Supplier Enablement - black hole
I have just reviewed a supplier adoption programme that deals with the strategy and approach that will be taken to acquire content and connectivity for an eProcurement roll-out.
Having read the documents two things struck me:
1. a team would be appointed to drive the programme – good decision
2. the programme lacked insight and detail about communication with suppliers - why?
As a general observation, a high level of competence exists to handle the data extraction and analysis that determines the selection of suppliers for inclusion in a supplier adoption programme, this part of the project being ‘internal’ to the business, but evidence shows a lack of experience when the project goes ‘external’ to the business to suppliers. It is a black hole for many.
The tough part of any supplier adoption programme is executing the activity of contacting your suppliers and then moving them to become active participants in your
e-Procurement quickly and at a low cost to your business.
Quickly means the elapsed time is short between first contact with your supplier and your supplier being activated. This drives the benefits of eProcurement into the business and is vital to delivering ROI.
Click here for a benchmark.
Low cost because, and you might not want to know this, most eProcurement projects woefully underestimate supplier adoption as an activity and the cost of this activity will impact ROI in Years 1 & 2.
It is apparent that supplier adoption, more often referred to now as
supplier enablement, is a skill set and is
increasingly in demand.
Click here if you are a buyer and want more information about how to run supplier enablement.
Labels: buyers, electronic invoicing, eprocurement, ROI, supplier enablement, suppliers
eBusiness drives supplier enablement
Discuss. The European eBusiness Watch Report 2006/7 is a great source of free information about how eBusiness is shaping up across Europe.
Here is an interesting sample from the report.
Who's doing it
- and is it important to them?
© European Communities, 2006. Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.Click here for the full report.
Click here for practical solutions to eBusiness whether you are a buyer or supplier
Labels: buyers, eBusiness, eBusiness Watch, europe, suppliers
Supplier Enablement - buyers get cuddly with suppliers
As I write and advise others about supplier enablement I find it more than comforting when I read a story about others who are getting under the covers of what supplier enablement is all about.
So if you are an oil or gas company or in their supply chain the link provided here will be of interest.
Even if you are not connected with these industries the story is still worth a read.
Click here to link to
Suppliers are People Too!
Group hug anyone?
Click here for practical solutions to supplier enablement
Labels: buyers, gas, IMPAQ, oil, supplier enablement, supply chain
Supplier eCommerce story – by the eCommerce fairy
This is my first anniversary as a blogger and I’ve chosen to write a good news story with a hint of prediction of the future.
I have many written many blogs that talk about contention between buyers and suppliers about the value of eProcurement but let's take the positive view that this will work out for everyone.
If I were a supplier and the eCommerce fairy visited me what would I tell?
Surprise and delight. We tell all our customers that we promote eCommerce as our preferred way to conduct our business. Some are surprised others are delighted.
Inspire others. Our customers ask us about our experience with eCommerce as they are eager to learn and as a result our customers admire us and see us as more than just a supplier, we are visionary.
Be shrewd. We promote eCommerce as our way to drive costs out of our business so that we remain highly competitive. Where we save money we share the benefit with our customers through lower prices. This is really novel for our customers and changes how they perceive us.
Be different. We know we have great products while we also understand that every trading relationship has a cost to buyer and supplier. When we tell customers how we use eCommerce to drive cost out of our transactions they see us as more just a supplier, we are a supplier that values their business.
Distance the competition. We use our eCommerce expertise to showcase our company, we are different, we are better and we know how to sell the difference. As product differentiation becomes increasingly hard particularly with the ease that you can search for products using Google then you have to deliver on “customer experience”. We want our customers to tell others that we are easy to do business with; fast, convenient, if only all our suppliers were as good.
Bank it don’t spend it. Our commitment to eCommerce means that as our business has grown we have not had to increase our back office costs and this grows our bottom line – the reason I keep reminding myself why we are in business.
eCommerce fairy needs to go to sleep now.
Click here to continue reading
Labels: buyers, customer experience, ecommerce, einvoicing, eprocurement, supplier enablement, suppliers
