Optimising eProcurement and Data Analytics

While some businesses still rely on the old reliable telephone to contact suppliers and place orders, more and more organisations are coming around to the benefits of eprocurement and data analytics.

eProcurement seeks to bring the purchasing department, the financing and accounting departments, the approver, the end user, and the supplier together and make the entire business of purchasing goods and/or services for your business far more streamlined and simpler for all parties involved.

How does it work?

Most eprocurement platforms work in a very similar fashion to B2C shopping platforms. There is some form of portal or catalogue where you can view all the products available to your business/department. You browse the items, add what your need to your basket, and then complete the purchase.

However, good eprocurement platforms go much deeper than this, and optimisation is where the major differences come in. For example, eProcurement platforms come with the ability to remove time-costly steps to the procurement process with features such as being able to pre-approve orders. Normally, another department would have to approve purchases to make sure buyers aren’t ordering too much stock, or items which aren’t appropriate for the business.

With eprocurement orders up to a certain size can be pre-approved and only items available to a certain department can be made available to it.

eProcurement Optimisation

Pre-approval is just one of the ways in which eprocurement is inherently optimised when compared to old manual processes. However, there are ways you can optimise eprocurement even further.

Market research will help your teams understand fulfilment times, supplier performance, identify potential bottlenecks, and more. With the data processing power available through eprocurement this kind of market research is easier to perform than ever before and can be used to build a comprehensive picture of each supplier and identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Does your procurement team have plans in place for making sure inventory is accurately monitored and the flow of new supplies is able to continue unabated? Does it have contingencies to deal with missing orders, or damaged or counterfeit goods?

eProcurement tools can be deployed to plan for every stage of the purchasing journey, including what to do when things don’t go entirely as they are intended. Inventory management, order fulfilment, and pass-through orders should all have proper processes in place. Just because eprocurement and data processing tools make this part of the business simpler and more streamlined, doesn’t mean they are automatic, and your people can take their eyes off the prize.

A final word on data

Data processing is at the core of optimisation and eprocurement tools give you access to unprecedented levels. With built in analytics, your organisation can gather and action data on every facet of its procurement operation. While your business instinct may inform a lot of your decisions – and those certainly should not be disregarded – to be able to back them up with hard demonstrable facts can never be a bad thing.

Combining data processing with eprocurement can turn your organisation into a purchasing powerhouse and make sure goods flowing to, from, and through your business do so in the most efficient and optimised manner possible.