Someone actually asked me what I mean by eProcurement?
How many times does someone ask you what does eProcurement mean? It happened again yesterday at a $250M retailer. Now the person asking the question was an administrative support team member so we can cut her some slack. Or should we? She was a member of the finance department! I really do think that all associates should understand what their functional area of the company does, or at least be able to adlib based on general knowledge.
So what is procurement or what is e-procurement and who in a company is impacted by it?
It really is a curious question; pretty much along the same line as what is spend management, strategic sourcing etc. My answer however may create more questions, but all of the following functional areas within your company are involved or impacted by procurement or e-procurement?
1. Finance
2. Purchasing
3. Logistics
4. Manufacturing
5. Warehousing
6. Materials Management
7. Inventory Management
8. Supply Chain
9. Distribution
10. Transportation
There are certainly many more areas of a company that have procurement or e-procurement connections that require collaboration and potentially aggregation, but the above list probably gives you a pretty good idea of the breadth of involvement within any company. In fact, I can’t think of a job that is not impacted by procurement. Maybe I should just say we save every department in your company money every day.
If you’d like to know more about e (hint-internet) Procurement, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
