Over the years, procurement has evolved from just being the “buying” department to an internal consultant team. The “policy” or “procedure” watchers of the past now have a proactive role, helping colleagues and decision-makers buy what they need for their jobs while managing risk.
The Procurement team has to negotiate deals and find the best providers to deliver significant value to the organization. They facilitate appropriate products and services for their business units and maintain the established internal requirements.
Today’s Procurement teams are leaving the reactive mode behind and proposing ideas to improve internal operations. A proactive consulting role has replaced the traditional approach of “sit and wait” for a cut-cost plan. This role promotes changes to increase efficiency in the process, helping the organization prepare for an uncertain economy. Some of these initiatives are:
Increase cost savings: Avoid unnecessary costs by digitizing invoices and minimizing traditionally paper-based exchanges.
Improve supplier relationship: Promoting on-board campaigns with suppliers makes it easier to connect, and improving this relationship by (both) following a common goal.
Simplify approvals: Remove excessive or unnecessary approval requirements and steps that add no value to the process. Small but frequent bottlenecks add waste to the entire process life cycle.
Include technology: The right technology allows the procurement process to be more engaged and empowers organizations with key analytics. Daily transactions can be used as source data to make strategic decisions – months or years in advance.
Procurement has the privilege and responsibility of having an overview of the entire organization. They are the only ones who can see how all departments are doing and how they are spending their budget. The challenge is to comply with the business requirements and identify scenarios where the organization can increase efficiency and cost savings.
In our mission to become your financial process advisor, we focus our efforts on selecting the best options in the market. For procurement teams, we have chosen the Coupa Spend Management Suite as the best tool to help them achieve their goals. This solution will help them reach higher operating profits, as the overall procurement costs will be significantly lower over time.
