Integrating procurement systems can boost efficiency

For manufacturers, innovation runs deep. Digital transformation is a part of this evolution and can be critical to reducing errors, simplifying recurring processes and unifying data streams. When I speak with manufacturing customers, I commonly hear that procurement, IT and finance leaders are looking to lessen manual reconciliation when it comes to day-to-day business buying so they can focus more on strategic business decisions. When teams are using connected systems and suppliers, they can uncover insights and meet shared goals.

Amazon Business helps organizations of all sizes create smart business buying experiences through tools like system integrations. By connecting to more than 300 e-procurement, expense management and idP systems, Amazon Business can help customers save time and money, drive compliance and increase spend visibility.

“By delivering purposeful integrations, Amazon Business can meet customers where they are to simplify business buying,” says Satya Mishra, Amazon Business’ Director of Products and Technology.

Building smart business buying journeys

Because many businesses have an existing technology in place, Amazon Business connects to many of these systems, like Coupa, Okta, Oracle, SAP Ariba, SAP Concur and more.

To connect to Amazon Business, customers typically start with implementing a Punchout e-procurement integration. Punchout allows customers to start their buying journey in the e-procurement system, jump out to Amazon Business to shop millions of items in the online store, then route their cart back through their e-procurement system for approvals.

Another common Amazon Business integration for customers to start with is Single Sign-on, which provides one-click, centrally controlled access to Amazon Business. In addition to time savings and the ability to enable and disable buyer access through your SSO provider, customer administrators can automatically block access when buyers leave their organization.

After implementing Punchout, customers may opt to move forward with our Integrated Search integration, which allows them to search and select products from Amazon Business without leaving their e-procurement systems, simplifying their buying experiences further.

With Punch-in, customers start their buying journey on the Amazon Business website, then punch into their e-procurement system, allowing them to capture what could otherwise be rogue spend, or spend retroactively submitted by an employee for reimbursement without prior business approval.

To help customers discover third-party integrated apps spanning Accounting Management, Rewards & Recognition, Expense Management, Integrated Shopping and Inventory Management categories, we launched the Amazon Business App Center. We’ll continue to add more apps over time that use our APIs to help simplify the integrated app discovery process for customers.

When integrated customers tap our e-invoicing, Reconciliation API and Reporting API capabilities, Amazon Business can connect their purchase receipts and details like Amazon Business order history to their integrated third-party tools, which can lessen manual reconciliation for procurement teams.

Success through Streamlined Procurement

My team aims to help customers seamlessly buy from Amazon Business through workflows that they’re used to, with all their company policies and a familiar Amazon shopping experience. I see time and time again, for manufacturers and beyond, that integrating systems can bring teams together and help them spot buying patterns or opportunities for savings.

By digitizing procurement efforts and connecting systems, leaders are able to connect dots and streamline data to better inform their spend decisions. Since procurement is a strategic business function, it must be data-driven and measurable. CPOs manage the business buying, and the business buying can directly impact an organization’s bottom line. If procurement tools don’t automatically connect to a source of supply, business buying decisions can become more complex. Properly integrated technology systems can help solve these issues for procurement leaders.

Originally published in Manufacturing Technology Insights