In recent years, the purchasing department has been making a significant contribution to the economy and competitiveness of companies. With the modernization of the sector over the years, operational processes, which are often bureaucratic and time-consuming, can be automated through technology and increasingly robust digital solutions.
Purchasing automation frees buyers from the operational routine to focus their efforts on strategies that add value to the business. In addition, automating processes helps professionals have access to data and insights in real time, making decisions more agile and effective.
The main steps of the purchasing flow can be automated:
- Purchase requisition
- Supplier selection
- Price quote
- Proposal analysis
- Negotiation with suppliers
- Purchase closing
Below, check out the main benefits of automation in purchasing and the impacts for you and your team:
The main benefits of purchasing automation:
1. economy
The digitalization of purchasing processes reduces the sector's operational costs, as it eliminates the main manual tasks for buyers, optimizing time and resources.
Furthermore, by automating purchasing steps, buyers are freed up to focus on strategies that can generate more profits for the business.
Instead of the bureaucratic and costly day-to-day operations, buyers can seek better prices in negotiations with suppliers, savings and great payment conditions.
2. Productivity
Purchasing processes, which are not yet digitalized, depend on spreadsheets, emails and printed papers, impacting the productivity and efficiency of the purchasing team.
In view of the transformations of industry 4.0, purchasing management no longer needs to be manual and require great operational effort from the team.
Excessive operational work can also harm the organizational climate and even the relationship between professionals and suppliers.
3. Ease of access to information
With the automation of purchasing processes, all actions related to acquisitions are recorded and can be integrated with other systems and departments.
The centralization of information is another benefit, as records are no longer located in different files and emails, which run the risk of being lost or deleted.
Choosing to digitize the purchasing flow will also prevent the loss of important information for future decisions.
4. Communication and collaboration
Communication and collaboration with suppliers are essential to optimize purchasing processes and meet customer needs.
With access to information about the status of an order, for example, it is possible to anticipate possible delays and work together with suppliers to find solutions.
Strengthening communication and collaboration through digital solutions also facilitates future negotiations with your suppliers.
5. More accurate information
In most companies, the purchasing department deals with a large volume of orders every day. Therefore, errors and delays in purchasing are common in manual processes.
For example, when requests arrive without the necessary specifications, the buyer is unable to complete the order.
In a digitalized environment and with specific tools for purchasing management, it is possible to create business rules so that all information is filled in.
6. Negotiation with suppliers
The negotiation stage with suppliers is one of the most important for the performance of the purchasing area.
Automation allows buyers to be freed from day-to-day operations to dedicate time to negotiations with suppliers, thus increasing the chances of winning savings.
In addition, there are already digital tools, such as ME e-Procurement, which consolidates the values of suppliers’ proposals and calculates savings automatically.
7. Centralization of orders
It is common for the purchasing department to receive requests through different channels and from different people in the company, without having a defined flow.
In addition to harming the buyer's day-to-day life, these decentralized processes can result in incorrect purchases, missed deadlines, incomplete budgets, among other problems.
With the use of automated solutions, purchase orders are concentrated on a single platform, which also allows for efficient management of resources and workflow.
8. Visibility and transparency
A company's financial health depends on different factors, and the conscious use of resources is directly related to this indicator.
With purchasing automation, managers can monitor all stages of the flow, in real time, and check whether everything is being done in accordance with the organization's standards.
It is a way to strengthen the compliance of the company and encourage employees to work in accordance with good supplier management practices, for example.
9. Purchase history
Automating processes in this area makes it easier to access purchase history and allows buyers to better plan future purchases.
Based on previous purchases, it is possible to identify negotiation opportunities with suppliers, achieve lower prices and better payment terms, for example.
Additionally, purchasing history can be used to evaluate supplier performance in terms of product quality, pricing, delivery times, and other important criteria.
10. Competitiveness
Process automation reduces costs, optimizes processes, and reduces the time and effort required to keep operations running.
Furthermore, by automating operational processes, companies become more agile and flexible in purchasing management.
All of these advantages can allow organizations to be more efficient and competitive in an increasingly competitive market.
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