Ketera Plan Pushes Spend Analysis

oftware-as-service vendor Ketera Technologies, which competes against Ariba in the spend management arena, has launched a reseller program to help it reach down into the small-business space.

The company—which hosts spend analysis, e-procurement, content management and contract management modules—counts United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Jacobs Engineering Group among its enterprise customers.

“We started with customers with $1 billion to $10 billion in revenue, but we think the real value proposition occurs with a continuous move down to smaller companies,” said Steve Savignano, CEO of the Santa Clara, Calif., company. “For us to get to the lower end of the market, we will be very dependent on VARs and channel partners.”

Ketera is looking for two kinds of partners. One type comprises accountants and auditors who want to add spend management to their service offerings. The other type is business service organizations that, for example, find potential product discounts that they source to their customers.

Source One Management Services, Willow Grove, Pa., is in the latter category. The company became a Ketera partner late last year.

“With Ketera, we can offer a kind of two-tiered model,” said Steven Belli, Source One’s CEO. “We use the tools on behalf of our clients, plus some of our clients buy the tools to use in their own business. Having these tools at an affordable price really opens up what we can offer.”

Ketera’s spend analysis module cleanses data from different sources to find opportunities for reduced spending. With its e-procurement service, Ketera will create an online catalog that displays only those products that each client has approved for purchase, at the approved pricing. And Ketera’s contract management software measures supplier performance and contract compliance for both goods and services.