For technology companies, staying ahead of the game is a key to success.

Provo, Utah’s Novell is no different. As the leader in bringing all types of networks—intranets,
extranets and the Internet—together as one Net, Novell’s mission is to solve complex business and
technical challenges to help companies profit from the ever-changing opportunities of a networked
world. A vital component of that mission is staying on top of the latest technology, evaluating each on
its merits, and bringing in worthy candidates for analysis and testing with Novell’s world-class
business solutions and as possible areas for future development.

At Novell, the task of tracking and procuring available hardware technology falls on the same
department that fulfills the IT ordering tasks for the company’s daily operations. Eric Thomas, senior
technology buyer at Novell is at the head of those efforts.

“One of my main responsibilities is to track what technologies are available on the market,” says
Thomas. “I bring in all the technology that engineering uses in development, the technology the labs
use in testing and the hardware that the regular business units use in day-to-day operations. I’m always looking for the latest and greatest technology, which hopefully Novell can leverage into successful business opportunities.”

Thomas fulfills the technology procurement needs of Novell’s 6,000 employees worldwide. Included
in the mix are servers, desktops, peripherals, some software and even SUN workstations.

“The real value of my job is to research and analyze new technologies for development purposes,”
explains Thomas. “Unfortunately the routine technology procurement needs of this very large company fall on my desk too. The amount of paperwork I need to process for standard computing needs creates a difficult-to-manage transaction load, making it tough to focus on my strategic role with the overwhelming details of standard procurement needs.”

With this in mind Novell began to evaluate e-Procurement solutions. The goal was to implement a
purchasing infrastructure that allows managers to order pre-approved technology hardware
components without the traditional expense, time constraints and paperwork logjams associated with
traditional purchasing processes.

“We had some definite requirements for our E-procurement solution,” says Thomas. “First, it had to be extremely user-friendly offering point-and-click functionality and a very short learning curve. Second, it needed to automate the transactions that take the largest amount of time and require the most paperwork. Third, it had to be available seamlessly via the Novell InnerWeb. And finally, we required directory-level security without passwords.”

Novell evaluated a number of e-commerce solutions but soon found that none could integrate tightly
enough with the company’s mission-critical purchasing system. In addition, across the board, these
solutions proved prohibitively expensive.

“Our preferred hardware supplier and on-site service source—Bridge Technologies, proposed
building a custom E-procurement solution very early on in our evaluation process,” said Thomas. “They said that their engineers could do it. We said, prove it. And six months later they did. We have always trusted Bridge Technologies with our hardware and support needs. Every time we put procurement out for competitive bids, Bridge Technologies came out on top. They always offer the perfect mix of extremely competitive pricing and exceptional service. Although it was a departure from our traditional relationship with them, the E-procurement solution proved true to form—affordable and
powerful.” says Thomas.

Novell implemented the system in the fall of 2001. Under the new system, standard computer
hardware orders are fulfilled entirely on-line over the Novell InnerWeb. A manager simply selects
appropriate hardware from a menu of approved items.

Because the managers fill out on-line purchase orders based on standard Novell templates, these
routine purchases never cross Thomas’ desk. Through a direct link to Bridge Technologies, orders are
processed, billed, shipped and tracked in an entirely self-contained and automated system.

“Implementing this new system has changed things quite a bit at Novell,” says Thomas. “Now all these routine transactions that used to cross my desk are processed, from start-to-finish, on the website. It outpaces the old paper-based method of running purchase orders through my department by a factor of three. We’re experiencing significant cost savings simply by eliminating the administration of paperwork. Our employees get what they need faster and it costs the company less to do it. It’s a real win-win situation.”

In addition to streamlined procurement and significant cost savings, the Bridge Technologies developed E-procurement solution at Novell also shortened the procurement-to-pay cycle. Orders are
placed and invoiced in real-time using automated Web-based templates. Immediate processing is the
end result. The system works so well and has proven so cost-effective that Novell now sends as much
procurement as possible through the system directly to Bridge Technologies.

“Across the board, whether it’s E-procurement, hardware or support, the thing that sets Bridge Technologies apart is that they will take ownership of the job,” says Thomas. “They have our best interests in mind. They make good on everything they promise and put keeping us satisfied as their highest priority. Novell is a very dynamic company, and for the past three years, Bridge Technologies has been able to quickly respond to our needs, over-deliver and keep us coming back for more.”