IQNavigator Beefs up Configurability in Latest Services Procurement Release
Version 7.6 of solution provides greater flexibility to meet needs of global companies, adds tools to help manage more complex outsourced, offshore relationships.

By Editorial Staff

Denver, CO - June 28, 2007 - Services procurement specialist IQNavigator has released the latest version of its flagship on-demand software, adding greater self-service configurability and tools to help companies manage more complex outsourced or offshore relationships with their contracted service providers.

The latest version of the services procurement enterprise product suite, IQNavigator 7.6, provides software-as-a-service configurability with self-service integration capabilities and customizable data access, helping to minimize IT complexity and cost, and providing business users with more flexibility in how they adapt the solution to meet their needs, IQNavigator said.

Key features in the new version of the software platform include more rapid speed of integration, with users able to use the IQ Gateway to accelerate integration development of both standards-based and proprietary systems, as well as easier data access, with a wizard-driven user interface, tightly coupled security and dashboard metrics that enable customers to access and manage data in any format to meet their unique needs, according to IQNavigator.

Tackling Global Services Spend

Version 7.6 also offers standards based business rules that provide support for both industry standard rules and user-generated business rules, bringing improved flexibility and adoptability throughout the workflow process, the solution provider said.

In addition, functionality to streamline global agreements allow users to create and manage highly complex global agreements for outsourcing and offshoring by letting customers automate their offline processes while following their business rules, compliance procedures and contract formatting.

John Martin, chief technology officer at IQNavigator, noted that the solution provider has capabilities covering services procurement in 11 different countries at present and plans to move into almost 20 new countries in the next 12-18 months.

Finally, enhanced candidate management capabilities aim to help companies increase resource quality and rate competition through enhanced third-party candidate screening and by allowing suppliers to view rates submitted by other suppliers.

Attacking New Service Categories

Martin also said that the solution provider is looking to expand into new types of services, meeting demand from its customers to cover greater portions of their services spend.

"Our customers buy us for different kinds of benefits, whether it's cost savings, or compliance and visibility, or even, in the contract labor world, for talent management," Martin said. "But regardless of what they're buying us for, they tend to start with contract labor, then move into professional services, then into offshoring and outsourcing, and then move into additional categories that may be top of mind for them."

Some customers might place a priority on compliance and go after legal services, while others might focus on control issues and tackle field services or "piece-part" services. As a result, Martin said, IQNavigator has focused on making its own solution more adaptable to be able to accommodate the different services that its customers are looking to attack.