Best Practices in Procurement – Part One

Today, procurement is an important strategic function that supports nearly all of the organization’s business operations and has an impact on organizational expenditure. Every organization wants to make its procurement as optimal and efficient as possible. By nature a complex process, it takes time for procurement to reach that stage immediately.

Here’s the good news however. With so much information available around us today and with access to the wealth of wisdom from history, these organizations don’t have to reinvent the wheel but stand on the shoulders of giants to look beyond. Here are some best practices that can help organizations optimize their procurement functions:

Communication flow: First and foremost, it has to be ensured that there is always a two-way flow of communication between the procurement function and other business units which deal with procurement. The same way, the communication channel between the procurement department and outside parties must be clear as well. It has to be ensured that they have the necessary technology and tools at their disposal. Communication, or lack of it, is the cause of many problems organizations face on a daily basis. Make sure you are not affected by it.

Automate repetitive processes: As with any other business function, procurement has its share of repetitive processes. Activities like requisitions, acknowledgements, order management, and approvals can be automated to increase the efficiency of the procurement process and make procurement professionals more productive. After all, when you can automate mundane processes, why would you want to waste your procurement professionals’ time?

Iterations and iterations: As mentioned earlier, it takes time for procurement to be optimized. Never be happy with the results you have now; understand that there is always scope for improvement. This zeal for procurement excellence has to be ingrained. Make sure you measure the performance of every procurement-related activity and iterate till you optimize them all.

More to come in the next part. Till then, click here to find an online procurement software solution that allows you to automate your repetitive processes and help you iterate.