Streamlining Supplier Management: A Guide to Building an Effective Supplier Portal

Suppliers, also known as vendors, are critical in driving your business success. The more effectively they deliver materials, parts, and services, the faster and better you can serve your customers. By streamlining supplier management, you can also lower operational costs, improve the accuracy of inventory and shipment forecasts, and minimize exposure to price fluctuations.

However, as supplier networks become increasingly global, their complexity grows, often requiring a range of systems and EDIs to manage. This can make it challenging for buyers to maintain visibility into these operations, as there is limited insight into what’s happening behind the scenes.

Without this level of transparency, these technologies may fall short, forcing teams to manually manage certain processes, which can lead to inefficiencies, resource waste, and missed opportunities.

What’s needed is a system that provides clear visibility, helps optimize processes, and enhances collaboration with suppliers: a supplier portal.

In this blog, we’ll discuss five key use cases in which a supplier portal can boost efficiency for internal teams and suppliers.

How to Build a Supplier Portal Your Suppliers Want to Use

To create an efficient supplier portal, it should act as a seamless interface that integrates with your existing systems, offering real-time visibility into backend operations. For this purpose, a flexible solution such as a digital experience platform (DXP) is ideal.

A DXP is an enterprise-grade software that enables businesses to deliver cohesive, personalized digital experiences across various touchpoints throughout the entire customer journey. It comes with built-in features that simplify and speed up the process of composing, managing, and optimizing these digital experiences, including:

Digital asset management

Commerce capabilities

Personalization

Search and navigation

Multi-site management

Cloud capabilities

Access control and privacy protection

What makes DXPs stand out is their seamless integration with various technologies, serving as a hub to pull in relevant data. This means you can not only develop a supplier portal more efficiently but also consolidate external data to provide a unified view of key processes, all within the portal itself.

1. Streamline the Onboarding Process 

Choosing and onboarding the right suppliers is essential for a successful supply chain, but this process can be lengthy, often stretching up to six months for larger companies. Instead of relying on in-person meetings, phone calls, emails, or faxes to identify and train new suppliers, technology can streamline the process and enhance the onboarding experience.

Here’s how a supplier portal can simplify onboarding for both your vendors and support teams:

Validate and approve suppliers. Suppliers can begin by expressing their interest via a form, providing essential details such as pricing, product offerings, and compliance information. Their tax identification numbers and other key data can be verified through automated workflows.

This process also enables fraud detection and cross-checking of suppliers against United Nations trade sanction lists and other restricted-supplier databases.

Define step-by-step journeys based on segments and user roles. Onboarding should be tailored to fit the unique needs of your business and its diverse range of suppliers. Each supplier may have different teams and user roles that require customized onboarding processes.

To streamline this, choose a platform that allows you to group users by specific criteria such as job role, supplier type, or priority level. You can assign different access levels through roles and permissions by segmenting users.

With these segments in place, you can create specialized onboarding workflows for each group, detailing the exact steps needed and ensuring the process fits their specific requirements.

For instance, sales managers may need to agree to a privacy policy or complete mandatory training as part of their onboarding. In some cases, a manager’s approval may be required before the account can progress to the next stage of onboarding.

Equip suppliers with the information they need. You can leverage journey mapping and segmentation to tailor content, ensuring suppliers are directed to the appropriate resources (such as videos, demos, manuals, and e-learning materials) as they move through the onboarding process.

For instance, an onboarding workflow for your suppliers’ finance teams could feature demo videos on tracking and monitoring invoice and payment statuses. Alternatively, you might create a separate experience for inventory managers, providing documentation on how to use real-time inventory data to make more informed decisions.

Additionally, streamline the experience by offering personalized dashboards that consolidate FAQs, frequently-used links, knowledge bases, and essential documentation. This enables suppliers to easily navigate your buying processes without requiring assistance from a representative.

Rather than immersing suppliers in the selling process right away, ensure they are equipped with the tools and resources to learn how to do business with you independently. Effective onboarding is the foundation for building strong, long-term supplier partnerships.

2. Provide a Single Location for Communication and Collaboration

As noted by Gartner, one of the primary challenges that supplier portals face is the inefficiency in supplier communication. Managing a growing supplier network can make ensuring timely and accurate information sharing challenging.

With a centralized portal, suppliers gain a reliable solution that enables you to:

Store and manage important documents, such as contracts, tax and business certifications, price lists, product details, return and warranty policies, and compliance agreements, all in one place. With a centralized platform as a single source of truth, suppliers will always know where to upload their documents, eliminating confusion. Furthermore, internal teams can quickly search and navigate the stored files more easily.

Communicate with suppliers before data is entered into back-end systems. for instance, you can negotiate pricing and contract terms with suppliers and then input the finalized details into your ERP systems. Similarly, if you’re working with distributors and resellers, you can modify product information and descriptions provided by suppliers before updating your PIM system.

Resolve issues without needing to use phone or email. For instance, if your suppliers need to adjust an invoice, they can directly edit or leave a comment on the supplier portal, eliminating the need for phone calls or email correspondence.

Innovate and collaborate more closely with suppliers. For example:

• Manufacturers can facilitate discussions about new parts and engineering via messaging tools, forums, and comment sections.
• Logistics companies can collect valuable feedback and suggestions from suppliers to enhance their processes.
• Negotiations allow Healthcare organizations to manage custom orders for medical supplies, laboratory equipment, protective gear, and bulk purchase discounts.

3. Empower Suppliers with Self-Service Capabilities

Implementing a supplier portal enables your suppliers to manage various tasks independently, allowing your team to focus on more strategic responsibilities.

Self-service capabilities streamline processes for suppliers and buyers and enhance compliance and accuracy. A digital system meticulously tracks and verifies every compliance requirement, minimizing the risk of legal complications.

Additionally, with suppliers inputting less information manually, the likelihood of human errors, such as those causing payment delays or disputes, is significantly reduced.

So, what self-service features should suppliers have access to? Suppliers should be able to:

Manage their own accounts. After registration, suppliers should be able to manage and update their own accounts independently, eliminating the need to contact your support team.

This is particularly beneficial when new users join or leave their organization. By assigning an admin role, a designated person on the supplier’s team can oversee user permissions, account settings, and passwords.

Access the portal on multiple devices and channels. Suppliers aren’t always at their desk or computers; they might be at a factory or on-site. Ensure they can access the portal anytime, anywhere, from any device, with 24/7 multichannel support.

Access and find relevant information quickly. Leveraging technology in various ways can significantly support suppliers in efficiently navigating available resources and advancing the supply chain. You can also reduce the support burden on your staff by providing tools that allow suppliers to quickly access information such as orders, invoices, and payments. Consider using tools like:

Knowledge bases and FAQs. Create a comprehensive knowledge base or FAQ page that consolidates frequently asked questions and key topics about rules of engagement. Ensure that suppliers can easily search and filter responses to find the information they need.

• Tailored search results and recommendations. Enhance search results by utilizing segmentation features to target specific needs. Customize the results display based on factors like job function, supplier type, search history, and location. This tailored approach allows suppliers to find the information they need directly, reducing their reliance on support teams. For instance, if a supplier specializes in semiconductor chips for smartphone manufacturers, you can prioritize relevant content and search results related to semiconductors.
• Modern tools like Applied AI/ML simplify the process of targeting search results and content by analyzing users’ search behaviors in similar roles or segments.
• Linking related documents and information. A supplier portal should seamlessly compile and connect related information rather than sifting through emails or external systems for documentation. For instance, if a supplier views a specific order, they should easily access the corresponding invoice and any related communications in one place.
• Community forums. Empower your suppliers by enabling them to post questions and explore previously answered issues. Forums provide a platform for suppliers to interact with your organization while giving you valuable insights into their challenges and queries. For instance, if several suppliers inquire about accessing forecasting predictions, it might be a sign to reposition this information or enhance the onboarding process to better showcase this feature.

Did You Know? 

According to Markets and Markets, the global Digital Experience Platform market was valued at USD 7.9 billion in 2019, and projections estimate it will grow to USD 13.9 billion by 2024.

4. Digitize and Automate Supplier Processes

If you need a unified interface for managing supplier interactions, you might rely on manual processes for tasks like procurement and payment. A powerful Digital Experience Platform (DXP) can bridge this gap by integrating essential tools such as ERPs and CRMs, enabling you to digitize and automate these tasks while enhancing overall transparency.

To streamline automation, consider creating customized workflows for your specific supplier network. These workflows can seamlessly transfer information between systems, eliminating the need to exit the supplier portal. For instance, you can design workflows to:

Capture purchase order responses and track their status to determine if they are accepted or rejected. For example, you can establish a workflow to oversee the progress of purchase orders.

Set a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to automatically remind suppliers if they haven’t responded within five business days. If there’s still no response after an additional five business days, the system can automatically reissue and redirect the purchase order to an alternate supplier.

Allow suppliers to have visibility on required changes to an invoice. Suppose you need to reject an invoice or request changes. Suppliers can view the required adjustments and update the invoice directly within the supplier portal without having to navigate away from it.

Automatically split orders that require fulfillment by different suppliers. To streamline the process of managing a purchase order that involves multiple suppliers, you can create a workflow that breaks the order into separate sub-orders for each supplier to handle independently.

5. Monitor and Improve Supplier Performance

Are you aware of which suppliers are delivering exceptional performance and should be retained for future collaboration?

An advanced DXP can provide valuable insights into supplier performance, enabling you to make informed decisions about your partnerships. It helps by:

Defining Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and offering metrics for evaluating workflows. If a supplier doesn’t meet the established SLAs or goals, you can assess whether to continue the partnership or consider alternative suppliers who align better with your expectations.

Surfacing information from EDIs, such as fulfillment times and accuracy, you can leverage integrated EDI information to pinpoint and prioritize dependable suppliers for long-term partnerships.

Integrating with back-end analytics systems. Integrate your supplier portal with existing BI and analytics tools to offer a seamless interface for accessing metrics and reports.

Encourage suppliers to share their feedback on the portal to help you enhance its functionality and better meet their needs.

Encourage supplier engagement and build stronger relationships with your suppliers by encouraging them to share their perspectives and needs.

Gather feedback and capture suggestions for improvements using survey forms. The success of your supplier portal hinges on how well it meets the needs of your suppliers.

Working More Efficiently with Your Suppliers Using Liferay DXP

To tackle these five use cases effectively, you’ll require a powerful DXP that offers both deep insights into your back-end systems and the capability to enhance those processes.

With Nirvana Lab’s Liferay DXP, you can build a supplier portal that’s perfectly tailored to your specific network. Its advanced site-building features and flexible architecture allow you to create an interface that integrates smoothly with your existing systems, giving you essential visibility into supplier interactions.

Frequently Asked Questions