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Technology Stocks : Internet Capital Group Inc. (ICGE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bob zagorin who wrote (3985)	9/20/2005 10:08:15 AM
From: bob zagorin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4187

Rent-A-Center Partners With ICG Commerce on Comprehensive Procurement Business Process Outsourcing Initiative Nation's Largest Rent-to-Own Operator Looks to Procurement Outsourcing as Key Vehicle for Combating Rising Operating Costs and Achieving Performance Improvement Goals 9/20/2005 8:01:17 AM PHILADELPHIA, Sept 20, 2005 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- ICG Commerce, a leading procurement services provider, today announced a multi-year engagement to provide procurement business process outsourcing services (BPO) to Rent-A-Center Inc. (RCII), the nation's largest rent-to-own operator. ICG Commerce will provide Rent-A-Center with a complete suite of procurement services that will enable the company to reduce costs, improve processes and maintain consistent and efficient operational practices. Rent-A- Center will leverage ICG Commerce's comprehensive procurement infrastructure including category experts and process specialists, a best practice-driven Buying Center, and flexible tools and technology to manage a broad spectrum of processes including strategic sourcing, savings implementation, transaction processing, and ongoing category management across a wide array of indirect goods and services. "After considerable research into different operational areas, procurement outsourcing has been identified as a key vehicle for enabling the company to obtain sustainable cost reductions and process improvements," stated Robert Davis, chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance at Rent-A- Center. "The ICG Commerce team emerged as a natural partner for Rent-A-Center in this initiative due to their understanding of the procurement function, as well as their demonstrated success with other companies." Aberdeen Group's July 2005 "Procurement Outsourcing Handbook" reveals that leading companies are incorporating outsourcing as a method to augment and accelerate their procurement transformation, not in lieu of creating a world- class capability. Tim Minahan, vice president at Aberdeen and author of the report, states, "Firms are outsourcing (procurement) to leverage economies of scale and improve execution and control of underperforming or non-core tasks and poorly managed spend categories, while focusing internal resources on high-value activities such as the strategic sourcing of direct materials." The primary benefit of BPO in most other functional areas such as customer service, human resources and finance & accounting is cost savings through labor reductions, which has traditionally been accomplished through offshoring. The procurement outsourcing value proposition, however, is much more impactful and rooted in acquiring better capabilities to materially and continuously lower the costs of goods and services purchased externally to run the business. These costs can represent up to 80 percent of a company's revenue and thus just a five to 10 percent cost reduction can have a material earnings impact. Leading companies like Rent-A-Center view procurement outsourcing as a vehicle to quickly achieve and sustain these savings across a much broader scope of expenditures. ICG Commerce will work closely with representatives in the finance, procurement, store operations, IT, and service center areas. The engagement will initially focus on strategic sourcing and supplier enablement activities, along with the implementation of a transaction platform to drive savings. ICG Commerce's Philadelphia-based Buying Center will be leveraged for miscellaneous purchasing and spot buys beginning in the second phase of the implementation. Ongoing management of specific buying categories will be initiated then for continuous improvement on the savings opportunities identified over the life of the partnership. "Rent-A-Center's commitment to procurement outsourcing at a very senior level is a testament to the growing recognition of this functional area's ability to impact the bottom line," said Edward H. West, chairman and CEO of ICG Commerce. "ICG Commerce is honored to collaborate alongside industry leaders such as Rent-A-Center." About Rent-A-Center Rent-A-Center Inc. (RCII), headquartered in Plano, Texas, currently operates more than 2,800 company-owned stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The stores generally offer high quality, durable goods such as home electronics, appliances, computers, furniture and accessories to consumers under flexible rental purchase agreements that generally allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed upon rental period. The Company also owns ColorTyme, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary and national franchisor of 291 rent-to-own stores. For more information about Rent-A-Center, visit rentacenter.com . About ICG Commerce, Inc. ICG Commerce ( icgcommerce.com ) is a leading Procurement Services Provider exclusively focused on helping companies buy more effectively and efficiently in order to reduce costs significantly and continuously. The company offers an unmatched combination of process and category expertise, market insights and benchmarks and a world-class operational Buying Center to deliver Sourcing and Procurement Outsourcing Services. ICG Commerce Inc., a privately held company founded in 1992, is a member of Internet Capital Group's (ICGE) network of partner companies and has been honored as a Forbes Best of the Web: B2B, UPSIDE Magazine Hot 100 and iSource 100 company as well as had its executives recognized among the iSource "Pros to Know".