Benefits of technology for procurement of B2B products and services

Today, more than 20,000 buyers and suppliers make up the wherEX marketplace, a digital platform through which negotiations for the acquisition of B2B products and services take place on a regular basis. Promoting open, transparent and efficient processes.

Of these, 120 are large companies from various industries nationwide, ranging from manufacturing to the agro-industrial or mining sector. All of them seek, in this procurement portal, to achieve commercial interactions with suppliers of various sizes or categories and to keep their supply chain active.

It should be noted that this digital platform allows purchasing decisions to be made on the basis of concrete information. This is due to the fact that each of them has a file with their respective evaluations, certifications and seals. It is also possible to review each step of the bidding process through online reporting.

Companies tell their experience

One of the firms that currently tenders its products on this portal is Polpaico. The technical buyer, Juan Herrera, said that "one of the main benefits we have achieved through wherEX is to increase the number of suppliers in a reduced time for the procurement of products. We have also noticed greater traceability and transparency in our processes. We have also been able to carry out processes in stages, and then negotiate more directly with the suppliers we define.

"I want to emphasise that in the context in which we find ourselves, this platform has allowed us to facilitate and establish more fluid contact and links with new suppliers," Herrera said.

For his part, the head of procurement at Ventisqueros, Cristián Jara, said that "we have been part of wherEX since April 2016, and we are very pleased with the scope and use of the platform throughout this time. We have noticed great benefits, such as being able to reach more suppliers and generate more transparent purchasing processes".

He went on to say that "our portal bidding has been key to achieving improvements in our company's procurement processes. It has allowed us, for example, to achieve faster internal validations and perform online behavioural analysis, which has enabled us to consistently improve pricing on a number of SKUs and services.

Integration for procurement of products and services

Finally, an important benefit that wherEX delivers to companies bidding on this portal is integration. The platform can be integrated with any ERP system it supports, allowing them to automate some of their administrative processes, specifically procurement.

Blumar S.A. and its subsidiaries Salmones Blumar S.A. and BluRiver SpA. were the first to integrate with wherEX. In this regard, the assistant manager of purchasing and supply, Nelson Perez said that "since we joined wherEX, we have worked to achieve the integration of our ERP SAP with the platform, with the aim of contributing to the modernisation of our purchasing processes and give an important plus to its use. Thanks to this, we have managed to reduce purchasing management times, with the cost benefits that this implies".

This is an initiative that brings great benefits to the industrial procurement processes of bidding companies that integrate their system with wherEX. This is because it allows all tenders uploaded to the portal to be kept in line with their ERP and allows for a more fluid transfer of information, thereby optimising, for example, the generation and management of their purchase orders, which can then be downloaded by suppliers directly from the portal.