A recent blog, written by Angela Wilson, Senior Solutions Architect at CSS, dove into four ways that cloud-based procurement processes help small and medium businesses (SMBs) compete in today’s digital era.

While large companies with procurement departments often have the personnel and resources to negotiate significant savings and better terms, small and medium businesses (SMBs) typically do not. The good news is that the digital era has created new opportunities for medium businesses to improve their procurement practices and outcomes – especially with cloud-based procurement processes.

“There are very different business requirements for how small and medium businesses (SMBs) source goods and services. Using modern cloud procurement solutions is the best way today to meet these requirements.”

-Angela Wilson, Senior Solutions Architect at CSS

Benefits of Cloud-Based Procurement Processes

With the right tools, companies can realize a number of advantages. Oracle’s recent ebook, “A Guide to Developing a Responsive, Cloud-Based Procurement Process,” highlights some of the critical benefits of a Cloud-based procurement process.

Some of the benefits that the ebook touched on included:

• Sourcing
• Contract management
• Strategic spending
• Employee engagement

Sourcing

Finding the right provider for the job and getting the best price can mean time-consuming research. Strategic cloud sourcing can save time and money. By having all of the information about past engagements and pricing in an easy-to-access format, your team can speed up awards and get projects moving faster.

In some cases, suppliers need additional vetting, such as for highly regulated industries or to ensure proper credentials for a job. Cloud-based qualification management systems can deliver a list of appropriate suppliers in far less time than other systems. Such systems can alert you to potential issues and key deadlines – helping ensure that the right supplier is chosen for the job.

In addition, building an effective supplier portal into your system shifts onboarding responsibilities to the supplier, which can eliminate bottlenecks and free up your time for more valuable work. Such portals often become much-needed, automated transaction centers, allowing transmission of documents, estimates, contracts, and other communication directly through the portal.

Contract Management

Once a supplier has been located, the work isn’t over. Contract review can cause delays and add on additional costs. By using cloud-based tools to streamline contract management, standardize contract creation, create a language clause library, and adopt other useful practices, you can cut time and expense out of your contract management process.

Why is automating and streamlining supplier contract management so important? Procurement delays equate to missed deadlines, rush fees, and—in the worst-case scenario—an inability to complete critical tasks or fulfill order components. Inefficient approaches can be costly and damage supplier relations through delays and misunderstandings. Having a streamlined, cloud-based system goes a long way toward solving these challenges. Often, Wilson says, companies that rely on these systems develop a stronger, more collaborative relationship with vendors because of the emphasis shifts from transactional to true partnership.

Strategic Spending

One misconception about cloud-based systems is that they’re too complex or expensive for SMBs. Wilson says that CSS, using solutions like Oracle Procurement Cloud, can create nimble systems that are built as needed. Your midsize company can start with a solution that targets your most immediate procurement issues, then adds modules to address others as the company needs them.

As the cloud-based procurement process becomes a part of your company’s operations, one of the key benefits is the power of data. Analytics allow your team to spot spending patterns, budget overages, savings opportunities, and other important, big-picture spending factors. These insights and others support you in developing more strategic approaches to spending.

Employee Engagement

Employees also benefit from these Procurement Cloud systems. Self-service procurement allows your procurement team (or person) to access what is needed when it is needed without going through lengthy approval processes for every purchase. Of course, you set the parameters, but if a team member needs, for example, a new chair or printer, they can order it directly without delay. As more employees work from mobile devices, ensuring mobile enablement for purchases and approvals is also important. Such autonomy has been shown to improve employee engagement.

To learn more about the benefits of cloud-based procurement processes and how they can benefit your business, download Oracle’s new ebook, watch the video below, or check out the additional resources attached below.

Additional Resources

COLLABORATE 20 will take place April 19-23, 2020 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada! Don’t miss this chance to share inspiration, insights, and solutions with your peers, vendors, and the Oracle team! Register before March 6, 2020, to take advantage of Early Bird pricing.

Save the date for Quest Experience Week! This free, four-day event is jam-packed with digital education designed to provide both strategic insight and how-to-education for Oracle users of all levels. Each day is dedicated to a different product and begins with a keynote followed by afternoon breakout sessions. Join us November 12-15, 2019, for conference-quality education from the comfort of your desk!

• Cloud Day: November 12
• Database Day: November 13
• PeopleSoft Day: November 14
• JD Edwards Day: November 15