“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” This is the principle that Mr Chandresh Sharma, CEO, Techpanion, holds as a core belief. Currently, he is responsible for leading his digital automation venture, where he reserves the position of Chief Executive Officer. He is a hands-on executive overseeing customer delivery & satisfaction besides planning the actions and supervising the firm’s day-to-day operations.
Undoubtedly, the pandemic outbreak has brought tectonic transformation in almost every sector, including the procurement and supply chain. Hence, to survive, most industry players have been adopting new-age technologies to foster agility and resilience. Often, the procurement and supply chain automation processes are pretty intricate and unique to different companies. Typically, the workflows span several operations and data systems, from the significance of time-bound synchronization of activities and approvals to data-driven decision points that exist in abundance. Hence, digitalizing such paper-based and extremely unstructured data becomes critical, especially in the new normal world. Companies, many times, allude to these collections of work processes as procure-to-pay or source-to-pay or request-to-order or order-fulfillment processes.
Simply put, automation can accelerate the cycle with relatively low labour and expenses. By utilizing advanced technologies such as RPA (Robotic Process Automation), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Cloud Management System, and more, the primary objective of digital source-to-pay is to optimize the whole procurement process. Let’s further explore to understand the need for automation of procurement and supply chain management:
Digital to power decisions
Traditionally, procurement and supply chain has been a paperbound cycle based on citation and buy orders requiring manual information, audits, and signatures. Today, procurement technology is progressing on an arc from digitization to intelligence. Over the years, especially amid the pandemic, organizations have embraced procurement technology to mechanize cycles to diminish authoritative expenses and carry them into the digital-driven era. The advent of various software programs can automate repetitive, transactional assignments, such as paying vendor invoices or renewing stock levels dependent on triggers like the amount of item delivered. When redundant tasks are automated, the procurement staff can focus on high-impact decisions instead of overseeing buy orders. Automation and procurement technology structuring free the purchasers to do different things to develop the supply chain further.
Limits the manual
Faxes, spreadsheets, and emails have been fundamental indirect procurement processes for a long time. Unfortunately, the fluctuation of the outcomes can prompt an unreliable production network. There is way too much room for lost communications, missed deadlines, and data entry errors due to the paperbound processes. Consequently, poor visibility in the supply chain and the procurement cycle can be a critical obstacle to overcome and even potentially cause production losses. This can further cost millions in labour, speeding up delivery expenses, and poor customer satisfaction. Procurement automation enhances the performance of businesses by reducing the manual passage of information and other related errands.
Improves supplier performance
The advantages of working with a quality and reliable provider couldn’t possibly be more significant. Usually, the suppliers are overlooked as an imperative component in any business due to the impact they can make on the functions of the entire firm. Tragically, the manual idea of most procurement management makes it hard to stay afloat in the market. Due to the outdated and disparate tools, there is no responsiveness to PO acknowledgements and confirmations and visibility into supplier on-time performance. While assisting with minimizing manual errors, missed deadlines, and unsatisfied consumers, automation tools built especially for the procurement process bring precise and reliable communication channels to the forefront.
Enhances coordinated efforts
The lucidity of purpose-built procurement automation tools addresses a monumental transformation in supplier performance and inventory network efficiency. These frameworks are specifically designed to incorporate seamlessly with the business’ ERP system. They possess the potential to see and respond to changes in real-time from a single source of data. Via procurement technology structuring and automating the supplier management chain, business becomes streamlined at each level. Right from the increase in collaboration between the buyer and supplier, real-time visibility, improved performance with consistent communication and alerts, to enhanced supplier performance with more accurate data, there are numerous advantages of procurement automation.
The bottom line
Regarding optimization and savings, procurement automation is certainly offering several new opportunities to businesses. Organizations that rush to embrace this fad will get long-haul advantages. Moreover, choosing a supplier, particularly for the digital procurement process, is one of the many critical tasks businesses need to execute to achieve compliance, continuity, efficiency, and accuracy.