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Modern technology has greatly simplified the way in which organizations deal with vendors. With dedicated platforms, such as a vendor portal, organizations can now easily communicate with vendors and manage orders more efficiently.
A vendor portal, also commonly known as a supplier portal, is a platform that makes it easy for organizations to collaborate with third-party vendors using the Internet. Vendor portals are commonly used by organizations and government agencies, especially those that regularly deal with larger groups of vendors across different operational areas.
This is a formal management system that requires vendors to initially register on the platform and then manage their accounts. Whereas larger organizations generally tend to build their own vendor portals, many organizations prefer using hosted SaaS solutions.
These are paid software solutions that require companies to just pay a specific amount monthly or yearly. There’s no need to invest in any additional infrastructure or hardware.
They allow vendors to enter their information, submit documents, display their current status, and communicate with the organization.
It simplifies vendor document and contract management, helping businesses avoid costly mistakes when managing vendor contracts. This also includes W-9 tax forms, vendor invoices, purchase orders, and other documents.
When it comes to efficient supplier management, vendor portals are an excellent choice. They can be used to simplify several procurement functions and business processes, including:
Supplier portals are becoming increasingly popular and are now used by businesses of all sizes. That’s simply because of the many benefits that they offer. Here are some of the major advantages vendor portals provide.
Using vendor portals to track and manage orders reduces human error by a significant margin. Since everything is handled electronically, there’s no need to write or record information on paper. This also improves information accuracy and helps in organizing submitted documents.
Most vendor portals, especially SaaS solutions, feature an easy-to-understand interface. This also serves as a singular point of data collection, which also reduces data entry errors.
A major advantage of using a vendor portal is that it significantly reduces the drain and dependency on the AP staff, which frees them up to work on more meaningful things. The AP staff no longer has to answer every payment-related inquiry from vendors.
Instead of acting like support representatives and dealing with minutiae associated with orders and invoices, they can work towards creating more meaningful impact in the business.
A well-designed vendor portal greatly reduces the risk of fraud in modern organizations. The portal automatically flags fraudulent vendors or invoices, preventing losses. All vendors must pass through an onboarding process, which further ensures information accuracy and prevents payments from being sent to unauthorized vendors.
Purchase orders can be matched with invoices. Suppliers receive a notification whenever a new PO is generated. Once filled, they can easily log in and create corresponding invoices quickly.
A vendor portal doesn’t have to be fully maintained by the organization. Vendors are responsible for updating relevant details, which reduces the risk of lost paperwork or unforeseen delays. Moreover, the portal shows current order status and payment histories, and other filters can also be added to provide greater transparency to the organization.
This reduces interruptions and ensures that orders are quickly placed and confirmed. Since vendor portals are mostly self-service, it’s up to the vendors to ensure that keep their profiles up to date.
Many organizations are often concerned about compliance issues when dealing with different vendors. Using a reputable vendor portal will ensure that you stay ahead of all compliance obligations, especially Anti-Money Laundering.
The vendor portal provides a comprehensive overview of all orders placed by the company, including goods received, invoices cleared, outstanding invoices, and other details. A detailed list of all events is available on the portal, including activity logs.
In the event of an audit or a review, you can easily check the change history and view all the actions that were taken at every stage of the procurement process, including the names of users who authorized them.
A reputable vendor management portal solution is what you need to mitigate vendor risks and make smarter decisions to improve your procurement process. SoftCo Vendor Management integrates seamlessly with all major finance databases and systems, and offers all of the benefits that you need from a reliable and scalable vendor management platform.