E-sourcing is simply a set of digital tools that can simplify and improve the strategic sourcing activities and purchasing procedures carried out by an organisation’s purchasing team. E-sourcing tools enhance the ability of Purchasing to generate value for the organisation by managing all spend and all suppliers, reducing supply chain risks and increasing savings.
What is the difference between e-sourcing and sourcing?
Basically, sourcing and e-sourcing are not so different. In both cases, purchasing managers seek to identify the best products from the best suppliers offering the best prices and terms. The main difference between sourcing and e-sourcing lies in the tools used to carry out day-to-day and strategic sourcing activities.
Traditional sourcing tools (email, phone calls, spreadsheets, PDFs, or faxes) limit the effectiveness of collaboration with internal and external customers and suppliers. They also limit transparency, standardisation, scalability and automation. Traditional sourcing tools offer only limited transparency in terms of planning, data, analysis and execution.
E-sourcing, on the other hand, enables all teams and internal customers to achieve total transparency. This improves efficiency, collaboration and the simplification of strategic initiatives and spend management. All of which leads to better results.
E-sourcing provides purchasing teams with project and tender templates (RFQ, RFP, RFI, auctions), which simplify the work and reduce the overall sourcing cycle time required to launch and manage sourcing processes. For international companies, standardisation has an even greater impact on the quality of data and analyses, and on the coordination of joint initiatives.
E-sourcing enables teams to manage several projects at the same time and to review their status and activity in complete transparency. This method also enables Purchasing to easily manage complex projects. E-sourcing is compatible with online auctions and other advanced sourcing tools, significantly reducing negotiation times for all types of products and services. What’s more, reports and analyses can be generated at the click of a button, saving hours or days of work on each project.
