Given the robust technology and intuitive user interfaces available, nearly every industry or business vertical can benefit from implementing mobile procurement tools. With the interconnected, global nature of supply chains, organizations are looking to deepen the sourcing pool while gaining real-time visibility into supply chain operations. Mobile procurement platforms leverage these advantages by permitting on-the-go inventory and data analysis and on-demand notification triggers to drive more strategic purchasing.
Despite these universal advantages, the characteristics of some industries make them even more receptive to the benefits mobile procurement technology brings to the table. These verticals rely heavily on the mobile procurement’s strengths: data accessibility, remote operations monitoring, immediate request processing, approvals, and submittals, purchase rules enforcement, and more.
The industries best-suited to reap the rewards mobile procurement platforms can deliver have much in common:
- Large asset portfolios
- Disparate workforces
- Decentralized distribution needs
- Intensive maintenance scheduling
- Rigorous uptime requirements
Industrials
Companies that provide capital goods and business support services – utilities, engineering and construction, general industrials, oil & gas, etc. are some of the readiest to take advantage of digital transformation. They must maintain large, often redundant, infrastructures that demand constant maintenance and repair. These companies can streamline reconciliation and fulfillment using mobile procurement-enabled purchase orders, bills of lading, freight, and transmission records. As more of these organizations seek greater control by strategically managing procurement of indirect supply and tail spend, mobile tools can empower them to capitalize on advantageous commodity pricing and other market-related opportunities and challenges.
Consumer Goods
Razor-thin margins place a premium on packaged goods manufacturers, retailers, and eCommerce platforms’ ability to deliver superior customer experiences. Stockouts of asset components and spares, inconvenience, and last-mile failures are not an option. Consumer goods firms with viable mobile procurement technology can respond immediately to maintenance demand surges and quickly supply new outlets as they compete to develop new markets and attract new customer segments. Mobile procurement tools also empower these companies to offset rising wholesale prices and fuel costs and implement meticulously managed category management strategies to negotiate favorable terms with suppliers and distributors.
Service Industry
The need to satisfy existing customers and attract new ones requires professional service providers – healthcare centers, transportation hubs, financial institutions- to become early technology adapters. They can contain the cost of their tech stack using mobile procurement platforms that encompass large supplier networks, facilitate vendor relationships, and include interfaces with approved catalogs. Mobile procurement tools also give service providers additional insights into spending so they can eliminate rogue purchasing and document data they can use in vendor negotiations.
Basic Materials
Timber, mining, and chemical companies invest heavily in specialized machinery, limiting their ability to control costs through supplier competition. While some players in these labor- and process-intensive industries may be leery of adopting mobile procurement technology to replace battle-tested hardwired processes, these methods ensure companies derive the greatest possible benefit from field-installed sensors, monitors, and alarms, working in tandem with their critical spares inventory and supply chain strategy for faster mobilization of repair crews, installers, technicians, and replacement parts – helping to ensure overall equipment efficiency.
Education
Off-contract spending is a bugaboo for school districts and university systems. Educational procurement, purchasing, and supply chain managers can easily lose sight of the needs and resources presented by large campuses and discrete facilities. Using a powerful mobile procurement platform simplifies the task of tracking purchases of laboratory and computer equipment, facilities maintenance supplies, bus parts, and more. Educational facilities often issue orders and receive multiple shipments daily. Mobile technologies save time by verifying deliveries and placing orders without the need to travel to the warehouse.
ZEUS – SDI’s Mobile Procurement Tool
SDI’s ZEUS mobile procurement application integrates and consolidates companies’ needs for tracking parts, consumables, cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment, and more from source to spend. ZEUS includes a consolidated catalog of suppliers and SKUs and an integrated parts management manual enabling inventory analytics for total supply chain visibility. Users are assured access to accurate supplier inventories and assured best prices when ordering from anywhere – the warehouse, factory, truck, remote jobsite, or home. ZEUS can be customized to reflect site-level budgeting, supplier-specific purchase rules, and preferred OEMs.
Contact SDI for more information on ZEUS and our other mobile procurement technology.
