Colgate-Palmolive
The number one seller of toothpaste, Colgate-Palmolive is a world leader in oral care products.
Colgate-Palmolive also makes personal care products and household cleaners.
Worldwide Spend Classification
The procurement team at Colgate-Palmolive built a business warehouse several years ago to capture its
spend data throughout the world. It had issues, however, with classifying the indirect spend and needed
a vendor to help categorize the data.
Colgate-Palmolive chose Ariba®—because of its proven data enrichment capabilities and global footprint—
to classify its worldwide spend. As a result, today the company has a good picture of what it spends
around the world by division, by sub, and by cost center and has been very impressed with the various
ways in which it can now slice and dice its data.
Global On-the-Ground Capabilities
One of the most important aspects of Colgate-Palmolive’s decision-making process in choosing a vendor
to assist with its spend classification was global presence. Not unlike Ariba, Colgate-Palmolive is everywhere—
in over 200 countries around the world—and to understand the company’s spend, the procurement team
needed people on the ground globally. Ariba was able to successfully accommodate Colgate-Palmolive’s
requests with local experts throughout the world.
“We use Ariba QuickSource™ and are very happy with its capabilities. We use Ariba Data Enrichment™ to take
our global business warehouse application and classify it so we know what we spend where, how much,
with whom, and why,” said Gary Abernathy, Director of Purchasing Strategy for Colgate-Palmolive.
Having recently completed the data enrichment project, the procurement team has several major projects
underway—one of which represents approximately $300 million in spend. Colgate-Palmolive’s work
with Ariba on the data enrichment project was for indirect spend and has given the company visibility
that they did not have before.
With approximately 350 people using Ariba QuickSource and another 300 people using the business
warehouse, Colgate-Palmolive is now able to push many parts of their spend through the system at
any given point in time. To date, Colgate-Palmolive has put ten percent of its global spend through
Ariba QuickSource and has achieved average savings of 10 to 12 percent.
“
We use Ariba QuickSource and are very
happy with its capabilities. We use Ariba Data
Enrichment to take our global business
warehouse application and classify it so
we know what we spend where, how
much, with whom, and why.
”
Gary Abernathy,
Director of Purchasing Strategy
Ariba Spotlight
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Engaging Global Stakeholders
Every division and function within Colgate-Palmolive was surprised to understand
what its spend was comprised of for the very first time. The employees found it very
eye-opening to understand where their money was going and what they were buying worldwide.
Today, others in various departments are coming to them to use the tool as not only a sourcing tool but also
as a business tool.
Abernathy stresses the importance of ensuring that people are engaged throughout the world as one of the
most critical aspects to spend management. “Helping stakeholders understand what the benefits are so that
you get a speedy, well-defined application when you are done is key,” said Abernathy.
About Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive is a leading global consumer products company, tightly focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition.
Colgate sells its products in over 200 countries and territories around the world under such internationally recognized brand names as Colgate,
Palmolive, Mennen, Softsoap, Irish Spring, Protex, Sorriso, Kolynos, Elmex, Ajax, Axion, Soupline, Suavitel and Fab, as well as Hill’s Science
Diet and Hill’s Prescription Diet pet foods. For more information about Colgate’s global business, visit the Company’s web site at www.colgate.com.
About Ariba
Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of spend management solutions to help companies realize rapid and sustainable bottom line results.
Successful companies around the world in every industry use Ariba Spend Management software and services. Ariba can be contacted
in the U.S. at 1.650.390.1000 or at www.ariba.com.
Copyright © 2005 Ariba, Inc. All rights reserved.
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TEL: +1.650.390.1000
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www.ariba.com
“
Helping stakeholders understand what the benefits
are so that you get a speedy, well-defined application
when you are done is key.
”
Gary Abernathy,
Director of Purchasing Strategy