Procurement Magazine April 2024 | Page 19

Q . WHAT HAVE THE MAIN BENEFITS BEEN TO THE COMPANY ?

» Implementing a digitally-led procurement function has helped us streamline our operations , giving us access to all our real time data . This includes being able to quickly see whether our purchase orders ( POs ) are being assigned to the right suppliers , that they have had the appropriate internal sign off and that a PO is in place before the work has been done . With this data sitting in the cloud , it ’ s available to all our teams across the UK , as well as our external suppliers that provide procurement support .

This digital approach has also enabled us to implement straight through processing , making the end-to-end source-to-pay process much more efficient . As well as making the process quicker and easier for colleagues across Mitie , it has also helped to alleviate the administrative burden for the procurement team , who can now focus on more specialist and strategic work .
Having all our supplier information in one platform also provides us with a clearer view and control over supplier payment terms , ensuring we ’ re keeping payments on track . Not only does this help us manage our working capital more easily , but as a leading British business , we take our responsibility to pay our suppliers in a timely way very seriously , particularly for smaller businesses and social enterprises . Coupa is also helping us in our journey to consolidate our supplier numbers . Prior to the transformation we had a combined supply chain of 15,000 suppliers ,
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