TECHNOLOGY
Feedback suggests a slight decrease in the dependency on Excel but it still remains the tool of choice in the absence of other solutions. Given the shortcomings of technology support for SRM, managers should ask what to do next. Investment in software and solutions will only result from a solid business case describing the resulting benefits. Supplier performance management is chief among those benefits, cited by 44% of respondents (Fig 28) . To an extent this is to be expected but it also reflects that perhaps companies are still not recognising how technology can enable other aspects of SRM and value creation.
PERFORMANCEMANAGEMENTFOLLOWEDBYMANAGEMENTAND SHARINGOF INFORMATION ISATTHETOPOFTHETECHNOLOGYWISHLIST
Fig 28. For your organisation, what would be the main benefit of having effective supplier management technology?
%
44
Supplier performance management and improvement Information management
37 37
Sharing and reporting
36
One place to manage suppliers
35
Value capture and delivery
34
Supplier management oversight
33
Risk identification and management Identify, capture and deliver supplier innovation Compliance and regulatory
27
26
BUSINESSESAREHEAVILY DEPENDENTONBASICFILESHARING SOLUTIONSANDEXCELFILES
20
Virtual teamworking
19
Team productivity Manage sustainability and CSR in the supply chain Other
15
2
Fig 27. What are the means by which you currently manage/ share information relating to key supplier relationships?
SNAPSHOTANALYSIS: Sponsors of technology investment will want to see benefits aligned to the business’ strategic objectives, as well as incremental operational outcomes. Capturing innovation andmitigating risk in the supply chain are high-level concerns among business leaders and they merit more attention when defining the returns on technology investment.
%
75
Documents stored on a shared drive 54 SharePoint 50 Intranet 20 Cloud software application 17 Hosted software application 16 Mainframe software application 5
The majority of firms say selecting and implementing an SRM technology solution is integral to developing improved capability and should be done in parallel to the introduction of SRM processes, although only 6% see it as a driver for the necessary business change.
Perhapscompaniesare still not recognisinghow technologycanenable awiderangeof SRM interactions.
Other
4
56 STATEOFFLUX
2016GLOBAL SRMRESEARCHREPORT
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