Supplier Lifecycle Management: turning suppliers into partners

Efficient supplier development thanks to automation

Versatile and flexible: supplier lifecycle management

Strategic supplier management is one of the primary tasks in purchasing in order to make spend management more economical. Automated processes create an overview and efficiency - and have become an integral part of modern, strategic purchasing work. This is because they create a comprehensive, transparent data foundation on the basis of which stable decisions can be made. In this way, standard suppliers can be qualified and close partnerships and better integration can be established in a targeted manner. The great strength of DIG's solution is its almost unlimited flexibility in terms of automation: thanks to generic data models, customizable dashboards with drill-down and an intuitive form generator, any number of processes can be mapped and operated. DIG's special interface expertise enables the results to be transferred to the ERP.

From ordering office to innovation scout: how purchasing becomes a success factor

The drastic reduction in the depth of added value in companies is leading to outsourcing to suppliers. As a result, strategic supplier management is also becoming increasingly important for corporate success. By supporting operational procurement processes and operational supplier management (e.g. supplier evaluation) through automation, procurement has the opportunity for a comprehensive transformation - from ordering office to innovation scout. However, this requires, among other things, in-depth knowledge of the supplier's technologies and capabilities, close cooperation and dialog. All of this is made possible by DIG's Supplier Lifecycle Management.

Objectives of supplier management

In practice, the field of activity of supplier management is defined differently in many companies. While some start with management after the contract has been signed, others see the completed selection process as the starting point, while still others see the selection in terms of the product group strategy as already being part of supplier management. There are also differences with regard to the suppliers to be included: Is supplier management only responsible for strategically important suppliers, or only for suppliers of direct materials, or for all of them? These different organizational approaches result in a wide range of objectives:

- uniform and systematic maintenance of supplier relationships

- Objective comparability

- development of suppliers

- Optimization of the company's own position

- Ensuring (quality) requirements are met

- Control and minimization of risks

- Integration of suppliers into processes

- Achieving your own procurement goals