What is a supply chain portal?
What is a supply chain portal for, how does it work and what benefits does it bring you?
Why a supply chain portal?
What can a supply chain portal do for you? Imagine: communicating digitally and seeing in one overview which orders have been delivered at what time! And then the desired delivery date and status of the orders are also taken into account. A supply chain portal can offer a lot for small, medium or large companies. In the text below you will learn more about what a supply chain portal entails and what benefits it can offer you.
How does a supply chain portal work?
A supply chain portal, also called supplier portal, is a platform for buyers and suppliers to connect with each other and exchange data. Supplier portals are recommended to any multi-supplier company as this will improve and speed up the purchasing and production process. A company can also safely and easily track orders from suppliers, so that parties look at the same data. This largely prevents mistakes. In addition, the efficiency of the processes is improved, because communication runs via the platform. In short, a supply chain portal offers the opportunity to gain a better insight into the entire supply chain.
Suppliers register through the portal and can use it as a means of providing information. This will improve the relationship with their customer. You can think of keeping track of which goods they have delivered to their customer, how many goods they have delivered and when these goods will be delivered. The company can keep track of data from multiple customers through the portal, providing more structure and greatly reducing manual work within the supply chain.
The purpose of a supply chain portal is to streamline the collaboration between buyers and suppliers. It minimizes the handling of documents and thus the amount of manual work. Automating business processes ensures transparency in the transactions between buyers and suppliers. Because the supplier portal is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), the software is hosted, maintained and supported by a supplier of eCommerce solutions. You, the user, therefore do not need to install additional hardware and no infrastructure is required.
The value of a supply chain portal for companies
Integrating the supplier portal can streamline, automate and make a company’s purchasing process more efficient. For example, the supplier portal keeps all purchase orders within the ERP system, without the need for external tools for the buyer. This also gives the supplier easy access to the orders and the supplier can easily manage them.
Buyers and suppliers benefit from an ERP-integrated supplier portal in several ways:
- Purchase orders are automatically sent to suppliers as soon as they arise
- Suppliers have direct and easy access to purchase orders after receipt of the order
- Suppliers confirm purchase orders in the portal and can easily add delivery dates and any associated documents
- The delivery data is automatically updated in the buyer’s ERP as soon as it has been entered into the portal by the supplier
- Changes to the purchase orders are automatically updated
Get started with the Tradecloud supply chain portal
At Tradecloud we offer solutions through our supply chain portal, which is fully focused on the manufacturing industry and wholesalers. We focus on two separate groups in these industries, namely buyers and suppliers.
The buyer is responsible for entering the purchase order in their own ERP system, which then automatically forwards the order to the supplier via the supply chain portal. The next step is that the suppliers must change or confirm this order, after which it is returned via the portal to the buyer and his ERP system.
The supplier receives the orders from his customer via the portal and can indicate in it when they will be delivered, with which products and quantities and at what price. This gives the buyer and supplier insight into the expected delivery date and can take this into account in their planning. The supplier can easily report any delays or other implications in the delivery via the portal, so that all parties always look at the correct, updated information.