E - Procurement the Future of Supply Chain

E-Procurement is the procedure that involves goods procurement automation by use of internet. This process leads to significant reduction in both cost and time. However, the paper explains that the e-procurement is much more than just making a purchase online. It is a very comprehensive phenomenon which includes making strategic initiatives. E-Procurement can be used in reorganizing the entire purchasing process. The paper explains e-Procurement as the electronic trade of goods and services. It may utilize any media ranging from internet to Enterprise Integrations (EAI) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Generally, e-procurement aims to enable the website to make vendor comparison and automating the process of vendor management, auctioning and contract management. The paper also discusses various parties that might benefit from the concept of e-procurement. It enumerates that the organizations, be it medium or large sized, may benefit from this concept. Apart from that, government departments are also good candidates for this concept. The paper further states that e-procurement can be used for various types of services and products. Transaction and catalogue based products are best suited for e-procurement. It also discusses the applicability of e-procurement in the context of India. It studies the peculiarities of the Indian market and then studies the suitability of e-procurement.