It's a fact: companies that optimize their technological infrastructures and adopt innovative technologies in their Purchasing Departments can increase productivity by up to 68% when compared to other organizations that maintain traditional processes. The number is part of a survey published by the American consultancy Hackett Group.
However, to achieve such performances, they need to establish interdependent processes, combining the digital resources available so that there is always evolution during the purchasing cycle.
According to the consultancy, if companies make their purchasing departments fully digital within five years, they will be able to:
- Align and more deeply integrate your operations with the supply chain;
- Eliminate routine processes;
- Automate functions that are currently process-based;
- Use cognitive analytics to make predictions, identify opportunities, and recommend strategies;
- Using data to improve compliance.
Furthermore, digitalization is also capable of improving the user experience. stakeholders and respond quickly to changes in business strategies, providing more reliable information to its professionals.
Intelligent automation
According to the Hackett consultancy, intelligent automation refers to the use of resources that improve a company's processes with the implementation of new technologies.
One example is robotic process automation (RPA), which can read and transmit data from multiple sources to a company's ERP and, at the same time, capture unstructured data from suppliers so that it can be processed in a supplier management solution.
In this way, it is possible to generate new information that should be used to obtain insights commercial and create predictive models that allow the improvement of the overall performance of the Purchasing Department.
By leveraging intelligent process automation, the sector can implement a policy of continuous improvement to optimize your results which in turn create new opportunities.
However, purchasing professionals need to understand how their processes work so that any changes they make can be significant. Some of these changes are:
Integration with suppliers: Instead of people, the processes of document collection and risk scoring, for example, are handled by automation tools.
Contract management: New automated processes allow you to search for and identify opportunities for improvements in the management of contracts with suppliers;
Supply: Analytics-driven market intelligence helps to automate supply-related flows, for example;
Guided shopping: Purchasing Management gains access to information about potential problems in the supply chain, such as when a preferred supplier faces difficulties of any nature and indicates another company to supply on an emergency basis. In this case, automation also helps to predict purchasing behaviors, suggesting the ideal time for a purchase.
The search for continuous improvement
The key to achieving continuous improvement is to ensure that the digital transformation strategy is in line with the company's business plans and, in addition, to consider how the different systems used work.
The Hackett Group further suggests that for effective Procurement Management, employees need to have a range of parallel skills related to data science, strategic thinking and customer experience – all of which are crucial for digitization in the department to reach its full potential.
This is because the use of data for the digital transformation of the Purchasing Department is increasingly important.
Do you know how to get there? The COSTDRIVERS platform brings together all the information needed for your company to automate. Contact Us and learn more about our work.