E-procurement is the name given to the process of buying objects electronically. The entire process constitutes of a number of stages including identification of marketers and suppliers, placement of orders and the delivery of goods. Electronic procurement ameliorates the efficiency of the purchase process and reduces the cost of traditional purchasing. Research studies show that electronic procurement can help a business acquire fantastic Returns on Investment within just 3 years of investment. Indirect spend happens to be area that several procurement professionals fail to notice. The companies need to participate in a procurement conference to get guidance about how to implement effective policies. Indirect spend constitutes of a considerable portion of the total corporate purchase. It can comprise of 30-60% of an organization’s total expenditure.

A proper e-procurement system aids a company to communicate and handle its most potential suppliers. It assists in bringing down costs and indirect spend and ensure optimum supplier performance. It allows to maintain an open line of communication with the valuable suppliers during a business process. The electronic procurement system enables the business to confirm pricing and leverage former agreements to ensure that every new price quote is more competitive that the previous ones.

The purchasing process in an electronic procurement system involves the following things:

• Identifying the material or service requirements.
• Assessing the potential suppliers.
• Choosing the suppliers.
• Releasing and getting purchase requirements.
• Constantly measuring and administering supplier performance.

These phases often vary from company to company, depending upon whether buying is sourcing a new or repetitiously purchased product. While the new products need more time assessing the potential sources, while the repeat items posses approved sources.
Electronic procurement has the following benefits:
• Reduction of Cost: Costs can be curtailed by leveraging volume, by establishing structured supplier relationships and by utilizing system improvements to bring down indirect spend and enhance quality as well as supplier performance. E-procurement does not involve any kind of paperwork, errors and rework.

• Productivity: Internal customers can get the things they need from a range of approved items by using an online ordering system. The staffs that have been procured can be released from processing orders and by dealing with low value transactions.


• Visibility of the Expenditure: Procurement requires acquiring an idea about a firm’s indirect spend amount. It should leverage consultants, expend analysis tools or ask for data from the suppliers to acquire greater visibility of the expenditure. E-Procurement aids a lot in decision-making procedure by preserving the pertinent information and data in an organized manner. It helps a company to keep track of all the bids and help it leverage its knowledge to acquire better pricing.

• Controls: Standardized approval processes and formal workflows make sure that the curate level of authorization is offered to each transaction and that the expenditure is done to pull of the existing contracts. E-procurement improves compliance to policy. It allows the users to situate the products and services from the favored suppliers quickly.

By utilizing a formal sourcing process, risk management, negotiation expertise and by implementing the industry best practices, electronic procurement can offer a modified approach to indirect spend.
If you want to know more about e-procurement http://www.wbresearch.com/procureconindirect/e-procurement.aspx , its benefits and about how it can affect indirect spend http://www.wbresearch.com/procureconindirect/indirect-spend.aspx , you can attend a procurement conference. To get details about procurement conference, you can visit our website.