Spend management solutions provider Ariba says that it is helping Diebold Incorporated reach its goal of saving more than $100m in a company-wide cost-reduction initiative launched in 2006.  But Diebold, which offers integrated self-service delivery and security systems and services, began its partnership with Ariba years before.

"As a market leader, Diebold must diligently manage its costs and drive supply chain efficiency on a global scale in order to maintain and enhance its competitive advantage," says George S. Mayes Jr., executive vice president, global operations, Diebold. "Through Ariba's solutions, we have been able to identify opportunities for savings and drive them to the bottom line while continuing to invest in innovation and deliver quality products and services to our customers around the world."

Since 2000, Diebold has used Ariba Sourcing to streamline its sourcing and negotiation process and optimize its supply base. In 2003, the company leveraged Ariba global services to launch a low-cost country sourcing project in China to strengthen its supply chain and move closer to its customers. By 2004, similar projects were under way in Europe and India. In 2006, Diebold added Ariba Spend Visibility and Ariba Category Procurement to identify additional opportunities for savings across direct materials and indirect spend categories and drive cost and process improvements.

"Diebold embraced spend management at a time when many organizations were still thinking about it," says Kevin Costello, president of Ariba. "By investing in spend management solutions and building the teams and processes necessary to support them, Diebold has not only transformed its procurement organization, but its overall business."

Visit www.ariba.com and www.diebold.com