Description

This week we’re doing something a little bit different: A quick solo episode, bringing you ten key criteria to consider when sourcing a digital procurement solution.

This is something that seems surprisingly hard to come by in popular articles and white papers, so here are ten helpful factors to consider.

Let’s dive into the list…

10 Key Factors When Choosing A Procurement Solution

1. Cost

The main question here is which cost model does the solution use?

Most digital procurement tools operate a Saas (software as a service model). These will either charge you an annual or monthly fee for unlimited users, or on a per-user basis. Some solutions offer a hybrid approach somewhere between these two, or use a more modular structure.

Per-user pricing gets expensive very quickly if you need to keep adding users. You may sign up to something like this, thinking that it’s affordable, but then scale up to a point where the fees get out of hand. For established businesses this is obviously less of a concern.

2. Features

I’m particularly talking about best of breeds here, rather than legacy suites. Less is more is the key thing here - do you want it to do one thing very well, or would you like something more versatile that offers a modular structure you can expand over time?

If you’re laser focused on a specific problem, for example contract management, or supplier relationship management, you’ll want something that can do the job well. But these focused solutions obviously lack flexibility. A more versatile, modular solution can expand as your business does.

It’s important to consider this with your end goal in mind - what do you want to get out of the software, and what will your needs look like down the line?

3. Implementation

How much time and resources will it take to implement a solution? Some of the bigger suites can take months to implement, not to mention an army of consultants in some cases!

If you’re a mid market business with a limited amount of IT resources, then you need to be asking providers to give you estimates on the time and ease of implementation.

How easy is it to connect to your existing systems, for example ERP? How open is the interface?

Most modern best of breed solutions have APIs which should facilitate implementation, but be aware that ERP systems - especially older ones - may not have the kind of open ecosystem that modern tools have.

If your solution is trying to communicate with these older ERP systems, then be sure to ask about this up front.

Maybe ask for case studies to see how this integration works in real terms before you commit.

4. User Experience

How easy is it to use - For you, for your stakeholders, and for your procurement practitioners?

I’ve been in situations in my career where I’ve been given tools so complicated that even experienced procurement professionals don’t use them!

If a tool creates extra work for your procurement team, or your suppliers, it might fall by the wayside.

You want users to adopt new tech, and you want them to enjoy using it. If a tool becomes something users want to avoid, it’s not a fantastic tool in the first place.

User experience is an often-overlooked factor, but I think it’s crucially important.

Try to get a demo, or prior access before buying a piece of software - and try to check out how easy to use and accessible the key features for your business are.

5. Customer Support

This is especially important with startups, who may not have 24/7 customer support. If you’re in a different time zone, trying to get hold of a company who don’t have an external customer support team, you could be waiting a while to resolve your problem!

Try to get a picture of exactly what customer support is on offer.

Do they have their own employees? Will they give you a dedicated customer success team member as a point of contact? Or, what if it’s the worst case scenario