We’re now over one-fifth of the way into the 21st century — so if your company hasn’t automated procurement processes yet, it’s time to stop living in the past.

Your company needs automated procurement processes if you hope to keep up with the increasing pace of business in an increasingly digital world. Manual procurement processes leave a lot of room for error, they’re slow, and they’re often rather opaque to those not in the know. With automated procurement, you can save money, increase collaboration, strengthen your supplier relationships, and streamline document management and purchase ordering. Read on to learn more.

Eliminate Unnecessary Spending

One of the biggest benefits of automating procurement processes is the money it saves. Sure, it can be a bit of a hassle getting everyone used to using a new system, but your employees should happily get on board when they realize they’ll be able to ditch many of the tedious procurement tasks they’ve been doing manually.

You’ll save money in the form of fewer hours wasted on manual procurement tasks, but that’s not the only way automated procurement can cut costs. With greater transparency into purchasing and elimination of data siloing in the purchasing process, you’ll be able to replace maverick spending and dark purchasing with greater transparency into your purchasing processes and better communication between purchasing professionals and departments.

You’ll also reduce a lot of the human error that can come into play with manual procurement processing. People tend to make more mistakes when they’re bored, and most of the repetitive tasks that come with manual procurement processing can create a fertile breeding ground for errors. You’ll pay more invoices on time, eliminate duplicate payments due to processing errors, and save your employees for more engaging tasks that require a human touch.

Boost Collaboration

Siloing can be a huge handicap when you need teams to work together smoothly across departments, as you do in the procurement process. Procurement tools allow you to remove some of the siloing barriers between departments, putting everything in one central dashboard where everyone can find it.

Procurement systems are designed to integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software so that purchasing data is automatically updated in the dashboard in real time. Greater access to relevant information enhances performance and can lead to better resource allocation internally.

Keep Suppliers Accountable – And Happy

Procurement tools provide the kind of historical data on supplier performance that you need to make sure your suppliers are adhering to the terms of your contract. These tools also offer you the option to provide dashboards where your suppliers can log in to view invoice payment status and update shipping information, pricing information, or other relevant data. These kinds of tools can keep your suppliers in line with your expectations. They also strengthen your relationship with vendors and suppliers by offering them a new level of transparency into your payment and procurement processes and your relationship.

Manage Documents More Effectively

It costs money to store paper documents. You have to buy filing cabinets, rent storage space, and pay employees to manage the records. Managing documents in the cloud not only costs much less, but it also keeps your documents safe in a place where they can’t be reached by fires or floods. Procurement tools make it easier to find documents when you’re looking for them — instead of rifling through a filing cabinet, you can simply key some terms into a search bar. Most procurement tools also allow you to streamline document management by bundling all of the relevant documentation — emails, contracts, invoices and so forth — attached to a specific purchase order.

Streamline Purchase Ordering

You can use an automated procurement tool to monitor direct spend, get purchase order acknowledgements faster, keep track of status changes and due dates, and update suppliers immediately when changes are needed. You can track all communications and purchase order details directly in the purchase order, with real-time updates synced to your ERP system. When purchase orders are automatically created and all relevant communication and documentation are attached and tracked, you won’t need to waste time searching for the right email — and you won’t risk overlooking important changes or details that could affect your payments or order status.

When it comes to procurement, you need to automate your processes. You’ll be amazed at how much time and money you can save with a procurement tool that lets you streamline invoicing, purchase orders, supplier relationship management, document management, and more.