The Problem with Vendor Portals

Why your supplier portal may be doing more harm than good

But what about the human beings on the other end? Your suppliers.

Put yourself in their shoes—

• “Oh, great. Another login to remember.”
• “Didn’t I already create this account?”
• “I just need the Purchase Order.”
• “Where is the ‘upload’ button?”

And we aren’t the only ones that feel this way. Others have written about how suppliers feel about portals and how portals are causing companies headaches.

Portals aren’t exactly a breeze on your end, either. Onboarding new suppliers can be an infuriating and time-consuming process. And there’s nothing better than sending out 25-page, 4MB PowerPoint files with how-to information, troubleshooting with top suppliers struggling to get the hang of the portal, talking customers through the password reset process. These things aren’t fun for either side.

Not to mention that some suppliers will outright refuse to use them—they’re too much of a burden to manage.

But your company loves the transparency that supplier portals offer. You know when a purchase order was received and accepted. You *might* even be able to send order acknowledgements directly from your ERP without having to upload them into the portal manually.

At the end of the day, it may make it easier for you and your company. But, forcing suppliers to do the work of managing your purchase orders—in your portal—could prevent your orders from being first in line.

Order Fulfillment at its Finest

Here’s a fairly common scenario: A busy order processing team, who typically relies on email, receives 20 POs into their inbox. Ten of those POs come directly into the email inbox as HTML or PDF Purchase Orders. The other ten come into the inbox from a vendor portal. Guess which orders are more likely to be processed first? If your order is for a hot item in short supply, that could leave you stuck in Backorder City!

So you ask, “Is there some sort of middle ground where I can get this transparency but not put my suppliers through the wringer?” I’m so glad you asked…

Simplified PO Processing for Suppliers

For your suppliers, it makes it easy for them to get what they need to quickly process and deliver your orders. Setting them up for success sets YOU up for a great relationship!

Procurement Software: How do we get Just-In-Time Inventory?

By enhancing your ERP, not replacing it, alternatives to potentially complex and burdensome Procurement Software can provide the core functionality organizations need to operate effectively.

AventX for Oracle EBS (and other ERP systems like SAP, JD Edwards, and more) can provide Purchasing teams with an automated delivery tool that tracks your emailed purchase orders. Advanced logic makes AventX configurable to meet your delivery needs, while implementing embedded tracking mechanisms into your emailed POs, providing you with detailed delivery insights like “delivered,” “opened,” “clicked,” “accepted,” “rejected,” and even “bounced.”

As an alternative to your clunky portals, AventX satisfies your purchasing users’ need to ensure their purchase orders are received and makes it extremely easy for suppliers to trigger the fulfillment request.

Say goodbye to your vendor portal and hello to a better supplier experience!