How to Choose the Best Procurement Software

At one time, all of the steps for procurement management were completed by hand. Everything from the RFP to vendor management was created and filed “analog” style. Keeping in touch with vendors was done in person or via telephone. 

When a procurement software platform was available, it was just a spreadsheet as part of an overall word processing package. Today, there are many types of procurement software, and in order to find the best procurement software for your company, you’ll have to find the area (or areas) you need help in the most. 

Read on to learn more about how to choose the best procurement software and more about what procurement software is.

The Best Procurement Software: What Is Procurement Software?

 

Procurement software is a type of computer program that allows a company or organization to automate parts of the purchasing and inventory process. 

Some of the most common types of features found in procurement software, particularly all-in-one procurement software, include:

 

  • Creation of requisitions and purchase orders
  • Reminders/Vendor follow-ups
  • Inventory maintenance 
    • Financial documents (library and templates)
  • Vendor management
  • Electronic signature abilities
  • eSourcing

 

Keep in mind that these are the most basic of features, and many of these features are found even on free or shareware procurement software. 

 

The Best Procurement Software: Looking at Different Types

 

Beyond features, there are different types of procurement software you should look at, particularly if you’re in search of the best procurement software for your company.

These include:

  • Open-source software: This type of software is free and the source code is available
  • Free proprietary software: These are limited versions of fully licensed types of software
  • Proprietary software: These are full and paid licensed versions; similar to SaaS procurement software, some may be a subscription or pay-by-the month model

In most cases, companies pick proprietary software, though not all opt for the SaaS subscription cloud-based models and would rather own full licenses.

 

The Best Procurement Software: Making a Choice

 

Your software procurement strategy in choosing the best procurement software will involve making the best choice for your firm, so this will be a choice that’s unlike any other organization’s choices.

 

This is a team effort, so the question you should ask your team is, what problems are they  having during the procurement process, and how can those be solved with the best software? Make sure you get the perspective from all impacted stakeholders before making your decision.  If you find you’re wasting a lot of time on one part of the procurement process, you may want to streamline that process with the right procurement software. 

 

If you are struggling with KPI tracking, you may want to consider procurement tracking software. Make a list of all current problems, and see if these problems are solved as you request a procurement software demo.

 

Remember—the software should be intuitive for all members of the team and should be collaborative. The procurement software decision should be a team decision. When choosing procurement software, it should be easy to use across departments and teams, it should be collaborative, and it should be transparent. 

 

To find out more about how to choose the best procurement software, or to request a software demo from us, contact EC Sourcing Group today at 973-936-9672 to see how we can help.