Procurement and Purchasing
3 min read
Today’s procurement professionals have to be diligent in countless areas to keep up with the ever-changing global market. More organizations than ever are buying and selling products globally, which means many are making these worldwide transactions before their financial operations are mature enough to manage multi-currency and multi-national hurdles.
Even though markets are now global, organizations’ financial operations have not been able to scale processes quickly enough to process international payments with tax compliance. For this reason, today’s procurement professionals must constantly be on the lookout for ways to update their financial operations to stay in the race, specifically when it comes to optimizing the procurement process, spend visibility, procurement software, and more.
Let’s take a closer look at spend visibility first.
According to Spend Journal, spend visibility is “the level of oversight and understanding you have about where company funds go.” The journal offers an example: “Finance teams who can accurately show where dollars are spent – in as close to real time as possible – have a high degree of spend visibility.”
So, why does spend visibility matter? What difference does maximizing spend visibility make regarding financial operations? All the difference in the world! Let’s dive into the why of it.
Most people think of spend visibility as tracking business expenses across the year, but it’s far more than that. It gives procurement a direct window into the productivity and efficiency levels their company’s financial operations and purchasing processes are currently operating at.
This window is full of data, which after being analyzed and broken down, will allow finance teams to budget their operations accordingly. It will also alert them to any areas of concern, so they can course-correct if and when needed.
From here, your spend analysis might uncover an issue that leads you to realize you need a change. So what can you do to implement it in the best way?
Enacting a proactive and strategic approach to improving your procurement process—like using updated procurement software, for starters—is vital for optimizing your operations’ efficiency and profitability. It can also make all the difference when buying and selling products globally.
Listed below are some simple yet highly effective steps you can take to ensure your procurement process is operating at peak conditions.
Usually, this looks like operations teams concentrating on driving efficiencies while finance focuses on gaining clarity on the supply chain. The result is a shared and ever-evolving strategy where everyone wins.
If you’re looking for resources on international markets and finance processes, connect with us today at Zip.
Watch this video to learn how CM Group leverages Zip to manage their procurement process.
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