The potential of long tail
The purchase of niche products involving a wide range of items is a fundamental and cost-effective purchasing element for many companies. This niche market comprises product lines relating to office supplies and packaging materials, cleaning agents and hygiene products, as well as IT products and accessories, i.e. C items in the lower price segment.
Through this broad programme, BRACK.CH Business offers its customers a service portfolio with an appealing price and service model that is tailored to their needs.
The driver for reducing costs
In many cases, products from the tail spend are purchased by employees from various departments and locations as and when they are needed. They are often procured by the consumer at their discretion via numerous channels and from many different suppliers. Yet this approach is anything but efficient. Even if purchasing these low-value individual items is often regarded as a minor, low-cost expense, when they are added up over the course of a year and process costs are also taken into account, their total value is huge.
When it comes to reducing costs in long tail management, the key factor is to consolidate the purchase of such items through one provider to increase efficiency in relation to prices, resources and the processes involved. The process costs alone (the search for a supplier, product selection, ordering and payment) can be simplified greatly if tail spend is managed by one single provider.
A success factor in the digital transformation
The BRACK Business procurement platform represents the ideal solution for optimising and standardising procurement and establishing an end-to-end electronic procurement process for tail spend management. Based on this, we focus on networking, digitalising and autonomising the relevant interfaces within the company.
The use of electronic procurement systems in the form of catalogue systems and the digitalisation of order and purchase-to-pay processes (P2P) is already widespread in purchasing. These electronic platforms with their integrated regulations (authorisation matrix based on the company structure/departments/cost centres) simplify communication regarding ordering, invoicing and important data. Central reporting options and an overview of every cost centre detailing how much budget has been used per cost centre mean you can keep the costs in check at all times.
Business application – a seamless process
BRACK.CH Business integrates individual business applications for its customers. We deploy the right interface technology to suit the application and circumstances. Our business applications are easy to integrate into existing IT environments. Take a look at three solutions that are currently in use among our customers.
Data exports
For item data, item prices, stock levels, catalogue data and item images
- CSV/XML format
- BMEcat format
- JPG format (item images)
Interfaces
Transmission of orders
- API
- cXML
- OCI
EDI (electronic data interchange)
Automation of the order process
- Orders
- Order confirmations
- Delivery confirmations
- Invoices
BRACK.CH Business supports all popular system integration platforms, such as Ariba, SAP, Oracle, Coupa, Jaggaer, Mercateo and many others. As part of the Competec Group, we provide you with centrally managed data and interface solutions with technical support from Competec Service AG. Find out more here: Data and interface solutions for partners
Contact us at: business@brack.ch and we will be happy to show you how you can make savings on your procurement and process costs.