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
Supplier Enablement gives way to eInvoicing
It has been suggested that blogs have been co-opted by business and are about as fresh as my trainers.
Click here to read the article published in line56.com today.
Apparently blogs have lost their edge and are no longer fun and individualistic. I'm inclined to agree but that doesn't mean we should give up, does it?
It ain't easy to make supplier enablement fun but you can sometimes test the boundaries of humour.
I'm not deterred and have started another blog this time to discuss - ELECTRONIC INVOICING.
Scroll down for a wealth of information about supplier enablement.Click here for more thoughts about electronic invoicing.
Labels: electronic invoicing, supplier portal
Supplier Enablement- off the wall
To ease into 2007 here is an interesting couple of comments that I found recently.
Suppliers have to think: why would a customer adopt a system if it were going to create more work for them?
So if you are a supplier approached by a customer to submit electronic invoices in replacement of paper invoices is your first thought; will this mean more or less work for my customer?The businesses that have been most successful with the introduction of eInvoicing are those with captive suppliers.
If you are a supplier to a business would you know if you were thought of as captive? Finally two thoughts for 2007.
1. Surveys identify that banks are the preferred provider for electronic invoicing services. This makes sense as payment of invoices is cleared through the banks (whether that payment is by cheque or EFT) and of course they offer liquidity (cashflow) through invoice factoring and invoice discounting. What developments can we expect as banks look for revenue earning opportunities from the increasing use of electronic invoicing?
Click here for how a bank helps a major retailer pay its suppliers.
2. It is well known that the problem facing the development of electronic invoicing is getting suppliers on board. This remains true but statistically we know the numbers increase year on year in the number of participants (buyers and suppliers) and number of electronic invoices. As we exit early adopter phase and move to a market that has a herd instinct then the opportunity size will grow rapidly and attract new players and new propositions.
Will this be the moment that a shift occurs from a technology led business (connectivity to enable transactions at a lower cost) to a services led business (an infrastructure for business) and will that be the trigger for banks and telcos and post and outsourcing providers to pile in?If only we could see into the future.
Labels: banks, electronic invoicing, supplier portal
