When Should Suppliers Incorporate PunchOut Catalog into their Business

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When Should Suppliers Incorporate PunchOut
Catalog into their Business
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As a supplier, you will need PunchOut catalog,
when your B2B customer is changing catalog
frequently (say every one or two months), it
doesnt make use CIF format for electronic
transfer of data. It is a nightmare for suppliers
when the customer wants to change the catalog
every now and then.
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The update process of CIF catalog is a
time-taking task. So even if you want to update
just one product, say its pricing or
description, it is a labor-intensive activity.
Also, the changes made in the CIF catalog are not
immediately available to the customer. This is
because the updated customer file has to be then
downloaded by the customer on his procurement
system which is equally time consuming. So
instead of spending time endlessly with CIF
catalog, why not use PunchOut, a protocol that
makes it ridiculously easy to make changes in
customer catalog. Discontinuing or adding a new
product can be done without modifying the entire
catalog. Moreover, the updated catalog can be
viewed immediately in real time by the
customer. Another reason to choose PunchOut is
when the customers catalog size is large, say
anywhere between 8 to 10 MB. Larger the file
size, more the time spent in updating the CIF
catalog. Such large files contain thousands of
products, hence replacing the entire catalog for
a small change is not advisable.
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When customers catalog is complex containing
customizable or configurable products using a CIF
catalog is a strict no-no. This is because it is
a line item catalog and does not support
configurability and moreover visual display is
also absent. You need to follow a specific format
while entering product information in CIF
catalog, which makes it to impossible to add
configurations. SAP, Oracle and Coupa are some of
the popular PunchOut providers that you can
trust. Whether you use SAP PunchOut or any other
provider, you are sure to benefit from it. From
streamlining purchasing process to reducing order
errors, it can do wonders for your business. On
the whole, it really doesnt matter from which
company you take service. Choose Coupa PunchOut
or any other company but get rid of CIF catalog
as PunchOut is a far better option to
electronically communicate a product or service
to the buyer.