Today, procurement has become an increasingly significant part of the business. Since the financial crash, companies have reduced expenses wherever they can, and better purchasing has been used to obtain that objective. As the world battles COVID-19, and more enterprises seek to cut down costs and expand the supply chains, the acquisition of e-Procurement software is becoming a major priority for several organizations.
When investing in the right eProcurement solution, you must watch out for the below points to support a more effective procurement process.
What do e-Procurement Platforms Do?
The principal objective of your new procurement tool is to make your life easier. The process includes several moving parts, such as PO, vendor information, actual purchases, and budget management. You must endeavor to handle as many steps as possible from a centralized place- your eProcurement platform. The more your organization depends on procurement, the more you are going to need help.
Tools Which Deal with Procurement as a Part of Other Business Operations
Many organizations do not require a procurement solution. Instead, they need something to help them handle a wide range of challenges, with purchasing and procurement is one such instance.
- Pure Procurement Platform
These solutions are used to manage procurement. It can be highly beneficial for the organization and with a dedicated purchasing department and complex methods, which are presently challenging to manage.
So, take the time to think about in which category your business falls. Are you running a large corporation, which requires buying much stock with a team that does nothing else? Or do you face complicated procurement challenges? If so, then you likely need an automated procurement solution to manage this.
Considerations to Make When Selecting an eProcurement Software
The Solution Should Automate Your Regular Tasks
Are you tired of setting reminders of when your contracts expire? Or, annoyed with the fact that you have got to run around gathering signatures of people who need to sign off renewing or new agreements?
An e-Procurement software solution should cut the administrative tedium related to the tasks identified above. If not so, then it is not worth your time.
Here are some tasks that an e-Procurement system must automate:
- We have automated invoice matching to PO.
- Approvals are sent to stakeholders when the PO needs to be invoiced, thus avoiding data entry.
- Workflows to ensure that POs are distributed to the associated parties while requisitions are raised.
Opt for a Cloud-based Procurement Solution
We all are in the age where digital transformation has primarily changed our relationship with technology. You will be at a more significant disadvantage if you are looking for a solution that cannot leverage the cloud. Here is the reason:
- Cloud-based technology allows you to work anytime, anywhere, using any smart device because it is accessible over the web in your favorite web browser.
- It is cheaper than on-premise solutions as cloud suppliers can buy hardware in a single location in bulk.
- It is well-maintained and upgraded centrally by the provider, thus saving you the hurdle of worrying installing updates all by yourself.
While engaging in conversations with the shortlist of e-Procurement suppliers, ask them simple questions.
- Is the software cloud-based? If so, then what platform it is hosted on?
- Can you get access to various devices?
- What sort of uptime does the solution hold?
- Accreditations your e-procurement system holds?
- The Solution Must be Easy to Use
We have already discussed the digital transformation, but the aspect that we did not cover is work from home, which is essential in this pandemic. An e-Procurement solution must be easy to access at home and should support workers to be as productive as they are in their workplace. It signifies that the answer should be cloud-based without any VPN trickery to access the solution remotely. Every functionality must be cloud-based. So, not only choose features like workflows and approvals, the entirety of the software must work anytime and anywhere.
- Provide a Complete View of the Key Metrics
Having granular insight into where the spend is going is as important as the routine work being automated. It will aid in visualizing, tracking, and identifying problematic areas of your spending. An e-Procurement tool must help you to monitor.
- How to spend on goods or services in real-time, so that you have got a snapshot of how the purchasing process is working now.
- Break spend down by department, so that you can check who’s spending and on what.
- Historical data to help you identify savings opportunities in the long run.
The most critical thing here is that you need a tool, which can bring all the data up quickly and easily, rather than spending ages compiling charts and formulas in solution packages.
How Well Are You Getting on with e-Procurement Research?
It is not easy to decide on what e-Procurement software to select while there are so many available in the market. Hence, it is crucial to perform all your research to ensure that you get the right solution for your business.
