How to enhance your e-procurement process

While e-procurement is not a completely new concept, the sudden onset of COVID-19 across the world has forced businesses to re-evaluate and, in many cases, change the way their procurement process functions. For many, this has meant moving it online, and so it’s worth knowing how you can get the best out of online procurement, and here are a few ways to do it. 

Use electronic catalogues to improve vendor selection and research 

This is important for several reasons. Firstly, selecting a supplier or vendor is quite a complex process and involves the use of various methods. However, e-procurement can make this easier, for example with the use of electronic catalogs which can help you to research, select, and communicate with suppliers more efficiently, quickly, and easily. As a result, electronic catalogs or e-cataloguing can help you to master your vendor selection and research. 

This also has the potential to lead to stronger supplier-management deals as the selection and research process is more effective. It’s important that this relationship is maintained so that it can grow and develop. It also means that a proactive quality management system is enabled and that sub-tier contracts are passed to auxiliary vendors. 

Implement advanced metrics and automation 

Current e-procurement solutions are able to implement machine learning and mathematical modeling to leverage advanced forms of analytics. The best strategy, however, is to have a more adaptable approach and deal with situations and events as soon as they arise. 

This will ensure you are ready for the first step in the implementation process: to be certain that the vendors your business works with are embracing Industry 4.0 and are using their own forms of real-time data. Following this, it is important to unite the resulting streams of data and leverage an analytics platform capable of identifying mission-critical trends in supply. 

This data will then inform you of what is happening and when it is happening. Predictive modeling of this type can also help strategise the events and come up with more successful solutions to any challenges.  

Terminate contracts at the end of a supplier relationship

In addition to any long-term relationships with suppliers, there will likely also be short-term ones as well. However, no matter whether they are long or short, it is important to close contracts as soon as the job in hand has been completed. This may involve exit interviews, greenlight inspections, and counting inventory and supplies. The adoption of digital tools and an e-procurement process framework can help with his as the strategy should have a set of rules that deals with the close-out procedure, as well as provide valuable insights for your business. 

By ensuring that your e-procurement strategy is set up effectively - and your team to manage it is well prepared, your business will be able to continue functioning smoothly, which is the tell-tale sale that your e-procurement process is as enhanced as possible.