Speed of Purchase – What is it?

What is the “Speed of Purchase”?

Speed- the rate at which someone or something is able to move or operate

Purchase- acquire (something) by paying for it; buy

Applying the right amount of red tape in procurement programs can be tricky.  You don’t want to have end users making purchases like the wild west, but you can give your employees/co-workers a standardized list to choose from.  One of the indirect benefits of using a Standardized Procurement Model is a substantial increase in your “Speed to Purchase” as a company.   Your employees no longer have look through 1000 pens to find the right one because the list has already been curated for them.   The ability to get into a website, make a purchase and checkout in a timely manner has almost become more important than the price of the product itself.  Luckily with the Standardized Procurement model the price has already been negotiated.

There are two options to address off contract purchasing.

1.)  Approvers have access to the master catalog but end users have access to the standardized list.  End users would have access to the paper catalog so they can make a request to the approver for something off contract if they need it.

2.)  Have your supplier create an off contract and on contract icon for the items represented in their website.  The order approval flow can be set to where all the items must be on contract on the order for it to go through without approval but if one off contract item is added to the order then the whole request goes off for approval.

The Speed of Purchase is something you should take seriously, but don’t forget to negotiate your price plan first.