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In advance of the digital advent that will include new technologies such as robotic process automation and machine learning, procurement management systems have seen a staggering acceleration in adoption in recent years. According to a survey report compiled by Levvel research and consulting, the number of organizations utilizing a procurement system has jumped from 34% to over 50% in a single year alone.
As digital transformation continues to influence the way that companies of all sizes and industries operate, Tradogram, a procurement SaaS provider, is helping businesses to improve spend management throughout their departments with a suite of procurement workflow solutions.
SourceForge recently interviewed Hani Abdou, founder and CEO of Tradogram, to discuss the critical importance of digital procurement systems in modern business. During the interview, Abdou also shares the fundamental principles that have been primarily used to guide the development of the system, which came from his 30+ years of first-hand procurement experience as a practitioner of the profession.
To start things off, can you please share a brief overview of Tradogram? When was it established, and what’s the objective of the software?
Tradogram’s procurement system provides a configurable set of diverse management, purchasing, and sourcing workflow tools that allow organizations to attain complete process visibility. Tradogram was founded in 2014, in response to a market need for simple, flexible, and affordable solutions as alternatives to expensive and often complicated ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems. Since its creation, the platform has expanded rapidly to include new affiliate partnership options and integrations with industry standard accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and others.
What industries do you serve and who are your current customers?
Tradogram provides procurement solutions to all industries, with an extensive user base situated in the financial, educational, manufacturing, healthcare, and construction sectors, to name a few. As a global service provider, Tradogram serves prominent businesses from around the world – including Compass Charter Schools, Warba Bank, Fetchr, Magnuson Hotels, and Onsolve. Many entrepreneurs and freelance procurement professionals also use the system for managing their sourcing and purchasing operations.
What is the role of a procurement department in an organization, and how can these departments make use of the software?
Procurement departments are responsible for all of the planning, operations, and documentation of the processes that are used to acquire goods and services within a business. Depending on the industry and scale of an organization, multiple procurement departments may be established in one or more branches within a company.
A well structured process is integral for maintaining effective and efficient procurement operations. Tradogram has been designed to allow businesses to structure the system to replicated their workflows while optimizing the speed at which they can be processed. From an internal survey conducted by Tradogram, users have reported the upper spectrum of time savings to range from 60-80% by managing the workflows of their different branches and departments through the system.
In addition to managing the function of of the procurement department, Tradogram allows purchasing data to be synchronised directly with the systems used by accounting departments through its integration options. This empowers purchasing managers by foregoing the time consuming task of assembling manual reports, and allowing accounts payable personnel to skip manual data entry.
What are the main obstacles procurement professionals typically face, and what solutions does Tradogram offer to address them?
The largest difficulty that procurement professionals face arise from relying on traditional tools for the management of their workflow process(es). In a video interview conducted during Business Reporter’s UK 2030 campaign, among the main procurement challenges and solutions that were discussed included:
- Communication of requirements between all involved internal and external stakeholders.
- Leveraging regularly updated supplier directories and item lists to ensure the best value for money spent is attained.
- Cutting operational time by automating approval workflows and document routing.
- Maintaining well-documented processes and transaction records that can be audited to review accurate spending data and reports.
Tradogram’s features include tools that directly address these problems. Because every procurement workflow is different, modules can also be enabled or disabled as needed to create a lean process, unique to every organization.
What is a procurement system, and why are they important for modern businesses?
Procurement systems are used by businesses to digitally process, plan, and track all expenditures which take place for the goods and services related to their operations. When processing a purchase, Tradogram also allows internal and external communications between stakeholders to be streamlined through the software.
The value of a system like Tradogram is highly visible in mid-sized organisations, and can be summarized as providing an excellent cost-benefit return in both process time and monetary savings. Based on internal estimates, an average company with at least 20 users can save anywhere from 5-15% on purchased goods and services. While the price of the products themselves are not lowered, costs are instead cut through effective tools for comparing vendors, reviewing historical pricing and trends, tracking existing inventory to avoid redundant purchases, and inhibiting maverick spending through intuitive approval workflows.
Procurement systems are also highly desirable for company owners for reporting purposes. During a company audit, business owners are able to effortlessly provide transparency into their spending records – providing peace of mind when compiling and filing tax reports.
What’s involved in the procurement process? Is it the same for all businesses?
Procurement refers to a systematic process used by businesses to track their expenditures and secure the goods and services needed to sustain their operations. Not every business uses the same process to acquire things however.
Because workflows are often different between companies, the objective of Tradogram’s design is to provide a set of modules for businesses to assemble their own workflows based on their requirements. Modules are all-inclusive on the premium plan, meaning individual tools do not need to be purchased outside of the base subscription fee in order to attain specific functionalities.
To provide an example of optional tools, in some organisations, a document called a requisition is used by employees to indicate internal company requirements to a purchasing manager. Tradogram allows employees to submit these documents electronically through the system, providing a notification to the purchasing manager to review and approve.
In other cases, strategic sourcing events are used to receive pricing quotes from one or more suppliers prior to purchasing. In these instances, Tradogram allows negotiations to be held between all parties directly through the system. Because the platform is white-labelled, the suppliers do not need to create an account or even know that Tradogram is hosting the service.
With that said, sometimes companies or individuals simply need Tradogram to serve as straightforward purchase order software platform to document their spending. The system is flexible in its configuration, and continues to provide a lean workflow with minimal clutter for these use-cases because of its all-inclusive modular approach.
In what ways does using an online procurement system differ from the traditional procurement process?
While there are many similarities between the two, using an online or e-procurement solution deviates from the traditional procurement process in several ways:
- The most noticeable difference for operational staff is the time and reliability gained by shifting away from physical actions in the process. Instead of manually checking stock levels, verifying prices and budgets, and passing around physical paper to approve purchases, users are able to complete these tasks through electronic submission forms that are automatically populated from centralised databases.
- User error is drastically reduced or eliminated completely when completing transaction details. Because centralised databases can be used to populate forms and calculate price adjustments (such as taxes and discounts), data accuracy is increased when using a system to manage procurement.
- Communication is centralised and archived. Instead of relying on traditional tools like emails, phone-calls, and third party messaging systems, all communications can be managed through a platform like Tradogram. When details from past conversations need to be reviewed and verified, the possibility exists to do so when using an e-procurement solution.
- For business owners, stakeholders, and auditors, procurement systems allow spend analytics and reports to be generated and reviewed instantaneously. By having full transparency into the purchasing process, parties that review this data are able to verify the trustworthiness and efficiency of all transactions without needing to spend weeks assembling paper-based reports.
Can you provide us with sample use cases for Tradogram?
Tradogram is highly configurable, and serves many different use cases across all kinds of industries. However, there are a few common ones which arise time and again:
- Sole proprietors, freelance procurement professionals, and small businesses that are looking for affordable purchase order software.
- Mid to large sized organisations that are looking to implement a procurement system for the first time to simplify functions like strategic sourcing negotiations, contract management, and approval workflows.
- Mid to large sized organisations that have used procurement systems before, and are looking for an alternative system that’s more affordable and/or offers features not included in their previous system.
- Mid to large sized organisations that are looking to use Tradogram to integrate or replace the procurement function within an existing ERP (enterprise resource planning) system and/or accounting system.
Looking into the future, what new technologies, and strategies will likely impact the future of spend management and procurement? How will Tradogram adapt the changing environment?
Tradogram has always utilized a customer-centric approach to development. The needs of different industries are each unique in their workflow requirements, but equal in the rate at which changes are occurring as technology advances. The Tradogram team believes that by building the system in response to the needs of its clients, the platform will continue to remain a relevant and effective solution as business environments continue to evolve over the coming years.
While there are no plans for immediate implementation, the team is also aware of the potential impact blockchain technology will have on the procurement and supply chain management sectors, and has been considering effective ways to plan for its use in a way that will align with the company’s fundamental goal of remaining simple, flexible, and affordable for its customers.
About Tradogram
Tradogram is a simple, flexible, and affordable procurement system – built from the ground up to provide accessible tools to industries and procurement professionals of all kinds throughout the world. Founded by CEO Hani Abdou in 2014, the platform’s development has been guided by over 30 years of Abdou’s first hand procurement experience from a variety of procurement roles, from within sectors including Wholesale, Food Processing, and Business Services. A free version of the software, live chat support, tutorial videos, and a simplistic interface help businesses to mitigate the risk and difficulty of implementing a new system into their procurement process.
