The PESA Supply Chain Committee hosts quarterly roundtable events educating PESA member companies on the various trends, challenges and solutions affecting domestic and global supply chain departments.
The most recent roundtable, Procure-to-Pay Process: E-Commerce Best Practices, was held on July 23 and jointly hosted by the PESA Credit Interchange Division Operating (CID) Committee. Panelists included Mark Amberman, PSCM Systems Specialist, BP; Marc Battistello, Senior Director, Enterprise Application Engineering, Commercial Applications, Baker Hughes, a GE company; Adan Solis, Senior Manager, Opportunity to Cash, Halliburton, and Laura Bochnak, Supply Chain & Operations, Accenture. Supply Chain committee member Chris Welsh, CEO, OFS Portal, moderated.
Operator’s View
Amberman discussed BP’s vision for document automation relative to outbound and inbound documents. He reviewed the benefits of BP’s peer-to-peer process automation around purchase orders and related documents.
For example, Amberman shared how requisition to automation and PO delivery automation can reduce buyer intervention and increase accuracy. He also explained invoice automation, which can reduce days sales outstanding, increase invoice compliance and increase response times.
“Having all of these documents sent digitally, you can ensure that all operator data requirements are met, which will reduce the amount of invoice response and rejection rework,” Amberman said. “I cannot overvalue that enough.”
Service and Supply Perspective
Battistello, BHGE, explained how his organization focuses on three key items relative to eCommerce best practices:
- driving adoption of electronic invoicing
- focusing on the “perfect invoice”
- defect detection
He discussed the challenges of the GE/Baker Hughes merger, having two different tool sets from both companies post integration.
[gdlr_quote align=”center” ]“Harmonizing these tools has been our focus so the experience with the customer is consistent, and we are leveraging best practices,” Battistello said.[/gdlr_quote]
He said that North America is adopting digitization well but noted challenges internationally where certain customers have certain requirements, which can fall into a defect category. This is an area BHGE is addressing and is hoping to learn from best practices.
Solis discussed Halliburton’s eCommerce best practices as they relate to integration, highlighting three areas:
- Pre-integration
- Integration
- Support and maintenance
The pre-integration step focuses on building customer relationships, focusing on eCommerce.
[gdlr_quote align=”center” ]“We take opportunities to educate because it builds a positive relationship with people we’re going to be working with for a long time,” Solis said.[/gdlr_quote]
Solis said the integration step helps customers understand and manage the system, and the support and maintenance step focuses on key performance indicators and having check points to identify errors.
Consultant’s Viewpoint
Bochnak, Accenture, addressed how a comprehensive solution is needed to extract and maximize the peer-to-peer value, requiring significant coordination between operators and suppliers.
Bochnak first discussed enablement, both from the operator and supplier side. Operators needs to be clear about strategy and enable the end users, while suppliers should understand the requirements. End user and supplier adoption success rely on continuous support and maintenance from both parties.
“It’s all about communication,” Bochnak said.
Bochnak also touched upon what the future of infrastructure might look like within organizations, noting digital transformation underpinned by blockchain, which digitally shares information across your supply chain.
[gdlr_quote align=”center” ]“The key message here is that this is all a process that requires a lot of work and innovation. Organizations need to remember to think about the future, what’s coming next, to make sure they are not building out anything that ultimately, they’ll have to rebuild,” she said.[/gdlr_quote]
If you are interested in learning more about the PESA Supply Chain Committee or CID, please contact Peggy Helfert, Director, Membership Services.
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