| Business efficiency is at the core of all successful | | | | adoption rates. |
| small businesses - and large ones - but until now, only | | | | Getting quotes |
| the big boys have had the money, and the | | | | You need to be able to request quotes from your |
| manpower, to implement cost-saving tools like | | | | suppliers - to define the entire spec of an order and |
| e-sourcing software. | | | | reduce negotiation times. Indeed the best software |
| Now, however, efficiency-driving e-sourcing, or | | | | can remove negotiation altogether. It needs to easily |
| e-procurement, software - is available to small and | | | | display quotes and make it easy to see cost-savings. |
| medium enterprises, which can help them sustain real | | | | Feedback |
| competitive advantage in their sector. | | | | The best purchasing and sourcing tools provide data |
| So what should small businesses look for in an | | | | to buyers and suppliers alike. This can uncover both |
| e-sourcing tool? | | | | price savings and supplier-quality data, heavily |
| Simplicity | | | | influencing future purchasing decisions. |
| It's got to be simple. If it's overly complex, then | | | | Where to go? |
| you're not going to use it. The good news is that as | | | | A Google search on either e-sourcing or |
| there's a direct relationship between complexity and | | | | e-procurement will find a wide variety of vendors |
| uptake, e-sourcing software designers are continually | | | | pushing platforms of varying maturity and pricing. But |
| striving to minimise complexity and maximise | | | | it's worth taking a look at new-to-market - which is |
| effectiveness. | | | | free to use, and has been developed specifically for |
| Supplier on-boarding | | | | SMEs. |
| The process of getting your suppliers onto the | | | | Whichever way you go, take some time out one |
| system needs to be as painless as possible. A good | | | | evening to spend some quality time with an |
| e-procurement tool makes this easy for you to | | | | e-sourcing solution - and start to drive that business |
| minimise your suppliers' data-input, although time does | | | | efficiency. |
| need to be spent educating your suppliers to drive | | | | |