Dynamic Discounting

Taulia, the only SAP-certified SaaS platform for dynamic discounting, today announced Hallmark will provide its global supply base with Taulia’s comprehensive suite of services, including e-invoicing, dynamic discounting and supplier self-services. The largest and most successful greeting card brand in the world, Hallmark has long been a technology leader in bringing innovative products to consumers. The company wanted to extend that leadership by providing its suppliers a unique value proposition - comprehensive e-invoicing and self-services, delivered by a dedicated on-board team at no cost to suppliers.

Like many readers, I have met many suppliers who struggle to manage cash flow. And I’ve met companies that rely on third party finance solutions to fill the gap. They all have one thing in common – they are not happy people. I would challenge you to produce a photograph of an AR team with smiles on their face – without using Photoshop!

Some companies in our industry might encourage you to “hurry up” while you’re in the procurement phase but maybe it’s because there’s something they don’t want you to stop and think about. For example, the question of business models. In what we do, you have two options. The first is pretty simple: make your money from enterprises in proportion to the value you create for their business. That means putting in a solution that makes their supply chain more efficient and accompanying it with the processes and technology that makes suppliers want to use it too. The second is a bit more old-fashioned, a bit less elegant, indeed, somewhat parasitic. This way involves using the enterprises you’re supposed to be helping as a direct sales route to their suppliers, where you’ll make most of the money. Basically turning your customer into your sales channel and pushing the majority of the financial burden down the supply chain to the guys it’s going to hurt most.

Ask a CFO why he shouldn't pay suppliers early in return for lower prices and he or she is quite likely to say "It's fine occasionally but generally it just gives a one-off hit". I had this exact conversation with a a CFO of a large international organization recently and, not being an accountant, I chose to hold back, go away and lick my wounds and contemplate why his position was both expert and intuitively wrong.

The European Commission has declared some ambitious targets for e-procurement. They reckon that €2 trillion can be saved and they intend to get government organisations using purchase to pay best practice to deliver these savings by 2016. These targets are of course way too ambitious. What’s more, the Commission is going about it in completely the wrong way. They may be ambitious and their methods may not be perfect but I’m impressed and delighted at what they're doing.