National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP) & JAGGAER Release 2017 Innovation Forum Report

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 30, 2017 -- JAGGAER, producers of the world's most comprehensive Source to Pay (S2P) solutions suite, today announced the release of the 2017 Innovators Forum Report, published in partnership with the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP). NAEP is the association of choice for educational procurement professionals dedicated to their continued professional development and to reinforcing the strategic role of procurement in education.

A copy of the report is available for download here: https://www.jaggaer.com/resource/2017-innovators-forum-report-customer-engagement-management/

The 2017 Innovators Forum Report highlights the strategic significance of customer engagement for procurement based on candid, in-depth discussions among college and university leaders who gathered at the 6^th annual Innovators Forum in Denver, Colorado on December 12, 2016. Jim Knight, of Stonebridge Ventures, facilitated the discussion on customer engagement leading practice trends in higher education and their impact on procurement. Stonebridge Ventures also participated in the development and publishing of the report.

"Customer engagement is critical to all NAEP members regardless of the size of their procurement teams," said Doreen Murner, CEO, NAEP. "We can all benefit from a renewed focus on this core function."

The report recommends procurement leaders pursue customer engagement as a core strategic activity and cites relationship-building as an essential practice. "Historically we placed great emphasis on customer service as measured by satisfaction surveys and scored quite well. However, we recently increased outreach efforts that include formal knowledge sharing sessions with key stakeholders. This has been very well received and our strategic impact and brand image is increasing," says University of Colorado's Sandy Hicks, who chaired the Innovators Forum and serves as Associate Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer.

For procurement leaders seeking to enhance and elevate the function within their organization, the Innovators Forum 2017 report offers the following insights and recommendations:

• Customer engagement is strategic, proactive in nature and focuses on building relationships and sharing business knowledge.
• Procurement teams are service organizations and customer engagement is central to the mission and image of procurement.
• Practicing customer engagement at a high level yields significant benefits including higher customer satisfaction, greater respect for procurement and increased efficiency.
• The robust pursuit of excellence in customer engagement is a critical step in becoming essential strategic partners to the campus community.
• Poor customer engagement has an outsized impact on operations and the bottom line, creating unhappy customers who are less likely to comply with policies and procedures, generate more frequent calls for service and may tarnish the brand image of procurement.
• Successful customer engagement requires sincerity, a commitment to transparency and the ability to demonstrate value.

"It's great to see procurement leaders come together and share ideas for improving the way we work," said Rob Bonavito, CEO, JAGGAER. "We're honored to be able to present the 2017 Innovators Forum Report with the NAEP and Stonebridge Ventures so that other institutions and industry professionals can benefit from the insights generated at the Innovators Forum."

About JAGGAER
JAGGAER's comprehensive and complete spend solutions suite enables commerce between any businesses, anywhere. We pioneered spend solutions over two decades ago and have continued to lead the innovation curve by listening to customers and analyzing the market. JAGGAER holds 38 patents, more than any other eProcurement company. Our solutions suite is trusted by the world's largest higher education, commercial, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies that collectively form a network with billions of dollars in annual spend. JAGGAER's SaaS based, Source to Pay (S2P) solutions enable an efficient relationship between buyers and suppliers, covering the entire spectrum of needs, from sourcing to spend analysis, through contract management and AP. www.JAGGAER.com

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