Let’s Have the Talk, the Procurement Talk

eProcurement, B2B, punchout, hosted catalogs … You may have heard these terms thrown around but, for some reason, they do not sound appealing and certainly do not get much traction. Besides, what do they actually mean?

What matters most to you is that all your precious lab supplies are there when you need them. Therefore, it makes sense to learn about any solution to streamline your replenishing process. Whether it applies to the teams working in the lab or the procurement team, it could make a drastic difference in your day-to-day work and how your lab procures everyday consumables.

So let’s break down these terms and understand what options you have when purchasing your chromatography consumables online on thermofisher.com.

Let’s start with the basics: What is eProcurement?

eProcurement, also referred to as B2B, is our end-to-end electronic procurement solution that integrates your procurement system with our order management system. This secure connection allows you to shop a customized Thermo Fisher Scientific online catalog, return a shopping cart back to your system for approval and then submit an electronic purchase order for electronic invoicing — all within eProcurement.

The system enables: increased efficiencies, simple repeat purchasing, easy-to-apply discount codes, tracking and review of order history, elimination of double order entries and removal of manual order entry entirely. B2B also streamlines end-to-end processes, decreases operating costs, and is available 24/7. Furthermore, eProcurement fulfills the requirements by many organizations for buyers to make purchases through their internal procurement platform, which means they need a B2B connection if they want to purchase through an online platform.

Working closely with our own integration partner called Liaison, we can match to almost any format. Even if you have specific requirements that are unique to your business, we can discuss how we can meet your specifications.

So, whether your organization is working through Coupa, Oracle, Ariba, Jaggaer or other platforms, the Thermo Fisher Scientific eProcurement team can work with you and your organization to provide the connection between your internal systems and our thermofisher.com online shop.

Let’s get down to business: punchout and hosted catalogs

From there, several options exist, the first one being the infamous “punchout.” Don’t worry, no one is getting punched in the face. The punchout catalog, also known as supplier hosted, is actually the industry standard. Once you’ve enabled punchout, you can buy products on our website easily through your eProcurement system. Just add products to your cart and the selected products can be punched back into your procurement system for automated order approval by staff — lab managers, health and safety, and finance — before the order is placed. One value of punchout is that you will have all your purchasing and supplier information in one easy-to-report system — allowing strong control and management of your supply base.

The second option is a hosted catalog, a customized file containing all product data — including your personal and list pricing — which is produced and maintained by Thermo Fisher Scientific. The catalog file is uploaded to your procurement platform, where you can search, compare, and purchase products electronically. Some platforms also use a “marketplace” feature, where our products, prices, delivery times, etc., can be compared directly against our competitors. Examples of catalog-based procurement platforms are Jaggaer, cc-Hubwoo, and Science Warehouse. Thermo Fisher Scientific operates with a number of catalog formats, including .XLS, .CIF, .CSV, .XML, and .TXT.

So, what did I tell you? Not that bad, right? It’s all there to help simplify and streamline your purchasing process. To summarize, this illustrates the flow path of the B2B process:

Success story

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations, your lab will be all the better for it! Now, read our success story featuring Novo Nordisk, who opted for procurement: Complex science, meet simplified procurement: how B2B enablement is helping a pharma company maximize time savings and discovery.

If you are looking to streamline your purchasing process for your online orders, reach out to us here so we can help you set up a B2B connection.

Find out more at thermofisher.com/eprocurement.