When Is The Right Time To Make The Leap From Excel Spreadsheets To Procurement Software?

4When-the-right-time-to-make-the-leap-from-Excel-to-procurement-software

Statistically, 90% of excel spreadsheets are sensitive to human errors. Is your company part of this statistic? Even though Excel can handle a lot of data, it is susceptible to human error. Working on an excel spreadsheet has a lot of shortcomings especially if a whole team of people try to work on it at the same time. Thirty years of scientific research on spreadsheets has shown that people make mistakes consistently, especially when pressed for time.

It’s a feeble chaotic system. Information can be outdated, lost, duplicated and even deleted by accident. Excel 2003 can process 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns, but this is not nearly enough for the big data of today. A further concern is that most employees know how to use Excel by processing only one kind of information. Anything more than that gets difficult and leads to more errors.

Automating your procurement process is efficient in eliminating errors and keeping you in the loop of every purchase made. Well developed procurement software has a lot of functionality under the hood. It is automated so you can view it on your mobile device at anytime. Anyone of your staff members can master it in minutes and you can even give the relevant access to only those employees you choose.

Your procurement process is one of the most important processes in your company simply because it works with your capital. Your hard-earned money. Why would you let it go to waste?

If there is the slightest chance that you could save by controlling your spend why would you hesitate? Haven’t you put in every effort to make your business a success. Looking after your capital at all costs is what keeps your locomotive moving forward.

With an automated system, complicated data can easily be managed. Data is streamlined and easy to use, even for an on-the-run manager or executive.

Interesting facts about Excel

Spreadsheets, even after careful development, contain errors in 1% or more of all formula cells,” writes Ray Panko, a professor of IT management at the University of Hawaii and an authority on bad spreadsheet practices. “In large spreadsheets with thousands of formulas, there will be dozens of undetected errors.”

Why are there so many spreadsheet risk management companies like Protiviti or European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group? And why are so many companies bringing on their own spreadsheet risk management teams?

Panko (1998), summarised the results of seven field audits in which operational spreadsheets were examined, typically by an outsider to the organisation. His results show that 94% of spreadsheets have errors and that the average cell error rate (the ratio of cells with errors to all cells with formulas) is 5.2%.

In general, spreadsheet errors tend to occur in only a few percent of cells, therefore in large spreadsheets it is not if there is an error but how many errors are present.

Would you publish a book or article without having it edited first? However, spreadsheets often get put into use in first-draft form.

Tweet This: Spreadsheets, even after careful development, contain errors in 1% or more of all formula cells.

Why automate your procurement process?

Excel is not made for today’s procurement world. You need control of your spending because you have different people doing it. Here are a few good reasons why you should switch:

Spend Control

Spend Control is the term or tactic given to all the processes that an organization uses to manage its expenditure in a disciplined way.

Every department has a role to play in spend happening in the business from the purchase order requester to the approval stage.

If you conduct a thorough spend analysis of your business, you can identify gaps across your spend data and then put an action plan in place to prevent wasted spend.

You have to know what is spent in order to control it. Identify the spend categories where there seems to be a lack of harmony. A lot of the time, spend mishaps occur because the employees don’t understand the procurement processes or they may find it time-consuming.

Having so many things to do in a day can make it hard for you to manage your time efficiently, especially when it comes to purchase orders. Automating your purchase orders can save time so you can focus more on other aspects of your business. It may be a good idea to compare a paper-based system with an electronic PO system.

Suppliers

On a whim, employees can choose to use any supplier to get the job done. Employees might abandon your preferred suppliers because they find a better price elsewhere, despite some of the big picture efficiencies that you have established with your regular suppliers. There are many good reasons why you should implement electronic purchase order software and one of the biggest is it helps you use the right supplier for the job. With purchase order software, specific vendors are set and can only be changed by a finance or admin user.

Introducing our PO app, Procurementexpress.com, to your project will help your company achieve sustainable growth through efficient spend management.

Planning is key

Data is the cornerstone of sound business decision-making. A supply chain system can deliver mission-critical information in real-time to improve decision making and avoid costly mistakes. An efficient process is designed to streamline the way that you and your teamwork.

When everyone follows a well-tested set of steps, there are fewer errors and delays, there is less duplicated effort, and staff and customers feel more satisfied.

Processes that don’t work can lead to numerous problems. For example:

  • Customers may complain about poor product quality or bad service.
  • Colleagues get frustrated.
  • Work may be duplicated, or not done.
  • Costs increase.
  • Resources are wasted.
  • Bottlenecks can develop, causing you to miss deadlines.

If you find your procurement process difficult, simplify it with more user-friendly automated software. The key is to find a solution that’s easy to use and all-inclusive.

All your eggs in one basket

Learning to track your expenses is the base for strong record business keeping. Taking these steps is crucial so you can monitor the growth of your business. Managers can review purchase records quickly and easily. Setting approval rules is important to keep track of spending and who is doing the spending. Every employee needs to work together and be well trained to fulfill his/her role.

With electronic purchase order software, you can view the remaining budget per project at any time. A simple to use system makes your budgets transparent and you can easily track your department’s spending.

Staff work together on project

The ability of the user to develop and configure powerful solutions in a spreadsheet environment without appropriate training or awareness introduces a high degree of spreadsheet-related risk into the corporate environment. This level of risk will grow with the increasing use and complexity of spreadsheets.

Automating your system makes it simple and easy to use for anyone of your employees in a few minutes, so all your departments can spend responsibly.

Procurementexpress.com has an efficient 1-click approval system whereby a manager or executive gets the request on his/her mobile device and can instantly see all the information needed to approve the purchase order over a cup of coffee.

Processing large amounts of information is hard to keep track of on an Excel spreadsheet. Procurement software enables deeper insights and helps you make better decisions that would otherwise be more difficult.

Doing it right is important!

Automation makes everything easier and leaves no margin for errors.

Stay on top of every aspect of your business. Try Procurementexpress.com for free today!

More Resources