By Jodie Reed, Strategic Solutions Executive
Suppliers, regardless of industry, all face a barrage of challenges. Without a program in place to support information management (https://www.cbxsoftware.com/solutions/supplier-management/), suppliers may struggle with understanding the impact that poorly managed data can have on their business operations and bottom line. It is why it is essential that these businesses opt for support in this situation, such as from a professional data and IT outsourcing company. This way you can have properly Managed Data and consequently success in your business. It is not a shameful thing to need, in fact, many businesses cannot survive without it. There is also a significant amount of risk in the procurement field and having solutions in place to assess this risk (learn more here) can help to mitigate your supply chain, your revenue and your reputation becoming compromised.
One of the major issues suppliers face is how data is located and pulled from disparate systems. With information located in multiple places, it becomes more difficult to search all systems for the specific piece of information needed. Additionally, as information is separated, views become inaccurate – not only is there duplicate data, there’s also incorrect data.
For example, if a supplier needed to bill a customer, but had multiple addresses or incorrect billing data for said customer, the invoice could be sent with incorrect information. This would then cause a delay in the payment cycle, negatively impacting accounts receivable – causing financial impact. Depending on the state of the supplier, a financial impact like this could have further ramifications for production, customer satisfaction, and beyond.
Suppliers can also face a loss in productivity caused by these disparate systems and data. Why spend time searching through multiple systems to gather information, when it can be sourced from a single, accurate view?
What can suppliers do to address this major challenge? Implement a single source of the truth. A supplier master will combine all of the disparate systems and correct for data quality (addresses, tax codes, etc.) to create a single, accurate view for the supplier. The laundry list of benefits from implementing an information management solution can include:
- Full views allowing for expansion, cross-sell, or up-sell
- Improved productivity in not having to search multiple systems
- Reduced risk through a full view of the supplier
… Not to mention the financial gains from improving receivables as well as enriched customer and vendor experience. This list of implementation benefits is just the tip of the iceberg!