Traditional Procure-to-Pay (P2P) architecture based on both paper documents and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems attempt to streamline workflows by digitizing the procurement process. This often results in unnecessary complexity as fragmented data isn’t efficiently integrated into those company P2P workflows, limiting data analytics and employee confidence in managing exceptions. This isn’t particularly conducive to scalable, collaborative supplier relationships.
Manufacturers can’t simply stop and dematerialize their procurement workflows. They have product to deliver. The conundrum lies in how to align current P2P processes and existing ERPs into an actionable architecture that drives process efficiency without sacrificing uptime, product, or supplier relationships.
BPIs and the Core Architecture of Change
According to the Technology Trends 2018 study conducted by Computer Economics, ERPs are high risk/low reward technologies with the lowest return on investment ratings in the study. Coupled with the 2017 Deloitte study linking poor system adoption with poor skill sets and limited stakeholder endorsement and prioritization, it is easy to see why the manufacturing industry has been slow to espouse digitized P2P architecture.
“Few companies have managed to achieve a 100 percent paperless organization…The paperless organization is a big change, but the positive implications are numerous.”
Oliver Wyman, “Digitize Procurement Processes and Collaboration” (2017)
Business Process Improvement (BPI) solutions attached to existing ERPs create core changes within the P2P process. BPIs help restructure how your company uses its data analytics to produce predictive data intelligence that facilitates stakeholder trust and supplier alliance. Manual interfaces become digitized. Real-time data translates into agility metrics that enables manufacturers and suppliers to engage and collaborate to a mutually beneficial end.
e-Procurement Tools that Evolve Data Analytics out of the Status Quo
So what changes need addressed when current ERPs maintain the status quo but do nothing to evolve P2P process and supplier relationships?
Strong P2P architectures must have cohesive goals and objectives that are both standardized and holistic for manufacturers and their suppliers. A manufacturer’s P2P workflow must be automated, scalable, and ready to align to both traditional and agile environments. Adding BPI solutions to your existing ERP eliminates routing through unnecessary and time-consuming individual workflows. No more waiting for someone to return from a supplier meeting out-of-state. Shortening the approval process from days to hours expedites purchase order requisitions, invoice validation and matching, and getting transactions into the system for actionable data that you need today–BPI solutions that evolve your P2P architecture, reducing organizational and workflow barriers.
iBundle Supplier Relationship Improvement (SRI) Solutions
iBundle’s BPI solutions bolt-on to your existing ERP to build a P2P architecture that seamlessly links people and platform whether you use it on-site or in the cloud. This provides for a balanced set of actionable metrics that meet the speed and agility demanded in today’s fast-faced world of interoperability and predictive analytics.
Product life cycles change quickly and markets are more volatile than ever. Suppliers aren’t just a means to an end. They must not only be strategic, but synergistic, operating in a 360° relationship that leverages collaborative financial and operational alliances. iBundle SRI includes iApprove, iPurchase, iManagePOs and iVoucher–solutions that give you the process, technology, people and knowledge metrics that you need at the core of your manufacturing company:
- Continuous improvement that drives business value
- Standardization of invoices–no more reformatted invoices to process
- Data is structured, easier to organize across your P2P system
- Minimizes error, bottlenecks, redundancy
- Lowers costs, ups your ROI and increases compliance
- Let us know when you’re ready to check out iBundle SRI. Let’s collaborate to get your ERP out of the status quo and into the P2P architecture that aligns with BPI solutions that provide scalable alliances without sacrificing uptime, product, or supplier relationships.
Contact Us when you’re ready to check out iBundle SRI. Let’s collaborate to get your ERP out of the status quo and into the P2P architecture that aligns with BPI solutions that provide scalable alliances without sacrificing uptime, product, or supplier relationships.
