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By SGeBIZ Team |
Smart systems might have taken over procurement and other time-consuming tasks in the Food & Beverage industry, but are you maximising your business solutions?
Sure, the main function of an e-procurement system is to handle daily order-to-invoice processes, but if you truly want to stretch your dollar and make the investment count, it might be worth exploring more functions and using them to your advantage.
For instance, have you ever thought about using records and archives to enhance your operational capabilities?
Even though they are perhaps one of the most overlooked functions in any business solution, there are tons of ways you could maximise your procurement records. Read on for 3 of them!
1. Use the Records for Forecasting
Forecasting is immensely pivotal as it helps buyers to make accurate buying decisions and manage their expenses. For a F&B business to undertake effective and high-quality procurement, prudent decision-making has a big role to play. That is why business owners have to use procurement records for better outcomes.
Moreover, forecasting goes a long way in helping buyers identify areas that require improvement as well as preparing buyers for disruptions brought about by external causes like pandemics. With enhanced forecasting capabilities, a business will be in a better position to avoid being caught off guard.
In addition, forecasting based on historical procurement records is extremely helpful in improving spend management. Referring to historical records, pinpointing areas of overspending and evaluating their spend data allows a business to improve efficiency, make better purchasing decisions and plan their spending for the long-term.
2. Improve Financial Standing
F&B business owners need to have a solid understanding of their financial positions. After all, it is important to keep profits high and costs to a minimum.
Essentially, procurement records allows business owners to obtain a bird’s eye view of their spend data and detect saving opportunities that might have been overlooked.
In other words, you have a point of reference as to where your current financial situation is, and where you want it to be in the future. In addition, as you keep procurement records, you are able to keep track of profit & loss metrics to help you make prudent financial decisions.
As a result, business owners are able to reduce unnecessary procurement expenses and keep other unnecessary costs to a minimum.
3. Recycle the Records for Training
F&B business owners can also use procurement records for training of new staff. It plays an important role in making new staff members more knowledgeable on the processes involved.
Instead of neglecting your procurement records, why not repurpose them into training materials for new staff members?
This way, new employees acquire the capacity to evaluate these processes in a more comprehensive way. They can familiarise themselves with your business’ purchase order processes. Moreover, they can take reference from past records to send purchase orders.
With adequate training and resourceful materials, they can find out what products to buy, when to buy them, and why they are buying them.
More importantly, it creates an avenue where one can take action to rectify the issues discovered and monitor the progress of procurement processes. Again, a culture of training leads to independence and the desire to learn more among staff members. This is a great asset to all F&B businesses.
If you have yet to incorporate an e-procurement system, then you need to get one, pronto! Find out more about our digital procurement solution – EzyProcure – today.
