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procurement

Sep 05
Premikati SAP Ariba Gold Partner

Kickoff Time: What Procurement Pros Can Learn From Football Season

By Procurement No Comments

Summer is winding down, school is back in session, and a chill is in the air – that can only mean football season has arrived!

As both college and professional teams take the field this fall, there are valuable insights procurement professionals can gain from the gridiron.

Even if you aren’t a devoted football fan, the lessons from this beloved sport can help take your procurement game to the next level.

Build a Championship Team

A “dream team” procurement organization isn’t built overnight like a top football program. It takes a thoughtful draft strategy, constantly evaluating needs versus available talent. Creating depth and competence across the function requires mixing promising rookies with veteran players who know how to do the job.

Procurement managers must regularly assess gaps, recruit standout new team members, and develop rising stars.

Investing in training and development will strengthen the bench. And just as a football team strives for unity, a collaborative, tight-knit procurement group will outshine a disjointed roster.

Be Ready for Any Play

Broken plays and audibles are par for the course on the football field. Running backs have to quickly change direction to dodge tackles. Quarterbacks adjust on the fly and find new targets downfield. Procurement pros know things sometimes go differently than planned, too.

Supply chain disruptions, new regulations, mergers and acquisitions, emerging tech, and shifting stakeholder needs can force changes to supplier timelines, agreements, and processes. Like skilled players, procurement teams must think fast, pivot, and adapt to the dynamic environment.

Mastering the art of agility turns challenges into fresh opportunities.

Go Deep on Analysis

Coaches and players spend hours reviewing game film, analyzing strengths and weaknesses, tendencies, and patterns. This intensive prep work is vital in forming a winning strategy. Procurement should adopt the same laser focus when assessing suppliers and markets.

Detailed spend and risk analysis will spotlight sourcing priorities to tackle. Digging into customer feedback and usage metrics will pinpoint where demand is headed. And performance data will indicate which suppliers are all-star players versus underperformers.

Just like coaches mapping out plays, solid analytics position procurement to make the right moves.

Teamwork Scores Big Results

On the football field, it takes cohesion, communication, and coordination across the team to score. Hand-offs, blocks, fakes, catches, and more – every player fulfilling their role is critical to driving the ball down the field.

Procurement wins when there is alignment across the business, too. Including stakeholders early, maintaining open dialog, and earning buy-in helps procurement execute sourcing strategies smoothly.

Cross-functional collaboration also provides a more accurate view of organizational needs and the best path to meet them. Unified teamwork is a proven game-winning approach.

Foster a Championship Culture

The best college and professional football franchises have a winning tradition that sets a tone of excellence and continuous improvement. Players and coaches set high standards and do whatever it takes to achieve them.

Procurement groups can also establish cultural benchmarks, adopt best practices, and create an environment where team members feel valued and motivated to succeed. Whether it’s celebrating cost-saving wins, advancing skills through training, or giving back to the community, creating procurement team pride and unity will pay dividends.

Keep Eyes on the Prize

Of course, every football team is laser-focused on one ultimate objective – to win the league championship! Though the season is long, every practice, play, and decision aims to inch closer to the prize.

Similarly, procurement needs to keep the big-picture goals on the scoreboard. Is it cost mitigation, risk reduction, user satisfaction, or sustainable supply chains? Despite day-to-day tasks, maintaining perspective on desired outcomes and aligning strategies to get there will ensure procurement eyes the right prize.

So, as you follow football this season, notice lessons from the gridiron that could raise your procurement organization’s game.

With preparation, adaptability, analytics, teamwork, culture, and strategic vision, your procurement program will be positioned to score big wins all season long!

 

Need a procurement game plan? Talk to the team at Premikati!

Jul 05

Competitive Sourcing in Procurement

By Procurement No Comments

Effective sourcing in procurement is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity.

For finance and procurement executives, understanding the intricacies of sourcing is crucial in ensuring a stable supply chain, mitigating risks, and ultimately achieving a competitive edge.

But what exactly is sourcing in procurement, and how does it unlock value for businesses?

Understanding Sourcing in Procurement

Sourcing is the process of finding the most suitable suppliers of goods and services for a company. It’s about balancing cost, profit margins, and competitiveness. The right supplier must offer a good enough price so that the acquiring business can make a profit margin by trading or using the product in their production process, all while considering the actions of competitors.

Although often used interchangeably, sourcing and procurement are distinct but related concepts. Sourcing involves finding, vetting, and onboarding suppliers, whereas procurement deals with the steady flow of goods through the supply chain.

The Importance of a Sourcing Strategy

In order to attain a stable supply chain, it’s important to develop a proper sourcing strategy. A sourcing strategy serves several purposes:

  1. Consolidating purchasing power: A strategic approach to sourcing allows a business to negotiate for lower unit prices through bulk purchases. This can result in higher profit margins or lower selling prices, thereby increasing the competitiveness of a company’s products.
  2. Risk mitigation: By conducting research on prospective suppliers, a company can avoid suppliers who are not a strategic fit, perhaps in terms of capacity, culture, or regulatory compliance. This can protect the company from possible disruptions arising from a supplier’s non-performance.
  3. Scouring the market for opportunities: Strategic sourcing is an ongoing process of searching the market for new opportunities. New suppliers with superior product quality, more competitive prices, or even new production technology may emerge. The role of the sourcing team is to establish contact, gather intelligence, and lay the groundwork for future contracts, helping the business stay competitive in the long term.

The Sourcing Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

The sourcing process can be broken down into seven key steps:

  1. Analysis of Internal Needs: This involves determining the goods and services the company needs to acquire, as well as how much of each item is required based on past requirements and activity growth projections.
  2. Researching the Market: The organization should research the market to find potential suppliers and their offerings. This includes considering logistical costs and the risks that arise from working with each of them.
  3. Developing the Sourcing Strategy: The company comes up with a method of determining which supplier to work with, ensuring both reasonable costs and supply chain stability.
  4. Requests for Proposals and Quotes: Once potential suppliers have been identified, the company will invite them to send in their bids to supply goods or deliver a service. These proposals need to be detailed enough for the sourcing team to assess the supplier’s capacity to deliver.
  5. Negotiating Contracts: After receiving proposals, the company will shortlist suppliers they want to work with based on an objective criterion. This often involves negotiations for adjustment of certain terms.
  6. Onboarding and Integration of the Suppliers: Once a contract is signed, the supplier undergoes a formal onboarding process, which involves setting up communication lines.
  7. Assessment of Results: Sourcing is an ongoing process, and for current suppliers, the company has to monitor their performance against predetermined standards continually. This is a critical part of supplier relationship management.

Sourcing Strategies to Consider

There are several types of sourcing strategies, including near-sourcing, insourcing, global sourcing, sub-contracting, captive service operations, manufacturing, vertical integration, and joint ventures. Each comes with its own set of benefits and challenges.

For instance, near-sourcing can save on cost and time in transportation but may require a higher initial investment. Conversely, offshoring can offer cost savings but often incurs additional time and costs in transportation.

The Power of Technology in Sourcing

The use of technology can help streamline sourcing activities. From gathering information about suppliers and sending requests for proposals to performance benchmarking and assessment, digital tools have revolutionized the sourcing and procurement process.

According to a Gartner survey, 85% of businesses have already implemented, or plan to implement, digital procurement solutions in the next two years.

 

With a proper understanding of sourcing in procurement and the use of strategic sourcing practices, finance and procurement executives can unlock significant value for their organizations.

By adopting efficient sourcing strategies and leveraging the power of technology, businesses can streamline their procurement processes, reduce costs, increase competitiveness, and ultimately drive growth.

 

Click here to contact our team

Jun 29

Bargain-Bin Pants, Procurement, And The Could-Have-Been Gremlin (You Deserve Better, Part 1) 

By Procurement No Comments

You know that one pair of pants that’s been sitting in your closet for, like, two decades? That you maybe wore one time on a Thanksgiving back in 2007, but they were a little itchy and a little snug and the folds fell in all the wrong places giving you that skinny-fat, oompa-loompa-ish appeal? But they’re cute, right? And one day you’re going to fit into them just right, right? 

Those are your could-have-been pants. The intention is that they keep you hopeful, help you look toward a better future where you embody the person who wears those pants—whether that means you have the body, the confidence, or just someplace to go to wear ‘em(Thanks, Covid.). That’s an admirable intention. 

But the reality is that they make you feel like sh*t. You shove them to the back of the closet in disgust, wistfully thinking of all the things that could have been, if only this, if only that, blah, blah, blah, pity party, Ben & Jerry’s, world’s smallest violin, blah.  

The reality is that those pants that looked super good on the hanger and that you got a Great Deal™ on during that super sale—they were never right for you, and they’re holding you back. Just like everybody has (or, at least, has had) those could-have-been pants somewhere in their closet, so does every business have a little money gremlin screeching taunts about, “Wouldn’t it have been nice if you could have hired that new salesperson? Stash back a little savings? Upgrade to that swag new Keurig in the break room?”  That’s your could-have-been gremlin, and it’s eating your business alive. 

Don’t Feed The Gremlins

Gremlins, tiny little agents of chaos that like to dismantle good things at their source. They like to feed on things like lost receipts, manual processes, paper, lost time… all the subtle but pervasive inefficiencies in business that we’ve grown to overlook. But while we keep daydreaming about better business days, the could-have-been gremlin grows and grows. We build next-steps on top of shaky foundations, compound ineffective processes on top of ineffective processes, and, eventually, it all starts spiraling out of control. If left unchecked, your could-have-been gremlin will be dancing in the ashes of your hopes and dreams while you slap up a going-out-of-business sign and start sadly scribbling your way through layoff paperwork.

But maybe it hasn’t gotten quite that extreme yet. Maybe your gremlin is just a wee little guy snooping around for something to sink his teeth into.  Maybe you can still save your business from a fiery death if you can learn these simple lessons: 

  1. It doesn’t matter how cheap something is if it’s not the right thing. 
  2. It doesn’t matter how great something sounds if it’s not what you need.
  3. And daydreams only happen for real, for real as a product of your continued, repeated actions. It’s a series of right choices—saying yes to the right things, and no to the wrong things—that take dreams from haunting hopes to full-on reality. 

To go back on any of these lessons is more expensive than many people realize, because they’re fractal. They spiral. In life and in business. 

If you want to succeed in business, you have to buy the right things at the right price, not the wrong things at a low price. And you have to think about the value of your time (and your employees’ time.) Time is the only currency you can only spend once. Dollars just breed like wild rabbits the more of them you have—there’s no shortage. So, when it comes to procurement, you should have an option that… 

  1. Saves you time. 
  2. Saves you money. 
  3. Both 
  4. Potato 

If you answered C, congratulations! You’re on the success wagon already. So what does that look like in the ‘20s? First off, it means ditch the 90s tech. No fax machines. Fax machine bad. Give the fax machine to some Insta-famous vaporwave artist so they can repurpose into something cooler, because it is not serving you in your business. In fact, all the paper processes have got to go. Paper checks. Paper invoices. Get them out of here. Forget about them. They’re dead to you now. (Just like all those trees, ba-dum-cha!) 

Digitization = good. Flex those techie muscles and get in on this automation thing, all the cool businesses are doing it. Things you can automate include: 

  • Expense reconciliation
  • Receipt capture
  • Supplier indexing
  • Asking for signatures on contracts (P.S. e-signing is love. You def need that.)
  • Spend forecasting by department or category
  • Expense categorization

If you’re shopping on the Premikati Marketplace, you can set parameters for your suppliers. Got an eco-friendly hipster kind of gig going on? Shop local, no problem. Diversity filtering? Yes, ma’am, #shepreneur #girlboss. (By the way, we’re women-owned, too.) Do you need your specific suppliers that you already have but all the perks of Premikati? We’ll onboard ‘em, hakuna matata.  

And it’s super easy to do all your procurement shopping on Premikati Marketplace too, because it’s setup with the same sort of intuitive interface that’s used by Amazon and other online retailers. We even do that virtual cards thing so you get full spend visibility, fraud security, risk reduction, and hella cash back because you can give literally everyone a spend-limited card because you have literally unlimited physical and virtual cards thanks to our partner, Ramp. 

And we’ve got pricing plans to fit any budget, so you’re going to get the right thing at the right price, no surprises. 

Kick the could-have-beens to the curb and take action on your dreams. Want a differently-shaped body? Diet and exercise. Want to boost your confidence? Join Toastmasters. Get a life coach. Want to go somewhere nice? Google that nonsense, make a plan, grab your mask (Thanks again, Covid), and take your happy behind on to the niceness. You want extra cashflow in your business, a boatload of extra time, and definitely internet cool points? Use Premikati for your procurement. 

It’s not the outdated processes, it’s not the save a few bucks here or there one-off software solution, and it’s sure as hell not your could-have-been pants that are going to get you to your dreams. It’s you, and your choices, and you deserve better.  

So here’s the plan: 

  • Out with the old, in with the new, breathe a sigh of relief. Get rid of the pants. Get rid of those kitchen gadgets that don’t work right while you’re at it. And get rid of your analog processes, outdated procurement software, and your business gremlins. 

With Premikati, you can order what you want, where, when, and how you want it. No IT required. No commitment. And seamless scaling that grows with you (unlike a certain pair of pants). Ready to start with your one-stop procurement solution? We can have you going within hours. Reach out to us today.

Jun 19

Unlocking Value through Procurement in Private Equity

By Private Equity No Comments

The era of Private Equity is upon us, and it is redefining traditional business paradigms.

In 2022, the private equity industry saw a record-breaking $1.5 trillion in dry powder, demonstrating the escalating growth of PE firms worldwide.

Today, these firms are not only focused on financial restructuring but are also keenly optimizing business processes to unleash untapped value – among these processes, Procurement stands out as an area ripe for reinvigoration and efficiency.

The Procurement Dilemma

The procurement process, fundamental to all businesses, is often riddled with inefficiencies and bottlenecks.

From long procurement cycles and lack of spending visibility to poor supplier management, these challenges translate into lost value and opportunities. Gartner reports that businesses, on average, can save up to 20% of their total spending by optimizing procurement.

Imagine the fiscal impact and competitive edge that such savings could bring!

Private Equity: The New Catalyst, Procurement

Given these potential savings, it’s no surprise PE firms have turned their gaze toward procurement. They are uniquely positioned to drive changes by leveraging their investment and operational expertise. However, this transformation isn’t without its hurdles. It requires deep knowledge of markets, suppliers, and commodity prices. Coupled with potential resistance to change within the portfolio companies and the need to manage compliance and risk, the road to procurement optimization can be winding.

Unleashing the Power of Procurement in Private Equity

Despite these challenges, the benefits of integrating Private Equity into Procurement are multi-fold:

Cost Savings

The most apparent benefit is cost savings.

By streamlining procurement processes and optimizing supplier relationships, PE firms can drive significant cost savings. These savings can directly impact the profitability of their portfolio companies.

For example, a study by The Hackett Group revealed that world-class procurement organizations operate at 22% lower labor costs than their peers.

Enhanced Efficiency

PE firms can streamline procurement processes, reduce procurement cycles, and enhance overall operational efficiency.

McKinsey & Company highlights that digitizing supply-chain operations can reduce errors by up to 50% and administrative costs by up to 80%.

Risk Mitigation

An optimized procurement process can better manage supplier risks. This mitigation ensures continuity of supply and reduces the potential impact of supply chain disruptions.

As reported by Deloitte, 85% of global supply chains experienced at least one disruption in the past 12 months, underlining the importance of effective risk management.

Value Creation

Ultimately, by addressing procurement-related challenges, PE firms create additional value in their portfolio companies.

Research by McKinsey suggests that top-quartile PE firms generate up to 30% more EBITDA growth in their portfolio companies compared to other PE firms.

A Future Powered by Procurement in PE

The integration of Procurement in Private Equity is a paradigm shift, but a change that is rife with value. As companies look to stay competitive in an increasingly digital and globalized world, the need for cost-efficient, streamlined, and risk-averse procurement processes is paramount.

In the ever-evolving landscape of global business, it is the enterprises that adapt, innovate, and invest in efficient processes that will lead the pack – and with Procurement in Private Equity, that lead might just become insurmountable.

“Investing in efficiency today is investing in success tomorrow.”

Click here to contact our team

Jun 05

The Power of Automation: Unleashing Efficiency with SAP Ariba Commerce Automation

By Procurement No Comments

Businesses today are realizing the urgent need for procurement and spend management innovation. Key decision-makers, particularly those in finance and procurement, seek solutions to streamline processes, boost efficiency, and improve organizational visibility. This is where SAP Ariba Commerce Automation enters the scene. 

 What is SAP Ariba Commerce Automation? 

SAP Ariba Commerce Automation is a solution designed to supercharge your procurement processes through powerful automation. Its primary goal is to enhance operational efficiency and ensure a steady supply chain by improving spend visibility and fostering efficient collaboration with suppliers. 

It’s a solution recognized for its innovation and effectiveness, with SAP being recognized as a leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Procure-to-Pay (P2P) suites for the seventh consecutive time. 

Key Features: A Deep Dive 

SAP Ariba Commerce Automation comes with a suite of features designed to optimize procurement operations: 

  • Regulatory and Business Process Compliance: The solution ensures digital matching of invoices to POs and contracts, thus enabling compliance with regulatory requirements through e-invoicing. Transactions are validated based on configured business rules, reducing manual intervention and exceptions. 
  • Automated Procurement Workflows: The solution automates manual processes, freeing up workforce capacity, decreasing operating costs, and increasing productivity. It also enables digital delivery of POs to suppliers across a business network. 
  • Supplier Portal: The portal allows suppliers to flip a received PO on the network into an invoice, eliminating data entry and other errors. It also gives suppliers a view into invoice status updates, reducing inquiries. 
  • Invoice Status Portal and Transaction Visibility: This feature provides visibility into orders and invoices with a holistic view of spend. It allows suppliers to configure notifications to receive emails when their invoice status changes, promoting adoption for long-tail suppliers through self-service updates and invoice visibility. 

Impressive Benefits 

The benefits of SAP Ariba Commerce Automation are as significant as its features. These benefits include: 

  • Improved Procurement Compliance: The solution supports business process compliance with highly configurable business rules on the network. 
  • Automation of Spend Management Processes: The solution enhances productivity, lowers operating costs, and frees up people’s capacity by automating paper-based and manual processes. 
  • Increased Transparency of Business Spending: The solution provides a holistic view of organizational spending with greater visibility into orders and invoices in one platform. 

Recent Innovations and Future Outlook 

SAP is not resting on its laurels. Recent innovations and planned updates include: 

  1. Guided Buying: The next evolution in guided buying is here. The new capabilities improve the buying experience and leverage AI, intelligent recommendations, and machine learning. This creates a holistic view of what the buyer is purchasing and how it aligns with their organization’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. 
  1. SAP Central Procurement: The latest release of SAP Central Procurement addresses the challenges associated with centralizing procurement. It delivers the benefits of a uniform, centralized procurement system across all direct and indirect categories — without reworking individual solutions spread across the organization. 
  1. SAP Category Management: A new category management solution, SAP Category Management, is set to roll out this year. It will provide actionable market intelligence and category insights, empowering category managers and procurement professionals to make strategic category decisions. 

 

Statistics Highlighting the Importance of Procurement Optimization 

To underscore the significance of these advancements, let’s consider some compelling statistics: 

  1. Companies that excel at procurement have 20% lower costs, less supply chain disruption, and up to 55% fewer supplier defects (Source: The Hackett Group).
  2. High-performing procurement organizations operate at up to 21% lower labor costs (Source: The Hackett Group).
  3. According to Gartner, by 2023, organizations that have adopted AI in their supply chain management strategy will reduce errors by up to 50%. 

 

From the rollout of SAP Category Management to the enhanced supplier management and the integration of AI and machine learning, SAP is poised to redefine procurement and supply chain management. 

As procurement professionals, we must stay abreast of these developments, leverage these innovative solutions, and drive strategic value and business outcomes in our organizations. 

May 16

Unleashing the Power of AP Automation: A Strategic Move Towards Efficiency and Profitability

By Procurement No Comments

In an era where digital transformation drives sustainable business growth, one area that remains ripe for disruption is Accounts Payable (AP). AP automation is no longer just an option – it’s a business necessity that yields considerable strategic advantages, particularly for mid-market companies. This post aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the myriad benefits of AP automation to executives committed to fostering operational excellence, reducing costs, and enhancing cash flow management.

 

The AP Challenge: A Time and Resource Intensive Process

AP processes often contain manual data entry, paper invoices, and lengthy approval cycles. These processes are time-consuming and prone to human error, resulting in late payments, missed discounts, and increased operational costs. The lack of real-time visibility into AP data often leads to suboptimal decision-making, hampering growth and profitability.

The AP Automation Advantage: Transforming the AP Landscape

AP automation technology disrupts this status quo, offering a more innovative, efficient, and cost-effective way to manage AP processes.

Let’s delve into the specific benefits:

  • Time Savings: AP automation drastically reduces the time to process an invoice, leading to faster approvals and payments. This increased efficiency frees up valuable staff time that can be better utilized for strategic tasks, such as analyzing spending data or improving supplier relationships.
  • Reduced Operational Costs: Automating AP processes reduces the need for manual intervention, thereby minimizing the scope for human errors and the costs associated with rectifying them. Moreover, it can also decrease storage and postage costs associated with paper invoices. Calculate your potential savings here using SAP’s Buying and Invoicing Value Calculator.
  • Enhanced Cash Flow Management: With real-time visibility into outstanding invoices and payment dates, AP automation allows companies to optimize their cash flow. Companies can take advantage of early payment discounts and avoid late payment penalties, thereby improving their bottom line.
  • Decreased Rogue Spend: AP automation controls maverick spending by enforcing corporate policies and approval workflows. It also improves spend visibility, enabling companies to identify and mitigate rogue expenditures more effectively.
  • Improved Supplier Relationships: Timely payments and transparent communication foster healthier supplier relationships. This enhances supply chain efficiency and opens up opportunities for negotiation and collaboration.

The Powerhouse Duo: SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing and Premikati

While the benefits of AP automation are clear, the choice of software and its implementation process is crucial.

SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing is a robust solution offering comprehensive AP automation capabilities. It streamlines end-to-end procure-to-pay processes, enhances visibility into company-wide spending, and drives compliance and control across the invoice management process.

Yet, the success of any AP automation initiative is about more than just the software. It’s about how effectively the software is implemented and integrated with your existing systems and processes. This is where Premikati offers rapid implementation and deployment services that ensure a smooth and efficient transition to automated AP processes.

Premikati’s expertise in SAP Ariba implementation reduces the time-to-value, allowing companies to experience the benefits of AP automation sooner rather than later. Their robust training and support ensure that your team is equipped to leverage the software’s full potential.

AP automation is a transformative strategy that can significantly improve your business’s operational efficiency, financial health, and competitive edge. With SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing and Premikati’s deployment services, your business is well-positioned to navigate the AP automation journey successfully.

Connect with us today to talk to our team.

Dec 21

The Future of Work: Women in Procurement

By Procurement No Comments

The past 22-months have dramatically altered both how and where we work. And women have been disproportionately affected.

How will this change as we begin to emerge from the pandemic? How can we build a networked economy and create new opportunities for women?

Join Dawn Tiura, President & CEO of the Sourcing Industry Group, in conversation with Marisol Buczynski Buchanan, President & CEO of Premikati, and Elizabeth Lizotte-Brown, Sr Director for Channel Partnerships, The Mom Project, for a discussion on these topics and their perspectives.

Dec 22

3 Business Resolutions You Can Actually Keep In 2021

By Procurement No Comments

The New Year of 2021 is right around the corner, and many are breathing a sigh of relief that 2020 is finally coming to a close. After a daunting, strenuous, and uncertain year for nearly everyone on the globe, the tradition of setting New Year’s resolutions can be a welcome change of pace that requires focus on the positive and a future that holds brighter possibilities that are, at least somewhat, within our control.

But if you’re like many people, your business resolutions may suffer from an eyes-bigger-than-your mouth scenario. Despite a color-coded bullet journal, habit tracker, ergonomic chair, and the best of intentions, businesses usually run out of steam within the first few weeks. And this year, there’s all the stipulations and precautions to navigate in the midst of a pandemic to also consider—things like attend 10x business networking events, etc.

We’ve put together a list of three, Covid-friendly New Year’s resolutions for business that you can actually keep amid the chaos.

Prioritize worker health and safety above anything else

Now more than ever, it’s important to make sure your employees are taken care of. Follow all recommendations such as safe social distancing, proper mask usage that is enforced, and regular hand washing.

Additionally, you can set aside time for employees to simply chat on a call wih their coworkers. For many adults, the people we work with are our main source of non-family socialization with people in our age group. If working from home is starting to make employees feel isolated and irritable, schedule time on the clock for workers to regain some camaraderie.

This is a good tactic for reputation management as well. Businesses who chose money over worker safety in early 2020 have received a lot of backlash for their actions. Many people have begun to actively refuse to purchase from brands that don’t respect their workers.

Clean up your remote work processes

If you just started with online work because of the pandemic, then you’ve likely gone through some growing pains this year. In 2021, vow to clean up your remote work processes by:

  • Managing tool subscriptions. Delete unneeded accounts to save immediate cash.
  • Creating standard operating procedures for common tasks such as blog posts
  • Choosing a unified system for all employees such as Google Drive or Slack and then communicating

Learn how to set effective KPIs

Just like personal goals, many businesses struggle with KPIs. They sound great on paper, but don’t perform their intended function in an overarching sense.

Take some time out in 2021 in order to reclaim time for years to come by doing a deep dive into goal planning and key performance indicators. Explore how to set realistic goals and KPIs that will actually gauge your success at meeting them.

Learning to set effective KPIs now can save you years of tried and failed attempts, wasted money, and trial-and-error loops that make only tiny incremental progress. Choosing the right ones and working toward them with consistency can be a gamechanger in your business if you’re used to doing everything by feeling, instinct, and happenstance. Having some measurable stats can also boost your team’s morale and keep them on track with insight into how what they do fits into the big picture of what’s most important to your company.

What are your New Year’s resolutions? At Premikati, we’re working harder than ever to make sure our clients have a wide range of features, a supplier list not to be reckoned with, and a simple interface for all of their purchasing needs. We also offer business process outsourcing in order to optimize the use of your time so you can use your time to its fullest.

Dec 22

What 2021 Has In Store For Supply Chain And Procurement

By Blog No Comments

As December 31, 2020 fast approaches, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that we might as well start calling the “new normal” plain-old no-modifier “normal,” because what we used to call normal is over. While that reality sets in, we turn towards 2021 with hope of redemption, some way to calm the effects of the first year of this decade. 

We’ve seen a record-breaking number of named storms this season at a whopping 30, six of which were major hurricanes. We’ve seen the rise of the coronavirus pandemic, the overburdened hospitals and overtaxed supply chains which led to no respirators and no toilet paper and a lot of desperate people. We’ve seen riots abound. And politics? Let’s not even start down that path. 

But we’ve also seen the advent of not one, but multiple vaccinations show results in fighting Covid-19, the product of researchers around the globe sharing for the greater good. We’ve seen suppliers and manufacturers rise to the occasion to protect humanity at its most vulnerable. More than any other year in recent decades, we’ve seen the innovation and sheer force of will that keep people going, growing, changing, and making progress no matter the obstacles in the way. You can see it with online schooling, work from home, distilleries turned sanitizer manufacturers, and widespread curbside pickup. As easy as it is to lose track of, as a species, we are teaming up to fight the pandemic and to support one another, as best we can from a safe social distance (six feet apart, we’re told.) 

So what do all these changes mean for supply chain and manufacturing? This segment of the economy has not escaped unscathed, and 2021 is likely to bring even more profound changes as complex ideas come to fruition in the face of a chaotic world. Here’s what you can expect: 

All eyes on supply chain, our unsuspecting heroes

Supply chain professionals tend to fly under the radar, invisibly managing the gears that keep humanity buzzing along. But when people can’t get the equipment they need to survive or maintain their basic quality of life (things like toilet paper, Lysol, hand soap, N-95 masks, and respirators, to name a few) then those who have never given a second thought to where and from whom all these sorts of items come, they start to scrutinize the why’s. 

During Covid, this has meant monitoring suppliers for ethical dilemmas such as price gouging or dangerous working conditions. Throughout 2021, expect consumers and businesses alike to offer deep scrutiny to supply chain practices as old world ways break down entirely in our now-digital economy (with our overburdened postal service.)  

Suppliers who come up with innovative solutions and respect the health of their employees will see increased loyalty and applause while people are paying more attention than ever. As is natural, bad apples will float to the top—perhaps only faster now in the mid-pandemic world. 

Expect more recognition, too, as consumers begin to see and value the role of various players in their supply chains.

A much colder supply chain

As vaccines are introduced to patients around the globe, somebody has to transport these ultra-sensitive products. Current Covid vaccines require a maintained temperature of  -70 degrees Celsius ©, or -94 Fahrenheit. With so many people at risk, and each patient requiring two doses for the vaccine to be effective, we can expect a rise in focus on transportation refrigeration technology that can sustain such low temperatures. In the same vein, a need for transparency and verifiable track records that show chain of custody, temperature consistency, etc. (probably via some IoT device paired with blockchain tech) will drive innovations among supply chain startups.

Susan Beardslee, Freight Transportation, and Logistics Principal Analyst at ABI Research has described the efforts needed to effectively supply the Covid-19 vaccines as “Herculean” and requiring “efforts beyond the actual vaccine development and approval.”

Continued volatility and increased automation

No one in supply chain, logistics, or manufacturing has been spared of the uncertainty and volatility caused by the coronavirus. Driver shortages and overburdened warehouses paired with a teetering economy make for delicate and unprecedented balance to be struck in order to stay afloat and stay relevant. Many in the supply chain realm are turning to machine learning in order to help predict what might come next and how to proceed. Some manufacturers consider lights-out factories that are fully automated—essentially, someone pops in to turn the lights out, and the robots handle the rest. 

Businesses will need to remain flexible in order to adapt to what 2021 has to offer without breaking under the weight of the chaos. 

The disappearance of smaller companies

Of course, not everyone will succeed, even if they stay flexible and do everything “right.” Covid-19 has already brought businesses to their knees across a wide range of industries. An unfortunate truth is that smaller companies often can’t face the pressure or constantly changing variables that come with a crisis-minded market.

At least in the US, government funding for small business can sometimes be finicky to navigate, and there’s no guarantee of continued support for small businesses. 

Nearshoring and Regionalization

Expect supply chain companies to look to nearshoring and regionalization to help manage logistics and cost. Companies will more frequently turn to neighboring countries for products that may have once been bought overseas. This allows for redundancy, cost savings, and strengthening and revitalization of local economies for an easier recovery from 2020’s effects. 

Some aspects of 2021 are just going to be a matter of wait and see, especially as rapidly as the world is changing in response to the pandemic. No matter the specs you need from a supplier, 

Premikati Marketplace has you covered. If you’re looking for professional services to help give you a competitive edge in today’s strange market, Premikati can help by managing your business processes using our team of experts. Reach out to us today to see how we can help your business flourish in 2021. 

Dec 18

B2B Holiday Gift Giving For Grateful Procurement Pros: Covid-19 Edition

By Procurement No Comments

When the snow starts falling and the Walmart speakers start fa-la-la-la-la-ing (okay, that was back before Halloween, but still), then you know it’s time to start thinking about how to show your appreciation for your suppliers and employees with a few well-thought-out gifts. After all, showing gratitude is among the number one ways to foster better relationships with suppliers and employees alike, and gifts are a common way to share the sentiment. 

But gift giving in business is a careful dance. You want to do something personal, but not too personal. You want to give something merry or even traditional but not exclusionary or politically incorrect—the Jewish vegan rep for your supplier that’s helped you no less than 50 times this year may be a little off-put by your summer sausage and smoked cheddar gift basket with its big “Merry Christmas!” adornment, even if she knows you mean well.

Then, there’s the dreaded taxes. Keep your gift-giving in check so as to not incur any unexpected visits from the IRS from anyone involved. And if you’re giving to individuals with the hopes of writing the gifts off as deductions, then you have a $25 maximum to think about. And the de minimis fringe benefits rule, especially if you’re giving small branded items. 

If that wasn’t enough to make you rethink your gifting strategy, this year you have something extra special to contend with—Covid-19. The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the business world to its core as millions around the globe are infected and holiday gatherings are already a source of concern as infection rates spike in response to Thanksgiving events. In the midst of a global pandemic, easy fall-backs like gift cards to favorite shopping centers or restaurants can come across as foolish, callous, or even offensive to recipients who are trying to responsibly social distance this holiday season.

So, what’s left? Here are some ideas for last minute corporate gifts that are Covid friendly, inasmuch as is possible. 

The Classic Company-Branded Gift Gone Viral: Custom Hand Sanitizer

If there’s one thing everyone can use right now, it’s sanitizer. Now that the shelves are not so bare and manufacturers have bolstered their reserves for a study influx of orders, hand sanitizer is a pandemic essential that is reasonably easy to come by, relatively inexpensive, and says, “Hey, we care about your health and safety. We hope our company helps you get through another day of this craziness unscathed.” 

Just like the pens, magnets, and water bottles with company logos that we all know and love, there are a ton of different options for company-branded sanitizers—from spray pens to squeeze gel to credit-card shaped designs, wipes, and keychains. You can get 500 bottles of custom-branded sanitizer for less than $400, so it’s pretty affordable too, which is great considering many business budgets are looking a little frail with such huge hits to the economy and global uncertainty. 

Running low on time? Get unbranded! Any brand! Right now, I don’t think anyone’s going to toss your sanitizer gift aside because it didn’t (or did) have a logo. This stuff is important right now, and you can’t go wrong with it. 

Work From Home Accessories

With so many businesses switching to full remote work, employees are making major adjustments to their home environments (especially since coffee shops are not so much an option right now.) Anything that boosts focus, ergonomics, or efficiency is a great way to show your appreciation. 

Everything from ergonomic cushions and monitor risers to more expensive gifts like ergonomic chairs and standing desks can help your recipients feel a little more cheerful throughout the day. Things that make the “new normal” easier to cope with are a positive in our book. 

Gift Cards That Encourage Staying Home

Gift cards are still a viable option! Replace the buffet cards and mall certificates with e-gift cards that both encourage recipients to stay home and also don’t require physical transmission. You can send a digital gift card from Amazon to anyone’s email. Instacart also just launched their gift card options, and who couldn’t use groceries? Last I checked, we all eat. 

Keep these people who work hard to make your business thrive out of the aisles for a day so they can get their snack on while they binge-watch Netflix without having to worry about the treacherous trek out into public. Bonus: When you give Instacart, DoorDash, and similar gift cards, you help bolster your local economy and keep more people out of the stores, helping to flatten the curve in your area. Another option is to give gift cards to restaurants that are available locally that offer contactless delivery. 

Whatever you choose to give your employees and suppliers this holiday season, we wish for you and yours to stay safe and stay healthy. We look forward to you joining us in the new year. 

 

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