How Remote Work is Revolutionising Procurement: Tools and Strategies for Success
Imagine you’re on the hunt for a new job and you fancy the opportunity to work remotely. The traditional 9 to 5 isn’t cutting it anymore and you’re sick of the daily commute into the office. You’ve scoured job listings and sent out applications, but you have one question that’s nagging away at you – what will a remote job in procurement actually be like?
Embracing the Shift to Remote Work
Firstly, let’s define what remote work is.
Remote work is a flexible work arrangement in which employees perform their duties from a location other than the employer’s office. This could be from home, a coworking space, or any other location with internet access. Employees can leverage digital tools and technologies to stay connected and productive.
The rise of remote work has not only transformed various business functions, but also opened up new horizons for procurement. Organisations now find themselves at a pivotal juncture where embracing remote work is not just an option but a necessity. This transformation is driven by several factors, including the need to hire the right talent, requirements for enhanced efficiency, an opportunity for significant cost savings, and the flexibility to adapt to swiftly changing conditions. It’s a new era for procurement and the possibilities are endless.
Sounds great! But what are some of the essential tools that are needed to help remote working thrive?
Essential Tools for Success
Successful remote work hinges on leveraging the right tools to bridge the physical distance between team members, suppliers, and the organisation. How is this achieved? Here are the three essential ingredients that every team needs for success:
1. Virtual Collaboration Tools: Communication and teamwork can be difficult when everyone is working from different locations. Virtual collaboration platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack are indispensable. These tools facilitate real-time communication, video conferencing, and project management, ensuring everyone stays connected and informed. A tip for success is to choose one platform and ensure everyone uses it consistently. There is nothing worse than managing multiple pop-ups and apps!
2. Digital Signature Software: Gone are the days of chasing down physical signatures. With digital signature products, you can authenticate and sign documents electronically. This speeds up the procurement process and adds a layer of security to your transactions. Don’t have the budget to pay for a tool? Then, collect electronic email signatures and paste or append them to the documents (ensure this aligns with your organisation’s policies first).
3. Secure Document Sharing: The safety of your sensitive documents is paramount. Investigate using secure document-sharing platforms; these tools offer encrypted storage and secure access, ensuring your procurement documents are safe from unauthorised viewing or tampering.
Optional extra – Cloud-based Procurement Software: Centralise your procurement operations in the cloud and manage the entire procurement lifecycle from a single interface. These solutions offer features such as supplier management, purchase order management, and spend analytics, making your procurement process more efficient and transparent.
Investing in these essential tools is not just about keeping up with the times; it’s about empowering the remote procurement team to work smarter, faster, and safer.
Adapting Traditional Procurement Processes for the Remote Era
A remote working environment offers an opportunity to reassess how some procurement processes can be adapted to suit this environment. Rather than looking at how the current processes don’t allow or enable remote working opportunities, organisations should apply a growth mindset and ask, “How do we make this happen, and what do we need to change?”.
The shift to remote work opens up an opportunity to reimagine and innovate procurement processes. Innovation doesn’t always need to be a significant change, like integrating advanced technology. It can be simple things like employing more flexible methodologies and changing processes to increase efficiency. Everyone wins!
To begin the path away from time-bound, lengthy and cumbersome traditional processes, start by investigating three critical areas:
- Reevaluating procurement practices: Analyse the current practices and process steps. Are there steps that are redundant or can be streamlined? Where are the bottlenecks, and how can they be resolved?
- Embrace Technology. Look for areas where technology can reduce manual intervention, such as automating repetitive tasks or creating templates. If paper-based documents exist, then move them to electronic formats. Allow for online supplier interviews, negotiations, and presentations.
- Foster Transparent Communication: Create clear communication channels and protocols. Ensure every team member knows who to contact for specific issues and establish regular check-ins to stay aligned and address any emerging concerns swiftly.
Culture is Key
The most significant barrier to remote work is organisational culture. Accepting remote work as a credible option is not just about replacing office desks with home setups, it’s about changing the traditional mindset of needing to be seen to be productive. It’s about facilitating a cultural change.
This does open up questions of what culture needs to be embedded, then understanding how to get from the current mindset to the new one. As a starting point, Forbes offers, “In environments where face-to-face interactions are limited or non-existent, fostering a sense of trust becomes crucial.”
Building the right culture for a successful remote working team, can be achieved by:
- Continuous Feedback Loop: Create an ongoing mechanism for feedback, enabling employees to discuss their achievements and receive valuable advice regularly. This also enables a clear structure for setting expectations.
- Adaptable Work Hours: Empower employees to control their schedules. Trust them to finish their tasks effectively, even outside traditional working hours.
- Outcome-Based Assessment: Evaluate based on results rather than processes. Judge performance by the quality and output of work instead of time spent.
Do Your Due Diligence
If you are a procurement whizz that is seeking your next remote working opportunity, then make sure you look beneath the job advertisement and research the organisational values. It is easy for a job to say that they offer remote work, but is it really a reality? Check the company’s website for its mission statement and core values.
Additionally, look for any corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports or annual reports it publishes. Does the material match the job advertisement? Ask the HR department how many remote workers it currently has and what policies or tools it has set up to support this workforce.
This due diligence helps ensure the organisation permits remote work and actively supports and values it.
Game On
Working remotely doesn’t have to throw a wrench in your procurement process. Whether it’s fostering collaboration, adapting traditional methods, or building ironclad remote strategies, there’s a solution to keep everything running smoothly. Of course, challenges arise, but with the right communication channels in place and a little bit of creativity, you can still excel at your procurement game whether your desk is in an office or at home.
