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Judy Artunian

Guide to e-Procurement

Save time and money by streamlining your purchasing system

By Judy Artunian, Freelance Writer

e-Procurement lets you automate the process of purchasing equipment, parts, supplies and professional services online. Functions that can take hours using traditional paper-based purchasing procedures can be accomplished in minutes.

You can search vendor catalogues, issue purchase orders, track the status of your orders, authorize payments to your vendors and handle many more functions electronically. Among the benefits of purchasing electronically:

  1. Greater efficiency. You can more quickly identify the products and services that meet your specifications.
  2. Reduced costs. It's easy to pinpoint the best prices. e-Procurement can also reduce the administrative costs associated with purchasing. A study by Gartner Group concluded that companies can slash purchasing costs by up to 30 percent by using Web-based e-Procurement solutions
  3. More control of your inventories of materials and supplies.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done


Discover a range of e-procurement solutions online

Software and Web-based solutions can help get you underway.
I recommend: Ketera, Acquirex, Verian Technologies and Palmas Development all offer e-procurement services, software and other solutions.

Find the products and services you need

Most major small business suppliers, including office product retailers and phone companies, are set up for electronic purchasing transactions. Find out which suppliers are ready to sell electronically by perusing the Web sites of e-procurement solutions providers that specialize in uniting business buyers and suppliers.
I recommend: At BuyerZone you can search 125 product and service categories, request quotes and complete your purchase.

Get organized

Learn how you can automate and manage all of your purchasing, including e-procurement transactions.
I recommend: Software packages such as Procure+ from ePlus and Purchase Manager from Verian Technologies can do the job.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

  • Before investing in an e-Procurement system, look at your current purchasing system and analyze what works and what doesn't. That will help you select an e-Procurement solution that suits your needs.
  • The transition from hard copy to electronic procurement can frustrate employees. Take care to organize the catalog content from your suppliers so that employees can easily find the parts and supplies they're looking for.
  • Give all employees who are involved in purchasing ample warning that you are changing the system. Reassure them that they will have plenty of time to train on the new system. Get help from your e-Procurement vendor if you can't train them in-house.

The official source of e-Procurement is the E-Procurement page at Business.com

More Featured Listings
E-Procurement by SpendMap
Automate your procurement process. Slash paperwork, control spending and cut costs. For midsize and smaller companies. Take the Virtual Tour today!
Quick Tour Demo | Virtual Tour
www.spendmap.com
WorkPlace eProcurement from Paramount Technologies
Automate your procurement process. Slash paperwork. Control spending. Improve employee productivity. Reduce time and errors and save money.
Demo | About Us | Awards | Contact Us
www.ParamountTechnologies.com
E-Procurement Software Directory
Compare e-procurement software using Capterra's free, comprehensive directory.
Capterra.com
Government Procurement Opportunities
Get Government Contract Leads. Don't Miss Any Bid Opportunities. Government Business Intelligence. Bid Notice and Agency Info. Get a Free Trial Now.
Learn More | Free Report
www.onvia.com
Related Resources

Recommended Solution Providers

Ketera: The Proven Spend Solution
On demand procurement application for direct and indirect goods and services. A hosted, web-based solution, this e-procurement solution aims to enable companies to improve spend compliance and maximize savings by eliminating unnecessary expenditures.

Ariba: E-Procurement and Expense Solutions
Procurement and expense solutions comprise flexible applications and services that deliver rapid, easy-to-use requisitioning and procurement capabilities for handling every aspect of spend.

Bell Wether Corp: E-Procurement Solutions
Provides a range of e-procurement solutions, including an integrated inventory management module.

Oracle: E-Procurement Service
This e-procurement solution is designed to enable any small business to streamline employee ordering, enforce spending policy, and reduce procurement costs.

Palmas: E-Procurement Software
Supplies an e-procurement software system with modules for purchase order processing, on-line requisitioning and approvals, inventory control, invoice approval, asset management, and maintenance.

Aestiva: e-Procurement Software
Offers a variety of business software solutions, including a procurement software package with reporting, security, SOX compliance, management and approval notification capabilties. It also includes a base system to support additional processes such as RFX's, change orders, service orders, invoice matching and spend management.

Verian: E-Procurement Software
Use this service to automate the entire procurement cycle. This is a web-based software that can either reside on your small business' computers or on a 3rd-party's computers in a secure, "hosted" on-demand environment, allowing you to fully automate the requisition-to-reconciliation process, reduce the paper piles and eliminate workflow bottlenecks.

Mikro Fax: Easy Purchasing
This solution streamlines the procurement and payables processes with a complete purchase to pay eprocurement workflow management tool for use stand-alone or networked.

Best Sites to Learn More

Science Warehouse: e-Producement That Delivers
Offers a guide to e-procurement with info on why implementing an e-procurement solution can appear complex but there are a few straightforward criteria which, if taken account of, can mean the difference between success and failure.

Advisor: E-Procurement Strategies
Find advice about e-business strategies including e-procurement.

About.com: Logistics/Supply Chain
Learn about e-procurement and its advances, use links to related articles and apply this knowledge for your small business.

Best Blogs and Forums

Ecademy: E-Procurement Forum
Join this forum to discuss e-procurement with other business people.



FEATURED LISTINGS
E-Procurement by SpendMap
Automate your procurement process. Slash paperwork, control spending and cut costs. For midsize and smaller companies. Take the Virtual Tour today!
www.spendmap.com
WorkPlace eProcurement from Paramount Technologies
Automate your procurement process. Slash paperwork. Control spending. Improve employee productivity. Reduce time and errors and save money.
www.ParamountTechnologies.com
E-Procurement Software Directory
Compare e-procurement software using Capterra's free, comprehensive directory.
Capterra.com
Government Procurement Opportunities
Get Government Contract Leads. Don't Miss Any Bid Opportunities. Government Business Intelligence. Bid Notice and Agency Info. Get a Free Trial Now.
www.onvia.com
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