Automating Supplier Onboarding: Choose the Right Software

Supplier onboarding processes are the cornerstone of strategic supplier management and onboarding. Companies have often looked at ways to enhance their processes, and one solution stands out above the rest: automation. Automation takes your average supplier onboarding process and brings it to a more efficient and productive level. That’s why the software you choose is a critical part of supplier onboarding success.

Why?

Sometimes, setup and approvals can become an extremely time-consuming process. Sometimes, you need multiple stakeholders to sign off for approval, causing delays. On top of all this, there are a variety of compliance and regulatory standards that need to be met, suppliers often don’t understand the complex process, and delays just hold up your growth. This can lead to increased risk, delayed revenue, and wasted time on all fronts.

Any business looking for supplier onboarding software to centralize purchasing and payment must consider these three things:

1. Can your suppliers access this platform and use it themselves?

Let’s face it — no one wants to be pushed through another dreaded cycle. Suppliers today want real value, and they want to see it instantly to know that their investment is paying off. With an automated supplier onboarding process, you can take any tedious, manual work out of getting your suppliers up and running on your network.

A digital process means that anyone can access the portal from anywhere, giving your suppliers greater control and access over their onboarding experience and supply chain process. This will lead to happier suppliers, helping you strengthen your relationships and streamline your supply chain activities.

2. Does this platform keep your data secured?

When it comes to global trade, there is often a lot of sensitive information being passed back and forth. Enterprises need to know that their most important data is safe and secure from any breaches.

The right digital trade platform keeps your data secure and helps you streamline your processes. Any threats or disruptions to your processes can lead to several problems down the line. Data breaches, instances of fraud, government restrictions, and third-party risks all pose a threat to your supply chain. To protect yourself now and in the future, you need to invest in a tool that centralizes processes and secures data.

The Tradeshift platform lets users manage invoices with a single keystroke. This eliminates the need for tedious manual operations and drastically reduces the possibility of making mistakes.

 

3. Does this platform work with your other tech?

Sometimes getting executive buy-in on technology can be difficult. Often advanced solutions are a costly investment, taking into account the time you’ll spend implementing the new tools and training your team on how to use them. Enterprises want to invest in a tool that works alongside their existing tools so that they can integrate their operations. You want your tech to collaborate and learn from one another to give you the best insights possible.

When it comes to collaborating with suppliers, you want to be sure that your solution is accessible for both parties. With clear communication and a central platform to organize and store your records, communication logs, and business information, you can work together instantly to prevent issues from becoming roadblocks.

Here are some other considerations you should include in your search: 

• Size of your business
• Number of current vendors
• Future growth plans
• Price and scalability

The bottom line — you must ensure your chosen solution offers a clear and compelling value proposition. Suppliers need to have confidence it will provide value to them to make the cost of change worthwhile.

Pick a solution that makes it easy for them to get started and offers them insights into their invoices and payments they couldn’t get elsewhere. And choose a solution that keeps their private data secure while centralizing your communications.

Tradeshift has helped companies all over the world transform their supplier onboarding process, whether building it from scratch or completely overhauling an inflexible program ill-suited to today’s supply chain needs. As software built for adaptability, we help you to grow alongside the changing industry. To learn more about how our Tradeshift Engage supplier collaboration tools can help you strengthen your business relationships, reach out and see how we can help you make shift happen.