The procurement process for modern shipping companies has become increasingly complex. The ability to access the right parts in the right areas using a qualified and trusted partner or supplier has been challenged by recent supply chain headwinds and macroeconomic market trends.
E-Procurement Platforms
Sophisticated and digitalised e-procurement platforms are now stepping in to streamline the procurement process, enabling procurement departments to access a network of global suppliers that can improve the security of regional supply chains, drive efficiencies and keep costs down. Procurement departments now rely heavily on data to inform its decision making. However, utilizing that data effectively and ensuring it is of high quality remains one of the sector’s key challenges.
“Procurement specialists rely on data to pick suppliers that can provide parts and services that meet specific needs or help balance the books. Being able to compare local suppliers depending on where your vessel is at any time…” said Carsten Schmidt, Vice-President of Sales at Procureship, a leading e-procurement platform based in Athens, Greece. However, with so much data flying around in an industry that continues to harness the power of cloud-based platforms, the risk of poor-quality and inaccurate data being accessed is heightened.
Information Is Key
With information driving procurement decisions across the shipping industry, Procureship’s platform amalgamates and simplifies clean and high-quality data from its suppliers using a sophisticated set of algorithms and machine learning to present a recommendation engine that takes into account each buyer and their requirements. “Clean data is an incredibly valuable asset. Errors in data traditionally come from legacy systems or manual entries so identifying the source of the data is the first step in cleaning it up…” Carsten noted.
There is also a growing need for procurement departments to be able to understand how to utilize this data to improve their overall business. Collected data can be analyzed in order to gain insight into market trends and patterns, and further the decision-making process of procurement.
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Source: Xindermarinenews
