While it is crucial for businesses to understand how they are sourcing materials and to manage spend effectively, it turns out there is a lot of confusion around the procurement process, according to a recent Google survey conducted by AmeriQuest Business Services.
“When there is confusion about procurement procedures, a company is not as profitable as it could be,” said Reginald Peterson, director of indirect products at AmeriQuest Business Services.
“While on the surface procurement may appear to be a simple task, it is crucial for companies to have a knowledgeable and experienced procurement department, versus assigning procurement responsibilities to administrative professionals,” Peterson added. “The survey results show that in too many instances this is not the case.”
However, survey results help explain why the procurement process may not be going as smoothly as it should:
- One in five respondents said their company does not have a procurement process in place
- One in five respondents were completely unaware of discounts and rebates that they could be tapping when making purchases for their company
- Over a third of respondents are unsure of how procurement is viewed within their company and nearly one in five said it has no visibility within their company
- 15% of respondents said they didn’t know which department manages procurement despite being directly involved in the process
- Procurement sits within many different departments at companies – nearly a quarter said the financial department, 22% said the operations department, and 7% said IT
- Almost one-third of respondents said they weren’t sure who had the final sign-off rights to procurement at their company
This article originally appeared on Material Handling & Logistics, an IndustryWeek companion site within Penton's Manufacturing & Supply Chain Group.
