In this article, we share successful procurement tips to build your multibillion-dollar company.

Large companies deploy independent procurement solutions as they have the financial and human resources to do so. However, for a midsize organization, dependence on an existing ERP involves manual interventions, which is daunting! A large multinational company has complex; global purchasing needs to manage. Its procurement group will typically have the strategy, budget, and necessary software to meet that challenge. Small and medium-sized businesses need a lower volume of goods and services supplied to stakeholders. And for that, the lack of strategy for infrastructure, budget, and tools that larger organizations enjoy.

In addition to the above, nowadays, more and more midsize companies are moving away from age-old tradition. They are adopting new-age procurement solutions to save more money than before.

Learn More: 360 Degree Digital Transformation with Zycus Source-to-Pay;

In this article, we share procurement tips to convince your procurement head regarding a holistic and dedicated procurement suite. Read the below procurement tips to gather from the four vital strategies that can be incorporated in your presentation to convince the boss.

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Procurement Tip 1

Control maverick spending. It is an important procurement tip for a smaller enterprise. Large organizations track maverick spending. The challenge is if the revenue is over $500 million, multiple chains of commands makes it complicated. It is possible to spend $8000-$1000 without anyone noticing it. Discovery is the toughest part. If one such spending happens once every week, imagine how much would be the loss! To avoid such mishaps, this procurement tip on maverick spending can go a long way to deliver comprehensive, detailed, accurate, and consistent spend visibility.

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Procurement Tip 2

Don’t fall for false promises – This procurement tip may sound simple, but this is the most complex part of purchasing. If you don’t give enough time and haven’t thought through who should be your vendor, you may end up spending more money than intended or saving less than you could. Many a time, a vendor may promise you the lowest cost, but later you realize there are many hidden overheads not highlighted in the contract. To save you from cheating, a strategic sourcing platform helps analyze all your suppliers’ overall performance in the past, set performance benchmarks, forecast savings, and suggests the best performing supplier thereby facilitating decision making and risk-avoidance. Use this procurement tip to your advantage.

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Procurement Tip 3

Get access to all suppliers – Here’s the third procurement tip for you if you are facing the constant pressure of buying from local suppliers! If that’s the situation, here are the significant questions you got to ask::

1. 1.  Will my company benefit from buying locally?
   2. Is a global player offering me more benefit at a lesser cost?
   3. How will I judge the quality of goods supplied by the local player?

Having access to a variety of suppliers is the key to savings. Thanks to procurement solution providers with existing reliable supplier database, small and medium-sized enterprises can freely get in touch with local suppliers, analyze their past performance, benchmark them against global suppliers and finally make a reliably sound decision.

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Procurement Tip 4

Have a 360° view – It is hard to see your friend lost under stacks of contracts that require manual checking. And later learning about a termination citing incompetency for unable to hold accountability! I am aware of many such procurement leaders who face challenges in streamlining all contracts and documents. So, if this is your trouble too, leverage this fourth procurement tip and deploy a procurement suite which will not only build, track, and store all contracts but also give you a 360° view of your entire purchasing cycle. Whether it’s a large organization or a midsize company, a sound procurement and supply management strategy is extremely crucial to the overall success of the organization.

Learn More: Uncover the hidden saving potential: How to get deep visibility in your current spend to identify hidden savings opportunities;

Conclusion

Depending on the size of the company, the strategy may be different, but it can work just as effectively as another should the above procurements tips be considered.  There is no ‘one size fits all’ strategy that will work; so don’t get caught up in a packaged, “ultimate procurement/sourcing” tool being offered up as a “magic bullet.” Instead, with the above procurement tips in mind, opt for a provider who can offer you a customized solution based on your company’s need of the hour. For SMEs, every small purchase is meaningful. Common sense and open, honest communication are still the most practical considerations for the small to medium size company. And therefore, a sound procurement and supply management strategy is extremely important for the overall success of the organization.