Efficient supplier management also means that suppliers themselves will keep track of their product and price information. Of course, they already do this through their own sales channels, and a punchout link can be used to bridge with their own purchasing system.
In some cases, this is not possible and suppliers will have to enter and maintain their catalogs, or part of them, in the customer's purchasing system themselves.
With serving many customers, it is impractical to keep track of this for every customer's purchasing system. To curb this, open networks that facilitate the use of electronic supplier catalogs can be used.
One example is the Basware Network, where suppliers and customers can align their sales and purchasing processes, respectively.
With the Basware Network, suppliers can maintain their own data and product portfolio and make it available to customers. And customers can pull these products into their procurement system and offer them to employees.
The result: letting employees place orders themselves but under management.
