There is a significant amount of confusion in the marketplace regarding "e-procurement" and precisely what is covered under that particular umbrella. One important aspect of that topic is the area of "spend management".
Enterprise spend management is a new class of solution that focuses on delivering closed loop control over analysis, sourcing and procurement processes. Most large companies already know how to reduce their spend, but today`s challenge is to systematically control all key procurement interactions across the enterprise to deliver deeper and more sustainable spend reductions.
Enterprise spend management solutions provide a single point of control allowing companies to engage, manage and leverage the entire spend lifecycle from analysis, through sourcing, to procurement across the enterprise, while providing systematic measurement, tracking and reporting of best practices.
Procurement professionals can gain closed-loop control over the spend lifecycle through the following three key enablers:
Find the money
Analysis helps companies view and evaluate spending across the entire organisation so that they can make better business decisions. Companies need to understand their current spending patterns in order to identify opportunities for improvement. They can`t do so effectively if the data is not readily available or is difficult to compare across different systems. Analysis provides companies with a single repository of accurate spend data and easy-to-use tools to analyse that data.
Get the money
Enterprise-wide electronic sourcing streamlines and automates the entire sourcing process, from definition and aggregation of spending requirements to supplier management, negotiation, and establishment of optimal contracts with suppliers. As an enterprise-wide solution, it enables buyers and suppliers to capture purchasing trade-offs and optimise sourcing activities with flexible bidding options and decision support tools.
Keep the money
Enterprise-wide electronic procurement provides a unified, efficient requisition management and purchasing capabilities for all users and commodities that automates and streamlines the full buying cycle, accommodating requisitions ranging from simple to complex and supporting both static and dynamic content.
There is an opportunity to learn more about the above at forums being run on 14, 15 and 16 May in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town respectively. These forums are being hosted jointly by B2BAfrica and Ariba.
For further information, please contact Alison Mckie at telephone (011) 773 1300; or e-mail rsvp@B2BAfrica.com
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B2BAfrica is a South African-based company, owned by Transnet, offering integrated, end-to-end solutions and e-services across sourcing and procurement, e-logistics and fulfilment and all value-added e-services. B2BAfrica connects companies and people across disparate environments, real commerce and collaboration; real business. The Internet for B2BAfrica is just the epicentre that enables commerce and collaboration, transparency and openness. B2BAfrica is the answer to the e-business requirements of SA`s industry leaders, packaged as a unique mix of new economy thought leadership and old economy best practice.
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