Benefits of an E-Procurement Process

If the thought of moving to an e-procurement process gives you chills, you’re not alone. Many purchasing managers worry that e-procurement is too complicated and opens their organization up to privacy concerns and errors. Not to mention the time it’ll take their team to learn a new process.

We know you’ve probably heard pitches about the benefits of making all your processes electronic. But there are some very important benefits to e-procurement that you may not have considered.

When you factor in the reduction in procurement errors, costs, and paperwork, a switch to e-procurement might just have your employees and the environment thanking you.

Top seven benefits to e-procurement process.

#1 Reduced Costs

E-procurement saves you money by preventing duplicate spending, leveraging volume buying, and saving you costs associated with paper-based systems (for example, the cost of stamps to mail your paperwork).

#2 Transparent Spending

Electronically conducting your procurement makes it easier to write and analyze reports on your procurement systems, meaning you can ensure that your procurement procedures conform to your policies.

#3 Increased Productivity

Once you’ve learned the system, e-procurement is less time-consuming than traditional procurement. Having your records stored electronically makes it easier to submit reusable tenders. Meanwhile, use of templates means paperwork can be filled out more quickly.

#4 Eliminating Paperwork

Tired of finding new space to store all that paperwork? With e-procurement, everything can be saved and stored electronically. This not only saves you from needing more room, it also makes the process of finding older tenders more simple.

#5 Increased Transaction Speed

E-procurement is both time-saving and efficient. As the electronic handling of tasks supports and simplifies the purchasing process, transaction speed is increased. Also, because of e-enabled relationships with suppliers, procurement cycle times speed up. The e-procurement process eliminates unnecessary activities, allowing you to focus on more valuable tasks.

#6 Standardized Buying

When you have various departments making procurement decisions, there can be differences in what and how they purchase. Conducting purchasing electronically makes it easier for every department to conform to company procurement standards.

#7 Reduced Errors

Electronic paperwork is streamlined and thus easier to check for errors—there’s no messy printing to get in the way either. Along with this, past orders are more easily referenced, meaning there’s a greater chance that your company can compare orders to ensure new ones are correct.