What Is Vendor Sourcing?
Generally speaking, vendor sourcing is when you choose vendors to supply you with either goods or services.
In years past, vendor sourcing could be an intricate and lengthy process. There would be phone calls, faxing, and filing, but today, eSourcing software has streamlined that process to make procuring auction vendors much more efficient.
Read on to learn more about auction vendor sourcing and more about the management process.
Auction Vendors: The Basics of Vendor Sourcing
Collaborating with the right vendors during the sourcing process is vital. Money and time can be lost if you connect with an auction vendor that does not fulfill your needs. Vendor management and the process of vendor sourcing has a process that looks somewhat like:
- Understanding your needs & requirements
- Market research
- Finding the best supplier(s) for your needs (RFx)
- Contract negotiation
- Establishing terms of payment
- Quality testing
- Implementation
While the main objective of vendor sourcing is to secure vendors with quality goods, the vendor contract management system and vendor sourcing process do have several steps.
Auction Vendors: Differences Between Sourcing vs. Procurement
The words sourcing and procurement are often used interchangeably. However, they are two different things. Sourcing is a part of procurement, just like procurement is part of the overall supply chain.
Procuring auction vendors and sourcing has a vendor vetting process followed by a concentration on contract management. However, procurement is a bigger part of the overall picture. Following sourcing and contract management, procurement concentrates on purchasing of the goods, requisition, authorization, payment, and spend analysis.
Software can help with sourcing as it is a simple, intuitive process that allows you to find new potential suppliers, strengthen relationships with your suppliers and strategic suppliers, and can help streamline the process with automation.
Procurement software features should generally have:
- Intuitive interface
- Supplier management
- Risk management tools
- Automation
- Approval workflows
This is not a comprehensive list, as there are many other pieces of eProcurement, but these are crucial to include. Your eSourcing software should:
- Electronic bid document creation
- Portal capabilities
- Side-by-side comparisons
- Bid award optimization (for more complex bids)
- Electronic vendor awards
- RFP Scoring
- Centralized message management
Be sure to find a cloud portal that meets your needs when inviting auction vendors. The system should be easy to use for all, your team and your suppliers included.
Auction Vendors: The Benefits of eSourcing
The benefits of eSourcing and obtaining auction vendors are many. While sourcing is a small part of the supply chain, it is highly imperative to its functionality. eSourcing allows for cost management, allowing you to negotiate lower unit pricing, particularly for high-volume purchasing.
This also benefits your auction vendors, as it offers them a consistent workflow. eSourcing also adds more stability to the picture, allowing you to develop strong, long-term business relationships with your trusted vendors. eSourcing software should also include features that can help you mitigate risk.
Transparency and visibility are key, and a stronger relationship with your suppliers and strategic suppliers makes risky ventures less likely.
To learn more about eAuctions, auction vendors, and eSourcing, or if you would like to schedule a software demo, contact us at EC Sourcing Group at 973-936-9672 to speak with a member of our team. We want you to be able to reimagine how you think about procurement.