other resources with demand planning and forecasting
  • Stock planning, supply and distribution network planning and supply chain strategy.

Don’t just take our word for it

Listen to what our satisfied customers have to say:

  • Wandle Housing Association

Wandle Housing Association manage more than 5600 properties across London. Wandle wanted to make it easier for staff to track spending, integrate purchasing with the existing accounting system and help managers control budgets better, but its dated, inflexible purchasing system couldn’t support enhanced processes. Our consultants suggested the IPOS procurement solution from Professional Advantage.

‘Four have been very good in building the system and aligning it with the way we work. Everything is delivered on time. They stuck with the plan and drove it forward, which was wonderful. We’ve simply had no problems with IPOS at all. Best of all, it has already started to save us an awful lot of time.’

Gordon Taylor, Wandle Housing Association

  • RCT Homes

RCT Homes (now Trivallis) is Wales’ largest social landlord, with 11,000 homes and a £37 million budget. Four helped them set up a new finance system from scratch. Part of the job involved persuading RCT Homes’ paper-loving staff to embrace electronic purchasing, and use the IPOS supply chain solutions to control spending instead.

‘Staff were using all sorts of work-rounds, from using just one customer order per supplier for the whole year to placing orders with no value – a lot of this had built up with the previous paper-based system. Our deal with the staff was that they had to tell us how to make it work best for them. In terms of commitment to our goals and flexibility, Four went well beyond what can be expected.’

Lisa Pinney, RCT Homes Head of Finance.

‘We made sure we had the best procurement tool. But we also got the best company supporting it.’

RCT Homes Malcolm Wilson, Commercial Director

  • Celtel

Celtel was a telecommunications company that operates across Africa. As it expanded its networks, pouring £750 million into the region, the need for tighter budgetary control over spending was essential. There was also a real need for ‘cost pipeline visibility’ both within individual countries and across the group. Integration with SunSystems was critical for accurate budget checking in real-time. Four chose IPOS as we knew it would work with its SunSystems accounting software. We focused on change management and developed e-learning tools to make training remote users in different languages far easier. The results were immediate. Now, every department can view its real spend, against budget, in just five clicks of a mouse.

‘We needed the very best consultants to help us achieve a successful outcome. We saved $23 m in the first year alone.’

Nick Schild, Celtel Procurement Director

  • TIGO

TIGO is the trading name of $3bn multinational telecoms company Millicom.

When the business began operating in Guatemala and Tanzania, it asked Four Business Solutions to support rollouts across both countries. Creating a mobile phone service involves multi-million pound budgets to set up stock with thousands of handsets, and to meet the infrastructure costs of setting up a national network of Towers. Our consultants advised the company to integrate the IPOS procurement suite, which shows spending at a glance and makes life easier for users.  The move to an electronic system offered immediate benefits. Stock management improved and managers told us they instantly had ‘a better handle on the sheer volume and value of all the transactions in the system.’ Staff also reported they felt empowered and that their working practices were improved dramatically.

‘We loved to see our staff so much more productive, after just half an hour’s training.’

Andrew Hodgson CFO

  • Tesco

Retail giant Tesco recently set up a department to look after daily maintenance jobs across its 1800 stores – Engineering Maintenance Services Limited (EMS). The team was quickly up and running, but IT lagged behind. Tesco asked us to install a new, streamlined purchasing system using our IPOS procurement solution. The first elements of the completed system were up and running within three weeks. Users tell us they now have far more operational efficiency, and the system has subsequently expanded to meet other business needs.

‘We had financial control – Four Business Solutions has given us operational efficiency. It’s just the start of the journey.’

Stuart Lloyd, EMS Business Consultant

iPOS can make a difference to your organisation

When it comes to procurement and your supply chain, Four can help you co-ordinate all your interlinked dimensions to produce meaningful, accurate results, which help you build for future business success.

Four Business Solutions

Four Business Solutions helps small and multi-national organisations enrich the way they work. From supply chain to procurement and contract management, we have decades of experience helping companies forge ahead in the global market. If you’d like to find out more please call John O’Brien at Four Business Solutions on 0800 6250 025.

John O’Brien is the CEO at Four Business Solutions, global business consultants and software integrators providing business processes improvements in Finance, Supply Chain & Operations, across a broad range of industries.