For a lot of businesses, a well-considered and thoughtfully-implemented eSourcing strategy could offer numerous benefits. Increasing sourcing efficiency, bringing down overhead costs, and improving supplier relationships are just some concrete examples. Given that, it’s almost surprising that businesses are all too willing to overlook these advantages due to certain eSourcing myths.
(Thanks, Charles Le Brun for the great Hercules painting! Greek myths…now, those are interesting.)
To address this, we’ve collected four of the top myths about eSourcing in order for you to understand the real value of eSourcing to a business. Hopefully, identifying these pervasive misconceptions about eSourcing will show you how it really works, lead you to informed decisions, and ensure your company has a reliable sourcing strategy.
Myth 1: My category can’t be eSourced
You might think your category is too specific or complex for eSourcing. The truth is, any spend category that you traditionally source using an RFI or RFP process can be eSourced, as long as
- your category has a set of definable requirements and
- suppliers can evaluate how they can meet the aforementioned requirements
In fact, choosing to automate your workflows via an eSourcing tool means you are able to follow best practices, implementing more stringent buyer guidelines and ensuring more accurate responses from suppliers. Take out your notebook (or simply download what we’ve compiled) and learn the RFP process steps.
Myth 2: eSourcing is only about the money
Many organizations assume that eSourcing is only ideal when price is not only a priority, but in fact the only consideration. However, good eSourcing solutions are built to support and provide solutions that go beyond simply cost. They are specifically designed to capture and gather bid information in a streamlined and centralized way to allow thorough and expeditious analysis. Such features can be used to both quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate bids on total value, rather than simply defaulting to the lowest price.
Myth 3: You can’t use eSourcing with trading partners or existing suppliers
Every supplier wants a strong relationship with their customers. It’s therefore understandable to expect that some of your current suppliers might feel threatened when they are invited to participate in an eSourcing event. You can reassure them that simply because they are being asked to participate in a competitive sourcing process doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be making a change. Moreover, a robust eSourcing tool should provide value for suppliers as well as buyers. Indeed, after dealing with messy inboxes and collating data into different documents, suppliers may well be relieved to use a platform that supports collaboration, consolidates information, and more.
Myth 4: My company is too small for eSourcing
It’s possible, but we doubt it. Today’s tech-centric business landscape demands efficient solutions that will address business needs—regardless of size. Many of the newer eSourcing tools are also subscription based and scalable depending on a company’s needs. Such features actually make eSourcing more affordable and generate a better return on investment, particularly when compared with doing things “the old-fashioned way.”.
While eSourcing must have a strong ROI story and commercial rationale, it is strictly focused on helping organizations squeeze the last pennies out of potential vendors. There is a broader value story at play here. A good platform should enable you to define and implement better processes that will benefit your business in the long term. Opting to implement an eSourcing solution will help you create a better, more transparent and scalable process for stakeholders as well as the organization at large.
Can you think of more eSourcing myths that weren’t tackled here? Feel free to add any to the comments section below.
For a comprehensive explanation on how Vendorful can help you respond to RFPs and ensure consistent value, get in touch with us today.