Ellucian and ESM announce strategic partnership

The Ellucian Spend Management Suite will now contain solutions powered by ESM

• Ellucian Spend Management Suite has expanded to include Ellucian Purchase.
• This procurement management solution offered through a deeper partnership with ESM, a leader in procure-to-pay tools for higher education.
• Users now have access to a cloud-based, intuitive online shopping solution that automates the entire procure to pay process.

The Ellucian Spend Management Suite will now contain solutions powered by ESM, a leader in procure-to-pay tools for higher education. ESM’s procurement automation solution, ESM Purchase, is now available as part of the Ellucian Spend Management Suite.

ESM joins Chrome River, a top provider of expense and invoice management tools, to enhance the popular Ellucian suite. The deeper partnership will offer institutions of all sizes an accessible and full spend management solution. With Ellucian Purchase, users now have access to an intuitive online shopping solution that automates the entire procure-to-pay process by integrating directly with the existing invoice management solution. Together, these tools boost accuracy and efficiency for institutions by automating the spend management process, integrating with existing finance solutions, and providing real-time expense data and analytics.

“The addition of a real consumer shopping experience and visibility into what is being purchased will help institutions control costs, better manage to spend, and improve compliance,” said Ellucian Senior Vice President of Global Product and Strategy James Willey. “We’re excited to expand our partnership with ESM and Chrome River to offer complete business process flow from procurement through invoice processing and on to payment, all within the Ellucian ERPs.”

Features of Ellucian Purchase include:

• An intuitive online shopping portal that features only approved suppliers and negotiated contracts, cutting down on rogue spending and boosting visibility
• Guided buying to drive spend where you want it with your strategic suppliers
• Automation of campus business processes for flexible, seamless approval routing to create a fewer requisition and purchase order errors
• integration that ensures compliance, minimizes risk, and improves the overall efficiency of the purchasing process, while seamlessly exchanging data with the Ellucian ERP