By this point, we can all agree that even the most effective employees in the world are not capable of performing their tasks if they don’t have the access to the necessary tools and equipment. Granted, in some previous times, their personal talents could fill in productivity gaps and allow your procurement teams to acquire these assets at their own pace.
The present-day business world, however, is too competitive, tech-driven, and relentless to allow for such a leisurely pace. If you want to successfully deal with a situation like this, you should do quite a heavy lifting in streamlining the procurement process and making sure all the facets of your company work in unison.
Let us take a look at a couple of tips that should help you along the way.
Ask for feedback from the employees
Most companies out there are so entrenched in their routines and agreed practices that they rarely take time to assess whether these approaches are at all adjusted to current necessities. That is why, before you take any other steps in assembling your new procurement workflow, you should perform a very thorough audit and ask your employees for feedback about the matter.
Of course, these insights should come from all instances of one company and take into consideration both operational as well as financial factors. The more effort you put into this, the better adjusted your future strategies will be.
Image by rawpixel.com
Prioritize the assets that drive productivity
Even despite your best efforts, your procurement team will frequently experience obstacles you have very little influence over. In situations like these when you are unable to get all the tools you need you should, at least, try to get the ones that have the biggest impact on overall productivity.
Therefore, you should really do your best to research what amenities have the biggest impact on the positive work experience and productivity of your teams. Once you make sure you have a hold of these critical tools and assets, your procurement team can proceed to the items that have lower operational value and priority.
Streamline the individual tasks
Performing the adjustments of the overall workflow is very hard and bears compromised results. What you should do instead is break this system down into isolated tasks and see how you can refine them on an individual level. For instance, professional procurement lifecycle management platforms can go a long way in making the tasks like supplier contract management far more streamlined and faster.
Only when you refine all of the workflow instances to the farthest possible extent, should you start putting them together in a manner that will root out bottlenecks and extensive productivity drops.
Image by rawpixel.com
Partner up and use discounts
Generally speaking, suppliers like to work with reliable companies placing high-volume orders at a regular frequency. Such customers can get a whole plethora of benefits ranging from lucrative discounts to access to exclusive goods and high-priority delivery terms. How can you leverage this fact if your business doesn’t need orders of such volume and frequency?
Well, you can partner up with like-minded organizations, split the costs and keep the order momentum going. As time goes by, these low-level collaborations can develop into shared initiatives and partnerships with more far-reaching strategic outcomes.
Think outside the box
If necessary, this can mean even outside your local market. At this moment, the business landscape has become so globalized and the state of B2B eCommerce so advanced that you really no longer need to feel constrained by any market or regional boundaries. But, even when that is not possible, creative thinking can lead you to alternative supply sources where you may even end up getting better deals.
So, instead of waiting weeks for paper, you can place the order in some of the local recycling centers. Furniture pieces can just as well be found on local listings. The options like these are practically endless.
Photo by Alexander Suhorucov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/diverse-focused-women-working-with-papers-and-laptop-6457495/
Paint your offices green
Last but not least, we would like to remind you that sustainability and the use of green technologies are slowly growing from novelty to absolute necessity. The business world, however, is still at this sweet spot where people are generally aware of that, but the green trend hasn’t yet picked up too much steam.
So, your team will be in a position to get the equipment and stationery that will unlock excellent benefits for your company in the long run without having to wait months to get access to these items. Eventual cost discrepancies and other financial concerns can be mitigated with the steps we have listed above.
Final comments
So, these were the top six strategies you can use to streamline your company’s procurement process and make sure you always get the items you need in the shortest possible time and at the best possible cost.
Of course, these measures can be considered to be only the tip of the iceberg, and your efforts in making this critical process more efficient will be limited only by your tenacity and imagination. But, you need to start somewhere, and these couple of suggestions will definitely push you in the right direction.
