Customer testimonials: The value of transparency in industrial procurement

Las compras industriales y las licitaciones son una parte esencial de cualquier negocio. Pese a lo anterior, pocas empresas implementan métodos uniformes y certeros para abastecerse de insumos y servicios industriales. Muchas veces los procesos no son adecuados, están obsoletos o bien, no ponen el valor de la transparencia al centro de cada transacción. En estos casos la organización se vuelve vulnerable a la constante pérdida de ingresos, es decir, lo último que un negocio desea.

Un método de compras moderno y basado en Data Analytics e Inteligencia Artificial es lo que ofrece wherEX, plataforma de comercio B2B que actualmente opera en Chile, Perú, Colombia y México. El portal pone el foco de cada transacción en la transparencia. Esto garantiza la eficiencia y la trazabilidad durante todo el proceso de compras.

In this way, it is possible to avoid redundant and unnecessary purchases and thus reduce the costs associated with them. It also eliminates bribes, irregularities and other malpractices that undermine free competition.

In just six months since its implementation, companies like Autopista Antofagasta have seen the positive results of implementing this type of technology in their purchasing processes. "Generally the purchasing side is burdened with constant doubt. There are always, in some way, doubts about whether they are buying from the cheapest or not. This brings transparency because everything is on the platform. The queries and offers from each of the suppliers. Having this traceability at hand is extremely important", says Claudio Ruíz, Administration and Finance Manager of the organisation.

Spending related to industrial purchasing departments has a direct impact on a company's bottom line. The more the department spends, the less capital is available for use by the rest of the company. Therefore, there is a clear need to control and monitor how much is being spent, who is being purchased from, at what price and what are the criteria by which one supplier is being chosen over another.

An Accenture report claims that a $1 billion company will waste around $5 million a year due to lack of control over its industrial procurement. For smaller companies, the loss is proportional.

María José Castillo, supply manager for more than 12 years at Copefrut (one of the main fruit exporters in Chile) points out that thanks to wherEX, her purchasing department now has a "regulated, standardised process that is not left to the discretion of the person who received the mail. This helps us to organise our purchases and assure suppliers that everyone will have the same rules in the process".

Every step of the procurement and tendering process is recorded in the portal. In this way, it is possible to have an archive of all documents and associated data just a few clicks away. "Nowadays, if you want to remember the details of a tender from five years ago, nothing is recorded, there is nothing. With wherEX everything is transparent; who participated, who was called, who came to visit our plants and who didn't," said Juan Capetillo, head of the procurement department at Hidronor, a leading industrial waste management company.