Procurement Management is a vital part of all asset tracking software aiming to track the complete lifecycle of business assets. Every single event in the life of an asset – from acquisition to retirement – needs to be logged meticulously and in adequate detail. Only then can businesses generate in-depth data from reports, lower long-term costs, and streamline their processes.

Procurement Management is significant as it enables businesses to log what was purchased, keep track of all pricing negotiations, and manage vendors and suppliers all under one system.

This can help you comply with industry best practices and ensure you’re always getting the best deal possible. Here are six ways you can optimize your workflow by keeping track of procurement using asset tracking software:

Gain actionable insights from reports

Managing data relating to assets can be extremely difficult, but what’s even harder is getting good use out of all the information you’ve gathered. Reports designed specifically to help you understand vendor behavior or pricing trends can be very beneficial in helping businesses cut costs and eliminate any investments that don’t produce the results you were hoping for. This can optimize your supply chain and ensure the most efficient workflow wins out over any alternatives.

Improve communication with vendors

Any asset-intensive business that procures items from external suppliers or vendors needs to be in consistent communication with these parties. Vendor catalogs can help in this situation, providing you with a list of all the people you’re in business with, the value of the orders placed with them, and a history trail of any details and negotiations that have taken place with them. The ability to send them purchase orders directly from an asset tracking software is especially helpful since it makes the ordering process a lot more effiicient by flagging up any inconsistencies instantly.

Benefit from an up-to-date product catalog

Asset tracking software with procurement management capabilities is not just useful because it makes the initial ordering process a lot quicker. It also helps you manage those assets in the long-run, and is especially beneficial because it can help regulate inventories and keep stock levels balanced. As soon as items are received against a purchase order, the software knows to update the product catalog, enhancing business data and ensuring that custodians and managers are reacting to the latest information.

Avoid redundancies and duplications

Being able to view all purchase orders created towards specific vendors can help businesses cut back on redundancies. Stock levels can be kept consistent, with no concern about older items expiring or newer items not reaching sites on time. Similarly, you can ensure that no duplications take place, enabling you to cut back on expenses such as procurement or storage costs. A history of all purchase orders can help out in this regard, allowing you to filter by vendor, requestee, order status, location, and so on:

purchase order status in asset tracking software

Streamline accounting processes

Accounting departments can sometimes feel isolated from the source of business ‘events’, making their decisions in a vacuum of receipts and invoices, with little understanding of how that links up to actual business processes. This is why a procurement management module can be extremely helpful in bringing all departments up to speed on a business’ asset management processes. Purchase orders, documentation on receivables and invoices can all be matched up seamlessly under this system. By keeping the accounting department in the loop on transaction histories and negotiations, you can ensure that the most cost-effective procurement opportunities are green-lit in the future.

Enhance information by creating linkages

The great thing about procurement management is that enables administrators to make more informed decisions. This is because you’re able to situate critical elements of asset management success – including vendor behavior, asset utilization, productivity, maintenance costs, and so on – under one cohesive system. This enhanced information can be utilized to ensure that the business invests in only the most efficient processes for procuring, managing, and finally retiring its assets.

Conclusion

It is crucial for asset tracking software to have purchase order management capabilities. This will not only help them lower redundancies and enhance asset productivity, but will also improve the way they do business with their vendors.