Fieldglass to Offer More Efficient Services Procurement to Allstate
Chicago—August 18, 2003—Fieldglass, Inc., a leading provider of services procurement software, announces that it has signed a three-year agreement with Allstate Insurance Company, the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer, to provide an enterprise-wide contract labor management solution. Financial terms were not disclosed.
InSite® from Fieldglass™ is a vendor-neutral, Web-based application that creates a secure, private marketplace for a company and its chosen staffing suppliers. It automates and streamlines manual processes, so that corporate users and their suppliers can accurately track, measure and analyze every transaction for outsourced services procurement, from “requisition to check.”
“The Fieldglass™ system was chosen for several reasons,” explains Allstate Procurement Specialist Greg Hopkins. “It most closely matched our vision of an automated system. It streamlines the hiring process, decreasing the time required to bring a quality resource on board. Importantly, it also has the potential to handle other types of contract labor beyond IT.”
Planning and implementation began in August 2002, and InSite® went live in December. It was deployed in two phases. The application’s Requisition Module was first used to automate processes related to procuring and managing Information Technology contractors, including requisition creation and distribution, enforcement of negotiated rates, and onboarding.
The second phase started in March 2003 with timekeeping functionality. Time sheet information will then be electronically fed into the accounts payable module of Allstate’s SAP system.
Staffing suppliers are able to proactively manage timekeeping issues themselves. They have online access to their workers’ approved time and anticipated payment for the month. If a time sheet is missing, the supplier can work directly with the contractor to correct the situation. “This will mean fewer inquiries for Allstate staff to handle regarding time submitted, fewer problems with reconciliation and more accurate payment to suppliers,” Hopkins says.
“Being selected by a company of Allstate’s stature after a thorough and highly competitive review validates the Fieldglass™ approach to addressing the services procurement challenges facing companies today,” says Fieldglass CEO & Co-Founder Jai Shekhawat. “InSite® will enable Allstate to transform a paper-intensive manual process to an automated Web-based process that creates a comprehensive data warehouse about their contract labor usage.”
The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) is the nation’s largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Widely known through the “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate®” slogan, Allstate provides insurance products to more than 16 million households and has approximately 12, 300 exclusive agents and financial specialists in the U.S. and Canada. Customers can access Allstate products and services through Allstate agents, or in select states at allstate.com and 1-800-Allstate®. EncompassSM and Deerbrook® Insurance brand property and casualty products are sold exclusively through independent agents. Allstate Financial Group includes the businesses that provide life and supplemental insurance, retirement, banking and investment products through distribution channels that include Allstate agents, independent agents, financial institutions and broker- dealers.
About Fieldglass
Headquartered in Chicago, Fieldglass, Inc. (http://www.fieldglass.com) is a leading provider of vendor-neutral services procurement solutions for industry leading Global 2000 companies. InSite®, its Web-based enterprise application, creates a secure, private marketplace between customers and selected suppliers for sourcing, delivering and managing third-party services, including contract labor, consulting and fixed-price projects. Able to interact with legacy systems, ERP systems and e-commerce platforms, InSite® allows organizations to extend the benefits of e-procurement beyond products into services, reducing costs while improving cycle times.
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