According to the research findings, three quarters of businesses communicate more openly with suppliers about business strategy. Additionally, seven in ten corporates are looking for longer-term supplier relationships than five years ago. 65% of business are now more concerned about the reputational damage caused by late supplier payments.
Almost half (48%) of procurement teams contact preferred suppliers at least once a week. However, there is still more to be done; when looking at how procurement professionals could improve their supplier relationships, the number one response was for businesses and suppliers to ensure they understand each other’s strategic priorities (32%).
The research found that six in ten (61%) businesses are more concerned about paying suppliers on time than they were five years ago, which could be as a response to increasing pressure from government to pay smaller suppliers within their agreed payment terms.
Respondents said that they currently pay suppliers on schedule 73% of the time, on average. When asked why they might not meet the agreed payment terms, three in ten (30%) cited slow internal processes as one of the main reasons. The same proportion (30%) said that they would like to simplify their procurement processes to ensure suppliers are paid more quickly, in order to improve supplier relationships.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now
We welcome comments that add value to the discussion. We attempt to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam, and our editors frequently review the comments to ensure they are appropriate. If you see a comment that you believe is inappropriate to the discussion, you can bring it to our attention by using the report abuse links. As the comments are written and submitted by visitors of the The Paypers website, they in no way represent the opinion of The Paypers.