The Value-Adding Potential of Procurement Intake
Onboarding new suppliers is one of the most critical elements of the procurement process which makes it all the more surprising that so many organizations are still relying on inefficient manual processes and outdated forms.
Used by the purchaser to collect key information from a supplier such as contact details, contact start and end dates, which categories of product are authorized for supply, and other key data, a procurement intake form will often be the document which seals the relationship between a purchaser and a supplier and will be used in the future to settle any disagreements or simply to corroborate key information.
The most innovative organizations in the procurement space are ahead of the game in recognizing the importance of the procurement intake process when it comes to creating value for the larger organization and how technology can be deployed to streamline and improve it.
Adding Value by Digitizing the Intake Process
Switching from a manual process to an online procurement intake strategy is one of the best ways an organization can begin adding value in this area.
Online procurement intake helps the onboarding team get things right first time. With forms being updated automatically and delivered in seconds, errors or inconsistencies can quickly be identified and the document returned for editing with no significant delays to the process.
Not only this but digitizing your intake process will also result in less siloing of information and make it far easier to analyze data and gain a full 360-degree view of your entire supplier network. This makes the business of spotting inefficiencies or tail spend issues such as maverick spending or unauthorized purchasing significantly simpler.
Looking beyond procurement to the wider organization, supplier intake digitization also benefits colleagues in other departments and in the C-suite. Because everything is hosted in the cloud, anyone in the organization who is authorized to do so can access your supplier data to better understand expenditure, relationships, and perform their own roles in a more effective and efficient manner – by not having to physically walk to the procurement office to access key information for example.
As with most aspects of business in the 21st century, digitization has the potential to add value to procurement and the organization as a whole by improving access to data, removing siloes, deleting inefficient manual processing, and reducing the instances of errors and tail spend.
Intake Technology
Implementing a digitized intake to procure system seems like an easy decision, but how does one actually go about selecting the technology necessary for this digital transformation and ensure the onboarding of it goes smoothly?
You want to automate the manual processes which take away the most time from your procurement team so they can shift their attention to other more strategic functions and identify information and opportunities the organization needs for ongoing success. Personal monitoring and manual intervention are two such functions which procurement traditionally provides and, because they add little direct value to the organization, are ripe for automation.
The idea is to keep the procurement operation constantly moving forward without your staff directly interacting with as much of it as possible.
The next question you should be asking yourself is to what extent do you have visibility into the procurement intake process and the data it generates. Installing digital ledger capabilities which maintain an immutable ledger of all processes and stages in the supplier onboarding process will ensure that all stakeholders are able to access and analyze this data without being able to directly interfere with it.
No-code technology is also an important consideration when selecting which digital tools are to be used in this process. The plug and play nature of no-code technology means that all your employees, regardless of IT or programming experience, will be able to interact with and customize the software to meet their needs.
All this will enable your organization to implement a procurement intake system and process which work for everyone involved and enable your organization to move forwards in a more positive and less encumbered manner.
"Status quo intake-to-procure is in a state of disarray,” writes Spend Matters. "It’s often confusing, slow, frustrating and cumbersome, and the poor experience is being tacked onto the brand of hardworking procurement professionals who shoulder the responsibility. With no-code intake-to-procure technology, procurement can take the situation into their own hands, creating the type of user experience they have always envisioned and making changes on the fly to keep the business focused on the business.”
Final Thoughts
The procurement intake process is long overdue digital transformation for many organizations. Those which are able to find technological solutions which work for all stakeholders in the value chain and achieve full intake digitization are going to see their procurement operations grow in effectiveness as we move into the future.
Procurement intake is sure to be a hot topic at ProcureCon Indirect West 2023, being held in February and March at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, San Diego, CA.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.