How E-Sourcing Software Helps Streamline Your Procurement Process
E-sourcing software is becoming an increasingly important part of the operations of many businesses. It centralises key information and ensures consistency across products and services delivered. Software like this also provides instant feedback, which significantly reduces operating costs.
The e-sourcing software industry is projected to be worth about $9.7 billion by 2026, making it noteworthy. If you have a cloud-based procurement platform, here are just some of the ways you can get the most out of it.
Have a big-picture view of your data
Analyse your current software’s data output and evaluate the quality and types of data streams it contains. Use this information to predict trends in your procurement system and take appropriate steps.
Understanding chokepoints in your business also helps. For instance, if staff spend an inordinate amount of time on small purchasing decisions, you can create a process that streamlines your purchases, which dramatically cuts down on the need for supplier interactions.
Cloud-based systems allow you to analyse suppliers based on their line item responses to your instrument. No need for manual data entry; you have a dashboard that lets you compare suppliers against your scoring criteria, all in one place.
Improve on communication using the software
Your software is designed to assist contract and supplier management and facilitate better collaborations between external associates like stakeholders and suppliers. In order to make the most of your time, you must adhere to a strict purchasing policy, which means less time enforcing compliance and negotiating terms.
Usually, this will not be possible, but with e-sourcing software, you can create standard templates and collaborate through a central system that your purchasing officers and suppliers can both access.
Ideally, you should be able to customise your software to ensure that your suppliers are able to deliver best value to you based on your company’s own values. Whether you are after sustainability, payment terms, price, diversity or other factors, you can create records that help you score suppliers and rate them accordingly.
Keep your processes transparent
E-sourcing software provides real-time feedback through analytics. It means you can easily see the products and services customers always purchase, which ones they view the most, and how many times this happens. This gives you a basis for predictions regarding future demand.
Meet deadlines and deliver on expectations
Cloud-based sourcing lets you stay on track. The majority of procurement teams are under constant pressure to follow compliance rules, reduce expenses, and reach production milestones. E-sourcing allows them to build consistent processes which significantly improves efficiency.
Furthermore, provide employees with ongoing training and education in its use. Even people who are already proficient in using it will appreciate lessons intended for intermediate or advanced users. With this, you can empower them to create workflows that work best for them and the company’s bottom line.
Conclusion
E-sourcing software eliminates the need for paper-based processing, which reduces your overheads and keeps expenses to a minimum. These tools allow you to spend more time generating sales as a team, building profitable processes, and devising ways to improve your company.
Instead of having to spend hours entering data into your system manually, using cloud-based software frees you and your employees to do work that directly contributes to business growth.
Speed up your sourcing activities with Oboloo. Our online procurement management system lets you create sourcing activities based values customised to your company, and view the results on an intuitive platform. Get in touch with us today for details.