Like so many things it depends who you ask. For some it refers to the entire workflow from the moment a need is identified through to the final payment and warranty administration for a service or item. Others describe it as online sourcing and purchasing of items from a catalogue. Wikipedia says: “E-procurement (electronic procurement, sometimes also known as supplier exchange) is the business-to-business or business-to-consumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, work, and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning.
In this Blog the term e-Procurement is used to describe the workflows that relate to the external (Vendor and Contractor) facing processes required to purchase goods, services or construction over the internet.
In this very simplified description of the procurement process, the externally facing activities (elements 4, 5, 6) and the interface (element 3 and 7) between those and the internally facing activities are the areas that our software and services streamline.
As we draw near the end of 2011, there are many predictions around the IT industry trend for 2012. The recently published "Nucleus Research Top Ten Predictions 2012" places emphasis on the rise of cloud computing (prediction #2). According to the article, cloud computing was proven to be nearly five times more productive than the traditional development in 2011. Furthermore, the article also states, “When companies do have money to spend, their two main choices are technology and people. A recent Nucleus survey found technology is winning hands down, with 50 percent of US companies planning to increase their technology spend in 2012 [Nucleus Research l106, Nucleus 2012 IT spending survey, September 2011].” Thus, many firms will look into increasing their productivity via technology adoption next year.
So the trend is clear. Businesses are moving towards cloud computing to take advantage of its many benefits including increased productivity, cost savings, accountability and sustainability. In today’s construction industry, online document control, online planroom, and online bidding are examples of cloud computing technologies that are increasingly adopted.
A few years ago most bidders would not have pictured themselves submitting their construction bids online in a paperless environment. It represents a major change from decades of travelling to closings, faxing bid amendments, last minute decisions and all the drama that comes with it. Today, this green construction technology has finally arrived. Online bid submission has the double benefit of being a sustainable process along with the benefits of substantially improved efficiency. Supported with a complete document management system and audit trail, it ensures a complete record of who saw what documents and when. This combination greatly reduces the risk of costly bid related errors or omissions.
A great example of an early adopter of this technology is the city of Prince George in British Columbia, Canada. It leads the way in the electronic tendering of capital projects closing many of the projects that have utilized the recently introduced Owner Bid Management and Bid Submission applications within BidCentral. BidCentral is powered by PlanSource and is a suite of services that was designed specifically for the construction industry and is modeled after the processes that have long been accepted as industry standards. The City of Prince George procurement team and the bidders involved in the bidding process gave BidCentral very positive reviews and recognized it as the new construction procurement standard (view video).
Our company has been delivering Software as a Service (SaaS) since we were founded in 2000. At that time what we did was generally described as Application Service Provider (ASP). The latest iteration incorporates the more ethereal sounding ‘cloud computing’ reference. Whatever term you use the functionality consists of accessing software via the Internet rather than from your local computer or server. So, is this an effective way to acquire and use software applications?
Faster and less expensive implementation makes the new systems more digestible.
As a company that has been significantly ahead of the wave on this method of delivering useful functionality to the construction industry for many years we can easily agree with Mr. Fornes statements. We already deliver powerful solutions for the estimating community and are experiencing significant interest in some of the latest functionality we deliver online including planrooms, document control, onscreen takeoff, online bid submission and submittal management. The industry trend is definitely moving towards increased use of SaaS.