Etiket arşivi: procurement software

Supply chain tokens

Supply chain projects like OriginTrail, Waltonchain and Wabi have rallied in excess of 250% as blockchain interoperability comes into focus.

Over the last few weeks, blockchain projects focused on supply chains and logistics have seen tremendous growth as the coronavirus-induced economic gridlock begins to loosen and future concerns related to the global pandemic subside.

TRAC

OriginTrail is a self-described “ecosystem dedicated to making global supply chains work together by enabling a universal, collaborative and trusted data exchange.”

The project was established in 2011 with the goal of providing enterprise users with the ability to streamline their supply chains with added data protection and item tracking features.

Currently, the project has partnerships with big-name companies like Microsoft, Walmart and Oracle.

WTC

Waltonchain is focused on creating an ecosystem that combines blockchain, RFID technology and the Internet of Things in order to enhance operational efficiency for supply chain use cases.

One recent major development that may have kicked off WTC’s current rally was the successful upgrade of the protocol’s cross-chain center, which enables interactions between data on different blockchains, including Ethereum and Fabric.

Waltonchain is another supply chain-focused protocol 

WABI

Wabi is a supply chain ecosystem that connects brands and consumers by enabling the seamless, fair, confidential exchange of information.

Currently, the protocol is preparing to launch a new business-to-business marketing solution with a focus on markets based in Asia. 

The reopening of supply chains after a year of disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be the most significant factor connected to the future success of Wabi and other supply chain and logistics-focused platforms.

On a sectorwide level, interoperability with other blockchain platforms has been one of the primary drivers of the rally among supply chain projects in 2021. As the global economy begins to open back up and supplychains are reestablished, platforms that facilitate smooth global trade could see further upside. 

source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/supply-chain-tokens-see-triple-digit-gains-as-the-global-economy-recovers

Foot Locker cites port congestion for nearly 24% drop in inventory

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  • Foot Locker is working to reroute its cargo in an attempt to avoid port congestion. Port delays reached two to three weeks in some cases and affected the company’s inventory levels in Q4, CEO Dick Johnson said on the company’s most recent earnings call.
  • Chief Financial Officer Lauren Peters said port congestion was one of the issues, along with store closures, that led to a 2.7% year-over-year drop in sales in the quarter.
  • “Once the product gets into our portion of the supply chain, you know I feel really confident that our team can move through the inventory and get it in the right place very quickly,” Dick Johnson said. “We think that [inventory] will start to normalize over the quarter.

Foot Locker’s inventory was down 23.6% at the end of Q4, as port delays have lengthened lead times for shippers and bottlenecked cargo.

“With respect to our inventory position, although we achieved our goal of being at a healthy composition by the end of the fiscal year, our levels are lower than we would like,” Peters said.

Dick Johnson said the company is working to improve its inventory as it expects to see strong demand in the quarter — especially given the stimulus bill that passed after the company’s earnings call.

“We’re working with our vendor partners to look for alternative routing,” Dick Johnson said in relation to port congestion and inventory levels.

Figuring out alternative ports of entry is a step multiple shippers are taking to avoid congestion at gateways, such as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Source: https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/foot-locker-port-congestion-inventory-retail-ocean-shipping/596270/

Three Uses Of Automation Within Supply Chain 4.0

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The increased availability of advanced technologies has revolutionized the traditional supply chain model. Supply Chain 4.0 responds to modern customer expectations by relying heavily on the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced robotics, big data analytics, and blockchain. These tools enable automation and thus give organizations a chance to close information gaps and optimally match supply and demand.

Industry giants like Netflix, Tesla, UPS, Amazon, and Microsoft rely heavily on automation within their supply chain to lead their respective industries. Let us take a closer look at three powerful automation use cases.

1. Managing demand uncertainty

A painful aspect of supply chain ecosystems is the demand uncertainty and the inability to accurately forecast demand. Generally, this leads to a set of performance issues, from increased operational cost to excess inventory and suboptimal production capacity. Automation tools can forecast demand, remove uncertainty from the equation, and thus improve operational efficiency at each step along the supply chain.

Big data analytics is an established tool that helps organizations manage demand uncertainty. It consists of data collection & aggregation infrastructure combined with powerful ML algorithms, designed to forecast demand based on historical (or even real-time) data. Modern storage solutions (such as data lakes) make it possible to aggregate data from a variety of sources: market trends, competitor information, and consumer preferences. 

Machine learning(ML) algorithms continually analyze this rich data to find new patterns, improve the accuracy of demand forecasting, and enhance operational efficiency. This is the recipe that Amazon uses to predict demand for a product before it is purchased and stocked in their warehouse. By examining tweets and posts on websites and social media, they understand customer sentiments about products and have a data-based way to model demand uncertainty. 

The good news is that such powerful analytics tools are not restricted to industry giants anymore. Out-of-the-box solutions (such as Amazon Forecast) make such capabilities widely available to all organizations that wish to handle demand uncertainty. 

2. Managing process uncertainties

Organizations operating in today’s supply chain industry need to handle increasingly complex logistic processes. The competitive environment, together with ever-increasing customer expectations make it imperative to minimize uncertainties across all areas of supply chain management

3. Synchronization among supply chain partners and customers

Digital supply chains are characterized by synchronization among hundreds of departments, vendors, suppliers, and customers. In order to orchestrate activities all the way from planning to execution, supply chains require information to be collected, analyzed, and utilized in real-time. A sure way to achieve a fully synchronized supply chain is to leverage the power of automation. 

source:
https://www.unite.ai/three-uses-of-automation-within-supply-chain-4-0/


How Procurement Can Help Reduce Supply Chain Risk

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The modern supply chain is facing some unprecedented challenges right now, and procurement is in a prime position to be able to help solve some of these issues while also reducing overall supply chain risk for their organizations. In “Risk, resilience, and rebalancing in global value chains,” McKinsey Global Institute covers a lot of ground on the supply chain risk front, but also singles out a few key realities that companies are facing and the steps they can take to mitigate risk.

After analyzing 23 different industry value chains to assess their exposure to specific types of shocks, the research firm found that supply chain “shock” varies according to industry. Aerospace and semiconductors, for example, are susceptible to cyberattacks and trade disputes, because of their high level of digitization, R&D, capital intensity and exposure to digital data flows.

Some of the key procurement-related findings in McKinsey’s report include:

  • Shocks inevitably seem to exploit the weak spots within broader value chains and specific companies. “An organization’s supply chain operations can be a source of vulnerability or resilience,” it points out, “depending on its effectiveness in monitoring risk, implementing mitigation strategies, and establishing business continuity plans.”
  • Some of these vulnerabilities are inherent to a given industry; the perishability of food and agricultural products, for example, means that the associated value chains are highly vulnerable to delivery delays and spoilage.
  • Industries with unpredictable, seasonal and cyclical demand also face particular challenges. Makers of electronics must adapt to relatively short product lifecycles, and they cannot afford to miss spikes in consumer spending during limited holiday windows.
  • Other vulnerabilities are the consequence of intentional decisions, such as how much inventory a company chooses to carry, the complexity of its product portfolio, the number of unique SKUs in its supply chain, and the amount of debt or insurance it carries. Changing these decisions can reduce—or increase—vulnerability to shocks.
  • Companies’ supplier networks vary in ways that can shape their vulnerability. For example, spending concentrated among just a few suppliers may make it easier to manage them, but it also heightens vulnerability should anything happen to them.

Complexity isn’t a Weakness

Buyers should also understand that supply chain vulnerabilities often stem from the structure of supplier networks in a given value chain. “Complexity itself is not necessarily a weakness to the extent that it provides companies with redundancies and flexibility,” McKinsey points out, “But sometimes the balance can tip. Complex networks may become opaque, obscuring vulnerabilities and interdependencies.”

For example, a large, multinational company may procure goods from hundreds of different tier-one suppliers. Each of those tier-one suppliers in turn can rely on hundreds of tier-two suppliers. “The entire supplier ecosystem associated with a large company can encompass tens of thousands of companies around the world when the deepest tiers are included,” McKinsey points out.

Finally, the number of tiers of participating suppliers can hinder visibility and make it difficult to spot emergent risks. As a result, “suppliers that are dependent on a single customer can cause issues when demand shocks cascade through a value chain,” the firm notes.

Improving Resilience

On a positive note, McKinsey says that 93% of supply chain leaders are currently taking steps to make their supply chains more resilient. Some of the strategies they’re using include:

  • Building in redundancy across suppliers
  • Nearshoring their manufacturing operations
  • Reducing the number of unique parts that they use to build their products
  • Regionalizing their supply chains

“Most companies are still in the early stages of their efforts to connect the entire value chain with a seamless flow of data,” says McKinsey, which sees digital as a vehicle that can deliver “major benefits to efficiency and transparency that are yet to be fully realized.”

source: https://www.sourcetoday.com/

Lego is making 13,000 face visors

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Denmark-based toymaker Lego recently announced on Instagram that it had begun producing protective visors for front-line healthcare workers in its home country.

The company has modified some of its molding machines to manufacture Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

This week we began to make visors at our factory in Billund for healthcare workers on the frontline in Denmark,” the company said. “We are so incredibly proud of the team who made this happen.”

The visors have a simple design, which was drafted out by Lego employees with the help of representatives from Denmark’s healthcare sector.

source
https://www.businessinsider.com/lego-goggles-protective-a-day-for-coronavirus-outbreak-ppe-2020-4

Indirect Spend Categories to Make Cost Reduction

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Over the past five years, purchasing/supply groups in well-managed companies have made significant progress in reducing the price of inputs. Since specific direct materials are often associated with distinct Strategic Business Units (SBUs), managing this spend is usually accomplished through center-led commodity groups, with sourcing decisions and administration occurring at the SBU. Though most companies are generally satisfied with the efforts they have made in strategically sourcing their direct goods and services, most companies are still attempting to gain comparable control and results with their indirect spend.

Indirect spend is receiving increased attention from the senior management of large corporations. On average, indirect spend equals about 50 percent of a company’s purchases. Unfortunately, a significant amount of indirect spend is not purchased using the organization’s purchasing/supply function or purchasing processes. Senior management has realized that reducing or eliminating indirect spend offers an opportunity to favourably affect a company’s cost structure. Examples of indirect spend include: professional services, utilities, company travel, office products, and waste Management, facility management e.t.c However, spend that is indirect for one company may be direct for another. Furthermore, segmenting direct and indirect spend can be very difficult, particularly for service companies.

With increased outsourcing of non-core capabilities, the growth of the service sector, and increasing cost pressure, the importance of managing indirect spend is increasing.  A recent survey conducted by The Aberdeen Group recently reported that about 70 percent of procurement executives cite indirect spend as a top focus for controlling and reducing cost. Procurement executives know that indirect category management now presents a significant opportunity for cost management, gross profit and margin growth. More procurement groups now seek to drive a larger volume of contracts through their organizations. They want to manage and negotiate better rates and achieve tighter compliance with both financial and regulatory controls. And they believe that more attention to indirect spend and the multitude of suppliers in those categories can yield savings without distracting management attention from compliance or strategy.

Some of the top 5 Categories where companies can successfully achieve significant savings in indirect spend include:

Marketing Services

Marketing spend is defined as `external expenditures on services related to marketing’. Marketing spend categories usually include printing services compatible to goods,  agency/creative services, and other non-creative services,  Buying Marketing Services is often regarded as one of the highest budget areas within an organisation, hence the role for Procurement has increased considerably in recent years focusing on improving quality, delivery times and innovation.

 

Waste Management

Waste management is the “generation, prevention, characterization, monitoring, treatment, handling, reuse and residual disposition of solid wastes”. There are various types of solid waste including municipal (residential, institutional, commercial), agricultural, and special (health care, household hazardous wastes, sewage sludge). The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics.

 

Professional Services

Organisations often employ professional services for assistance with strategy, management, and other functional services such as legal, Human Resources etc.  Procurement can demonstrate value by providing insight to spend, supplier sourcing, realising savings and organising efficient, economical purchasing processes.

 

Office Supplies

Office Supplies can be defined as all items which have the objective of retaining or restoring a piece of equipment or system, to a state in which it can perform its required function. These are items which are used in production but do not become part of the end product and include hand tools, spare parts, lubricants and cleaning supplies e.t.c. They are goods acquired for the purpose of current operation; items that are consumable, sometimes perishable or short lived, and are subject to material change. They could also be items of a durable nature such as wastebaskets, small tools, bookends, file cabinets, chairs, calculators.

 

Facilities Management

Procurement is often involved with many of the services bought in, to support the building and people within an organisation – often referred as Facilities management (FM). FM is a significant area of spend for most organisations, traditionally defined as soft (people focused) and hard (engineering focused). Approaches for managing FM may be centralised or decentralised, either through several direct contractors or via an integrated FM supplier which provides all services.

What Procurement Professionals want in 2017

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The New Year is here already, after the holiday season filled with lots of giving and sharing with employees, colleagues, friends and loved ones, it’s now time to implement new spending strategies to help you make the most of your 2017 budget. If your company is planning to up the ante on event spending next year, they need to be aware what procurement professionals are looking out for and be better prepared on how make the most out of its 2017 procurement teams.

It’s no longer news that procurement teams fuel the profitability and growth of some the world’s most successful companies, from aligning procurement’s deliverables with top business goals to understanding exactly what needs to change in procurement to drive financial results, there are several habits that organisations can establish to encourage effective procurement practices that result in value generation for the company as a whole.

Some of the Industry trends that procurement professionals tend to be leaning toward in the New Year include:

  1. The power of relationships

The ability to build strong relationships with suppliers, clients and stakeholders can contribute to success within service delivery, recruitment and the list goes on.

Too often we see organisations fail to manage their contracts and suppliers. An effective supplier management framework that appropriately aligns risk, effort and reward is a key enabler of ongoing sustainable value creation. The framework needs to include segmentation (i.e., strategic, operational and tactical), performance management framework(s) and a clear articulation of organisational accountability and responsibility. Procurement professionals should be looking to do more in this regard in order to provide a more personal and tailored approach towards procurement in 2017

  1. Online Platforms

A growing amount of procurement professionals are tapping into online platforms to help build these global relationships. Procurement professionals can leverage what’s happening in retail-related user experience to build commercial business cases to invest internally in great systems.  Systems that will improve productivity and allow organisations to capture data and move from spend analysis to predictive procurement. Platforms that are cost effective and allows for easier data capture at point of purchase for procurement professionals. These niche platforms offer similar functions to a social network but also much more

So what are these online platforms? They aren’t just the usual culprits of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Now there’s a new wave of social media which is tailored to professionals in specific industries – the niche online business network. As for the procurement industry, some of these platforms include; Procurious, Salesforce, Amazon, SAP e.t.c. Procurement professionals should seek to delve deeper into these platforms to see how best they can further build upon existing successes recorded.

  1. Global networking

It’s no secret the logistics, procurement and supply chain profession is global in nature and these niche networks allow procurers, buyers and suppliers to network with people from all corners of the globe.  The online space is no doubt a key channel for establishing business relationships with professionals from some of the world’s largest economies. With functions such as networking capabilities, industry specific news and discussion forums, these platforms create focused global communities. They provide opportunities for members to converse, network and share knowledge with like-minded peers across the globe.

  1. Tailored learning

Niche online networks are also hubs of knowledge which can be useful when fostering relationships with several stakeholders. For example, if procurement professionals want to do business in new locations or with a new supplier, they’ll need to understand their background, the market they play in and local industry issues. Sites and platforms should foster discussions groups which can help one learn about another culture or industry’s way of doing business before entering the market.

 

The value that the an efficient and effective procurement department brings to an organisation are huge not just in cost savings but also in terms of long term profitability of the business and also in promoting  sustainability business practises and majority of businesses are beginning to establish and encourage habits that can drive these benefits. While the outcome of alignment and transformation projects are different for every organisation, the end result creates a clear path for procurement to drive financial results, earn more internal budget and resources, and demonstrate to key stakeholders the immense value and critical nature of their program. Procurement professionals are constantly challenged to provide the latest innovations that are truly integrated, mobile and social-enabled in order to deliver productivity gains and raise employee engagement and compliance while leading to better supplier management and auditing.

E-ihale sistemini Ektin Şekilde Kullanmak

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Bir e-satınalma yazılımına kaydolmak aslında amaç değildir önemli olan yazılımı etkin şekilde kullanabilmektir.

Satınalma departmanları için bir numaralı hedef genellikle tasarruflardır. E-ihale ise o hedefe  en hızlı ve en iyi şekilde ulaşmak için bir araçtır.

O hikaye tanıdık gelebilir,

Bir egzersizin sizin için iyi olduğunu biliyorsunuz; Geçmişte bunu zaman zaman yaptınız ve sonuçlarını hep gördünüz.

Bununla birlikte, günlük yaşam koşuşturması sizi geride bırakıyor ve spora yapabileceğiniz bir program olmadan istediğiniz sıklıkta gitmiyorsunuz.

Yani, bir şey ödemenin sorunu çözeceğini umarak yıllık bir spor salonu üyeliğine sahip olursunuz.

Ancak bunu günlük rutininizin bir parçası haline getirmeksizin gerçekleştirmek zordur.

Egzersiz gibi, e-ihale de kanıtlanmış ve sonuçları  iyi belgelendirilmiştir.

% 12-20 tasarruf

Şeffaflık  vb

Aberdeen Group’a göre

Uluslararası Firmaların  % 68’i e-satınalma sistemi kullanıyor, diğerlerinin % 45’i bu sistemi kullanıyor.

Maliyet azaltma , Satınalma ekipleri için en önemli konuların başında gelmektedir, ve geçen yıla göre  %20 oranında bir önem kazanmıştır.

Stratejik satınalma, çoğu satın alma departmanı için en önemli tasarruf kaynağıdır.

Tasarruflar, en iyi tedarik performansı ölçütü olmaya devam ettiği için,satınalma  ekibinin yeteneklerini ve sürecini geliştiren (ve sonuçları iyileştiren) araçlara ve kaynaklara yapılan yatırım mantıklıdır.

Bütün bunlar göz önüne alındığında, çoğu kuruluşun e-ihale  platformlarından tam olarak faydalanamaması neden? Yapılan araştırmalara göre şirketler yapabileceklerinden daha az elektronik ihale yapmaktadırlar.

Peki, kuruluşunuzun e-satınalma araçlarını daha etkin kullanmasını nasıl sağlayabilirsiniz? Spor salonundan öğrendiğiniz dersleri kullanın:

Kolaylaştırın(süreçleri)

Onu günlük rutinin bir parçası yapın

Uzman desteği mevcut  bulunsun

Hedefleri belirleyin ve onları takip edin

Bu basit adımları izlerseniz, yılda 10 e-ihale etkinliğinden 50 veya daha üzerine çıkabilirsiniz.

Eauction Trends in Retail Businesses

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Online auctions are transactions that result from a competitive bidding process usually conducted over the Internet. Whether the sales take place between individuals, between consumers and merchants, or between businesses, online auctions have enjoyed rapid growth with the spread of Internet access. Historically, e-auctions were designed to ensure the best prices for commonly used low cost goods such as stationary or component parts. However, the practice has since evolved into an important asset in procurement’s toolset and can provide exceptional value when applied in the correct circumstances, one of which being retail businesses.

Retail markets are highly dynamic and very competitive, having to deal consistently with very tight margins due to the huge amount of resources it takes to keep product quality high. Procurement/sales teams in these sectors need to be on top of their game in order to compete and remain financially viable.

Retail Businesses today aren’t finding it easy, but in the face of all these pressures, many of them are still thriving mostly by incorporating an e-auction strategic approach to its sales/sourcing as part of her overall business strategy. Beyond driving operational efficiency and cutting costs, this approach to can help even the best-performing retail businesses enhance customer/vendor relationships, increase product and ingredient quality, reduce spending and find new sources/outlets of sales/supply, which ultimately equips them to generate more value for their organization and become more efficient and effective.

Some other notable benefits associated with e-auctions for retail businesses include:

  1. Big data. The potentials for big data have become evident in all areas of business and the case is also the same for the retail businesses. Businesses that capture and analyse the huge amounts of data generated around shipment and transport will continue to improve efficiency. Companies that take advantage of collaborative solutions to process and analyse this data will reap the benefits of cost reduction, capacity control and risk management.
  2. Responsibility and traceability. As businesses expand globally, they are realising the need for transparent and traceable sales and supply chains. Businesses will continue to put their global these chains in the hands of a safe and secure IT platform.
  3. Digitisation of the supply chain. Supply chain analytics will allow businesses to create useful key performance indicators and incubate innovative ideas to successfully manage service levels. Daily monitoring, sharing, and interpretation of analytics will help businesses plan.
  4. Product Specification: Another key benefit of e-auctions is the early focus on requirement specification. The latter forms the basis of any successfully run e-auction and ensures that suppliers are aware of exactly what they are expected to provide. This transparency is beneficial to both parties and will help ensure a sustainable client/customer relationship.

However, there are still a few specific challenges retail companies face today which include:

  1. Getting the most value out of every part of the procurement process and ensuring an alignment between the results and overall business goals
  2. Navigating mega market trends: consumer demand for product transparency, empowered and well-researched consumers, health and safety issues and supply price hikes. These market forces are putting customer loyalty and brand reputation at stake and pushing retail businesses to rethink the way they source and bring products to market.
  3. Creating an enterprise-wide sourcing program in order to create a more efficient and unified supply process
  4. Maintaining an independent self-sufficient sourcing and procurement department

HOW TO IMPROVE COMPETITION WITH FEW SUPPLIERS

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The use of on-line auctions (e-auction) has increased rapidly in the last few years. Since they came onto the purchasing scene in the late 1990’s through the development of internet-based applications but just like with every other breakthrough events and technologies, e-auctions too come with its attendant risks and it is important that buyers and suppliers understand what these risks are so as to mitigate against its effects. Some of these risks are;

  • Bids not having enough qualified and competent suppliers;
  • suppliers not being able to demonstrate the overall value of their product or service and
  • Oversimplification of requirements to ‘fit the system’.

Without effective change management expectations may never be reached and inexperienced suppliers may bid below a sustainable price which makes the entire process unattractive to qualified and competent bidders. If a supplier suffers from a bad e-auction experience, then it is likely they may be reluctant to enter into the process again. Try to make sure that before rolling out an e-auction programme, the process is as fair and transparent as possible and has been approved by a pilot group including suppliers and that feedback from the pilot process is enacted on.

Some of the reasons why suppliers may be reluctant to participate in an e-auction bidding include;

  1. Unsuitable commodity/service – this might be an item where there is no competition in the market place, or that is too complicated to specify or largely cannot be specified
  2. Lack of competitive supply base – if a product or service does not have at least three suitable suppliers, then the e-auction process is not generally suitable
  3. Poor training of buyer/supplier – getting things right first time is imperative to build trust amongst suppliers in your company’s e-auction process
  4. E-Auction timing – If you are inviting suppliers to participate from a different country and time zone, take care that if the timing chosen to run the auction is convenient to those suppliers.

So what if you are running a bidding process and there are not enough suppliers to make the process as competitive as you would want, what do you do?

Highlighted below are some of the strategies you can adopt to find your way around that problem

1.Supplier implementation

Firstly the best good advice I can give to you is that it is important to get supplier input during the pre-bid (for example through participation in building the RFx) to ensure that they feel a part of the process. One key advantage of this is that this dampens emphasis on pricing and buyers and suppliers can focus on understanding and meeting technical elements of the bid, i.e. meeting the customer’s real needs and this can help to produce the desired results even when participation is not very robust.2.

2.Getting supplier buy-in

There is more supplier acceptance of online auctions than there once was, but still you need to tread carefully to get their buy-in. Visit suppliers or invite them to briefings to explain carefully the principles not just of auctions, but more broadly of online sourcing. They will have concerns, but they will have useful input too: they know their businesses better than you do, and what they tell you will help you optimise your strategies for online bidding events. As a result of hard talking up front, online sourcing will help you to create precise and detailed RFQs that will improve communication and reduce business risks further down the road.

3. Driving Best Practise

In order to improve on the numbers and achieve a more competitive bidding process, a procurer needs to put some people, process, performance measurement and knowledge capabilities in place. The first requirement is a clear understanding of the supply base and the criticality of each supplier to the business. Typically an organisation can segment between strategic partners, value-added suppliers and commodity product suppliers. One will also need to build up market intelligence in order to gain a clear understanding of the dynamics of the market sectors and to define sector strategies – for example properly crafted online RFQs and RFPs can help expedite the communication between buyer and suppliers and can help drive a standardised sourcing process across the organisation.

4.Training

Lastly the importance training and retraining of suppliers as to the workings of your online procurement process cannot be overemphasized. Many buying organisations underestimate the amount of time it takes to educate suppliers in online auction tools. Suppliers with less tech-savvy sales teams may need some extra handholding through their first events, and here the assistance of the auction technology provider can be invaluable. Bidders need feel more comfortable about participating in the process especially when there is a limited number of them.