Paperless procurement: the benefits of automating and streamlining vendor agreements

Paperless procurement: the benefits of automating and streamlining vendor agreements

Today, procurement plays an increasingly strategic role in every company and has a unique opportunity to lead the way and show business functions the path to excellence. Arguably, procurement is one of the most connected functions in the business environment. It practically touches every aspect of business – be it manufacturing, R&D, logistics, legal, HR, IT, or travel.

As a procurement professional, you're responsible for managing suppliers and increasing the speed to execution while improving the overall service within your organisation.

A recent survey, conducted by Forrester Consulting (on behalf of Docusign), found that 96% of respondents reported issues with preparing agreements using traditional paper-based processes. Put bluntly, these processes they are slow, error-prone, wasteful and expensive.

As we know, there are many processes involved in procurement, hence why it has always been considered a paper-intense area. But today, there is a solution that means you don't need to spend hours, days or even weeks chasing down signatures for agreements. By introducing systems such as the Docusign Agreement Cloud, you can automate and streamline the entire agreement process, from start to finish.

What is the Docusign Agreement Cloud?

Modern-day customers and employees are demanding more. They want a great, easy experience, and that means removing the hassle of printing, scanning and mailing. To do this, businesses must digitise the entire agreement process. The Docusign Agreement Cloud helps companies digitally transform and automate how they prepare, sign, act on and manage contracts and other types of agreements that are fundamental to the business.

How can paperless procurement enhance workflow through automating and streamlining vendor agreements?

Saving time

As a procurement professional, you're hyper-aware of costs and the need to get ROI. But, are you maximising your own ROI? Procurement roles are as prone as anyone to spending their time inefficiently. And, time is the big cost that many forget when allocating it.

By integrating the Docusign Agreement Cloud you can spend more time on the important things:

• understanding customer requirements

• sourcing the right solutions

• driving cost savings

• mitigating risk in the supply chain

• maintaining full visibility on the approval status of documents

And less time chasing signatures and mailing documents.

Improving speed of execution

In today's fast-paced business world, organisational agility can often hinge on the ability to on-board new suppliers quickly, while internal customers require faster execution of purchase requests. Electronic signature solutions can significantly improve the speed of execution in procurement processes.

Reducing costs

Paper transactions cost more than digital transactions. From the staff time required to create, distribute and track procurement documents to the costs of printing, mailing, and overnighting fees, paper processes can be expensive.

Improving visibility and compliance

Digitised processes allow you to see exactly where each document is, who has yet to sign, as well as track and analyse progress over time. They ensure SOX and HIPAA regulatory compliance by storing signed documents and offering a clear audit trail that is secure and tamperproof, with retention policies to match your own. Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions can further enhance visibility and compliance in procurement processes.

Reducing errors

Data entry becomes easier, simpler and more accurate when employees don't have to key in the same information over and over. The Docusign Agreement Cloud integrates into back-end systems minimising data entry errors.

Increasing employee mobility

As remote working is on the rise, it is more important than ever that organisations cater to it and empower employees to complete tasks remotely. When you are reliant on paper-based processes this is impossible.

Using The Docusign Agreement Cloud moves the entire process into the cloud where you can access and carry out actions from almost anywhere in the world, using practically any device.

Procurement leaders are using technology to achieve greater efficiencies, secure the best products and services, and improve vendor relationships. Going digital allows you to automate and streamline the procurement process. The Docusign Agreement Cloud enables paperless procurement and; minimises risk, maximises workflow and efficiency, and maintains compliance through cloud platforms.

Discover more in our eBook about how about how British firms are progressing towards paperless procurement.