Your organisation has most likely had a traditional procurement system in place for years. Chances are it’s tried, tested, and familiar to everyone who uses it.
You’ll probably have established processes, vetted suppliers and a centralised distribution that works.
But does it work as well as it could, or should?
Ask your staff. Ask your suppliers. If you’re like most of the enterprise organisations we work with, your procurement system is probably suffering from inefficiencies and challenges that are costing you more than you realise.
Thankfully, our modem procurement platform is easy to integrate within your existing set-up and infrastructure, and it can solve many of those traditional procurement problems.
1. Save hours of manual processing time
Traditional procurement teams spend a significant amount of their time – often 60-70% – on administrative tasks, manually processing purchase orders, chasing approvals via email, coordinating with suppliers, and reconciling invoices.
That’s way too much. When procurement staff focus on data entry instead of more strategic, higher value work (like supplier negotiations), you’re paying professional salaries for admin work.
Modern platforms automate the entire workflow.
IR Tech’s platform provides
- Automated purchase order generation
- Digital approval workflows accessible from mobile devices
- API integrations with Amazon Business and custom suppliers
- Automated invoice reconciliation
All the necessary admin, all taken care of.
2. Get real-time insight into spending
With traditional procurement, finance teams have to wait for month-end reports to see spending patterns, and too often, budget tracking happens in outdated spreadsheets.
Questions about current budgets go unanswered, and overspend isn’t identified until it’s too late. There’s no instant visibility.
Modern platforms provide real-time dashboards.
With a platform like IR Tech’s, you see exactly what’s happening with your procurement spend right now, with live data by department, category, supplier, and employee, with customisable budget controls and instant report generation.
You get complete spending transparency and proactive budget management instead of reactive damage control.
3. Stop the pre-order guessing game
Traditional procurement requires forecasting demand months in advance. How many hard hats will you need next quarter? What uniform sizes are required for new hires you haven’t recruited yet?
Over-ordering means your cash flow is tied up in inventory that might expire or become obsolete. Under-ordering can see you paying extra for emergency rush orders (or disappointing staff).
Modern platforms let you order on-demand
The Amazon Business integration with IR Tech’s platform lets your employees order supplies when they actually need them, with fulfillment within 24-48 hours.
No forecasting required. No bulk orders gathering dust. No wasted money.
4. Cut unnecessary warehouse costs
When you pre-order supplies months in advance, you need somewhere to store them. Centralised warehouses require real estate, utilities, security, staff to manage receiving and distribution, and other hidden costs like insurance.
With a modern procurement platform, you can ship direct.
Direct-to-end-user fulfillment eliminates warehousing entirely. For example, IR Tech’s platform ships orders directly from Amazon or your custom suppliers to employees’ chosen addresses.
Entities such as Hilcorp Energy eliminated their entire centralised workwear distribution operation, with employees now ordering directly to their homes.
5. Eliminate long lead times
Too often, the typical journey for routine supplies is filled with unnecessary delays.
- Employees submit requests
- Then they wait for approval
- Procurement orders
- Warehouse receives
- Another team verifies
- Then internal distribution coordinates
- And finally the item reaches the employee.
This process can take weeks, and those long lead times create real problems. Frustrated employees use personal credit cards (shadow procurement) to bypass the system, or they simply do without, reducing productivity.
Modern platforms leverage proven logistics networks.
IR Tech, for example, integrates with Amazon’s proven logistics network for rapid fulfillment – next-day or 2-day delivery as standard – with real-time tracking and direct-to-workplace or direct-to-home delivery options.
The result is more efficient employees (and no shadow procurement).
6. Reduce return rates and wasted orders
Centralised procurement teams have to order generic sizes and hope the distribution covers most employees. Then employees have to pick the best of a bad bunch.
Naturally, this means high return rates for uniforms and PPE. Every return costs money in processing time, shipping, and reorders. But many employees don’t return ill-fitting items – they just never use them. You’ve paid for equipment that delivers zero value.
Modern platforms help employees order for themselves.
They can select their exact size, style, and fit preferences from detailed product pages with Amazon-quality information, reviews, and size guides.
United Airlines implemented this approach for uniform ordering through the IR Tech platform with Brooks Brothers, with return rates dropping dramatically because employees got items that actually fit.
7. Simplify an outdated system
Enterprise procurement platforms often have clunky interfaces, complex navigation, counterintuitive search, and steep learning curves. New employees receive 50-page user manuals. Support tickets flood in.
Low adoption rates undermine everything. When systems are difficult to use, employees avoid them. All the controls and cost management become irrelevant if people won’t use the system.
Modern procurement keeps things simple.
IR Tech’s platform provides an Amazon-familiar interface within your branded procurement portal. Zero training required – employees already know how to use Amazon.
Intuitive search, clear product pages, straightforward checkout, and mobile-ready ordering.
Modern procurement platforms can enhance, not replace
Change can seem daunting, but in reality a modern procurement platform can solve many of the traditional problems you’ve faced. And you won’t need to rip out your existing infrastructure and start from scratch.
You don’t need to abandon your ERP system, existing supplier relationships, or approval workflows. Modern platforms integrate with what you have, adding capabilities that legacy systems can’t provide.
It’s easy to start digitising your procurement process.
With IR Tech’s platform, you can:
- Connect with your current ERP to maintain existing systems
- Keep your existing approval workflows and budget controls in place
- Bring your current suppliers onto one unified platform (we’re manufacturer and fulfillment agnostic)
- Add Amazon Business as a powerful fulfillment channel for commodity purchases
Book a demo today, and see how IR Tech’s modern procurement platform can solve all your traditional procurement problems.
