With the average price of a litre of diesel nudging £1.10 at the pumps, and the current ‘credit crunch’ taking its toll on the economy, many companies are going to need to monitor spending and supplier costs more closely in 2008 than in sunnier recent years. 

Most companies can reduce unplanned spending by as much as 41% by using an eProcurement system to monitor indirect items such as stationary, diesel, IT or even legal services – as well as direct components of a company’s product or service. 

To help companies weather any storm in 2008, we’d suggests the following basic steps; 

»       Regardless of your company’s size, online auctions - where suppliers bid against each other to supply your company with products or services - drive costs down

»       Look for savings everywhere – whilst the price of diesel may be beyond your control, there will be other areas of the business where savings can be made to offset those commodities that are rising in price

»       Cost reduction through the elimination of manual, error-prone paper-based procurement processes can also be significant – up to 48% reduction in costs 

eProcurement not only curbs unauthorised spend but also determines which suppliers to use and at what cost, driving down off-contract spend by an average of 41% in businesses that have implemented an eProcurement system.