In part 1, I mentioned researching new vendors, researching more about an unfamiliar industry, and ordering through a vendor's online system.
How else can you use the Internet to make life easier in your Purchasing Department?
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Blogs and Articles – Keep up with the latest news in the field and get ideas from your peers (all for free) from blogs such as this one and the articles database maintained by offline publications such as Purchasing Magazine.
- E-mail (of course) - Stop getting stuck on long phone conversations. Use e-mail to get right to the point and to have a record of what was said or agreed to by both parties.
- Vendor Communication - Create a website with your Purchasing Department policies, contacts, etc. Then refer vendors and potential to the site and stop wasting admin's time repeating that information multiple times.
- Reverse Auctions - Use them to solicit bids. (For an opinion on reverse auctions that differs from the norm, read this article.
What can you add to this list for ways your Purchasing Department utilizes the Internet to make things run smoothly?
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