FM companies have entire procurement departments for good reason — it’s tough! Managing quotes, purchases, and sales requires discipline and organisation and can be very time-consuming. Solving the innate challenges of these processes was one of the major driving factors behind Infraspeak’s launch of the Infraspeak Network™, back in January 2022.
The Network is a shared, centralised workspace that connects facility managers with their clients and suppliers. It sits within our collaborative FM platform and is divided into two core functionalities: 1) procurement and supplier management and 2) shared maintenance execution.
Everything is centralised and easily accessible
Rather than relying on long email threads, disjointed SMS conversations and unrecorded phone calls where information can be forgotten or lost, all communication is centralised and stored. Notifications keep everyone in the loop whilst an in-app chat function simplifies negotiations and follow-up.
More valuable contracts, more business
Infraspeak makes it a lot easier and faster to request, create and compare quotes. If you are an FM or service provider, you’ll find work much faster and so increase your business volume; if you’re looking for vendors, your deals will be better.
Improved negotiation processes and service quality
The Infraspeak Network™ cuts negotiation time and makes it much easier to close deals. Simple, mirrored workflows mean that you and your client can focus better on what really matters and can get deals over the line without missing key updates.
Data for improved transparency
Either through native apps or integrations with other software like Power BI, you can analyse team performance and access data on quotes, purchases, and sales. This will give you valuable insight into how efficient and profitable your procurement operations and business are.
Simple articulation with other existing software
One of the biggest benefits of using Infraspeak Network™ to manage your procurement processes is the fact you can integrate your system with several different types of software. This provides flexibility and, crucially, adds extra levels of synchronicity to your interdepartmental operations using these tools.
With ERPs
Integrating Infraspeak directly with your ERP system provides access to more real-time data and de-risks analysis and interpretation.
Infraspeak supports integrations with SAGE, SAP, Primavera, Odoo, PHC and many more.
With invoicing tools
At the end of each sales process, a pre-invoice is automatically generated, which covers all services and materials — this speeds up the invoicing process and your payment!
Infraspeak supports integrations with Xero, Quickbooks, Freshbooks, Zoho Invoice, and more.
With data analytics tools
Use these tools to monitor the ins and outs of your company’s transactions and view all relevant operational data. You’ll be able to identify spending and profit trends with ease, allowing you to evaluate how your business is truly operating.
Infraspeak supports integrations with Power BI.
Buying and selling with the Infraspeak Network™
Whether you’re requesting or responding to quotes, it can all be done using the Infraspeak Network™ and its 4 native apps:
- Quote Requests
- Quotes
- Purchases
- Sales
Imagine if you urgently needed to hire a contractor to complete a maintenance task. You can use the Network to request a quote directly from the work order you’re working on, all from the same app — there’s no need to jump around the platform from one app to another.
When you decide which quote you want to go ahead with, you can convert it into a purchase and centrally store all related information using just one button. This information includes the associated work order/planned job order, the approved quote and the completed purchase.
Turning a quote request into a purchase
All proposals are organised and ready for your analysis on Infraspeak, and linked to the corresponding quote request.
When you want to go ahead with one of the proposals, you can approve it (automatically turning down any other proposals in the process) and click “Convert into Purchase” to make your choice official.
In the Purchases app, you can finalise details regarding your purchase and easily follow the next steps of your transaction until it’s “closed”.
Remember — you can always use Infraspeak to make a purchase without requesting quotes. Just like any other purchase stemming from a received quote, you can easily add it to the Purchases app and manage it as usual.
Turning a quote into a sale
When using the platform to make a sale, after you’ve created and sent your quote using the Quotes app, you can seamlessly turn it into a sale that your client can then approve. Once again, it’s as simple as clicking “Convert into Sale”.
We’re now able to move from the Quotes app to the Sales app, where you’ll be able to track and manage all processed sales, including any that didn’t stem from a received quote.
Extra 🔥 Our approval flow
Time is money, and any delay can throw a wrench into your operations. Picture a crucial quote waiting for approval from someone who hasn’t even been notified.
With Infraspeak’s purchase approval flow, you can kiss those problems goodbye. Whether you need simple or complex rules, you can easily configure them to ensure everyone involved has visibility and gets notified to approve them.
How the Network helps with procurement: a recap
Purchase
- Request quote
- Receive quotes
- Analyse and negotiate quotes
- Buy
Sale
- Receive rfq
- Send quotes
- Analyse and negotiate
- Sell
So, if buying, you can:
- Create quote requests and share them directly, without leaving the Infraspeak platform.
- Process all received quotes and seamlessly associate them with the work order or planned job order they relate to.
- Compare received quotes and sign off on the best proposal.
- Turn the best proposal into a purchase, which you can manage on Infraspeak.
If selling, you can:
- Use Infraspeak to create and send quotes.
- Associate them with existing work orders and planned job orders.
- Centralise all of your sent quotes.
- Turn the quote which gets approved into a sale, which you can then manage on Infraspeak.
Rohloff Group — KFC and the Infraspeak Network™
We couldn’t write about using the Network to manage procurement without referring to one of our beloved customers and advocates.
The Rohloff Group is the South African master franchise of the KFC brand, responsible for hundreds of KFC restaurants in the Western Cape, Gauteng and Free State.
Their previous system simply couldn’t handle the full scope of assets involved in managing KFC operations; it lacked advanced features for work order management, task automation, supplier and budget management, software integration, and data analysis. Upon transitioning to Infraspeak, the group noticed immediate improvements in efficiency and transparency in their maintenance operations, largely due to the Infraspeak Network™.
❤️ You can take a closer look at this and other success stories here.
If you’re already using Infraspeak to manage other parts of your maintenance operations, it’s time to use it to manage procurement too! And if you still aren’t using Infraspeak… well… we’ve provided you with a fair few good reasons to get started, right? Let’s get in touch! We’d love to give you a tour of our awesome Intelligent Maintenance Management Platform.
