Save money, Save time, Reduce Stress
As we navigate in & out of lockdown & into a challenging new world order, every business has to rapidly evolve if they are to survive & prosper in the recessionary market that awaits us.
While there are many steps businesses can take, there is one that is truly transformational in terms of productivity gains, reducing costs, & ensuring the business conserves cash to weather the storm.
Just automate the purchasing & accounts payable process & buy as much as you can online through the Amazon Business marketplace.
Here are our top financial tips for SMBs looking to weather the storm & prosper in the new world:
We can help identify areas in your organization where you can reduce business costs and spend smarter. Find out how by taking our free spend review today.
Financial Tip #1: Save Money By Buying Everything Online Through Amazon Business
We all know why we buy from Amazon: it is convenient, highly competitive (their supplier marketplace offers us the most choice of products, the best prices, & ranks both products suppliers, & so we can make the best use of our money) & is effortless to use.
In terms of our time, choice, & cost, Amazon delivers “Best Value.”
Amazon Business does the same for businesses: based on a detailed spending review of $300k aggregated spend from 5 of our customers across multiple suppliers & thousands of products, buying via Amazon Business is likely to save you between 15% – 30% on the vast majority of purchases you make with your current suppliers.
Why? Because the Amazon Business marketplace & its associated algorithms are designed to present to you the best value options across millions of products by enabling their suppliers to compete for your business proactively.
“Prove it!” I hear you say. We have, & the analysis (provided by Amazon Business & verified by our spend consultants) is available here. Still skeptical? Then grab a handful of your existing supplier invoices & check for yourself. We are not claiming that everything is cheaper, but you will save between 15% – 30% of what you are currently paying to other suppliers across a wide area of spend.
Financial Tip #2: Save Time By Automating Your Purchase Order & Approval Process
Everyone outside the finance department would love to buy from Amazon Business. It is simply more convenient & can be done from any device.
For finance, every purchase from Amazon Business (& any other supplier) automatically generates a “requisition” – the request to buy – which spend can approve before the purchase is made.
That delivers finance total visibility & control over purchasing, plus commitment accounting for cashflow forecasting from the moment the purchase is made.
The invoices are automatically captured, matched to the order, coded for the GL, & sent for approval. They are posted to your accounting / ERP software on final approval, followed by a single monthly payment.
This delivers up to a 90% productivity gain over any existing accounts payable process.
What’s more, it also consolidates your suppliers – reducing the number you trade with & the work required to set them up. This also means fewer credit control calls & approval processes for subsequent payments.
Financial Tip #3: Reduce Stress By Having Control Over All Spend Before It Happens
Every CFO is looking at all options to conserve cash, reduce costs & increase productivity.
Automating the purchasing & accounts payable process & buying more from Amazon Business achieves all three objectives.
In terms of reducing stress, having total control over all spend before it happens, understanding your cash commitments in real-time, delighting everyone outside finance to help them be more productive, & releasing up to 90% of your accounts payable resources to focus on more important work is a good place to start.
Why Are These Financial Tips Important To SMBs?
1) The Commercial Value
By consolidating your suppliers & increasing your spend through Amazon Business by just $1,000 per month, you will save between $150 & $300, which is more than the cost of automating your purchasing & accounts payable process. The higher the level of spend, the greater the savings. That means more cash remains in your bank account.
Now you might be wondering: “How long does it take to automate?” Well, almost all of our customers go live within 1 – 3 days, depending on their size.
2) The Human Value
There will be many challenges ahead of us as we all negotiate our way through the coming weeks & months.
Gaining total visibility & control overspend to conserve cash, make savings & increase productivity will reduce the stress levels for everyone involved. It’ll also mean more time is available for your staff to do much more valuable & rewarding things for themselves & the business.
Prepare Your Business For The New Way Of Working & Get A Strategic Advantage
Online buying is unquestionably the future of purchasing. Although enterprise businesses & the B2C market have been doing it for years, the benefits are not in question.
Enabling your staff to buy online & automate the entire purchase order & approval process will help reduce costs, save money, increase productivity & put your business in the best position for growth in this new world.
It is now time for every business to take their purchasing digital, simply because now you can.
With our CompleatProcure service, we enable organizations of every size to reduce the costs of what they buy & spend smarter. Please find out how you can do the same for your business with our free spend review; click below.