|
|
|
|
· Supplier Enablement dramatically lowers the costs of doing business? · Significant cost efficiencies arise where 100% of suppliers are enabled to support: o Electronic catalogues? o Electronic Order Acknowledgement and Advance Shipping Notices?
o
Electronic Invoices?
· Enhanced performance in the areas of Contract Compliance, Process Improvement and Inventory Reduction significantly improves profitability. · Enhanced vendor compliance improves profitability.
"You've cut the waste out of your own
operations. Now, you face an even tougher challenge: streamlining the processes
you share with other companies."
In today's highly competitive economic environment, characterised by shrinking margins and sluggish growth, businesses are micro-analysing everything they do. Businesses do not need reminding that they must dramatically lift productivity and significantly lower their cost of doing business. Achieving these objectives, while at the same time enhancing quality and service, has been an imperative for years. For buying organisations and their suppliers, the highly competitive economic environment is similar to how it has always been: Buying organisations and their suppliers are interdependent. Suppliers' costs of doing business are lower when dealing with buying organisations who always order the correct items: Buying organisations' costs are lower if their suppliers deliver the items as ordered in full and on time. The outcome is a "win/win" situation for suppliers and buying organisations. To lower procurement costs and increase profits, buying organisations sought to: · Eliminate those steps in the procurement process that were not adding any value, but were unnecessarily adding to the cost of doing business. · Establish preferred / contract supplier arrangements and endeavoured to ensure compliance to these arrangements by both the buyers and the supplier · Reduce inventory of both direct and indirect goods by shortening or integrating supply chains. To facilitate this quest for process efficiency improvement and lower product and service prices, buying organisations invested in a variety of enabling tools, such as: · Procurement Modules for their ERP or Legacy system. · Marketplaces. · e-procurement solutions. As the Internet became more ubiquitous, the promised returns from e-procurement investments continued to swell. These promised returns have not materialised: The expected operational savings and cost savings proved to be elusive. Buying electronically from a myriad of suppliers, the multitudinous mix of goods and services needed by a business was far more complex than first appeared: Buying organisations underestimated the critical role suppliers play in the success of e-procurement. Fully automating Buying Organisations' procurement of direct and indirect inputs requires, as a prerequisite, the cooperation and readiness of suppliers who must be capable of: · Providing Buying Organisations with electronic catalogues/price lists in the Buying Organisation's specified format. · Receiving electronic orders from the Buying Organisation in the Buying Organisation's agreed format. · Transmitting back to the Buying Organisations in their specified format any required electronic documents comprising order acknowledgements (ACK's), advance shipping notices (ASN's) and electronic invoices. Sands Solutions recognises the interdependency of buying organisations and their suppliers. Our mission has always been to "significantly lower trading partners' costs of doing business". Our standout supply chain enablement solution is Smart Supplier. Smart Supplier enables suppliers, of direct and indirect inputs, to dramatically reduce their trading partners' costs by electronically enabling their supply chain. It is estimated that in excess of 98% of suppliers to industry are not currently capable of integrated electronic trading. With Smart Supplier, suppliers can easily: · Provide their customers with electronic catalogue content in the customer's required format. o It supports customer specific pricing o It easily allows catalogue content to be enhanced with any specific customer requirements such as: § Images § URL's § HAZCHEM data sheets § Additional product data § UNSPSC / eCLASS § Parametric details § Attachments o It allows suppliers to easily publish part catalogues for customers who do not require a supplier's full product range. · Receive customers' orders automatically and interface these into their existing backoffice systems. o Suppliers can receive any electronic trading document type including XML, EDI, email, FTP. · Transmit back to the customer in the customer's nominated document type and format, any electronic trading documents including, order acknowledgments (ACK’s), change orders (CO’s), advance shipping notices (ASN’s) and very importantly, electronic invoices. Smart Supplier is currently being used to enable suppliers to successfully trade electronically with many of Australia’s largest organisations. SeComm is our latest supplier enablement solution. Like Smart Supplier, it allows suppliers to trade electronically in accordance with their customers requirements. Trading partners working together to streamline the steps in the supply process. A supply chain comprises numerous steps that occur at the customer end and/or the supplier end; these steps are closely interrelated. The following diagram illustrates a typical process for the ordering and supply of goods.
Each of the above mentioned steps has a cost associated with it. However, some steps do not add any value to the supply process; they must be either eliminated or performed more efficiently. This, in turn, will deliver a streamlined process that eliminates errors and unnecessary delays while dramatically lowering the total cost of doing business. Typically, buyers are using their e-commerce enabled ERP system, e-procurement solution or an e-marketplace to enable the procurement-side of their supply process. To date, the majority of suppliers do not have systems that are compatible with the e-commerce solutions that are being used by their customers. The suppliers' systems cannot easily and cost effectively be integrated with their customers' systems; suppliers must resort to manually processing their customers' orders. Suppliers who have integrated their systems with their customers' systems are referred to as being enabled; it is a lack of supplier enablement which is the major factor limiting the use and spread of e-business across many industries. Smart Supplier and SeComm facilitate electronic supply chain enablement; they allow suppliers to trade electronically with customers who are able to place orders electronically.
Increasingly, customers expect their suppliers
to be able to trade electronically; customers need to lower their cost of doing
business. · You need one solution that handles all electronic document formats such as email, XML, EDI, FTP, regardless of how they are sent or received. · You need to be able to easily provide electronic catalogue content in the format specified by your customers. · Receive electronic orders from your customers in their formats. · Transmit back to your customers any electronic documents they require, in their formats, including ASN's ACK's and e-invoices. You can do all of the above by using Smart Supplier. Smart Supplier, certified by VeriTest for Microsoft Windows 2000, makes integrated electronic trading with any of your customers a reality. Smart Supplier is currently being used to enable suppliers to successfully trade electronically with many of Australia’s largest organisations including Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Wesfarmers CSBP, Telstra, Woolworths, Coles Myer, Quadrem(BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto & WMC), Coventry Group, WesTrac, Spotless Services and many others. Another supplier enablement option available from Sands Solutions is SeComm. By subscribing to use SeComm suppliers can trade electronically with each and every one of their customers who are able to trade electronically. Supplier enablement is now very affordable and easy, regardless of your size or the type of goods or services you provide. Using Smart Supplier or SeComm, suppliers can easily: · Provide electronic catalogue content in your customers required format. o Support customer specific pricing o Allow catalogue content to be enhanced with any specific customer requirements such as: § Images § URL's § HAZCHEM data sheets § Additional product data § UNSPSC / eCLASS § Parametric details § Attachments o Publish part catalogues for customers who do not require your full product range. · Receive electronic customer orders from ALL e-marketplaces, e-procurement or ERP systems. o These orders can be in any electronic trading document format including XML, EDI, email, FTP. · Transmit back to customers in their nominated document type and format, any electronic trading documents including, order acknowledgments (ACK’s), change orders (CO’s), advance shipping notices (ASN’s) and very importantly, electronic invoices.
| |||||||
Send mail to
kmeyn@gtwa.com.au with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
