
	E-Procurement is the method of purchasing goods and services electronically

E-Procurement or E-Purchasing

E-Procurement is at the very heart of efficient supply chain management. Managing your Just-In-Time scheduling can be a challenging task but procuring the goods to match that schedule can be a nightmare. Its a fact that in manufacturing environments, on average more than half the purchase orders generated are for repeat items that are low or have run out. Managing this can be time consuming and problematic. More advanced manufacturing systems (like Envision from Quantum) provide auto-reordering of stock based on set thresholds, and can provide reports of such and even generate purchase orders, but someone still has to print them out, address them, post them and pay for them.

E-Procurement takes all that away from buyers and provides a fast and efficient interface to produce purchase orders and manage payments. E-Procurement goes further than just ordering the goods and when required paying for them, it encompasses advanced order tracking facilities to ensure that your ordered goods arrive on time and correct.

Like all GENActive systems, e-procurement can work seamlessly with e-procurement suppliers and with legacy suppliers (those that have no system to interface with) by automatically changing its output to suit the circumstances. For one CWO supplier it may issue a paper purchase order attached to a cheque, for another it may issue an electronic procurement message with a request for detailed tracking information, its all automatic.

GENActive works like having your own out-sourced purchasing department working for you, yet at a fraction of the cost. E-Procurement feeds data into e-payments for payment of bills, e-automation for complex tasks such as interfacing with production systems, and e-banking to provide statements and financial data.

What is Supply Chain Management?

In today’s economy, customers are trying to take cost out of their business. “Supply chain management”, “strategic sourcing” and “spend management” are all “buzz” words that companies are using to describe how they want to handle the procurement of materials; transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products; and the distribution of these finished products to customers. Supply chains exist in both service and manufacturing organizations, although the complexity of the chain may vary greatly from firm to firm. The Internet provides a great opportunity to automate the supply chain and provide organisations with real-time information across various points in their value chain. The promise of “supply chain management” is a reduction in costs and an improvement in productivity gained by identifying process enhancement opportunities. While the statistics vary, supply chain management has delivered significant ROI and executives from a variety of different market segments have identified immediate savings ranging from 8.5 to 24.5 percent on recurring annual purchases.

The initial focus of “supply chain management” was for the direct materials used in the production of final product, such as raw materials, chemicals and manufacturing sub-components. The next major opportunity was for indirect materials like office supplies and computer equipment. Because Internet commerce has proven to be a cost-effective and powerful way to do business, the focus is expanding to services ranging from travel to telecommunications. Document management and printed materials, based on corporate spending levels, have also become a major target.

What are the Benefits to Your Business?

While cost savings are significant for the end customer, the supplier also gains benefits. Here are just a few:

Increased Customer Reach and Retention. An online e-procurement system means that the supplier is providing 24/7 access to a wide variety of important information, including product & services listings, product catalogues, order entry and more. The customer can view data base information, place orders and interface in other ways with the supplier conveniently. The geographic boundaries, once limiting the reach of suppliers cease to exist.
Large corporations look to a single provider for critical items and ask them to handle the supply, fulfilment and distribution via requests from the Internet. Once suppliers have integrated their systems into the customer’s supply chain, the relationship value is improved. The perception of the supplier is transformed from a commodity provider to a supplier that delivers value added information.
Reduced Customer Service Costs and Order Quality. With an e-procurement solution, suppliers can leverage the Internet to increase their level of service to customers, while automating supply operations. Suppliers are empowering their customers to deliver their own data via a web interface. This customer self-service model links directly to a reduction in customer service and support costs. It simplifies WIP and stock queries over the Web. It automates estimating and quoting while maximizing job turnaround. And it places more responsibility on the customer for order accuracy. In a recent CAP Ventures report, estimates were that e-procurement systems could reduce customer services costs by as much as 20 percent.
Optimal Profitability. The automation and integration capability of e-procurement eliminates redundant data entry during the order process. Systems can be set up so that quotes, schedules, works orders and invoices are all generated automatically, without employee interaction. Job and customer information are integrated from the web site to the works order, delivery and billing systems. The bottom line is that the supplier can become more profitable through successful implementation of e-procurement.

Financial Incentives

There are often many incentives to adopting e-procurement, mainly from corporate customers who are eager to reap the cost benefits of an automated supply chain. GENActive is experienced in the negotiation of financial incentives from corporate customers to better enable smaller suppliers to join the e-procurement system.

A Complete e-Procurement Solution

Whether your a customer or a supplier, we can design and implement a e-procurement solution for two companies to inter-trade, or for your entire supply chain to integrate with your systems.

Use the CALL ME! button at the top right of the screen to arrange for one of our sales consultants to call you back at your convenience to discuss your requirements.