With the recent proliferation of proven, commercial e-procurement applications, there’s no need to build your own. However, consider the following factors when choosing your own solution:
Does it support the full e-procurement cycle?
Does the application take advantage of your organization’s current Internet environment?
Does the e-procurement application provide ease of configurability and scalability? How secure is the data going across the Internet
Are catalog content-management services provided?
How easily will the e-procurement solution integrate with your existing back-office ERP or legacy systems?
What support is provided to bring suppliers on board, as per the requirement of the situation?
Does system administration lend itself to adding and changing routine system information on users, bill-to and ship-to addresses, cost centers and organizational attributes, suppliers and related information?
Does it support extended business services such as auctions, reverse auctions, and exchanges?
Does it support value-added services such as bill payment, logistics, and taxationWill the vendor provide regular updates and software support?
Expertise needed for E-procurement success?
Successful e-procurement implementation requires a number of unique technical, functional, and project-management skills including:
Knowledge of the current e-commerce marketplace
Industry expertise in procurement practices
E-procurement implementation expertise
Experience integrating e-procurement packages with ERP and legacy systems
Strategies for supplier adoption and maintaining supplier relationships
Experience in managing product catalog content
Technical knowledge of web-based development tools and networking architecture
