Key factors for E-Procurement implementation

While e-procurement offers many quantifiable benefits, it still poses many issues that must be carefully considered before implementing a specific solution. Effectively addressing these issues will help ensure both a rapid and a complete implementation—one that will help your organization realize all the benefits of e-procurement, including a lower initial system investment and an increased return on your investment.

Consider these questions before you choose an e-procurement solution or provider, and consider how your answers will help you minimize the risks and maximize the rewards of your new system:

Is my organization ready for e-commerce?

Do you already have an e-commerce strategy? How will e-procurement integrate into that strategy? If you don’t have an e-commerce strategy in place, how can you build one that will support e-procurement as well as all future e-commerce activities?

 

 

How will I bring my suppliers on board?

E-procurement will change the buyer/seller relationship.

How will your current supplier relationships need to change to maximize the e-procurement solution? What strategies must be developed to build and maintain those relationships?

How will my current procurement processes need to change to maximize

e-procurement?

 Is your business model aligned with your system model? Where are the gaps and how can they be closed?

How can I create a scalable infrastructure that will support future growth?
 Industry studies indicate that e-procurement is

poised for explosive growth. Factors driving this growth include the number of buyers and suppliers participating, increased

 

accessibility to authorized users throughout an organization, improvements in Internet e-commerce software, and organizational growth.

This translates into increased transaction volume that can easily overwhelm the capacity of an e-procurement system. Will your current infrastructure support e-procurement?

Is your hardware configuration scalable to support additional servers, processors, and an increase in transactional volume? Note that e-procurement software must be object-based to support the addition of custom or third party applications, as well as easy integration with your current back office systems, as the needs of your marketplace change.