Company Sets Sights on Additional Markets for It’s Customizable Procurement Software in 2008
Newport Beach, Calif., December 13, 2007 – BirchStreet Systems, a leading provider of customizable e-procurement and back office automation solutions, today announced that it has capped off a solid year of new business growth with more than a half dozen marquee hospitality accounts joining the “BirchStreet Family.”
Over the past twelve months, a host of corporations have selected BirchStreet Systems as their partner-of-choice in helping them to streamline their back office applications. The company’s eProcurement system, a suite of web-based applications delivered using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, is designed to help an enterprise leverage its buying power, automate back-office processes and tighten financial controls.
According to Mark Koenig, vice president of research-based marketing strategy consulting firm Saugatuck Technology, “BirchStreet recognized early that SaaS makes it possible to build industry-specific solutions for previously underserved customers. SaaS-based back-office support in the hospitality industry appears to be a very ripe opportunity – especially for large and complex international operations.
Most recently, Omni Hotels, which operates 39 first-class and luxury hotels and resorts throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, selected BirchStreet Systems to host its online eProcurement System. Utilizing BirchStreet’s solution, Omni Hotels will now be better equipped to automate and track procurement procedures as well access activities across its properties on a global scale.
In July of this year, BirchStreet Systems was selected by the Global Hyatt Corporation as the de facto standard for e-Procurement and back office systems solutions. As part of the agreement, Hyatt will utilize BirchStreet’s Application Suite to streamline purchasing, inventory and food cost management across all Hyatt locations worldwide.
“We are honored to be working with such a fine array of top companies within the hospitality and food service arenas,” said Doug Sanborn, BirchStreet’s president and CEO. “With each of our customers, our goal remains the same: to provide an optimized, high value solution through the use of our innovative e-procurement system. BirchStreet Systems prides itself on providing users with a seamless solution designed to enhance productivity and positively impact the bottom line.”
The InterContinental Chicago, one of the city’s finest hotels, chose BirchStreet Systems for procurement and back office automation. Utilizing BirchStreet’s Single Property Solution (SPS), the luxury hotel now has the ability to automate and leverage its 30,000 integrated industry suppliers.
The year began for BirchStreet Systems with the expansion of an agreement already in place with luxury property Beverly Hilton. Under the terms of the agreement, the hotel now employs BirchStreet’s Inventory Control module. With this latest module, the Beverly Hilton can now plan its purchasing activities in a fraction of the time it would take with a traditional paper-based process.
Late last year, BirchStreet signed an agreement to provide its eProcurement solution to Hilton International. As part of that agreement, a number of properties have been implemented including properties in France and Egypt. BirchStreet’s implementation of the Sharm El Sheikh property in Egypt marks the first e-Procurment system ever implemented at any hotel in that country.
New Product Offerings Announced in 2007
During the year BirchStreet announced the availability of several new product offerings that included its new Capital Projects Management suite for FF&E procurement related to hotel development and renovation projects. Carlson Hospitality has signed an agreement to license this product.
BirchStreet also announced the availability of its new suite of AP Processing modules and its Liquor Monitoring offering.
Expanding to New Markets in 2008
Not content to rest on the success it has garnered within the hospitality industry, BirchStreet Systems is looking to 2008 as the year of new and diverse expansion into new industries that can seamlessly integrate the company’s web-based software in a flexible, easy-to-use manner.
“We believe that the true value of our web-based e-procurement system has yet to be tapped,” Sanborn noted. “There are many other industry segments that, like the hospitality and food and beverage markets, require a wealth of back-office logistics. The beauty of our solution is the ease with which we can customize it to meet the needs of different locations, users, customers or industries while still capturing the benefits of a hosted solution.”
BirchStreet Systems plans to leverage its software technology solution into a host of other enterprises including hospitals, universities and other organizations that incorporate a number of different food and beverage vendors and suppliers.
“Wherever there are a myriad of suppliers providing a variety of different goods and services, our software provides a simple means to aggregate all necessary information from purchasing discounts to preferred brands into a centralized repository. This allows organizations to identify their collective buying power, improve operational execution and lower costs- effectively streamlining the entire back-office system,” Sanborn added.
About BirchStreet
BirchStreet delivers its solution over the Internet, using the “Software as a Service” (SaaS) model, which reduces the total cost of ownership compared with the traditional method of buying and maintaining enterprise software. BirchStreet delivers its on demand eProcurement and back office solutions to some of the world’s leading hospitality companies, -more- including Hilton Hotels Corporation, Marriott International, Hyatt Hotels, Interstate Hotels and Resorts and Carlson Hospitality. Multi-lingual and multi-currency capable, over 1,000 locations use BirchStreet’s full-featured, full-service procure-to-pay solutions in North America, Central America, Europe and Asia. BirchStreet’s solutions represent the “best of the web” capabilities to mid-tier and global hospitality and food service companies. BirchStreet allows customers to reduce the risk, complexity and cost associated with large-scale regional or worldwide procurement and back-office solutions, while empowering business users and delivering unprecedented ROI. The application suite includes e-procurement and RFQ; budget tracking and workflow; recipe management, liquor monitoring and menu engineering; inventory and receiving; AP automation; and FF&E/capital projects management. Headquartered in Newport Beach California, the company is managed by a team of enterprise software veterans. For more information, visit www.BirchStreetSystems.com.