Print:considerations when choosing a procurement platform
The cost savings and efficiencies delivered by?Print and Marketing?Procurement platforms are driving adoption among many leading businesses?and procurement services companies?globally.
Overview?
Print is a complex spendcategory for an organisation to manage because every?job is unique, specifications vary, prices change and?supplier performance is variable. Of the ￡800bn spent annually on print it is estimated that between 25% and 30% is wasted through manual ordering processes,?poor procurement practices and process inefficiencies.
Cost savings and efficiencies?can be?delivered by?a?Print?Procurement platform.
Print procurement platform's?help organisations gain more control of their overall print spend and provide a streamlined, standardised, and automated print procurement process. These solutions?need to be?flexible and highly configurable with?bespoke capabilities. They need to be easily adaptable?to support?fluctuations in demand, business cycle?changes and varying business working practices.
This article provides some useful tips and recommendations to aid in the analysis and selection of a print procurement
Note: the average organisation wastes 30% of its print spend.
Define your goals before beginning the evaluation process.
Before investing time and money into a Print Procurement platform, it is critical to understand the end goal. What does the software need to do and what does it need to achieve? Procurement goals may include:
?It is important to determine what your organisation needs to do and what results need to be delivered.
It is also crucial to obtain senior management buy-in and ensure your Print Procurement platform goals are aligned with those of the wider business. Including decision makers and individual print buyers in the Print Procurement platform selection and deployment process from the start will help ensure project success. You will also be more likely to have support for required process changes and user adoption when the Print Procurement platform is implemented.
As an example, a company may decide their goal is to reduce overall print spend, and following an internal audit, they have evaluated that this can be done through centralising their print purchasing.
They?have many different buyers using different suppliers,?with essentially each buyer running his or her own business, unaware of other print purchases and supplier relationships within their company.
Through implementing a print procurement platform they would?be able to reduce the number of suppliers significantly,?allowing them to better manage their print suppliers and drive down cost.
When selecting a Print Procurement platform it is important to understand how print is currently being purchased and how suppliers are being managed. It is likely that introducing a Print Procurement platform will require a change to current processes and practices.
While change in an organisation may be subject to?initial resistance from staff members, a commitment to?change is necessary for a Print Procurement platform?to be effective.
Find a system that's easy for everyone to use. Sometimes organisations focus on system features and functionality without thinking about the end user'sexperience. Systems that are difficult to use won't?be used. They will quickly become obsolete, people will revert back to old processes and the?organisation will have wasted considerable time and resources.
The layout of the system should be intuitive, logical and easy to navigate and?the system workflow should?incorporate the required checks at each stage. This will ensure minimal user training and expedite user adoption.
Support is also an important factor. Technical support, user manuals and training should be provided as?defined in Service Level?Agreements.
Match reporting tools to your business needs.
Print Procurement platforms help streamline and?improve print purchasing processes. A flexible solution?should provide organisations with wide spend visibility and ensure compliance to pre-negotiated prices,?allowing spot buying from your approved suppliers.
A typical system can track costs, reconcile supplier invoices and manage invoicing or recharging.
The system selected should provide the relevant data that your organisation needs to make informed decisions. Unlike manual processes that use e-mails, faxes, and hand-written notes, a Print Procurement?platform offers a centralised repository of data, relating?to all print and production spending for the entire organisation.
You also need a system with robust reporting capabilities, which allows the data to be displayed in a way that aligns with the organisation's decision-making process.
A centralised repository of information, along with detailed management reporting, makes it possible for the entire enterprise to have real time information about how much is being spent with each supplier. This information is necessary to leverage your print spend and achieve cost reductions. Having this information easily available within the reporting tool will help you identify and eliminate "maverick" spend, i.e., spend that takes place outside of established purchasing procedures.
The reporting system should allow authorised users to:
Choose a system that meets unique business needs.
All businesses are unique with specific?requirements. The Print Procurement platform selected must have the flexibility to meet the specific needs of your organisation through simple configuration and customisation.?Consider whether the system:
Organisations benefit from modular Print Procurement platforms that offer scalability through phased?functional deployment. Flexibility and scalability cannot be overstated.
Also consider that browser based systems must be securely hosted and capable of handling high numbers of new users without loss of speed.
Remember, value includes more than cost.
When evaluating Return-On-Investment (ROI) for deployment of your Print Procurement platform consider that there will be direct and indirect costsavings. Indirect cost savings include: efficiency from improved processes, more efficient resource allocation,?reduced cycle times, enhanced reporting capabilities, and ranking and rating of all suppliers for comparison.
Print Procurement platforms that are carefully evaluated, and deployed with adherence to best practices, can deliver fast payback and compelling ROI.
The actual savings realised will be dependent on the?efficiency of existing systems, current print spends, the?total cost of ownership of the solution over time, and?other factors specific to each organisation.
ROI identifies the financial benefits of a solution over?time minus the total costs of that solution. Payback is the time taken for the investment to begin generating?a positive cash flow. This is the period in time at which?the solution achieves breakeven. A shorter payback period (e.g. less than 12 months) reduces risk and?offsets the initial set-up costs faster.
The Next Step...
Once you've identified the Print Procurement platform?that best meets the needs of your organisation it is advisable to ask for a free demo. A company with?confidence in its product will be more than willing to let you see the benefits directly.
As a supplier of a well established Cloud based spend Management platform, why not take a look at the Claritum Platform...
About Claritum
Claritum helps some of the world's largest enterprises, leading businesses and fastest growing service providers control their complex expenditure. Over 150,000 users in 70 countries rely on us to deliver?significant and measurable?savings for their business.