Technology innovations, especially those driven by advancements in consumer buying, social technology, and big data management, can now be applied to pull together the complex web of suppliers, intangible deliverables, and inconsistent pricing and processes of indirect spend. These readily available technologies can meaningfully simplify the buying experience while optimizing other aspects of indirect spend cost such as supplier fees, terms and conditions, performance specifications, and performance management. If executed correctly, optimizing indirect spend adds...

Most folks that don’t know e-procurement will think of it simply as purchasing necessary goods and services in the most cost-effective manner. However, what most don’t think about is the importance of the buying experience (much more than making it Amazon-like) and the specifics that go on behind the scenes. When using e-procurement for the P2P process, buyers (requesters) rely heavily on the accuracy of the catalogs to provide the most informed information. They also...