Thursday, 21 May 2015

E-Sourcing the Golden Key for Organisational Collaboration

The organisational purchasing is the responsibility of procurement team with the business reliant on them to source the right goods and services at the best price. But different departments within an organisation will often have very specific and specialist requirements and there are significant merits in empowering selected personnel to source exactly what they need.

Many forward thinking procurement teams are taking a more collaborative approach to procurement in their organisations and empowering other parts of the business to purchase their own goods and services via the use of e-sourcing software. It enables end-users to source their own suppliers within the bounds of necessary procurement and compliance rules. The procurement team no longer has to control the supplier selection and approvals process as supplier selection rules are already programmed into the e-sourcing solution. It enables buyers to quickly and easily go to market for competitive pricing from a number of suppliers via e-tendering. For example, an engineer will know the most appropriate tool for a specific job and which tool offers the best quality and is fit for purpose. E-sourcing can facilitate this choice and create “buyers” outside of the procurement function. E-sourcing enables allows the buyers to make their choices within the system safe in the knowledge that these are transparent and in accordance with the organisation’s purchasing guidelines.For some organisations, sourcing is a global affair and e-sourcing can help different territories collaborate on spend. With multilingual and multi-currency functionality, it enables procurement teams to better manage group spend across multiple projects and categories, consolidating multiple territories with a single view of all activity and allows stakeholders to remain involved throughout the process. 

E-sourcing software can be used as an effective supplier communication tool, whether it be direct to one supplier or as a broadcast communication to multiple suppliers within your supply base. It also helps centralize information and ensure auditability of the sourcing process communication is vital to effective express your requirements and allow the supplier to respond creating as much interaction between procurement professionals and their potential suppliers as possible. E-sourcing enables collaborative supplier choice and selection as it is intuitive and easy-to-use and imposes compliance. Ultimately it empowers other departments to take care of their own purchasing needs, freeing up procurement personnel to spend more time at a strategic level, tackling the total value chain for the business and nurturing important supplier relationships.

E-sourcing platforms provide tangible benefits to both sides of the relationship. Submitting responses to tenders can be a labour intensive process and ultimately a barrier for some organisations. When communicating with a number of suppliers, it is important information is delivered in a structured way. Using e-sourcing to automate the tender process means all suppliers receive information at the same time, in the same format and in compliance with highly regulated procurement processes.