Staying profitable in a high-pressure market requires well-optimized procurement processes. Done right, procurement enhances profitability, streamlines workflows, and strengthens partnerships with suppliers and vendors.
Between rising complexities and business growth, however, procurement can quickly become overwhelming for even the most seasoned pros. For print and promotional products, where fast turnaround times and high-quality products are key, mismanagement can mean missed deadlines, upset clients, or damaged reputations. Suppliers may even start to pull back from or flat-out refuse to work with those who frequently mismanage orders or delay payments, which can lead to disruptions later down the line, increased costs, and less opportunities for more favorable or preferential pricing and terms.
Luckily, that’s where solutions like DB Sourcing from DemandBridge come into play, which offers distributors a powerful, intuitive, cloud platform designed to optimize procurement and sourcing workflows for sourcing and procurement, but better.
Why is Procurement Today More Challenging Than Ever? Top Obstacles for Procurement Pros
Procurement management is an essential yet often, highly complex function that spans multiple touchpoints across operations. Day-to-day procurement means buying materials, juggling multiple suppliers and vendors, accounting for compliance and industry regulations and more. While the overarching goal for procurement is pretty straightforward—purchasing goods and services for the best possible price— the different challenges with being part of today’s global marketplace—one that operates at all times and around the clock—makes the task for procurement professionals increasingly difficult.
Growing Complexity
Procurement is a much bigger beast than it was just a decade ago. With supply chains expanding and becoming more global through open borders, new technologies and international markets, businesses are now subject to dealing with a much wider variety of products, services, and pricing models across different countries, regions, and continents. As procurement functions grow to keep up, businesses must navigate the sourcing and managing of multiple vendors, procurement channels, and fluctuating market conditions, all of which can shift in the blink of an eye.
Fragmented Processes
Unfortunately, many businesses are still working off of spreadsheets, email chains, and a patchwork of disconnected systems that don’t integrate together well, if at all, for their procurement. This may “get the job done” but that generally means a lack of visibility, late shipments, and missed opportunities such as failing to capitalize on bulk volume discounts or flag production hold ups in time.
Over time, these inefficiencies can quickly add to costs, frustrate teams, and make it harder to manage growing procurement demands. Without a centralized, automated solution in place, businesses risk falling behind in an increasingly competitive market, and as we explored in our last blog, with modern manufacturing more streamlined than ever, any ol’ Joe, or Bravo Housewife, can have their own product line!
Cost Control and Budgeting
And when procurement inefficiencies pile up, so do the costs. Balancing cost control with the need for quality is a regular struggle for procurement teams. Fluctuating supplier prices and surprise hidden costs, like everyone’s favorite, shipping and handling fees, can quickly and easily creep up and have a bigger impact on the bottom line than you may think. Add to that the challenge of managing supplier reliability, navigating ever-changing lead times, keeping up with demand fluctuations, and meeting customer expectations, it’s no wonder that procurement teams are constantly walking a tightrope. Unpredictable variables can lead to overspending, budget overruns, and ultimately, missed profit opportunities, making it harder for businesses to stay afloat, let alone competitive in some cases.
Risk Management and Compliance
In addition, businesses also must stay on top of ever-changing regulations and keep risks in check. Without the ability to be flexible and a strong framework, procurement can easily turn into a minefield of compliance issues, fines, and disruptions. A single, innocent misstep can trigger costly penalties, delays in production, and create serious bottlenecks across the supply chain — ouch.
How Does DB Sourcing Help Streamline Operations?
Step 1: Centralize Supplier Management One of the first ways to streamline procurement is by consolidating all your supplier information into a single platform. DB Sourcing provides that organized, central hub to track all supplier-related details and data, from contract terms to performance metrics. Instead of having to search through multiple systems or files, you can instantly access your supplier profiles, making it easier to monitor their performance, compare options, and negotiate better terms if need be.
Hot Tip: Use DB Sourcing’s supplier performance tracking tools to regularly assess supplier reliability and quality, so that you’re always working with the best possible partners available.
Step 2: Automate Routine Procurement Tasks Procurement teams are often bogged down by time-consuming, repetitive tasks, like having to manually create purchase orders, confirm orders, or chase down shipping or delivery statuses, which not only eats up valuable time but also introduces room for human error from having to do the same tasks over and over again. DB Sourcing automates many of these tasks, significantly reducing the chance for mistakes to be made and frees up your team to focus on more important activities, such as negotiating better terms, looking at current market trends, or double-checking that the procurement processes in place today work for your business and align with goals for the quarter and so on.
Hot Tip: It’s easy to set up automated workflows for streamlining order creation, approvals, and communication with vendors; this enables your team to cut through the noise and work on activities that actually move the needle, instead of just powering through the daily grind with admin work.
Step 3: Enhance Cost Transparency & Control Having clear visibility into pricing and spending is essential for making smarter procurement decisions. With DB Sourcing’s cost transparency features, you can track pricing trends, monitor supplier costs in real time, and keep your spending under control, even when prices change or unexpected issues arise.
Hot Tip: Use DB Sourcing’s analytics to set budget limits and track savings, ensuring you maintain efficiency without sacrificing quality or compliance.
Step 4: Simplify Risk Management and Ensure Compliance DB Sourcing makes it easier to manage compliance and risk by automating checks and offering real-time updates on any regulatory changes. The platform ensures each purchase complies with industry standards and contractual obligations, minimizing the risk of non-compliance. With this automation, businesses can eliminate the need for extra resources or manual reviews, saving time and reducing risk.
Hot Tip: DB Sourcing’s compliance tools automatically highlight suppliers or orders that don’t meet the necessary standards, helping you stay ahead and minimize the risk of penalties or disruptions in the supply chain.
Step 5: Tap into Data Analytics for Better Business Decisions Smart decisions start with the right data. DB Sourcing gives you the tools to track supplier performance, cost trends, and delivery times so you can tweak your sourcing strategy and run things more efficiently. With real-time insights at your fingertips, staying on top of it all just got easier.
Hot Tip: Leverage DB Sourcing’s reports to identify suppliers that are underperforming or areas where you can negotiate better terms, ensuring that your procurement process supports your business’s overall goals.
How Can Streamlining with DB Sourcing Benefit Your Business?
- Streamlined Procurement & Cost Savings: By automating manual tasks and centralizing procurement data, businesses can speed up their procurement cycles while driving significant cost savings at the same time — which is exactly what every Chief Procurement Officer or Head of Procurement wants! DB Sourcing minimizes the time staff spend on non-essential tasks and enhances compliance and cost controls, for smarter spending and reduced risk across the board. And by consolidating back and forth with suppliers into a single platform, built-in controls for adhering to procurement policies, and new visibility into costs, DB Sourcing helps organizations make smarter purchasing decisions, eliminate bottlenecks, and unlock significant savings they may have otherwise missed.
- Stronger Supplier Relationships: Effective supplier management is the foundation for lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships. DB Sourcing allows users to track supplier performance, communications, and uphold procurement standards, which builds trust and collaboration between partners. With centralized data and automated workflows, businesses can stay ahead of issues, negotiate better terms, ensure compliance, and make sure they stick to contractual agreements.
- Better Compliance and Improved Risk Management: With automated compliance checks and real-time risk assessments like we’ve mentioned, DB Sourcing helps businesses avoid costly legal and financial consequences. By centralizing procurement policies and providing instant alerts for regulatory requirements, this minimizes risks, prevents errors, and keeps vendors accountable—with less work and hassle for all.
Some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on DB Sourcing
Q: How is DB Sourcing Different from Other Platforms?
A: DemandBridge is the leading provider of sourcing management software and technology to distributors of print and promotional products. Automated Project Management Dashboard(s), Direct integration into our back-office ERP tools, a thriving marketplace of distributors and industry partners, and vetted suppliers as a part of our DB Alliance Network truly set us apart from our competitors.
Q: How does DB Sourcing integrate with existing systems?
A: DB Sourcing integrates smoothly and works in harmony with your existing systems, including ERP and inventory software, for efficient data sharing across operations. This does away with the need for manual entry, reduces errors, and optimizes workflows by having everything synching and up to date. DemandBridge also offers DB Distributor and EQ Distributor, advanced ERP and Distributor Management solutions, to further streamline processes and enhance operational efficiencies.
Q: How about SAGE? Is there an integration with that?
A: Absolutely! By integrating DB Sourcing with SAGE, you are shown real-time product details such as price, pictures, and specs. Plus, auto-job tracking, collaborative file working, and seamless ERP actions like writing invoices and proposals, hence eliminating numerous manual interventions and allowing easy flow of information throughout your entire software system.
In Conclusion: Is It Time to Rethink Your Procurement Strategy?
DB Sourcing simplifies procurement with centralized information, automated workflows, and real-time controls and insights. With streamlined workflows, enhanced supplier communication and management, and reduced risks, businesses save time and money and stay competitive. Integrated with applications like DB Distributor, EQ Distributor for ERP, or SAGE, DB Sourcing also keeps everything connected and streamlined so that procurement teams can concentrate on what matters most: growth and success.
Ready to take your procurement processes to the next level? Contact us today to talk about DB Sourcing for your business.
