UEFA Euro 2020: Get the ball rolling with cloud-based supplier management

The prestigious international tournament was, as the name might suggest, supposed to be held last year. As was the case for many events and tournaments, UEFA Euro 2020 was delayed by a year because of the COVD-19 pandemic across Europe and the rest of the world.

In this blog post, we thought it would be a good idea to examine some of the most infamous football cliches, and how they can relate to those responsible for supply base management.

All we can say is that we have given it 110% and that we will take it one blog at a time.

The manager has lost the dressing room!

This cliché usually rears its head when a player shows even the slightest hint of dissent towards their manager during a match. Pundits will speculate whether the gaffer can ever recover from this or even if this might spell the end of their reign, as they have lost control over their squad.

For professionals working in supply chain management, ensuring that you have a comprehensive oversight over your supply base is equally important.

ARCUS^® Supplier Information Management (SIM) is a cloud-based solution that allows these professionals to automate, digitise, and streamline their supplier on-boarding process, ultimately saving time while improving data accuracy.

Using the centralised dashboard in ARCUS^® SIM, users are presented with a comprehensive overview of the status of each of their suppliers, helping to enhance visibility and improve transparency throughout their supply base.

They’ve ran their socks off!

This platitude is one that is used mostly in a condescending manner to describe a plucky minnow as they head towards a routine steamrollering by one of the giants of the game. You would like to think that there would be at least one other way for commentators to describe a hard-working team, but we have yet to hear it.

Trade Interchange research has shown that 40% of supply chain professionals spend between 9 and 16 hours per week chasing after their suppliers for information. Not only is this an incredibly inefficient use of a department’s time, but the effort involved can lead to frustration and irritation.

Using ARCUS^® SIM, automated reminders are configured to the user’s specific requirements, and these are sent directly to suppliers to ensure that all information is kept up to date. This includes auto-escalation workflows, keeping all key stakeholders in the loop as and when they need to be notified.

The player who goes missing in big games!

Also known as a flat-track bully, this adage refers to the player who will put in seemingly world-class performances against the lesser teams (who are running their socks off, no doubt), but when it comes to the crunch games, they are nowhere to be seen.

For procurement, quality, technical, and supply professionals, a common annoyance is that vital supplier information is stored across numerous disparate systems, including email chains, local spreadsheets, and sometimes even on paper. It is vitally important that these professionals know where this information is stored, and that they can access it securely as and when they need to.

Thanks to the cloud-based nature of ARCUS^® SIM, all supplier information and associated documents are stored securely in a centralised location, enabling all key stakeholders to access the data at any time and from any location. This further digitises supplier on-boarding for users and creates a fully auditable and effective process for managing, storing, and sharing supplier information.

If you would like to find out more about ARCUS^® SIM, you can download the AAK case study or watch the SIM video here.