You are Here: Sourcing Software >> Sourcing vs Procurement Judging by their surface meaning, it’s easy to think that sourcing and procurement are synonyms for getting supplies for an organization. They’re not. While both are related and play key roles in your organization’s supply chain, they’re quite different and must be employed in different ways to ensure success in your organization. In this article, we’ll define exactly what sourcing and procurement are, why they matter, and how to do both better. Sourcing is the process of vetting, selecting, and managing suppliers who can provide the inputs an organization needs for day-to-day running. Sourcing is tasked with carrying out research, creating and executing strategy, defining quality and quantity metrics, and choosing suppliers that meet these criteria. By doing so, sourcing maintains the organization’s supply chain and guarantees that the organization always has access to the tools it needs to deliver on its objectives. As the name implies, sourcing is concerned with creating sources through which the supplies an organization needs can flow through, while procurement is primarily concerned with procuring these supplies that’ll be used for the organization’s day-to-day running. If you are looking for tips to build a strategic sourcing plan for your business, here's a guide you should check out. It comes with ready-made templates. Procurementis the process of acquiring the goods and services an organization needs for its operations.What is sourcing?
What is procurement?
Procurement and sourcing hold many similarities, but to understand each one, we need to look into what makes them different. Here are the key differences between sourcing and procurement.Key Differences Between Sourcing and Procurement
Sourcing
Procurement
Sourcing takes care of everything from finding suppliers, vetting & contracting them, andmaintaining a healthy chain of vendorsto cater to the organizational needs Procurement involves procuring goods and services needed for the organization. Focuses on the who that makes the supplies possible Focuses on the what of supplies Sourcing is concerned with building and managing supply chains Leverages supply chains to ensure a steady flow of inputs and supplies to the organization. Sourcing manages supply chains and builds alternatives for resilience Procurement is primarily concerned with running already created supply chains.
Adding to this, the sourcing team uses data generated by the procurement team tomanage supplier relationshipsand determine whether to continue or terminate vendor relationships, judging by how suppliers perform over time. Sourcing leverages tools such as: Procurement then takes off from the foundation the sourcing team has built on to receive requisitions from within the organization, order goods, track their delivery, measure, confirm, and record quality and quantity metrics, etc.
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It’s hard to ignore that sourcing and procurement need to work hand in hand to achieve their aims. For example, while it’s the sourcing department’s job to negotiate contracts with suppliers, including pricing and minimum order quantities, it’s the procurement department that’ll eventually use that information to know how much to budget whenever a certain quantity of supplies is required. Now, how is the procurement department ever going to do its job well when they don’t have real-time access to this information? On the other hand, how will the sourcing department know which suppliers and contracts to renew when there’s no record of supplier performance or any supplier risk metrics? It’s simply impossible for your organization to do its work well when there’s no agreement between sourcing and procurement. Simply put, sourcing can’t work without procurement, and procurement will be incapacitated without data from the sourcing department. A comprehensiveprocurement softwaretakes the pain out of both the procurement and sourcing processes. A comprehensive procurement software combines both the procurement and sourcing systems in one that offers:How can comprehensive procurement software help with procurement and sourcing functions?
In order to function effectively, a comprehensive procurement system must possess features that enable it to meet both procurement and sourcing needs. Some of these key features include: Leveraging such a comprehensive and well-grounded procurement software will:What features should a comprehensive procurement system possess?
Kissflow Procurement Cloudmeets all those criteria and more. We built Kissflow Procurement Cloud the ground up for businesses looking to organize their sourcing and procurement in one place where it’s all easy to: Looking for a comprehensive procurement and sourcing tool that’s simple to adopt, easy to use, and powerful enough to beat your spreadsheets and forms? Take Kissflow Procurement Cloud for a spinhereRelated Topics: