Within purchasing departments, and particularly in indirect procurement, the trend is towards the digitisation of transactions. This emerges from the Manutan Group's survey of its 545 French key account customers over the past year. Web solutions, e-procurement, Punch-Out… learn more about this revealing overview.
Digital vs. traditional transactions
Digital transactions, which include web and e-procurement solutions, are slowly but surely gaining ground against traditional transactions (telephone, fax, etc.).
Orders placed via e-procurement have increased by 3 points over the last year, and those placed via an e-commerce site are up 1 point.
In 2018, traditional orders still accounted for 51% of total orders, but there is every likelihood that in 2019 the ratio will be reversed and digital orders will be in the majority!
Focus on e-procurement solutions
As you can see, transactions carried out via e-procurement solutions are on the increase. And yet, it appears that only 25% of the organisations surveyed are equipped with this type of solution. This means there is still plenty of room for improvement within large companies.
To date, Punch-Out seems to be the preferred solution. This type of electronic catalogue is particularly relevant when it comes to indirect purchases, characterised by a broad range of low-frequency items. Punch-Out solutions offer many benefits in terms of user experience: information updated in real time (stock status, delivery times, etc.), low maintenance costs, efficient search engine, and the ability to keep purchases under control.
Digital: a performance lever for quality
The switch to digital transactions reduces low value-added tasks, shortens lead times, and provides tighter control over spending… but above all, it improves the customer satusfaction rate!
By limiting manual operations, the risk of error is greatly reduced, as is clear from the figures in the survey:
- Companies with a low digitisation rate (below 20%) record an average customer satisfaction rate of 84%;
- Companies with a high digitisation rate (above 80%) record an average customer satisfaction rate of 93%.
Some figures to bear in mind
Because digitisation is above all synonymous with savings, it is important to remember this fact: the higher the digitisation rate of orders, the lower the indirect costs!
The average cost of a transaction can be divided by up to 5: from €96 for a non-digital transaction (looking up the product in a catalogue, placing an order by telephone, etc.) to €19 for a fully digitised transaction (from product search to invoicing).
So, what are you waiting for to digitise your transactions?
