Procurement departments can run into serious issues without the proper procure-to-pay tools. Lackluster procurement strategies can bring unnecessary risk, dark purchasing, detrimental data inaccuracies, harmful supplier issues, and a more drawn-out procure to pay cycle. Procurement teams no longer need to be bogged down by wasted time, overlooked opportunities, and poorly allocated resources due to decentralized and ineffective procurement planning and execution. Rather, they can maximize a future-minded procure to pay process flow with procure to pay software. Here's how procurement professionals can select the right solution for their needs.
Before organizations choose their procure to pay solution, they must review their plan in order to understand how - specifically - they can optimize procurement. Acquisition processes should involve the coordination of all relevant personnel to construct a plan and execute it. As such, procurement departments should develop a holistic strategy for not only acquisition but full procure to pay optimization - including after purchasing. The following should be considered and addressed in a centralized manner:
Leading-edge, cloud based procure to pay platforms - such as CobbleStone Contract Insight® - unify and centralize the tasks mentioned above on one central system! Procurement professionals can transform their processes with automated and swift approval routing, rules-based collaboration, intelligent workflow automation, task escalation, seamless purchase order management and eSourcing process integration, and much more - so be sure to select a solution that provides the advantage of a centralized and seamlessly integrated process!
The procure to pay process can start off strong with a procure to pay system that provides a diverse array of request options. With advanced procurement applications - such as CobbleStone Contract Insight® - requestors can fill out a standard requisition form that triggers a comprehensive form review process that determines if a request should include a bid process, if an existing contract can be leveraged instead, or if a new purchase order should be created. Be sure to select a procurement software solution that provides this level of helpful oversight!
Trusted procure to pay applications also offer the help of an intelligent request wizard tool. This functionality helps users swiftly address a series of dynamic questions. Subsequently, the system can decide on the type of RFx that will be initiated based on configured organizational guidelines. Additionally, the wizard helps users determine if they can leverage an existing contract.
Organizations can seamlessly draft a new request record. This record can be revised, edited, and reviewed throughout the contract workflow. After that, the configured, assigned user for budget review can receive an alert to undergo the budget review. Finally, additional bid requirements are assembled before a bid is formalized and published. Be sure to maximize procure to pay software solutions that centralize request gathering and subsequent bids!
Bids can be advertised publicly or by invite-only with state-of-the-art procure to pay software – directly from the platform. Seamless integration between a procurement system and a bid listing service can provide a stage for healthy competition between potential vendors. Consequently, buying organizations can generate more value from awards, and vendors are seamlessly connected with relevant buying organizations.
After bid advertisement, potential vendors can ask pertinent questions. Helpful question and answer tools with leading-edge procure to pay software can assist organizations in remaining connected with vendor prospects.
Question and answer due dates can be configured so that vendors are only allowed to submit questions in a time frame desired by the organization advertising a bid. Once that configured and agreed upon date has passed, submissions are no longer accepted by the procure to pay solution. Alerts can be configured for when questions come in as well as when due dates are looming.
Vendor scorecards and response ratings with trusted procure to pay applications can keep buying organizations confident that they select the vendor that is most tailored to their unique needs. Oversight of bid rating weight allows organizations to value specific criteria over others when reviewing responses and scoring bids. Easy-to-read bid tabulation reports can be maximized to integrate pricing and scoring line items for a quick and comprehensive overview of bids.
Next come vendor awards! After the winning vendor is selected, an email can be provided to that winning vendor via the procurement system's sourcing record page. Pre-configured email templates can streamline the process even more. Furthermore, buying organizations can send emails to vendors that were not selected informing unawarded vendors that a different vendor has been agreed upon while thanking them for their contributions.
Once the award stage is finished, organizations can begin the contract lifecycle process seamlessly. A new record can be created or the procure-to-pay record can be synced with an existing contract record. Either way, the process can be performed easily via the sourcing record page.
For advanced contract record creation, contract management AI can assist organizations in importing contracts into their procure to pay software systems. User-friendly data extraction intelligently maps and categorizes data. The inclusion of key dates, contract data, and clauses is expedited– giving organizations control and visibility to search, report, compare, and categorize contracts, risk, and risk exposure.
Make sure your procure-to-pay procedures make use of future-minded contract AI technology. View the video below to learn more about contract intelligence.
With holistic and AI-based procure to pay software solutions, organizations can tackle a vast array of procurement challenges, including:
Now that you know how to tackle procure to pay challenges with a leading procure to pay software, it is time to introduce the best of procure to pay software vendors. The solution for your needs is CobbleStone Contract Insight.
CobbleStone Contract Insight is acclaimed, scalable, web-based, and integrated contract management, sourcing, and procure to pay software celebrated as a pioneering system for organizations in a variety of industries within the public and private sectors. It's no wonder why Forrester names CobbleStone a Leader in CLM software!
Discover why thousands of procurement professionals and contract managers trust CobbleStone Software with their contract management needs. To learn more about CobbleStone’s unparalleled contract management software suite, book a free demo with a Contract Insight expert today!
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Are you interested in future-minded contract management software tools? In our blog - 6 Critical Contract Management Tools for 2021 – learn how to leverage industry-leading CLM software tools for streamlined, user-friendly, and low-friction contract lifecycle management success!