E-procurement adoption stalls

Manual processing persists due to lack of skills to introduce automation, says research

Businesses still handle invoices and delivery notes manually

The majority of UK businesses have not introduced automated procurement processes due to skills-related issues, according to research carried out by the National Computing Centre (NCC)and COA Solutions.

The survey polled 110 UK public and private sector organisations and found that only three per cent run fully automated procurement processes. Furthermore, 47 per cent have little or no automation, 18 per cent of the respondents have a “highly automated” procurement process – but cannot claim total automation – and the remaining companies claim their systems operate at a medium level.

Manual processing of documents such as invoices and proof of deliveries is still the main method used by 72 per cent of those polled, despite respondents citing benefits of e-procurement such as reduced transaction costs and streamlined procurement processes.

Only 25 per cent of the businesses surveyed have a green and sustainable procurement, but 69 per cent think that automating the procurement process could support corporate green strategies.

When citing reasons for not having introduced or developed e-procurement, popular answers by the private sector organisations surveyed included failure to involve staff in all relevant business areas, lack of skills in implementing e-procurement, as well as staff training in using such systems.

Public sector organisations blamed poor change management procedures for the lack of automated procurement.

“As well as the obvious cost and efficiency benefits, e-procurement is low-risk and provides a fast return-on-investment, which is ideal in the current climate,” said Mark Thompson, managing director at COA Solutions.

“And businesses can kick start their green agendas by automating procurement and judging by the research findings, going green still remains a key consideration for UK organisations.”