How to Make Better Procurement Decisions
When you are in charge of procurement in a company, your position needs plenty of responsibility. You are expected to make sure that nothing misses in the operations of different departments, and to make sure that you stick to the set budget in the acquisition of those items. While you may be aware of what you need to do on a daily basis, you may need a review of your activities. In your daily activities, you may end up making some mistakes that make your work much harder to do. By addressing them, your work becomes much easier to perform.
You could easily spoil your relationships with the suppliers. Managing supplier relations is a critical duty of a procurement official. A common mistake is to try and get the lowest possible price each time. Your motivations may be to protect your business, but they too need to do the same. You therefore need to be more tactful in your approach, and know when to ask for lower prices, and when to take their offer. It is not wise to insist on the lowest prices from all suppliers as you will develop a reputation. You should instead think of the long term relationship. When you agree on better prices for both parties, they will strive to ensure timely deliveries, more discounts and other offers, and better handling of your items. When you are asking for better prices, always make sure you do not demand something they cannot sustain.
You could also fail to find out what new changes exist in the market. There are times when policy changes lead to better prices. A supplier will let you remain ignorant and pay the older higher prices. Take time to find out about those changes, so you can demand a reduction.
You also need to be keen on how you implement technology in your work. There are developments in the procurement world meant to streamline operations, and present new opportunities. You need to make sure you are not lagging behind. Through technology you will manage to minimize your expenses, and make your operations more efficient. If you use digital invoices, for example, you save yourself printing and delivery costs. You will also receive your payments much faster. There are procurement department software you can also implement in the organization. Those incorporate all the activities of the department, and even connect with the suppliers online. You can, therefore, place orders, track their delivery, make payments online, and manage your inventories better.
Seeing as procurement caters to all other sectors of an organization, making changes to improve your procurement processes means the business will benefit as a whole.
