Corporations

For many corporations, "typical" eProcurement is already everyday business. Often, several ERP and eProcurement systems exist for operational procurement triggering in a group, partly as a module of an ERP system (e.g. SAP Material Management), but also web-based catalog systems in the C-item segment. However, supplier and article information is often not exchanged between the systems.
In addition to a lack of synchronization of information, a lack of willingness to make the organizational changes that usually accompany this leads to potential synergies and their benefits not being exploited. The idea of organizing purchasing departments not by location, but by commodity groups, and designating cross-company lead buyers for commodity groups, fails. The buyers continue to procure "everything" for their company, instead of concentrating on specific commodity groups that are procured group-wide by "one", the lead buyer.
The ability to build up expertise in specific product groups makes the lead buyer much more valuable to the company in addition to classic purchasing functions such as supplier selection and price negotiation. By specializing in certain categories, the buyer becomes a bearer of know-how and can contribute to better company results at an early stage in product development or production by pointing out alternative raw materials or substitute products.
In particular, group companies with operations in the same industry can derive considerable benefits from the harmonization of information. For example, the identification and knowledge of the same or similar items in individual plants can be used to better negotiate these requirements in the overall volume. In addition, it can also lead to reduced stockpiling of spare parts and consequently to lower capital commitment, as internal procurement can be realized by a group company in an emergency.
We support the mapping of a group purchasing through our open interface structure, the consistent use of standards, the functionalities of master data harmonization and the display option of framework agreements. By using our SRM solution, you can manage group catalogs and company catalogs in one solution. Master data can be transferred from different ERP systems to the SRM suite for data synchronization. Order or goods receipt information can be transferred to the individual ERP systems for further processing in inventory management or invoice verification.