This is Part III of an III part post series titled “Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance” focuses on Reasons to Use E-Procurement.

May 24th, 2010

In part III of this post Ron Southard CEO of Safesourcing and Tim Hull CEO of TDH Marketing will continue to explore “Technology Drives e.procurement” with "Reasons to Use E-Procurement"

 Part III Reasons to Use E-Procurement

Sometimes an explanation can be lost in translation so we have developed the following 20 reasons why utilizing the technology-based e-procurement process can provide significant benefits to you and your company. These are certainly not all of the benefits that can be derived from the use of the e-procurement process, but it is a good starting point.

While this list is not ranked in order of importance, many might argue that not much is more important than the #1 item which is improved earnings.

• Improve net earnings
• Enhance safety
• Reinforce corporate social responsibility
• Find new sources of supply
• Streamline the procurement process
• Elevate supplier accountability to meet your standards
• Improve quality
• Reduce costs in a volatile market
• Ensure a competitive environment
• Buy at market pricing
• Maintain a reliable history for comparison
• Educate suppliers as to how you wish to procure products
• Eliminates questions through effective supplier training
• Maintain consistent product specifications
• Improve negotiation
• Improve carbon footprint
• Simplify your “award of business” process
• Free up time for other tasks
• Process works for all product categories
• Provide a detailed audit trail

E-procurement offers many benefits for a broad range of companies in a variety of industries, assuming that the process selected is a high quality system with an extensive supplier database. We must also assume that the e-procurement process is implemented properly with the purchasing company and that the experienced e-procurement system provider works in concert with the buyer in order to realize optimal cost savings.

Numerous technology advancements have streamlined the e-procurement process and made it more user-friendly and less expensive. A company today can expect to reap significant benefits from e-procurement, including: saving money on purchases, reducing the time involved in the purchasing process, tracking current and archival activities and results, eliminating waste and improving the overall efficiency of the supply chain.

 Take advantage of the technology advancements and don’t overlook the benefits of implementing an e-procurement process to strengthen your company’s bottom line.

To download copies of this entire article please use the following link.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This is Part III of an III part post series titled “Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance” focuses on Reasons to Use E-Procurement.

This is Part III of an III part post series titled ?Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance? focuses on Reasons to Use E-Procurement.

May 24th, 2010

In part III of this post Ron Southard CEO of Safesourcing and Tim Hull CEO of TDH Marketing will continue to explore ?Technology Drives e.procurement? with "Reasons to Use E-Procurement"

?Part III Reasons to Use E-Procurement

Sometimes an explanation can be lost in translation so we have developed the following 20 reasons why utilizing the technology-based e-procurement process can provide significant benefits to you and your company. These are certainly not all of the benefits that can be derived from the use of the e-procurement process, but it is a good starting point.

While this list is not ranked in order of importance, many might argue that not much is more important than the #1 item which is improved earnings.

? Improve net earnings
? Enhance safety
? Reinforce corporate social responsibility
? Find new sources of supply
? Streamline the procurement process
? Elevate supplier accountability to meet your standards
? Improve quality
? Reduce costs in a volatile market
? Ensure a competitive environment
? Buy at market pricing
? Maintain a reliable history for comparison
? Educate suppliers as to how you wish to procure products
? Eliminates questions through effective supplier training
? Maintain consistent product specifications
? Improve negotiation
? Improve carbon footprint
? Simplify your ?award of business? process
? Free up time for other tasks
? Process works for all product categories
? Provide a detailed audit trail

E-procurement offers many benefits for a broad range of companies in a variety of industries, assuming that the process selected is a high quality system with an extensive supplier database. We must also assume that the e-procurement process is implemented properly with the purchasing company and that the experienced e-procurement system provider works in concert with the buyer in order to realize optimal cost savings.

Numerous technology advancements have streamlined the e-procurement process and made it more user-friendly and less expensive. A company today can expect to reap significant benefits from e-procurement, including: saving money on purchases, reducing the time involved in the purchasing process, tracking current and archival activities and results, eliminating waste and improving the overall efficiency of the supply chain.

?Take advantage of the technology advancements and don?t overlook the benefits of implementing an e-procurement process to strengthen your company?s bottom line.

To download copies of this entire article please use the following link.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This is Part III of an III part post series titled ?Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance? focuses on Reasons to Use E-Procurement.

This is Part II of an III part post series titled “Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance” focuses on Getting Started!

May 21st, 2010

In part II of this post series Ron Southard CEO of Safesourcing and Tim Hull CEO of TDH Marketing will continue to explore “Technology Drives e.procurement” with Getting Started.

Getting Started

First and foremost in getting the e-procurement process right is to select a solution provider or partner that knows what they are doing and is willing to work closely with you during the early part of the process. The e-procurement plan for each company will be somewhat different in order to meet the specific needs of the company. There is however a general order to things that will provide the best opportunity for success.

To realize the most benefit from your e-procurement process, you will need to:
• Develop your strategy
• Complete a detailed discovery
• Learn to understand how to set up your procurement events, even if handled by your provider.
• Use a provider with a high quality process and an extensive database for sourcing suppliers
• Clearly communicate how events will be run or executed to all involved parties • Review the process for sustainability and adjust as necessary
 
As mentioned earlier, it is incumbent upon your e-procurement solutions provider to be able to assist you in completing these tasks in a reasonable period of time. You should be checking the background of the team and the leadership that will be assisting you to ensure their understanding of your industry such as operations, technology, procurement, warehouse management, logistics, transportation, loss prevention, store management and other functional areas of your business that will be sourcing products and services. It is all about detail because knowledgeable attention to detail will improve quality, reduce costs and ensure the success of your company’s new e-procurement process.

Please join us for part III of this post series on Monday titled Reasons to Use E-Procurement.

To download the entire article please use the following  link.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This is Part II of an III part post series titled “Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance” focuses on Getting Started!

This is Part II of an III part post series titled ?Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance? focuses on Getting Started!

May 21st, 2010

In part II of this post series Ron Southard CEO of Safesourcing and Tim Hull CEO of TDH Marketing will continue to explore ?Technology Drives e.procurement? with Getting Started.

Getting Started

First and foremost in getting the e-procurement process right is to select a solution provider or partner that knows what they are doing and is willing to work closely with you during the early part of the process. The e-procurement plan for each company will be somewhat different in order to meet the specific needs of the company. There is however a general order to things that will provide the best opportunity for success.

To realize the most benefit from your e-procurement process, you will need to:
? Develop your strategy
? Complete a detailed discovery
? Learn to understand how to set up your procurement events, even if handled by your provider.
? Use a provider with a high quality process and an extensive database for sourcing suppliers
? Clearly communicate how events will be run or executed to all involved parties ? Review the process for sustainability and adjust as necessary
?
As mentioned earlier, it is incumbent upon your e-procurement solutions provider to be able to assist you in completing these tasks in a reasonable period of time. You should be checking the background of the team and the leadership that will be assisting you to ensure their understanding of your industry such as operations, technology, procurement, warehouse management, logistics, transportation, loss prevention, store management and other functional areas of your business that will be sourcing products and services. It is all about detail because knowledgeable attention to detail will improve quality, reduce costs and ensure the success of your company?s new e-procurement process.

Please join us for part III of this post series on Monday titled Reasons to Use E-Procurement.

To download the entire article please use the following ?link.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on This is Part II of an III part post series titled ?Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance? focuses on Getting Started!

Ron Southard CEO of Safesourcing is featured with Tim Hull CEO of TDH Marketing in April issue of Technology First. Part I of III

May 20th, 2010

In an article titled Technology Drives E.Procurement Acceptance the authors share their thoughts on getting e.procurement right.

Technology First is an Ohio based industry-led, industry-driven trade association dedicated to proactively representing IT in their region and highlighting niche technology companies.

Part I.? E.Procurement Background .
Technology advancements are broadening the acceptance and utilization of e-procurement processes worldwide and making it available through internet access without the need for technology investment. The retail industry has been somewhat slow in considering e-procurement initiatives than have other industries. As a result, much of the lower tier one and tier two retail chains do not use the e-procurement resources that are readily available in the? marketplace today. Some companies would like to, but do not quite know how to get started. In several cases, even the big retail chains are sourcing a smaller percentage of their total spend than the levels being recorded in other industries.

E-procurement processes have been utilized in maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) applications in a variety of industries in addition to manufacturing materials supply. The purchase of office supplies, consumable items and numerous types of hired services from snow removal to landscaping and facilities maintenance can all realize great savings by using the e-procurement process which can range from a simple RFQ to a very detailed RFI. Although e-procurement is oftentimes perceived as merely the purchase of products and services over the Internet, e-procurement is much more than just a means for making purchases online. It is a well-managed, organized process that handles all interactions between the purchaser and the supplier. This process includes optimal management of communications, questions and answers, bids, previous pricing information, inventory utilization and reorder sequences, access to suppliers, historical cost savings, supplier transactions and much more. With built-in monitoring tools, a well managed e-procurement process provides numerous benefits, the most recognizable ones being improved cost control and maximized supplier performance.

With the technology based e-procurement services that are available today, there is no excuse for overlooking this opportunity to reduce supply costs and boost the bottom line. Getting started is easier than ever and more user-friendly, thanks to continuing technology advancements. With high speed bandwidth, reliable security solutions, enhanced software and integrated programs, the e-procurement process is proving itself on a daily basis in terms of performance and reliability.

Please join us tomorrow for Part II of this series titled Getting Started. To download the entire article please use the following link.

?We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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How should retailers manage their legacy contracts with SaaS based Contract Management Offerings?

May 18th, 2010

We are all aware that the majority of retailers large and small do not have contract management solutions in place. In order to mitigate their risk, where should focus be placed when beginning implementation?

With the release of SafeContract? Software as a Service offering or hosted software solution we have had many conversations with dozens of retailers as to what is the best way to store and leverage the language or data within existing contracts. My answer has always been the same and that is the identification of your Metadata.

According to Wikipedia Metadata is loosely defined as data about data. Though this definition is easy to remember, it is not very precise. The strength of this definition is in recognizing that metadata is data. As such, metadata can be stored and managed in a database.

When we think about contract management, we need to be thinking about mitigating risk and not necessarily all of the language embedded in a contract. On many occasions this information is listed on addendums or attachments. For sake of simplicity, and this is certainly not an exhaustive list the following twenty items reflect the metadata you might want to hi-lite and set alert targets against in storage of current contracts.

1.?Supplier or Seller Information
2.?Purchaser or Buyer Information
3.?Detail of Goods to be purchased
4.?Detail of Services to be purchased
5.?Delivery Timeline Details of the Goods and or Services
6.?Agreed Upon Price
7.?When and where should payments are to be made?
8.?Payment Terms?
9.?Down Payment Terms?
10.?Delivery Dates
11.?Delivery Location or locations
12.?Risk of Loss or Damage and transfer language
13.?Is Assignment of this Agreement Allowed?
14.?Detailed Warranty
15.?Trademark infringement language
16.?Origination Dates
17.?Termination Dates
18.?Termination Notice
19.?Additional Clauses
20.?Signature Details

The above should be data that is considered for inclusion during the review process that your solution provider puts in place for you during the early stages of implementation, training and review of your new contract management SaaS offering.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Where can you find retail 3PL’s? Can they help with e-procurement?

May 17th, 2010

Third party logistics providers typically specialize in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customer’s needs

According to Wikipedia a third-party logistics provider (abbreviated 3PL) is a firm that provides outsourced or “third party” logistics services to companies for part, or sometimes all of their supply chain management functions. Third party logistics providers typically specialize in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customer’s needs based on market conditions and the demands and delivery service requirements for their products and materials.

As such, there are a number of types of SPL’s within retail that may in fact service a single retailer. All might fall under this umbrella including wholesalers such as SUPERVALU, collective buyers such as TOPCO or even a retailer collaborative that may in fact just coordinate aggregated purchases and in fact pick other 3PL’s to provide warehousing, picking and packing and distribution. Each of these providers may in fact provide some or all of the same services and also may all be in play at an individual retailer. The later or collaborative of multiple retailers might even be looked at as a non asset based 3PL.

In all categories of third party logistics providers however it is still the  retailer regardless of size that determines what products they buy and accept delivery of for their stores. As such, it should be no more difficult for smaller retailers to run e-negotiation events?  There will need to be discussions as to costs that are purely associated with the warehousing, slotting, picking and distribution of products by a 3PL once an e-negotiation event has been planned, but these items should be easy to break out for bid or add to the final pricing prior to award of business as a flat fee. This is a practice that all 3PL’s should be familiar with already. Retailers should anticipate that their existing 3PL depending on services offered would rather not have you conduct these types of events as it negatively impacts their volumes with manufacturers and other providers and as such their company’s margins.

Understanding your options and the flexibility that 3PL’s can provide may actually make it easier for all retailers to use e-negotiation tools to impact their bottom line.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Where can you find retail 3PL?s? Can they help with e-procurement?

May 17th, 2010

Third party logistics providers typically specialize in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customer?s needs

According to Wikipedia a third-party logistics provider (abbreviated 3PL) is a firm that provides outsourced or “third party” logistics services to companies for part, or sometimes all of their supply chain management functions. Third party logistics providers typically specialize in integrated operation, warehousing and transportation services that can be scaled and customized to customer?s needs based on market conditions and the demands and delivery service requirements for their products and materials.

As such, there are a number of types of SPL?s within retail that may in fact service a single retailer. All might fall under this umbrella including wholesalers such as SUPERVALU, collective buyers such as TOPCO or even a retailer collaborative that may in fact just coordinate aggregated purchases and in fact pick other 3PL?s to provide warehousing, picking and packing and distribution. Each of these providers may in fact provide some or all of the same services and also may all be in play at an individual retailer. The later or collaborative of multiple retailers might even be looked at as a non asset based 3PL.

In all categories of third party logistics providers however it is still the? retailer regardless of size that determines what products they buy and accept delivery of for their stores. As such, it should be no more difficult for smaller retailers to run e-negotiation events?? There will need to be discussions as to costs that are purely associated with the warehousing, slotting, picking and distribution of products by a 3PL once an e-negotiation event has been planned, but these items should be easy to break out for bid or add to the final pricing prior to award of business as a flat fee. This is a practice that all 3PL?s should be familiar with already. Retailers should anticipate that their existing 3PL depending on services offered would rather not have you conduct these types of events as it negatively impacts their volumes with manufacturers and other providers and as such their company?s margins.

Understanding your options and the flexibility that 3PL?s can provide may actually make it easier for all retailers to use e-negotiation tools to impact their bottom line.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Was the recent e.coli settlement a supply chain problem?

May 14th, 2010

The recent settlement of the case of an e.coli victim supports the continuing need for a traceable supply chain and better due diligence in the procurement process.

We have posted many time on the need for a traceable supply chain and the need for better due diligence throughout the procurement process including plant, farm and other source inspections. Keeping this data in a format that is searchable in the supplier vetting process is paramount to mitigating risk to consumers, suppliers, manufacturers and other areas of the supply chain is just to great without it.

Cargill Inc. which is a great agribusiness announced yesterday that they were responsible for the life shattering injuries suffered by Stephanie Smith by eating a contaminated burger in 2007. The parties agreed to settle the law suite and the terms were not disclosed beyond that Cargill agreed to cover her care for the rest of her life.

The debate on food safety continues and as it does drives the need for compliance at all levels of the supply chain from the farm to the table and the capability of tracing finished goods from the consumer to the source in order to. Without these tools issues like this will continue to happen.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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What is the retail procurement lifecycle of a product or service?

May 13th, 2010

If your retail procurement team understands the procurement lifecycle of a product or service it will make its sourcing much more efficient. Ask one of your teammates to explain their understanding of the retail procurement lifecycle to you.

This author generally begins discussing this subject with our customers and prospects during the discovery phase of our engagements. It helps to get us all on the same page and as such we get a lot of different definitions. Quite frankly we get almost as many as the number of people we discuss the subject with. Surprisingly the process which is quite simple as a definition is not any different from when I first learned it over 40 years ago in the U.S. Air Force other than its automation provided by modern procurement tools.

Typically procurement consists of seven (7) steps. Where the confusion generally enters is that each step can have a process of its own or be interrelated with another step in the process. An example would be the contract lifecycle that easily fits within the negotiation cycle and the renewal cycle. Another might be that information gathering which is the generally accepted first step in the process can apply to multiple issues such as information gathering for the related product or services such as specifications as well as the information gathering of prospective supplier data.

As such, the simple steps to the procurement lifecycle that most individuals generally agree upon are as follows.

1.?Information gathering
2.?Supplier contact
3.?Background review
4.?Negotiation
5.?Fulfillment
6.?Consumption
7.?Renewal

Most times keeping this simple model in mind will allow? retail procurement professionals to answer the question where are we in the process when a project gets stalled or off track.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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