Top 3 hesitations organizations face when switching to eProcurement

For many organizations, switching to eProcurement may be a distant goal. Due to budget constraints, minimal time, lack of awareness and inexperience with new technology, organizations can spiral into a long list of why eProcurement just isn’t right, right now. Although these obstacles come with good reason, realizing the value that eProcurement can bring you can lighten your team's worries and encourage your organization to make the switch.

To help, we’ve highlighted the top three obstacles we see organizations face when trying to switch to eProcurement, and the solutions you need to make your goals of eProcurement a reality.

1. Not enough time or resources

One hesitation organizations face is not having enough internal resources or time to transition to a new system. Organizations are often concerned for staff and suppliers who might be reluctant to learn new technology. Bid templates, policies and other documents would also need updating to upload into the new system, requiring more effort from staff. Couple this with the fact that current procurement processes are already taking up a lot of energy and resources, organizations can feel stretched thin and see no time available in their schedules for implementing such a platform. In other words, eProcurement seems an impossible hurdle.

What if you found a solution that gave back more time and energy than you started, right from the start? At bids&tenders, we’re aware of the day to day stresses you encounter (most of our team has worked in procurement!). That’s why we offer a phased-in implementation method, proven to make your lives easier.

Known as the “pioneers of implementing electronic bidding,” our team is equipped to help with every step of the implementation, from training staff to reviewing your bid templates and processes. By managing our system in the cloud, we can support your every need through implementation and beyond. Plus, the platform requires minimal involvement from your IT staff so they can focus on supporting your needs.

2. Don’t see the value

Some organizations may simply not see the value of an eProcurement platform. They’ve either not done the research or don’t fully understand how it can improve their processes. Most of the time, they are just satisfied with the status quo. However, as the industry and technology continue to evolve, there are more risks and alternative costs for not using an eProcurement. For example, increased errors and omissions on a bid submission, possible contract delays or even poor performance may result in overtime and cause unwanted costs. These repercussions are nothing an organization wishes to experience but can be avoided by switching to eProcurement.

bids&tenders takes these burdens away with our design that offers 99.9% compliant bids. The platform also helps you increase your bid reach, by automatically posting public opportunities on the bids&tenders main portal. For buyers in Canada, we diversify your reach even further by automatically posting your public infrastructure bids to the provincial construction association bidding sites including BidCenral, Buildworks, Link2build, CINET2.0 to name a few.

What creates the ultimate value for this eProcurement platform is that it’s more than just a bidding platform – bids&tenders is a hub of collaboration between procurement staff and internal teams. It manages your insurance and workplace safety certifications, has customizable evaluations, supplier performance add-ons and is a reporting mastermind that allows you to pull reports and data into actionable insights.

3. Limited or delayed budget

One of the biggest hesitations we see is many organizations assume eProcurement solutions come with heavy up-front costs. As a result, they blame their budget capacity for not having sufficient funding to pay for any kind of purchase. When procurement teams propose the idea of eProcurement to their organization’s decision makers, multiple approvals are usually required which can further delay the decision. Some organizations may not have the funds altogether, so eProcurement is simply out of the question for them.

With bids&tenders, we offer flexible pricing options, so you don’t have to pay upfront fees. Our supplier-pay package is offered at $0 so you can guarantee your organization can kick start eProcurement with stability and success. Plus, this plan provides zero recurring fees so you can publish opportunities freely to a wide network of suppliers.

What are you waiting for?

We’ve laid out your concerns and provided you the answers, so what are you waiting for? As an organization, you can make a considerable difference for your staff and suppliers by switching to a digital procurement platform. Whether you’re offering staff the ease of reviewing multiple bids through an online report, making your bids more accessible to a broader number of suppliers, or even contributing to your community’s climate change efforts by reducing paper printing, the value of an eProcurement system will transform your process for the better.