Cloud-Based Procurement: What You Need to Know
The days of lost invoices and rogue receipts are finally behind us. New technologies have ushered in a new era of procurement, which is based on cloud technology. There are plenty of reasons why a shift to cloud-based procurement is beneficial for your business. Most prominently is accessibility and organization of the procurement process itself.
A quick definition of cloud computing
If you’re unfamiliar with cloud computing, don’t worry. The cloud, in its simplest form, provides the ability and access to store data and programs via the internet, rather than downloading it to your computer’s hard drive. Essentially, this means that if you have an internet connection, you can access the information on the cloud anytime and from anywhere.
While implementing a cloud procurement system across business operations is definitely more complex than using the cloud as a single user, the organization of cloud services is becoming easier to understand and navigate.
The three categories of cloud computing
Most cloud-computing services fall into one of three general categories:
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): SaaS platforms offer the ability to subscribe to and access a service over the internet, like Salesforce.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): PaaS offers the option to create a custom application that your entire business uses.
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): IaaS offers the option to utilize the structure built by companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
In terms of procurement, usage of a cloud procurement system allows for total control and oversight of services spending. With certain procurement cloud services, businesses can efficiently handle the process of requisitioning, sourcing, procuring and handling payments for services, modernizing your business’ procurement services.
Using a cloud procurement system
Modern procurement via the cloud allows for an effective and organized system that will help you to keep your business costs under control, select the best suppliers, enforce company policy and appraise supplier risk. In addition, you are able to decrease the overall amount of manual transactions throughout the entirety of the procure-to-pay cycle, which tends to be time consuming. Cloud procurement systems allow you to create purchase orders, weigh contract negotiated prices and terms, manage revisions to documents, and process non-manual supplier invoices.
By allowing employees access to your business’s cloud-based procurement system, you are allowing for a cohesive space, where everyone is able to get what they need, while allowing their actions to be monitored according to company policy.
Cloud-based procurement allows teams to make their own purchases. It also offers the ability to control spend as teams begin purchasing for themselves, by themselves. Ensuring that your teams have access to a user-friendly platform makes for a better experience all around. Further, it ensures compliance, reduces unnecessary spending, and helps your business to achieve cost savings.
At Procurify, the vision is to centralize all communication related to spending in one user-friendly platform. This means that everyone can keep aligned on purchases and nobody loses those important details. In addition, the Procurify Mobile App allows for convenience tracking on the go. Not only is there complete cloud access via the internet, but our mobile-friendly platform adds a new level of cloud-based accessibility.
In addition to high levels of accessibility, the cloud fosters a feeling of transparency between management and other team members. With the Procurify Platform, teams can see the status of their requests through the requisition process easily. And should things change, they’re notified immediately.
Cloud-based procurement: the new standard of purchasing
With these features, it is easy to see why cloud-based platforms are the new standard of business procurement. Allowing team members access from anywhere and anytime creates transparency from high-level executives. It’s also a more intuitive and organized way to streamline supply chain interactions and your company’s spend culture.
