Thinking of transforming your vendor management process? Vendor management is not just about maintaining a database of your vendors or suppliers, it involves establishing a mutually-beneficial relationship, tracking performance and compliance, ensuring transparency, and much more! That is why adopting a software solution that can help automate end-to-end tasks from vendor vetting to vendor onboarding or offboarding can offer a multitude of benefits. 

In this article, we will discuss how a procurement solution can make vendor management easier, faster, and more efficient. So, let us start! 

Why You Need to Automate Vendor Management 

The vendor management process is faced with unique potential risks and issues related to payment, compliance, transparency, and reputation. Implementing an effective procurement solution that helps automate and optimise vendor management can prove beneficial! It can help you and your team automate repetitive tasks including 

• Monitoring vendor performance 
• Managing contracts and purchase orders (PO)
• Streamlining communication between stakeholders and suppliers
• Requesting for quotes or proposals (RFQ)
• Onboarding new vendors and much more! 
  

This means you not only ease the entire process but also save time and money which are the two most critical requirements for effective procurement. 

Moreover, automating vendor management offers additional benefits including

Improved operational efficiency: Automation means that the management team can focus on strategic planning and tasks.

Vendor base management: As the company continues to grow, so will the vendor base. Automating vendor management means effective management of suppliers for timely deliveries. 

No paperwork: Manually managing supplier information is quite cumbersome and subjected to errors. With electronic storage of data, you can ensure data security as well as faster processing. 

Supplier relationship management: Vendor management automation helps avoid delayed payments, tedious follow-ups, or missed deals. 

Benefits of Adopting a Procurement Solution for Vendor Management 

Adopting a procurement solution for automating supplier management offers many benefits. Firstly, it reduces spending and enables effective utilisation of resources including money and personnel. It also ensures timely delivery of goods from suppliers, enables accurate assessment of vendor performance and KPIs, increases efficiency and optimises procurement process, and improves customer satisfaction levels and relationships, that too with minimal manual effort. 

Additionally, you can expect the following: 

Strategic sourcing: Since automating vendor management equips you to track vendor performance and maintain deliverable standards, suppliers who perform better will become part of your main procurement process and supply chain. 

Swift vendor onboarding: Vendor management automation can make your vendor onboarding and offboarding process efficient and quick. 

Monitoring and ensuring transparency: You can easily assess the performance or deliverables of the suppliers against your defined KPIs. 

Faster approvals: When you adopt a procurement solution, it simplifies communication and the exchange of information amongst stakeholders. This means faster approvals for purchase orders, contracts, payments, etc.  

Improved productivity: As your team gets more time after the elimination of manual repetitive tasks, they can focus on strategic activities to fuel growth. 

Why You Need a Comprehensive Procurement Solution Instead of a Standalone Vendor Management System 

As the name suggests, a vendor management system can help you manage everything related to your suppliers but is usually not inclusive enough to streamline the overall procurement process. In fact, it can be said that a vendor management system operates in silos whereas a comprehensive procurement cloud-based solution automates all key functionalities from source to pay.