Efficient B2B purchasing management

The purchasing department is an area that, due to its activity, is transversal in the company. Therefore, it must take into account the different positions and points of view of the stakeholders, i.e. the different people and interest groups that relate to the company, both in its daily activity and in each particular project. 

These stakeholders are not only limited to employees: they are also partners or shareholders or customers, for example, each with their own interests and opinions.

Both the function and the management of purchasing will have to be adapted to the particular situation of each company and its environment, as this mix of people and opinions means that it is not easy to find a universally accepted definition of what the purchasing function is, just as there is no single formula for the management of this area. 

The definition of the purchasing department

However, from the department's perspective, the purchasing function is usually defined as: 

"the activity of contracting services or acquiring products to cover the needs of the company at all times, in the best conditions, analysing the total cost of ownership throughout the useful life cycle of the product or service".

To achieve this objective, in other articles we have identified the phases of the entire purchasing process.

As we can see, negotiation with suppliers is one of them and is where the company's needs are transferred to the selected suppliers in order to obtain comparable offers.

The department's mission is to compare these offers with each other and select those who offer the best conditions.

The next step is to negotiate with these pre-selected suppliers individually until the final conditions of each one of them are obtained and, finally, to be able to make the final decision to assign a tender, RFx or purchase.

Normally, we do this through a comparative matrix of each offer.

How do we negotiate a tender from B2B Safe?

With B2B Safe we can cover all these steps necessary for a successful tender or purchase.

The first step is to write the RFxs, which we already talked about in this article, and we will publish them in B2B Safe. By publishing a tender or demand for a product and service, we allow the most proactive suppliers to come forward and bid. 

If we prefer to invite only pre-identified suppliers, we can go to their profiles to ask them for a customised offer. 

With this RFx for all participating suppliers, clear and equal rules are established. This is the way to ensure transparency, competition and rigour, without favouring any supplier, either consciously or unconsciously. 

With B2B Safe, in addition to having all the documentation and offers in one place, we can negotiate with them online and, for a large part of the negotiation, keeping our identity and that of our company secret. 

Remember that you can register for free with B2B Safe and start buying from among the more than 17,000 Crédito y Caución policyholders.