Building a Culture of Supplier Collaboration

Businesses are moving faster than ever –automating, streamlining, fast-tracking – and collaboration is increasingly an important way to enhance your supplier relationships. Better overall collaboration means greater value for you, the buyer. With the latest technology in hand, procurement departments positioned better than ever to keep suppliers informed and aware of adjustments to bids.

CPOs are Pulling the Collaboration Lever

In a recent Deloitte survey of more than 300 CPOs, respondents said increasing levels of supplier collaboration was one of the ways they are planning to generate more for their business over the next 12 months. It can only help to keep every supplier involved in any bid fully aware of the slightest new development.

When buyers and suppliers collaborate and communicate openly and quickly, it’s easier and faster to arrive at the best negotiated terms. It begins with open and clear communication on both sides, and ensuring all suppliers have transparency into what other suppliers might be asking that might affect the bidding.

Technology Adapts to Offer a New Level of Collaboration

With 65 percent of procurement professionals already citing greater collaboration underpinning their workflow, it’s only natural that tools should evolve to enhance that collaboration.

Technology like the new Adaptive Event Management from JAGGAER sourcing solutions allows suppliers to adjust their bids on the fly based on real-time feedback from buyers. For example, any new activity related to the bid activity triggered by one supplier is automatically disseminated to all suppliers. This allows for a more efficient bidding process and less time managing emails.

Also recently introduced in the new JAGGAER release is improved bid consolidation functionality that gives the buyer more control over bidding events, particularly with items of similar properties. As the buyer you can be assured that all items changed will not impact price because it’s included in the same consolidated view. JAGGAER also has introduced restricted bid fields, which streamlines the input process and maintains the integrity of the bid.