Press releases & news

Efficiency through technology: Procurement

2006-03-23 Source: Computing Magazine

Local authorities and educational institu­tions need to ensure that they have thought through their eprocurement strategy fully. The strategy should cover electronic tender­ing and supplier and contract management, as well as online catalogue, requisitioning and payment capabilities.

When implemented well, eprocurement can deliver noteworthy cost savings. The University of Edinburgh, for example, has reduced its purchasing costs by about 25 per cent using an institute-wide eprocure­ment system. The university has about 20,000 students and more than 8,000 staff. Annual turnover at the institution exceeds £365m.

The driver when implementing the epro­curement system was ease of use, says Karen Bowman, director of procurement at the Uni­versity of Edinburgh. Because the technology will be used across the university by a range of people, it was important that the system was no more com­plicated to use than previous online and offline systems for purchasing.

Bowman says the benefits of getting epro­curement right can be considerable, but warns that there are challenges. 'Eprocurement has enabled us to get bet­ter value out of contracts and to make efficien­cy savings, but that may not sell it to the end user,' she says. 'You have to ensure that you can support your users and suppliers, and understand their needs. Don't get too hung up on the system itself.'