Support Remote Work with a Procurement Solution

Remote procurement requires strategic sourcing, a smooth supply chain, and responsible teams to be successful and efficient. However, with the remote teams, procurement managers today face more challenges when it comes to fostering collaboration and building strong teams. 

All the challenges can be efficiently addressed with a good remote procurement management solution that will support teamwork and collaboration. Thus, this article will explore everything regarding remote procurement management, from its importance and benefits to the right technology to support virtual teams. Let’s dive into it! 

Importance of Remote Procurement Management

Remote procurement management is continuously gaining popularity. Remote procurement allows for improved agility and contributes to cost savings associated with office space maintenance. 

For instance, remote work increases productivity levels for employees, contributes to higher levels of job satisfaction, and improves workers’ work-life balance. With all the benefits your remote team gains, they will stay more loyal to the company. 

The abundance of digital tools available nowadays allows remote teams to function just as efficiently, or even better compared to traditional office teams. The tools range from data analytics to automation and procure-to-pay solutions. 

These tools in combination with good management strategies, allow the optimization of every aspect of procurement and virtual team management to reach maximum efficiency. 

Benefits of Remote Procurement Management 

Managing remote procurement teams equips organizations with multiple benefits ranging from cost efficiency to improved team productivity. So, let’s review the main benefits of remote procurement management in detail. 

Access to the Global Talent Pool 

The first benefit is that you will gain access to the global talent pool. If your team members work remotely, you can make hires not just locally, but also globally. In fact, this is a useful practice, especially if you are involved in global procurement and international sourcing. 

The global talent pool provides you with a wider candidate choice that is most suitable for the position. Also, an additional benefit of an international team is increased innovation within the organization, as all the members have different backgrounds and fresh ideas/perspectives. 

Increased Operational Efficiency 

Another advantage of good remote procurement team management is increased operational efficiency. Without good management strategies, the process will become chaotic and inefficient. However, with good management, procurement can be streamlined when each employee knows their roles and responsibilities. 

Reduced Risks 

When each member of the team is involved in the process and performs their responsibilities well, procurement risks are also lower. 

Higher Employee Motivation and Productivity Levels 

One more benefit of good remote management is increased employee motivation and productivity. 

Remote work allows employees to save time on transportation, minimize office distractions, and work more focused. However, motivation and discipline can fade away without good management. Thus, it is vital to incorporate tools and technologies for process optimization. 

For instance, you can use a task management tool such as Asana and a procurement automation tool such as Tradogram. Both of these tools will keep employees on track and processes running smoothly. 

Cost Savings 

Remote procurement management contributes to cost savings for the organization. 

First, remote teams do not require office space, office supplies, or other costs associated with office team maintenance. 

Also, good management helps to improve procurement processes, gain greater visibility into the process, and identify cost-saving opportunities.

Best Practices for Successful Remote Procurement Management 

In order to create an efficient remote procurement process and get results, you should incorporate some of the following best practices. 

Identify the Needs and Set Goals

First, identify your organization’s needs to set clear expectations and goals. In order to identify business needs, you should conduct a thorough analysis of the current procurement processes and the team’s performance. After the analysis, evaluate the data and identify areas that need improvement. 

Common challenges and needs identified during this stage include: 

• Inefficiencies regarding manual processes that require lots of time and resources. 
• Lack of clarity regarding the clear distribution of responsibilities among the team members. 
• Inefficient communication between the team members and lack of collaboration. 

All these challenges are needs for your business that should be addressed. For instance, you need to find the right software solution to eliminate inefficiencies regarding manual processes. It will help automate different procurement process stages by creating customizable workflows. 

Lack of clarity can be addressed by clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of each team member. It will help to avoid misunderstandings and costly errors. If necessary, you can also consider creating new jobs and titles to smoothen the transition to remote procurement. 

Inefficient communication can be addressed by incorporating tools and solutions to foster real-time fast communication. Examples include Slack for communication and Trello or Asana for task management. 

To measure the results you should set specific goals and KPIs for each challenge. This will help you evaluate the team’s performance and the efficiency of remote procurement processes. 

Incorporate the Right Technology 

Successful remote procurement management requires the incorporation of the right software and hardware solutions. These tools will help to foster communication and efficiency and allow teams to perform their duties effectively. 

Hardware 

First, let’s understand the importance of hardware solutions. Hardware solutions such as laptops, printers, and others are crucial to ensure a smooth remote procurement process. Whether your company requires contractors to have compatible hardware or provides it is another question. Usually, companies provide hardware equipment for remote workers to ensure everyone has the same camera, microphone, and laptop model to minimize potential errors and troubleshooting needs. 

Software 

Ensuring everyone has the same kind of hardware equipment also will guarantee that software solutions will work on everyone’s side. 

When it comes to software solutions, aim for solutions that come in handy with good UI, high scalability, and plenty of features. Software categories necessary for remote procurement teams include communication tools and procure-to-pay software. Let’s review both of these categories with examples below. 

Communication and Collaboration Tools 

To manage remote procurement teams efficiently, make sure to incorporate the right communication and collaboration tools. Many online teams communicate remotely via Microsoft Teams and Slack. These tools allow the creation of groups/channels and efficiently handle real-time remote collaboration. 

When hosting live conferences, daily stand-ups, or important meetings, you can utilize tools such as Zoom, Discord, and Google Meets. These tools are simple to use and offer all the necessary features for live conferencing, including mute/unmute options, background setups, and screen-sharing tools. 

Procure-to-Pay Solutions 

Procure-to-pay software will allow your team to optimize the procurement processes, eliminating the need for manual data entry/workflow management and other efforts. It will decrease the possibility of errors and allow teams to focus on more strategic activities for the business. 

When it comes to choosing the right procure-to-pay solution, make sure to consider several aspects, such as: 

• Ease of use. The solution should be comprehensive and have a good UI. It will save time on employee onboarding and contribute to easy navigation within the platform. 
• Feature-rich. Make sure that your chosen solution offers different optimization and management features, including data analytics, customization options, and scalability. 
• Automation. The procure-to-pay software should offer automation capabilities to set up custom workflows and eliminate manual effort. 

To choose the right solution, take into consideration all the aspects mentioned above. The right too; will help to foster supplier relationships and contract management while saving resources and time along the way. 

Create and Incorporate New Policies 

Every company is unique. Thus, policies and regulations that work for one might not be as efficient as yours. This is the main reason why it is important to assess and develop unique policies for your company and teams. 

Communication Policies 

For efficient remote team management, you should create communication policies. For instance, all the members of the procurement team should join daily meetings. These meetings can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. The main aim is to foster communication and engagement, encouraging employees to share important updates and managers to establish priorities for the day. 

Besides daily meetings for the whole procurement department, project/category managers should also regularly host meetings with their regular teams to catch up and clarify priorities. 

When it comes to communication policies, hosting regular meetings is not enough. Make sure the voices of all employees are heard and that everyone has a sense of belonging. To reach maximum efficiency, managers should prioritize creativity and innovation. 

Other Policies 

Other policies you can incorporate include policies regarding the prioritization of software tools instead of manual processes. You can also introduce policies regarding tracking user activity for greater transparency in the process. 

When you are planning to redefine certain processes and introduce new tools, make sure to conduct proper employee training. This will allow employees to learn the software or new policies quickly and be more productive.

Manage Remote Procurement Teams with Ease Starting Today 

If you are looking for a procurement solution to improve remote procurement management, then you are in the right place. Tradogram is an all-in-one procurement management solution that allows for streamlining the procurement process. 

Tradogram offers collaboration tools for teams and supplier management, contract, PO, and invoice management tools, inventory management tools, workflow automation features, and robust data analytics. 

Schedule a demo to find out more about how Tradogram can help you manage remote procurement efficiently.