Unlocked Solutions For E-Procurement Savings With A Source-To-Pay Software
E-PROCUREMENT SAVINGS
E-procurement is the coordinated use of electronic information systems, the Internet and the associated digital solutions with the goal of improving procurement processes and reducing costs. In many organizations, e-procurement is critical to ensuring cost savings in the procurement process and is slowly becoming the bedrock of firms worldwide.
Utilizing source-to-pay software is one of the most effective solutions for unlocking significant e-procurement savings. This software is comprehensive suite of integrated applications that streamline and automate procurement processes, from sourcing to payments. It automates routine and time-consuming tasks and simplifies the overall process for procurement professionals.
Organizations that are looking to utilize source-to-pay software system must follow few fundamental steps in order to reap the greatest e-procurement savings.
Step 1: Identify and Classify Suppliers: The first step is to always identify and classify your suppliers. Supplier information should include contact information, services/products offered and any pertinent financial/banking details. This enables procurement teams to develop clear understanding of their suppliers and gain insight into thus evaluate existing and potential partners.
Step 2: Work with Suppliers to Build Contracts: During this stage, your procurement team should collaborate with suppliers to ensure contracts are established with the right terms and conditions arise, such as pricing, payment terms, and liabilities. This should also be done with frequent reviews and amendments to take into account any changes in the business environment.
Step 3: Establish Optimization Processes: Next, procurement teams must create standardization for successfully managing large volume of contracts, orders, invoices and associated payments. Companies should identify commodity optimization, negotiate supply base and cost savings strategies, and focus hard on supplier cost reduction to achieve greater efficiency.
Step 4: Enforce Compliance Guidelines: To ensure smooth and successful procurement process, proper enforcement of regulatory, contractual and ethical compliance guidelines is essential. Non-compliance with internal rules and industry standards can create significant legal and financial liabilities for the business. By having all related stakeholders in the procurement process follow the rules, organization can effectively manage supplier performance.
Step 5: Utilize Source-to-Pay Software: The last step is to utilize trusted source-to-pay software that provides end-to-end management of the procurement process. This solution should be comprehensive, offering integrated functions that can handle multi-tier sourcing, buyer proposal, as well as supplier and contract management. In addition, all data should be centralized and automated to give procurement teams full visibility and control into their activities and save organizations time and money.
By following these steps, C-level executives can position their organization to improve visibility, security, and compliance in the procurement process and to unlock e-procurement savings with source-to-pay software. With the right software in place, businesses can benefit from increased efficiency, competitive pricing, reduced costs, and improve their competitive positioning in the market. Executives with deep understanding of the capabilities of technology can unlock greater value, and ensure the goals of the organization are attained.
