Why are we now talking about digitalising the purchasing process?

In recent years, the use of IT tools and digital solutions has become increasingly standardised. All professional fields and all business sectors are concerned. This digital revolution offers a wide range of benefits, including process automation, predictive analysis, operational time savings and improved information quality.

More recently, this growing digital transformation has extended to the purchasing process. Some companies think that this is not necessarily useful and that they can do without it. But thinking in this way is the best way to miss out on opportunities. Large companies have understood this and are already applying it within their purchasing departments, but not only. The digitalisation of purchasing enables all of a company’s stakeholders to be covered and, if properly deployed, represents a performance lever.

Making life easier for procurement staff

The reasons forusing innovative tools in the business world are essentially based on practicality. With software, many tasks are automated or carried out more simply and more quickly. Human error is also reduced, which helps to control operational risks, with direct financial consequences. The purchasing process is one of the areas where digital transformation represents a definite source of opportunity.

A large number of professionals and companies are simplifying and digitising the most time-consuming and administrative tasks through the use of appropriate digital tools. The main aim is toincrease productivity by automating low value-added tasks and concentrating on those that are most beneficial to the business.

As a result, certain tasks, such as collecting and reprocessing data, take much less time. This means that a little more time can be spent on other equally essential tasks, such as strategic purchasing. As a result, the number of companies that have embarked on the digital transformation of their purchasing continues to grow, and this transition will soon be the norm.

Optimising returns

When the people responsible for optimising the purchasing process have better working conditions, they are naturally more efficient. The benefits of technological advances in this area are more numerous than you might think. The main emerging technologies include the following benefits:

• Better visualisation of company data,
• Control over thesupplier portfolio, with information updated in real time,
• Process automation for operational efficiency.

The actions carried out by staff involved in the purchasing process are also more efficient. Prescribing is made easier, the validation circuit is instantaneous and reconciliation is automated. They are now freed from their most time-consuming tasks and gain added value in their missions. This facilitates expense control and visibility of the categories of expenditure incurred. This optimisation contributes directly to the company’s profitability. In fact, the digitalisation of purchasing processes has a positive impact on the purchasing chain as a whole.

Aligning with the competition

The best French companies have understood thebenefits of good purchasing management. Initially adopted by industrial companies, it is now SMEs and SMIs in all business sectors that are turning to the digital transformation of their purchasing. As a result, they are committing significant resources and using everything they can find on the market to help themoptimise their results. This includes various digital or technological tools relating to the purchasing process.

Slowing down the dematerialisation of strategic business processes represents a risk for the coming years. And the purchasing function is not exempt from this trend.

It is possible to calculate a return on investment (ROI) on the expenditure involved in transforming purchasing and the return generated by this operation. The results show that this action is not only beneficial for the company, but also pays for itself very quickly. In fact, controlling expenditure for validation purposes can make the investment profitable thanks to pervasive risk management.

A decision-making aid

The actions required to improve a company’s purchasing management are very varied. To achieve this, there are several Procure To Pay tools (the process of digitising purchasing) that you can use. For simple needs such as managing figures and quick administration, even Microsoft’s Excel software can do the trick. To go further, you can turn to collaborative decision-making tools such as Weproc, which make it much easier toorganise a company’spurchasing. Internal customers can communicate their needs more easily. General management’s decision-making process is made easier thanks to summarised data management. Finally, purchasing performance is enhanced because the entire system naturally converges towards the same objective.

Finally, user adoption must be anticipated and carefully thought through before any investment is made in purchasing software. Don’t digitise at the drop of a hat, at the risk of seeing a whole category of expenditure go to waste.

Depending on the digital tools you choose, getting to grips with them can be more or less intuitive. Although many people use Excel on a day-to-day basis, the majority of aspects of this programme are not obvious to many. When the people who use this software don ‘t have a command of the necessary tools, this leads to costs such as user training and slowdowns in the purchasing or production chain. So you need to make sure that the management tool you select is the one best suited to the tasks you need to manage.

A company’s purchasing process can run much more smoothly and efficiently if it uses the right IT tools. That’s why Weproc has guided its development with the ergonomics of its solution as its primary objective. As a result, the user adoption rate is maximum and almost instantaneous, to meet the challenges of SMEs that want to install effective solutions in the best possible conditions.

Want to learn more about our procurement management software Weproc? Contact us or request your free 15-minutes demo below!

Team Weproc

Weproc is a SaaS software specialized in digitizing the procurement process of companies. From purchase requests to supplier invoicing, through the validation process, Weproc is designed to simplify the purchase management of SMEs and mid-sized companies by centralizing all purchase-related activities.