e-Procurement: Making Purchasing Easier, Greener, and More Secure Than Ever
With supply chains more volatile than ever, establishing and maintaining connections with suppliers securely and easily has become increasingly crucial. A revolution in traditional procurement practices cannot come soon enough and is essential to building up the long-term resilience of supply chains.
Electronic procurement (otherwise known as e-Procurement) is the modern solution to these issues.
Streamlining Supply Chains
E-Procurement facilitates the purchase and sale of supplies, equipment, works and services using a web interface and secure networked system. The system connects users to external supply chains and supply communities through a simplified process, resulting in better overall visibility of supplier information and supplier transactions. Not only does this provide clarity and transparency for all parties, but this system also instils greater confidence in the process of sourcing goods and services, emboldening those within the supply and demand chain to make choices with certainty.
The recent shortage of blood collection tubes in the UK epitomised how instability in the supply chain can have catastrophic and widespread implications. The combined consequences of increased demand for blood collection tubes as healthcare services returned to post-pandemic normality, alongside the difficulties faced by the haulage sector following post-Brexit modifications to immigration legislation, prompted a nationwide shortage of blood collection tubes to ensue. Thousands of patients in Britain had blood tests postponed, worsening the backlog in healthcare and damaging patient outcomes. Miscommunication and ambiguity defined this crisis and proved the importance of adaptable and responsive supply chains.
Circumventing the insecurities of traditional supply chains, e-Procurement connects organisations to alternative suppliers, enhancing cross-channel communication. This means your organisation can be made aware of – and prepare for – potential issues ahead of time. In doing so, e-Procurement bolsters supply chains, increasing their resilience against real-world disruptions. It is because of this that many organisations are seeking to bypass such unpredictability in the supply chain and are opting to streamline their operations through e-Procurement platforms.
Smart procurement solutions can also enhance workflows by centralising procurement, offering an extensive range of goods and services in one company-approved space, meaning users are assured of quality and compliance. E-Procurement therefore offers users a quick, effective, and compliant route to market for alternative suppliers to minimise these issues and streamline supply chains across the whole system.
Reducing Environmental Impact
As policymakers from countries across the globe convene in Glasgow to discuss how the world will come together to tackle the climate crisis, it is also increasingly critical that industry and business are not left behind. Traditional methods of procurement must be innovated upon and updated to bring them into the 21st century and to ensure that procurement pathways align with broader ambitions of decreasing environmental degradation.
An entirely paperless system, e-Procurement offers a fresh approach to procurement that can support organisations to reduce their environmental impact, achieving such goals. E-Procurement centralises all contracts and associated documents in one secure space, removing the laborious and carbon consuming task of storing excessive paper copies. Users are also empowered to make considered choices about where their products are sourced from, for example opting to use a supplier located closer to a Head Office location to minimise excessive travel during the delivery process.
Supporting a Hybrid Working Model
In a world of hybrid working, being able to access data quickly and easily, from any location, has become critical. Organisations like Catalog360 are helping to make e-Procurement more accessible across the market for a range of sectors, for example using PEPPOL integration to securely bridge the gaps in communications between organisations on different network systems. Storing data on cloud-based systems, rather than relying on paper filing systems, has the additional benefit of being more secure and simpler to access at the click of a button.
Fundamentally designed to save time and money, e-Procurement platforms like Catalog360 offer users extensive benefits when compared with traditional procurement. Its continually evolving technology and purpose-designed functions have transformed procurement – increasing the speed and efficiency of procurement practices – and allowing a smooth transition into a hybrid working model as users can deliver the same, if not better outcomes from the click of a button. In turn, this enables organisations to maximise their resources and re-invest time into other aspects of their business, expanding their prospects.
Beyond the limitations of a specific industry, e-Procurement has the potential to be utilised across a range of sectors, from healthcare (both private and public) to construction, private equity to hospitality: the possibilities are endless.
Catalog360
Catalog360 is a cloud-based procurement tool designed to connect providers with market-leading and clinically led supplier communities, using an on-demand catalogue system. The Catalog360 platform offers a single purchasing portal for all purchasing needs and even centralises all active contracts in one easy to access place, and the cloud storage system means users can have full confidence in the security of documentation. HealthTrust Europe has designed the multi-faceted platform with more than 300,000 items that are vendor supplied, validated and cleansed, as well as access to contracts that are clinically led and checked for quality, safety, service and price, positioning Catalog360 at the cutting-edge of procurement.
If you are interested in becoming a Catalog360 member, or if you would like to learn more about our innovative platform, you can be in touch with our dedicated customers care team via 0845 887 5000 or customercare@htepg.com. You can also find out more on the Catalog360 website.
