In E-Procurement Speed is Critical & Resistance to Change Fierce
By Dr. Tom DePaoli
For more leading-edge ideas see my books on Amazon:
Common Sense Purchasing, Common Sense Supply Management and Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse
Underestimating resistance to change and the end-user’s need for ease-of-use has derailed many e-procurement projects. A strong component in this area is content quality and the details of the transaction.
End-users demand ease of use and they want to quickly find the items that they need. Companies need to realize that e-procurement is competing with the easiest method to buy in the minds of their end-users. Many end-users would rather pick up a phone, tell their supplier what items they want, charge it to a corporate purchase card, and hang up. Unfortunately, in many companies, this method is still faster than using the current e-procurement software. Any impediments to the fast purchase of materials will quickly turn off end-users and kill transaction volumes. Speed is king in the world of e-procurement. End-users also want powerful search engines to quickly find their items. If the content of the supplier catalogue is poorly organized and the quality poor, end-users will quickly be frustrated by unfruitful searches and become non-users of the e-procurement system. In addition, special instructions that need to be given to suppliers about delivery or other issues can’t easily be given with some e-procurement tools, or require additional end-user training, which raises the frustration levels.
Resistance to change for an e-procurement system is fierce but can be readily overcome with strong commitment to change management. This change-management process must be an integral part of any e-procurement installation.
Never underestimate the role resistance to change plays in any software implementation.
Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon. He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children.
https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page
http://www.apollosolutions.us = website of Apollo Solutions his business
drtombooks.com = more information on Dr. Tom’s books
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/e-procurement-speed-critical-resistance-change-fierce-depaoli
Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ
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