How to improve your business using Supplier Information Management

We now live in an increasingly globalized society where large numbers of businesses are reliant on suppliers across a range of countries that operate with complex supply chains.

Global supply chains are prone to disruption, meaning that it is imperative that procurement teams across all sectors are focusing on ensuring that they are assisting in the optimization of their suppliers’ performance.

There has long been a tendency to consider suppliers as external vendors that are completely separate from one’s business. This approach needs to be abandoned in favor of one that takes a collaborative approach, including all processes associated with supplier management.

A good starting point is to ensure that your company possesses an in-depth and centralized database of supplier information. This has long been a challenge for large global corporations due to the need to manage different supply bases, standards, procedures and back-end systems.

If we consider all of these areas when combined, things can quickly get overly complex and hamper attempts to optimize performance.

How can this be improved?

Supplier information management is an effective way in which businesses can combine a variety of complex information regarding their suppliers. This can be achieved by investing in a comprehensive supplier information management solution.

It also reduces the time taken to reach decisions inside an organization, as it ensures that all essential data and information is included in a centralized area for the key decision-makers in the organization to review and gain the required insights.

This collation of information also means that businesses are able to make better-informed decisions and further refine and optimize their supply chains through the presentation of data into an easy-digestible format.

When assessing suitable supplier information management platforms, the following functionalities should be present:

·       Help identify and assist in risk management and recovery

·       Analytics that empower companies to gain an enhanced understanding of data

·       Greater efficiency through the automation of processes

·       Encompass each point of the vendor lifecycle

·       Reliably streamline contract management across countries

Keep reading to discover further benefits of supplier information management and why it is an essential addition for enterprises across a variety of sectors.

Reduce disruption to supply chains

The complex nature of global supply chains mean that businesses always need to be alert to the possibility of disruptions that have the potential to impact the movement of goods and reduce profits.

Using a supplier information management platform, companies of all sizes can obtain insights into suppliers and the potential risks associated with using their services. This level of insight helps to quickly identify any risks posed and take action to reduce or eliminate them entirely before they impact your business.

Compliance with regulations

Using a supplier information management solution, you can be assured that your data is going to be managed to the highest of standards. From here, you are able to define and create workflows that make sure that you are complying with both internal procedures and important external regulations.

Ensuring that this level of compliance is adhered to is of the utmost importance as failure to obey these can have devastating repercussions for your company. These can range from heavy fines that damage profit in the short-term and lead to longer-term profit erosion.

There is also the risk posed in terms of damage to the company’s reputation in both the short-and-long-term, which usually requires considerable time and investment to overcome the impact of this damage.

Improve accuracy and productivity

One of the key benefits of a supplier information management platform is that internal tasks will be carried out more efficiently and with higher levels of accuracy. This is due to less time being needed to find important information and cross-referencing as to whether data is correct or not.

When implemented correctly, this empowers your organization to work more efficiently and ensures that your company is optimizing your suppliers’ performance. This has an additional benefit that it leads to greater increases in revenue generation and profit margins in both the short-and-long-term.

Following the implementation of the above, enterprises are then able to concentrate on refining internal processes to improve the performance of lead and delivery times, while also delivering better overall responsiveness to the market as a whole.

When a company has the capacity to focus on these areas of the business results in a better all-round experience for its customers, meaning that the business’s reputation and revenue will increase in the medium term and lead to greater levels of sustainable return on investment across the business.