How Much Can RFQ Automation Software Save You?
The very real hidden costs of procurement aren't always obvious.
Procurement is oftentimes the responsibility of purchasing teams that are small relative to the size of the organization. At times, the "team" may actually just be a single person or even the owner, running the entire shop end-to-end. These teams always find a way to ensure that materials arrive on time by finding novel ways to optimize the process. From formula-heavy spreadsheets to rote communication patterns, purchasers are resourceful and understand how to consistently deliver as much as possible given the tooling they have access to.
If this describes your approach, then you're no doubt already aware that these bespoke solutions can only take your organization so far. At a certain point, more specialized RFQ automation tooling is necessary to achieve higher levels of performance as throughput increases.
How Long Do RFQs Actually Take?
Before you can solve the problem, it's critical to understand where the friction in procurement exists. Let's look at an example of the time spent in the process:
Preparing the RFQ - 1-4 hours
The requirements given to the procurement team are rarely in the shape that they need to actually prepare and send a well-written RFQ. The purchaser has to read through the requirements a few times and translate them into a quotable request.Identifying Suppliers - 1-3 hours
Once the RFQ is ready to send, the procurement team has to identify which suppliers will be included. If existing relationships are in place, great! If not, suppliers need to be researched up front.Communicating with Suppliers - 2-4 hours
From the moment that the email is sent to the chosen suppliers, a wide variety of responses will begin to come back. Some suppliers will no-quote, some will provide a quote, and some will ask questions. In the case of questions, the response will generally need to be copied and pasted into an email back to all included suppliers.Evaluating Bids - 1-4 hours
Depending on the complexity of the BOM, actually evaluating the responses and comparing the quotes in an apples-to-apples way can eat up a tremendous amount of time.
Solving the Problem
Though a patchwork of free tooling can work, it cannot consistently deliver as load increases. The single most effective way to solve the RFQ bottleneck is to introduce sourcing automation software into the process.
Sourcing automation platforms vary widely in what they do and who they're for. Large enterprise systems like Ariba are generally overkill for SMBs. From the implementation phase to training to frustration and confusion in using them, the net effect is higher costs and even lower morale. Though those systems may help your business conform to enterprise-level procurement needs, they almost never provide real, tangible benefits to small or medium sized organizations.
Purchaser solves the problem.
Our unique email-first approach allows organizations of all sizes to increase their RFQ throughput on day one. We've spent hundreds of hours understanding how teams currently run their procurement process and carefully built our platform around the idea that the best way to introduce efficiency gains is to optimize each step of the process in isolation.
RFQ emails are automatically generated based on the requirements, regardless of their shape.
Suppliers are automatically selected where possible.
Communications are streamlined and far fewer messages are copied and pasted.
Bids are automatically evaluated and a comparison is generated in the shape needed to make a decision.
No extensive onboarding phase, no lengthy training sessions - just an optimized workflow for your team.
The ROI of Purchaser
Though streamlining operations will itself introduce far higher morale on the procurement team, our platform also delivers very real financial returns. Reducing the RFQ process down from 8+ hours to 15-30 minutes produces a net outcome of lower OpEx and higher throughput.
Use our handy ROI calculator below to see what the ROI might look like for your organization.
If introducing Purchaser can produce a double or triple digit ROI for you, why not give us 30 minutes to show you how it works?
How much can Purchaser save you?