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Optimizing procurement processes can deliver significant transformational value in today’s fast-changing, digitally-led business environment. A recent McKinsey article notes that external spend often accounts for 50% to 80% of a company’s costs, and businesses that reinvent their spend management can thrive in today’s ever-evolving economy.
To drive this reinvention, businesses must leverage procurement systems and processes. However, that doesn’t come without significant challenges. For example, supplier eCommerce platforms and buyer eProcurement/ERP systems often don’t speak to one another. This makes purchasing prone to error and inefficient due to “swivel chair” processes that require purchasers to copy down data from one system, then manually rekey that same data into the other system.
A growing number of businesses find that a flexible, scalable integration layer, like the TradeCentric platform, that links their procurement system or ERP directly with leading B2B suppliers such as Amazon Business, offers the most effective foundation for optimizing procurement processes and spend. Integration solutions such as PunchOut allow purchasers to authenticate into their suppliers’ eCommerce sites directly from within their eProcurement or ERP system, shop and build a cart, then automatically transfer that cart data back into their purchasing system to route for approval.
This blog highlights how three organizations from various industries have unlocked unique value from TradeCentric, in partnership with Amazon Business.
Non-profit community organization attains new levels of spend control and negotiating power
A national provider of housing and employment opportunities for people with disabilities needed to improve control and visibility over spend, reduce credit card use, and gain more leverage during negotiations with suppliers.
After migrating to NetSuite ERP, the company partnered with TradeCentric to enable seamless and integrated end-to-end purchasing control and visibility across their suppliers.
They chose Amazon Business as their first integration because it was the most complex, and therefore had the greatest potential to deliver value through simplification and automation. It didn’t take long for the non-profit to reap the benefits of simplifying and standardizing the purchasing process thanks to a PunchOut catalog integration with Amazon Business.
Reducing credit card use also minimized the risk of unauthorized or rogue purchases and the overhead of chasing receipts for identification and allocation after the purchase. With an easier process in place, staff naturally began to favor purchasing via the integrated catalog on Amazon Business over more complicated processes with other vendors.
Today, the organization is looking to build on their success and grow the number of integrated suppliers included in their B2B Connected Commerce program.
Oncology specialist delivers large-scale biotech spend control with small-scale biotech resources
When a large biotech company created a specialist oncology spinoff, it became difficult to achieve the level of spend control and visibility expected in the larger organization. The spinoff faced similar challenges to many small startups in the post-COVID biotech sector: there was no full-time employee dedicated to purchasing , and there was limited budget to invest in spend management tools.
After an initial ROI assessment, they decided to run their entire Procure-to-Pay (P2P) process through their ERP, and sought a solution to enable integration of P2P with supplier eCommerce platforms and marketplaces.
They chose TradeCentric because of its presence and reputation as an integration provider, as well as recommendations from several sources.
Many life sciences companies, especially start ups, frequently use Amazon for initial purchases due to its ease of use and access to a vast array of products. The company chose to integrate Amazon Business because its reliability and efficiency made purchasing easy.
The integrated PunchOut catalog is their preferred way to use Amazon Business, as it maximizes control with minimum overhead and reduces corporate card use which was difficult to track via expense reports.
Amazon Business and TradeCentric deliver the control, visibility and efficiency this biotech spinoff needs to provide life-saving oncology solutions.
Traffic engineering specialist replaces “swivel chair” processes with focused, purpose-built P2P
A leading business in the traffic engineering industry faced unacceptable cost and resource overhead purchasing from major vendors. Challenges such as antiquated processes, lack of detail at category and line-item level, insufficient visibility and control, and a large amount of “swivel chair” work to transfer data between systems created costly inefficiencies.
When an Amazon representative suggested integrated PunchOut, the company first looked at a large spend management platform, but found its comprehensive scope and functionality went beyond their needs. Instead, they decided to leverage integration capabilities via TradeCentric to enable their ERP system to function similarly to a procurement solution.
To begin, they leveraged TradeCentric to set up 30 of their ERP users on PunchOut with Amazon Business. This modest investment quickly paid off, providing greater order accuracy and detailed insights for buyers, procurement, and finance teams. As a result, they now have 100 users who leverage Amazon Business frequently.
They estimate that the time to build a cart, then copy and paste that data into their ERP (aka “swivel chair” processes) represents a cost of around $50,000 per year. PunchOut delivers this at a fraction of the cost, with fewer errors and lower purchase order rejection rates. These cost savings allow the procurement team to focus more on their core business while also having a better understanding of where the budget is utilized.
How TradeCentric can help you maximize procurement value
These are just three of many user stories where businesses have created new value with Amazon Business and TradeCentric.
Partnering with TradeCentric to integrate existing eProcurement or ERP systems with leading suppliers such as Amazon Business, Grainger, CDW, and more delivers a wide range of benefits:
- PunchOut functionality gives buyers a seamless, accurate purchasing experience while eliminating “swivel chair” processes to rekey data
- Integrated end-to-end P2P process reduces cycle times and risk of errors, queries and canceled orders
- External spend can be managed effectively without the need for large procurement teams, enabling value-additive activities such as item tracking, categorization and mapping with minimal overhead
- Suppliers and marketplace providers value the speed, efficiency and accuracy of an integrated P2P process, making it a valuable lever for buyers in securing best pricing and building strong buyer relationships
To learn how TradeCentric and Amazon Business can build procurement value in your organization, watch our on-demand webinar.
