Survey: 5 reasons to start using e-procurement

e-procurement
December 13th, 2018
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According to our latest study on the digitalisation of company purchases, 25% of companies have switched to using e-procurement solutions. Wax Digital recently conducted a survey of 200 purchasing professionals in order to understand how these solutions can benefit their business. Here are the top five.

1. Eliminating time-consuming and difficult processes

For example, supplier invoicing is often considered to be a burden on financial departments. Over two thirds of these invoices are delivered via "manual" methods for example by hand, fax or post. Furthermore, the teams involved spend approximately a third of their working hours processing invoices—not including the time required to correct potential errors, which can draw out the invoicing process even further.

As a result, 44% of respondents use e-procurement to automate these tasks and eliminate the need for manual data input.

2. Selecting new suppliers

Whether through online tenders or bidding systems, e-sourcing offers many advantages in terms of supplier negotiations, such as reducing paper consumption, processing times and supplier risk, as well as creating more added value.

43% of respondents believe that e-sourcing solutions save time and reduce risks when selecting new suppliers.

3. Identifying areas of improvement

E-procurement provides a clear overview of company expenditure, including details about who is placing orders, as well as the buying process. Procurement departments benefit from an increased awareness of their company's current and upcoming purchasing needs, and can therefore identify future opportunities or potential savings. For example, it is often when carrying out this type of analysis that procurement departments become aware of just how many unscheduled or ad hoc purchases are made within their company.

40% of respondents rely on e-procurement to benefit from greater visibility over corporate spending and to improve their strategies.

4. Reducing order and delivery times

Both users and their superiors have direct access to the e-procurement solution to place and approve orders. They have no downtime or paper documents to manage and file away.

40% of respondents use e-procurement to speed up the ordering and delivery processes, thanks in particular to the automation of validation requests.

5. Benefitting from greater visibility over spending

This advantage echoes that of the third benefit: e-procurement offers improved visibility and a certain amount of control over the company's spending, in real time.

Thanks to e-procurement, 40% of respondents have more control over expenditure across the company and can therefore manage their budget and cash flow in a more precise manner.

Finally, e-procurement centralises and automates interactions between the various stakeholders involved in the buying process (the company, internal clients, suppliers etc.) while making these processes as quick and efficient as possible. Procurement departments have a clear vision of the benefits offered by this solution. Some are focused on costs (cost control and optimisation) while others concentrate more on the processes (selecting suppliers, invoicing etc.). What would motivate you to start using e-procurement?