Corona, skills shortages and supply bottlenecks: teams in purchasing and supply chain management have been facing major challenges for some time now. Add to that the annual wave of price increases just before the end of the year.
Many of these factors are almost impossible to influence. But you are not helpless. Because you can take targeted measures to make processes in purchasing more efficient, relieve your employees and make your purchasing department fit for the future.
Making processes more efficient through digitization
The „Purchasing Barometer for Medium-Sized Companies 2021“ shows: Medium-sized German companies are lagging when it comes to digitization in purchasing. Yet digital tools can make a significant contribution to helping you master the current challenges. Looking to the future, digitization is necessary to remain competitive. It is less a question of “if” than “when”.
The requirement for successful digitization of processes is that you select the right tools and use them in a targeted manner.
We recommend proceeding in two steps.
1. Analyze the status quo
Take the time in your day-to-day business to get a “bird’s eye view” of your processes.
Ask yourself questions like the following:
- How often do your colleagues pick up the phone?
- How often do you print something or convert it to a PDF to send by mail?
- How often do purchase requisitions arrive in purchasing and are passed on by mail, by phone, or by handout?
Ask your colleagues to log their activities for three or four days. Key points are sufficient. This will give you a better overview. You will also recognize which activities can be outsourced. We will come back to this later.
It is also helpful to divide purchasing into different purchasing functions, starting with operational purchasing and ending with contract and supplier management.
2. select digital solutions
After the analysis, you move into action.
It is important to remember that there is no universal roadmap for digitization in purchasing. Instead, it is crucial to select digital solutions individually for your company’s own requirements and processes.
Basically, you have the choice between solutions for individual purchasing functions, for example an eProcurement system or a digital solution for supplier management, and holistic solutions that network all purchasing processes. With modular holistic solutions, you can digitize your processes step by step. The advantage: There are less interfaces.
Tip: Sometimes even small digitalization’s make a big difference, for example, when colleagues can perform the receipt of goods directly on their smartphone. If you are unsure where best to start, seek advice from experts such as the purchasing consultancy Kloepfel Consulting.
More time for the essentials through outsourcing
In addition to digitizing processes in purchasing, outsourcing opens up great opportunities to make your purchasing more flexible and efficient.
Advantages of outsourcing in purchasing
At first, managing directors of medium-sized companies are often skeptical about the idea of outsourcing business processes to a service provider.
Outsourcing to specialists such as the German-speaking purchasing managers from Kloepfel Services combines several advantages for purchasing:
- More flexibility: Adapting quickly to fluctuating order situations is no problem with outsourcing. Because you can hire external service providers as needed.
- More time for the essentials: When you outsource operational activities, your buyers can better focus on negotiations or strategic topics such as digitization.
- Lower costs: By nearshoring to neighboring countries, you save on personnel costs without laying people off.
Of course, you will reap the most of these benefits if you choose the right partner. This brings us to the next point.
H3: Finding a service provider for outsourcing – these criterias are crucial
Even with outsourcing, the first step is an analysis of your processes. Think carefully about which processes could usefully be outsourced.
Ask yourself the following questions when selecting a suitable service provider:
- How much experience does the service provider have, especially with your own industry? What references can he provide? How competent does he appear to you?
- Does he have the necessary infrastructure to meet your expectations?
- How does the communication work? It is important that the service provider’s employees can communicate with customers in the local language.
- How is the security of your own data maintained? Also keep in mind the requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO).
Finally, gut feeling plays a role. After all, cooperation with an outsourcing service provider is usually long-term. It is therefore even more important that both sides “get along”.
In principle, we recommend nearshoring, i.e. outsourcing processes to nearby countries. As a rule, you benefit from easier communication and higher quality than if you decide to offshore to distant regions. In addition, there are common European laws on data protection.
Build on test phases
You do not have to jump in at the deep end. On the contrary: We advise you to test outsourcing in purchasing in advance.
First, outsource simple and non-critical activities. The maintenance of order confirmations is a good example. This way, you can quickly see whether the cooperation with the service provider works. Test phases also help to reduce the skepticism of employees in your own company about outsourcing. Ideally, a positive effect will soon be noticeable, for example by leaving more time for essential things.
Outsourcing and digitization make your purchasing future-proof
The demands on the purchasing department of medium-sized companies will not become smaller in the future – on the contrary. Targeted digitization and process outsourcing will ensure that you are equipped to meet the challenges of the coming years.
The two complement each other perfectly. Not all processes can be meaningfully digitized. At the same time, it makes sense, especially in view of the current upheavals, to create room for strategic processes and to become more flexible.
Do you want to relieve the burden on your purchasing department? Arrange an informational meeting!
Contact us:
Kloepfel Group
Christopher Willson
Tel.: 0211 941 984 33
Pempelforter Str. 50
40211 Duesseldorf
Mail: rendite@kloepfel-consulting.com