GSA Selects IBM SmartCloud for Government
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has selected IBM cloud infrastructure, software and services to lead the agency's transformation to a faster, more efficient business model that provides cost savings for the government with next generation technology customer service capabilities. As part of a five-year $30 million contract, the GSA will deploy IBM SmartCloud for Government to create a new order management services system with advanced analytics in order to improve its supply chain and better predict customer needs.
The mission of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service is to help federal agencies save time and money by standing-up procurement solutions that effectively leverage the volume and scope of the federal government's purchase of commercial goods and services. GSA Global Supply (GGS) is a $1 billion business that provides packaged consumer goods, office supplies, hardware, and other products to U.S. government, military, and civilian customers around the world.
GGS is streamlining its business model to more effectively serve its customers, by reducing the footprint of its distribution centers and enabling vendors to directly fulfill customer orders. The new cloud-based OMS solution from IBM is at the heart of enabling this shift by acting as an electronic broker for the automation of their supply chain.
GGS will use cloud-based solutions from IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative, which features software and services that help organizations transform their business processes to more quickly respond to shifting customer demands in today's digitally transformed marketplace. This includes IBM Sterling Order Management and IBM Sterling B2B Integrator, enabling the GGS to have a single view of order management for demand, inventory and supply to provide more control across its entire global supply chain networks and fulfillment lifecycle. The GGS will also deploy WebSphere Commerce, which provides seamless, cross-channel shopping experience for customers.
IBM SmartCloud for Government is specifically designed to help government organizations respond to technology requirements more quickly. This FISMA-compliant cloud environment is part of IBM's established and dedicated Federal Data Centers (FDC). IBM FDCs provide secure and comprehensive certified multi-tenant cloud computing capabilities to federal government clients. These IBM FDCs allow data and services to reside in highly secure, scalable, and dynamic data centers that can be quickly accessed by government organizations at a fraction of the cost of traditional technology delivery methods.
"The GSA is showing tremendous leadership for other government agencies by moving their order management system to the cloud," said Anne Altman, General Manager, IBM US Federal. "IBM SmartCloud will enhance visibility into GSS channel operations and make sense of the big data within, but also optimize inventory and provide considerable process innovation; resulting in improved business processes to manage the agency's vast supply chain and logistics operations. This will reduce costs; creating more efficient outcomes for GSA customers, and ultimately translate into a benefit for the taxpayer."
The IBM OMS solution will also leverage IBM analytics software which helps to identify trends, online/offline order patterns, and supplier reports. These analytics are accessible in a variety of required formats to assist GSA leadership in analyzing data and making critical business decisions related to the optimization of the business.
