Optimizing the corporate purchasing process

An efficient organization is made up of a well-constructed purchasing process. An optimized purchasing strategy has a positive effect on the entire purchasing department within an organization. The purchasing process directly and indirectly affects all the departments necessary for the smooth running of an organization, with an impact on management balance indicators. Optimizing the purchasing process leads to better purchasing management, with positive externalities as a result. How can you effectively optimize your purchasing process? Discover 4 tips for perfecting your purchasing practices.

Training and development

Hiring the best talent is a good start, but it’s not enough. Training your staff is a strategic area to focus on to ensure the continuity of a company’s activities. It influences productivity and generates new opportunities: initiative, customer satisfaction, sustainable competitive advantage. Training your purchasing department or team enables them to familiarize themselves with the latest tools and technologies. Members become more efficient, fulfilled and motivated.

Ideally, make training and development an ongoing process to better anticipate market changes and the latest technologies. In recent years, digitalization has enabled us to develop innovative solutions and new training methods. It helps to keep employees engaged while they learn. Digitizing the online purchasing process also facilitates employee learning, as digital tools have a different user experience approach to traditional methods.

Using a contract management system

Paper orders reduce efficiency, slow down the entire purchasing process and reduce an organization’s productivity. Integrating technology into your logistics principles saves time and makes your business more efficient. Using a contract management system dramatically improves the purchasing process and gives you a competitive edge.

Your company works with hundreds or even thousands of suppliers. Compliance with negotiated framework agreements is time-consuming, subject to reprocessing when not linked to your order management. A centralized system enables you to view all your contracts and their expirydates. Negotiating supplier contracts is not enough. You also need to centralize them in one place, so you can manage them efficiently and optimize your purchasing process.

E-procurement makes it possible to track orders efficiently, from the moment the requirement is issued right through to the supplier invoice, and to create a complete audit trail. In fact, the purchasing process benefits from a three-way correspondence. Purchase orders are matched to invoices, which in turn are matched to customer receipts. This contributes to the efficiency of accounting and procurement, as the two are more easily reconciled. This has a positive knock-on effect on your business.

Good supplier relations

Suppliers sell the goods and services you need to keep your production process running smoothly. But you don’t have to accept every potential supplier’s terms and conditions for your business. Integrate an effective supplier management system to surround yourself with the best suppliers. Not only does this optimize your purchasing, it also reduces risk. For example, if a supplier is experiencing late or incomplete deliveries, it’s a good idea to measure them regularly. If your product purchasing sales are substantial, then you’ll have a strong hand in the business relationship.

Forging partnerships with key suppliers is a strategic dimension of good business management. It’s an exercise in competitive advantage, and the results are quickly felt. Traditionally, the focus has beenonimproving customer relations to reduce costs. Now it’s clear that a good relationship with suppliers is just as important. Effective supplier management has a variety of results, including:

• Controlled delivery times,
• Optimized ordering costs,
• Reactivity to market changes,
• Increased profitability,
• Financial and strategic opportunities.

The purchasing process focused on internal and external needs

The needs and expectations of internal customers must be taken into account. The expression of need is the basis of the purchasing process. This stage provides the purchasing departmentwithall the information it needs to carry out the purchase or place the order. This ensures that products are designed to meet the needs of internal specifiers. Purchasing has a strategic dimension for the company, which is why it must be carried out properly.

Work with the entire organizationtoinvolve all stakeholders in the development of the purchasing process. Whether it’s your supplier partners or your customers, everyone needs to be consulted to find out where you can optimize your process. Technical specifications may be required, such as a resale purchase project for a potential customer integrated with the company’s CRM. The organization of a competitive bidding process and the levers to be activated to obtain from suppliers the elements needed to carry out a proper analysis of offers. Putting everyone’s opinions into practice by sharing ideas and concerns is essential to building an environment conducive to innovation and improvement. The final purchasing experience will be the most satisfying in terms of your organization’s needs.

Optimizing the purchasing process doesn’t happen overnight. Depending on the company’s stakes and resources, it can take some time, with the eternal question of make or buy: develop in-house or acquire a purchasing solution. However, the benefits to the organization are numerous, and the promised results are well worth the effort. An optimized purchasing process increases efficiency and profitability. Using a digital tool like Weproc, you can quickly deploy an optimized purchasing process for your company. Purchasing management will then be more efficient, and you can quickly measure results to maintain the investment decision.

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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.