The adoption of e-Procurement in business

Technological tools are now essential to gain efficiency. Despite this, a study highlights the slow adoption of these software by purchasing departments.

E-procurement is defined as all solutions aimed at dematerializing purchasing acts. There are three main phases in this process: product selection, placing the order with suppliers and invoicing.
The advantage of this type of solution is to allow a global visualization of purchases in order to facilitate control.

According to a Fed Supply study (recruitment cab spé) in partnership with the consulting company Leyton, 49% of the companies surveyed do not use e-Procurement solutions. Despite already proven added value. In addition, 2/3 of the panel manage more than 10 million euros in annual purchase volume.

The tools and their benefits:

Ariba and Basware are in place in 10% of the devices deployed. A homemade solution in 22% of cases. 2/3 of them only use various and varied tools. According to Leyton, the challenge concerns the use of the data collected, which will be more relevant as of 2021. Several product benefits emerged from this survey:

• Product catalogs, prices and commercial conditions updated in real time (27% of responses)
• Budgetary control (18%)
• Order creation, purchase requests or stock reservations (18% also)

Disruptive technologies in procurement

When it comes to deep technology, procurement is far from cutting edge. 45% of respondents are not aware of current procedures in their company. Only 38% of structures are capable of automatically generating dashboards in various formats. Automation in the analysis of complete costs during related events would only be deployed in 18% of cases.

CSR is struggling to make room for itself in procurement
40% of respondents raise awareness against only 18% of responsible purchasing compliance.
With little knowledge of standards, especially the recently created ISO 20400, the challenge is only strategic for 15% of the companies surveyed.

There is still significant room for manoeuvre in the adoption of these technologies, which is interesting for all structures present on this promising market.

Source: Purchasing decisions: no. 219/September 2020

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