Supplier relationship management applications must handle many tasks while focusing on a collaborative supply network
Supplier relationship management (SRM) software is a growing market, and the technology will have to keep improving to meet market needs. SRM should handle a wide variety of tasks, including managing contracts, evaluating supplier performance, defining replenishment strategies and establishing strategic sourcing relationships. SRM tools should integrate tightly with ERP systems and often with CRM systems too.
Supplier relationship management tools are becoming ever more collaborative as manufacturers demand real-time information. Web-based SRM lets manufacturers and suppliers interact in real-time for a streamlined purchasing process. SRM may also fold in event management tools like alerts and notifications to be notified of supplier activities and changes as they happen.
Best-in-Class SRM Applications Features:
- Allows for real-time, Web-based interaction with suppliers
- Uses calculations and weighted formulas to gauge and prioritize suppliers
- Offers analytical features and reporting, and enables onboarding and content management
Top Considerations before Buying SRM Applications Products:
Supplier relationship management software must go beyond performance monitoring to foster a two-way collaborative relationship with suppliers. SRM software should continue to add analytics tools and features like KPI definition models to keep up with complex manufacturer-supplier relationships. Reporting tools in SRM may mature to enable automatic report delivery to end users. Key tenets of SRM will continue to include onboarding, content management and shared financial process. And systems that fit a company well will reflect the organization’s particular business rules as well as lean or Six Sigma standards in use.
Key Products:
1. Epicor Software provides business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail, hospitality and services industries. Epicor provides integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), supplier relationship management (SRM) and enterprise retail software solutions. Epicor SRM solutions add automation to sourcing and procurement activities, letting organizations buy, sell or source materials, goods and services, as well as negotiate optimal prices and conditions.
2. Manhattan Associates helps businesses streamline their supply chains, with all resources focused on supply chain optimization. Their SCOPE: Supply Chain Optimization—Planning through Execution program links all aspects of a supply chain. The Distribution Management suite includes Supplier Enablement to connect organizations and suppliers in real time and synchronize business process. Also included are warehouse management, slotting optimization, billing management and hub management tools, among others.
3. Zycus provides its Spend Management solutions to automate and streamline the spend analysis, strategic sourcing and contract management processes. Their Spend Analysis: iAnalyze tool lets organizations identify savings, compliance and process improvement opportunities. Zycus also offers its iSource versions for mid-sized enterprises, allowing sourcing managers to handle sourcing events with a SaaS-based solution. Zycus’s Zynapse division provides master data management for ERP projects.
4. Quadrem provides Web-based solutions to improve business-to-business transactions. Their Spend Intelligence solution extracts, cleans and categorizes data and produce spend reports. SourceCentre integrates with ERP, SAP, Oracle and other systems for organizations to use online sourcing, searching a global electronic supplier directory. The user interface allows easy RFP or RFQ creation and award. Quadrem’s Quest solution streamlines RFx processes with bid analysis tools and an already-built supplier network.
5. SynerTrade is a provider of purchasing software and consulting. Their ST6 Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) solution is an integrated tool for managing suppliers and measuring their performance. Organizations can set up their own KPIs, evaluate global and local suppliers, map performance over time and more. SynerTrade’s ST6 Performance Manager tool evaluates internal purchasing team performance with capabilities for surfing data and exporting results to Excel.
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
Definition: Supplier relationship management is a discipline of working collaboratively with those suppliers that are vital to an organization’s success to maximize the potential value of those relationships.
