Simple as it may sound, however, it is a very profound question that as head of Procurement one might like to ask – what all can be sourced through e-Procurement? Can you put the benefits of Reverse e-Auctions in action for procurement of services such as maintenance services, human resource services, financial services, employee benefits, real estate services, marketing services and facility management?

The answer to this is, yes. When planned and analysed comprehensively, most of the categories that one may think cannot be sourced through e-Procurement, can actually be very successfully e-Procured. In our 14 years of continued solution oriented services to multinational organizations across India and Middle-East, we have had a chance to work on some very interesting projects such as – sourcing of audit services, transportation services, logistic services and international freight services. Our esteemed clients, at times, have seen jaw-dropping savings in price and time to procure services and products. In one of the cases, we were working closely with a Telecom giant and an unusual requirement came in. The Telecom Company needed audit consulting services from top financial auditing companies in the world. We suggested e-Procurement of audit services, and eventually online procurement gave the Telecom Company huge savings.

Today, in a highly competitive business eco-system, we stand firm that Reverse e-Auctions can play a significant role in the way even Human Resource Services like – Payroll processing, Background Verification, HR Process Consulting, Recruitment Process Outsourcing are procured. Most of these can be e-Procured with significant reduction in turn around time and cost.

Traditional procurement categories such as furniture, IT hardware and equipment, electrical components, packaging and raw material have moved to online procurement at an unprecedented pace. However, while migrating from manual procurement exercise to e-Procurement one must consider several other factors that play a critical role – spend management, switching cost involved in working with a new supplier & supply market competitiveness.

Reverse e-Auction event did not work for my new category, shall I stop considering Reverse e-Auctions?

It is easy to jump the gun and believe that online procurement is the culprit. However, while planning an e-Auction for a new category it is advisable to look into

• Is there a considerable spend-value to attract vendor participation?
• Is the supply market competitive enough with high number of suppliers?
• Are the requirements/specifications clearly laid out?

Global sourcing has also enabled heads of procurement to look beyond domestic market and since e-Procurement facilitates vendor participation from across the globe it provides an opportunity to procure best of the best products/service at very competitive prices. We would love to hear your views – how are you using Reverse e-Auctions innovatively in your organizations to procure services & products.

Happy Reverse –eAuctioning! Happy e-Procurement!

Download our highly recommended guide – Ultimate Guide to Reverse e-Auction Success.