Is your ERP the right solution for your Procurement team?

By Chris Vaughan, US Head of Marketing at Proactis

Your ERP solution might appear to be a desirable option for your Procurement team with its ‘all-in-one’ features and functionality. But this may not be the case. Even though you’ve used it for a long-time, it may not contain the depth of a best-of-class procurement solution. From implementation costs to your ERP’s limitations, you could be holding your organization back from increasing compliance, control, and potential savings.

Here are just two reasons why your ERP solution might not be up-to-par for your Procurement process:   

• Not agile enough. The Procurement function was most likely the forgotten soldier when choosing your ERP, therefore limiting the way you manage spend because of basic and assumed functionality. Businesses require agility: the ability to change when business priorities shift or when hit with a pandemic. With an all-in-one approach, the agility is lost in translation from pre-built, after-thought functionality. 
• Access for all. Think of the vast number of people in your organization buying goods and services. Do they all have access to the ERP system? Probably not. Buyers of the organization should have access to a platform to easily buy from negotiated contracts, internal or punchout catalogs, or create RFPs. If they don’t have access, they’ll find a workaround resulting in zero visibility of what’s being spent.

And because ERPs are rigid, and have often been pieced together throughout the years, the user experience might be poor, leaving your Procurement team frustrated. Frustration leads to low or no usage of a solution that costs your organization millions of dollars to implement and configure. How do you manage the process if you can’t see who’s buying what, and from who? Or even worse when no one is using the tool?

The next time you log into your ERP solution, consider how your process could be better. If you’re frustrated with how things are, know that there are options. Our cloud-based procurement solution is a platform that can seamlessly integrate with your ERP and offer you the depth of functionality your organization needs to remain agile and competitive in today’s market - while also retaining the benefits of your ERP solution.

Download our guide to discover the critical considerations for using a best-of-class procurement solution and how it’s a necessity to connect with your ERP to drive more value.