Procurement’s evolving. And so is procurement technology. As enterprise procurement organizations transform from tactical teams focused on cost reduction to strategic entities that drive enterprise-wide value, the role of procurement technology — enabling this transition — has become even more critical. Conventional procurement tools and software lack the capability to support the complex requirements of today’s procurement teams. Enterprises looking to invest in new e-procurement technology must look for a solution that helps them meet these new roles and requirements.
Here are five key considerations for selecting a procurement technology solution that’s future ready
Using multiple tools and software across the source-to-pay cycle diminishes the benefits of automation and limits collaboration between stakeholders. A single, unified cloud-based procurement platform that streamlines and automates all procurement processes, including spend analysis, savings tracking, sourcing, contract management, and procure-to-pay, not only boosts process efficiency but also allows all business stakeholders to collaborate efficiently and optimize savings opportunities.
Today’s increasingly mobile workforce needs anytime, anywhere access to information to make informed decisions. A cloud-based, mobile native procurement software allows procurement professionals to work on the go, on any device – PC, laptop, tablet or mobile – boosting productivity and enabling informed, effective, decision-making.
Social media has not only changed the way people interact with each other but also transformed the way enterprises do business. Procurement technology with built-in social collaboration tools can help enterprise procurement teams increase productivity, foster innovation through improved collaboration with suppliers and other stakeholders, minimize risk, and enable effective decision-making.
Procurement teams today need much more than transactional tools to manage their work more efficiently. A unified procurement platform with a set of innovative features, such as sourcing and category workbenches, real-time market intelligence, and supplier-enabled innovation, allows procurement organizations to increase their impact and drive more value across the business.
With procurement expected to play a more proactive role in supporting key business decisions and managing supply risk, access to real-time information and insights to drive decision-making will be crucial. A cloud-based procurement technology solution, comprising intuitive AI-based analytics and advanced risk management tools with intuitive alert-and-report mechanisms, can deliver actionable insights to help maximize savings opportunities and mitigate risks before they happen.
Stay up to date with the latest procurement technology trends. Get complimentary access to proprietary research, issue-oriented white papers and webinars, case studies, primers, and playbooks – visit our knowledge bank. Discover how cutting-edge technologies like AI, machine learning, and blockchain are transforming the procurement landscape.
We wanted a procurement technology partner who could evolve with us. Someone who is not just a procurement services expert but also offers a complete set of procurement tools. So that’s why we partnered with GEP as being a single services and tools provider for us.
Chief Procurement Executive
Kemper Corporation
Frequently Asked Questions
Procurement leaders understand how difficult and complex it can be to manage purchases across different departments, locations, and geographies. By consolidating upstream sourcing and downstream procurement activities into a single, cutting-edge AI-first cloud platform, GEP SMART breaks down these silos.
With the "single version of the truth" or SVOT that the platform delivers, teams across various departments access the same centralized system, eliminating reduplications and ensuring uniformity. The seamless workflows thus created span organizational boundaries.
As GEP SMART enables real-time visibility, procurement teams can simultaneously track spending trends, keep an eye on compliance, and spot cost-cutting opportunities across all locations and geographies. The cloud-native architecture ensures that teams in different time zones can work together seamlessly effectively, eliminating version conflicts and system delays.
GEP SMART address integration challenges directly. The platform makes it easy to leverage your existing investments and infrastructure, because it works seamlessly with all major ERP systems, finance and accounting systems.
The platform utilizes sophisticated integration capabilities that preserve existing workflows. GEP SMART's inbuilt adapters and APIs enable state-of-the-art procurement to work seamlessly alongside existing ERP and backoffice systems, resulting in a unified digital procurement workplace where data and transactional documents can be shared fluidly at every stage of the source-to-pay process. And by using these strategies, businesses can avoid the disruptions that often come when their existing systems get replaced.
Automatic data transfer between systems preserves accuracy while lowering the need for human intervention. The integration preserves the value of the existing technology investments while enhancing their capabilities through advanced procurement functionality.
GEP SMART makes it easy to leverage your existing investments and infrastructure, because it works seamlessly with all major ERP, and finance and accounting systems.
The platform utilizes sophisticated integration capabilities that preserve existing workflows. Advanced procurement can be integrated with current ERP and backoffice systems thanks to GEP SMART's built-in adapters and APIs, creating a single digital procurement workspace where data and transactional documents can be freely shared throughout the source-to-pay process.
This approach means organizations avoid the disruption typically associated with system replacements. Data flows automatically between systems, maintaining accuracy while reducing manual intervention. The integration keeps intact the value of existing technology investments while enhancing their capabilities through advanced procurement functionality.
A key requirement for modern procurement organizations is the automation of supplier management. This is addressed by GEP SMART's extensive capabilities, which cover the entire supplier lifecycle. Supplier data records are automatically compiled, cleaned, and normalized by GEP SMART's Supplier Master Data Management (MDM) tool. After that, it verifies and ensures quality by comparing the data to Vendor Master.
The qualification process is streamlined through automated workflows that ensure consistent evaluation criteria across all suppliers.
Continuous insight into supplier relationships is provided by performance tracking. Supplier scorecards can be used to record both qualitative and quantitative performance information. Users can also access supplier performance scores and KPIs from the supplier master data in GEP SMART. This automation ensures that procurement teams maintain consistent oversight while reducing administrative burden.
