Enable quick, controlled purchasing
Your employees should be able to find and buy the goods and services they need to do their jobs. Agile spend management systems give employees easy access to content in various forms (catalogues, contracts and/or supplier websites) to purchase specific goods and services that are available from
authorised suppliers.
This capability is essential to achieving a high percentage of spend under management and prevent purchases from unapproved suppliers. Employees are far more likely to buy the right item from the right supplier when it’s easier to do so than it is to buy from another source. Providing employees with the ability to search for and select the item or service that best fits their needs streamlines the purchase process for the employee and dramatically
drives higher on-contract spend.
Manage your supplier base
Building a strong supplier base may not be the main priority at the moment, but maintaining your base should be as well as being able to expand this if needed. This can be achieved by structuring and streamlining the entire supplier lifecycle – from initial identification to adoption, approval, transaction and analysis.
Effectively defining a buying need and selecting the right supplier is critical for any organisation that wants to minimise risk and ensure a smooth continuation of supply. And it’s more important than ever to proactively monitor which suppliers are a risk. There are
tools available to provide early warning of suppliers who might be in trouble.
Streamline PO and Invoice processing
To keep your purchasing agile, you need a system that won’t get bogged down while processing invoices. In a manual system, a purchase order could get lost, misfiled, or delayed going from one person to another for approval before even arriving at the supplier. An automated system takes care of these problems.
Suppliers, who may find themselves under severe stress, need a payment process that is quick, easy and uninterrupted to provide ongoing services. Forward-thinking organisations know this.
Anyone relying on paper-based, manual Accounts Payable processes are now challenged - how they are able to receive invoices, how they will get orders validated, how they will receive the necessary approvals, and how they will pay suppliers, are just a few of the key considerations. At best, this is cumbersome, at worst it will result in suppliers not being paid, and the whole supply chain being disrupted.
Companies such as Proactis can provide the software and expertise to
implement, continue, and adapt invoice automation.