A TOP chief executive from one of the London Boroughs will headline a free forum being offered by Matrix SCM.

Rob Leak, Chief Executives of the London Borough of Enfield, will be explaining how his council has bought services more cost-effectively by implementing Matrix SCM’s innovative services procurement technology.

The technology has allowed the council to implement a structured step-management approach for procuring complex services.

The Forum will take place in London, on December 14, 2011 and is aimed at public sector procurement leads, commissioners, chief executives, treasurers, finance directors and HR managers.

Matrix SCM will reveal how technology is helping Enfield and more than 60 other public sector organisations to make savings on a wide-range of services procurement requirements.

The forum will also show delegates how the technology works and will explain how public sector organisations can implement the technology and use it for all its services procurement requirements including consultancy, social care, continuing health care and facilities management services.

Said Julian Young, Matrix SCM Chief Executive: “The Forum is a must-attend event for anyone in the public sector who is serious about realising significant savings and efficiencies from their services procurement category spend.

“SProc.Net is already helping more than 60 public sector organisations to improve the quality and spend of their services procurement requirements. This event will reveal how and why they’re working with Matrix SCM.”

Register for this free event now

PROCUREMENT professionals and commissioners from NHS hospital trusts are being invited to sign-up to a webinar which will change the way they procure services.

Matrix SCM, award-winning services procurement specialists, are running the free webinar on November 17 to show commissioners from NHS Acute and Foundation Trusts how they can make the business of engaging medical locums and temporary doctors simpler, quicker and more efficient than the traditional recruitment agency route.

The webinar will demonstrate Matrix SCM’s innovative technology platform – SProc.Net. Using SProc.Net, commissioners and hiring managers at NHS Acute and Foundation Trusts can submit their specific requirements for a medical locum to SProc.Net and the technology draws up and provides them with a ranked shortlist of candidates, offered by agencies, based on quality and price.

The SProc.Net system is already being used by more than 60 public sector organisations, including the London Borough of Lambeth, who have users based at Kings College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts and who currently use SProc.Net to engage temporary social care staff.

James Whitney, Matrix SCM’s Business Development Manager, will be delivering the webinar. He has more than seven years’ experience working within the NHS and commented: “The webinar is a great way for NHS procurement and commissioning professionals to sample SProc.Net for the first time. They’ll see how it can engage medical locums and doctors simply and efficiently.”

The free 40-minute webinar on November 17 will start at 3pm. To register onto the webinar, click here.

MATRIX SCM is staging a unique event for public sector organisations in the North West, keen to make savings of around 8 to 10% on the cost of engaging consultants and specialists.

Matrix SCM has been contracted by AGMA councils and the Lancashire Procurement Hub to provide SProc.Net so that councils in the region – and other public sector bodies such as NHS Trusts, police authorities and fire and rescue services – can bring in consultants, when required, at reduced costs.

The first council to implement SProc.Net – Salford City Council – went live with the technology platform in September. A second, Rochdale MBC, went live in October and a further two more councils – Cheshire East and Blackburn with Darwen Councils – are starting to implement SProc.Net

SProc.Net is also being used, on a separate contract, by Knowsley MBC. Using SProc.Net, Knowsley Council has made immediate savings of 15% against budget on its first call-off of a planning consultant and the engagement was made at 74% below the baseline rate specified for the type and grade of consultant required.

Matrix SCM is staging the free event – Seeker Solution revealed – on December 1, 2011 at Rochdale Town Hall to show progress of the AGMA/Lancashire consultants’ framework and invite new organisations to see SProc.Net at close quarters.

Said Andy Weston, Matrix SCM’s Sales and Implementation Director: “SProc.Net is being used successfully in the North West to engage consultants. This event will show people how it’s being done – and how SProc.Net can also be used to procure other services such as Adult’s and Older People’s social care, temporary agency staff and repairs and maintenance services.

The Seeker Solution Revealed event is free and will run from 9.30am to 12.30pm. For more information and to register for the event click here.

PROFESSIONALS working for acute trusts in continuing health care have the opportunity to book an exclusive place in a Matrix SCM webinar.

The Matrix SCM procurement technology – and its performance as a services procurement platform – come under the spotlight on October 27 in an on-line webinar.

The 40-minute webinar is aimed at professionals who are involved in the commissioning of continuing health care, particularly those in acute trusts.

The webinar will reveal how Matrix SCM’s procurement technology – Sproc.net – can be used to make commissioning of continuing health care quicker and more efficient.

It will also show webinar subscribers how the technology works, how it can be used and how it can be implemented within an organisation, seamlessly, quickly and with minimum disruption. James Whitney Matrix SCM Business Development Manager will be leading the webinar. He said: “Procurement of continuing health care is a significant spend for acute trusts and it makes sense to get best value for that spend.

“This webinar aims to show you how Sproc.Net can be used by an acute trust to raise quality and lower price of continuing health care by procuring and commissioning suppliers at better rates and with tighter controls.”

Places on the webinar are limited. Click here to book now

SERVICES procurement leader Matrix SCM is launching the next generation of its services procurement technology platform.

The Matrix SCM.net platform is also being renamed - SProc.Net - to reflect the advances which have been made with the system in the two years since it was developed by Matrix SCM. The new name has also been chosen to avoid confusion which can arise between the company - Matrix SCM - and the product - Matrix SCM.net.

Some of Matrix SCM’s clients also want to brand the Matrix SCM technology as their own and the company did not want to be constrained by SCM being both a reference to the technology and to Matrix SCM the company.

The new name - SProc.Net - is an abbreviation of Service Procurement - a clear, simple description of the sector in which Matrix SCM works and in which the technology platform delivers results.

Sproc.Net also incorporates a number of key features on which Matrix SCM wants to capitalise. It can operate as a dynamic procurement system (dps) within services procurement and is dps compliant.

Julian Young, Matrix SCM, CEO, commented: “When we initially launched the product, SCM stood for Supply Chain Manager. However, as the company and the product has evolved, we wanted a product name which more directly reflected what Matrix and our technology does.

“As our technology delivers the full services procurement process, from start to finish with our 12-step process, we believe SProc.Net is the perfect name for the product and the future.”

THREE London Boroughs have now signed up for Matrix SCM’s innovative procurement technology SProc.Net to make typical savings of between 8 and 10% on the costs of engaging temporary staff.

Waltham Forest is the latest council to commission Matrix SCM to implement SProc.Net which makes it quicker, simpler and more efficient for councils and other public sector organisations to procure services, such as temporary agency staff.

The three boroughs – Enfield, Redbridge and Waltham Forest – have all called off on the same contract which Enfield Council re-let to Matrix SCM at the end of 2010 after a four-year partnership. The contract was re-let in such a way that it was opened up to all 32 London Borough’s.

The councils are using the SProc.Net procurement technology to engage temporary agency staff - collectively, the three councils engage around 800 staff a week. By adopting SProc.Net, they are expecting to make on the costs of bringing in temporary agency staff.

Julian Young, Matrix SCM, CEO, commented: “While the three London Boroughs have adopted SProc.Net to make efficiencies in the procuring of temporary agency staff, the SProc.Net technology can be applied across the board to all services procurement categories. For example in the North West, councils are using it to procure consultants at more advantageous rates while at Coventry City Council, SProc.Net is being used to procure care services for adults and older people. It’s a one system, fits all approach.”

MATRIX SCM is becoming the services procurement category experts of choice for a growing number of local authorities and public sector organisations.

Three councils have recently appointed Matrix SCM to provide their services procurement category requirements having previously had contracts with another procurement provider.

Wyre Forest DC and Malvern Hills DC are the latest councils to switch service provider to Matrix SCM.

The two contracts are the latest in a number of new contracts which Matrix SCM has secured via call-off and mini-competitions from the MSTAR Framework which has been set up and managed by the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO).

Matrix SCM now has the highest number of new contract wins gained off the back of the MSTAR contract compared with any other organisation on the framework. Julian Young, Matrix SCM, CEO, commented: “We supply services procurement expertise, swift implementation and a system that delivers great results. In an age when councils and other public sector organisations such as the NHS and police authorities are looking to streamline services and make them more efficient, we provide the answer for their services procurement category spend.”

THE benefits of SProc.Net to the social care agenda have been highlighted to leading public sector decision-makers.

Procurement leads and social care managers attended a children’s/young person’s care and commissioning conference at which Matrix SCM jointly presented a workshop with Claire Smart, Director of Strategic Procurement at Gloucestershire County Council.

SProc.Net which can operate as a dynamic purchasing system was highlighted at the workshop as an example of how technology can help councils deliver a better quality of care, despite ever decreasing care budgets.

Delegates heard how SProc.Net is being used by Coventry City Council in order to achieve greater efficiencies and cost savings through better use of its existing framework contracts. Coventry City Council has seen a significant decrease in spot purchasing of care requirements since the implementation of SProc.Net.

Andy Weston, Matrix SCM Sales and Implementation Director commented: “SProc.Net is the technology platform of choice for public sector organisations who want greater choice, greater control and greater efficiencies for their service procurement activities.

“Being invited to attend conferences such as this is a significant acknowledgement of our widening reputation for expertise in this sector.”