Five top supplier management software providers for 2024

MasterControl

Greenlight Guru

AssurX

ETQ Reliance

Best Supplier Management Software for 2024

May 7, 2024

With supply chain woes continuing to plague world economies, manufacturers have begun to embrace the advantages of technological advancements in supply chain management at a faster rate. Recent surveys from the American Productivity & Quality Center indicate that in the next few years, “Big data and advanced analytics, supply chain digitization, data management, and process standardization make up the top four trends anticipated to make the greatest impact.”

Investing in supplier management software can be the tool that gives your business a competitive advantage as companies adjust to this change.

What is supplier management software?

Supplier management software centralizes supplier data in one system that enables organizations to track the status of supplier performance in real-time. It assists businesses in ensuring the consistent quality and compliance of a supplier’s goods or services, and in regulating the impact of a supplier’s product on a buyer’s business.

Today’s best supplier management software solutions integrate quality controls that help increase product reliability and avoid recalls. Quality controls make it faster and easier to resolve issues if/when they do happen thanks to a full audit trail that shows the history of every action. This level of traceability is highly important to regulated industries. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) along with The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have established standards that support comprehensive supplier management.

Supplier management software enables organizations to streamline the tasks that make up a business’ relationship with a supplier, for everything from onboarding to communications to performance evaluations. 

Why is supplier management software important?

Disruptions or inconsistencies from suppliers can have a ripple effect on a business, impacting everything from production timelines and product quality to customer satisfaction and brand reputation. Supplier management software is designed to streamline processes, automate tasks and provide end-to-end visibility into supplier performance.

Key benefits of supplier management software

Risk Control – Even a seemingly minor change to a supplier’s goods or services can have a major impact on the finished product, and could potentially have repercussions ranging from manufacturing delays to consumer injury or even death. That’s why it’s important to have the most proactive, efficient supplier management system possible.

Supplier performance data can be tracked in real time, providing continuous insight into supplier actions, such as on-time deliveries and results of Corrective Action Requests (CARs). Supplier performance data can then be used to shape future interactions with the supplier.

Improved Efficiency – Supplier management software replaces time-consuming, error-prone manual processes with a web-based, digital solution that puts supplier data and tasks at your fingertips. Relevant documents and certifications are stored in a supplier’s file, and alerts are generated if any need attention. Supplier tasks, such as onboarding or addressing nonconforming products (NCPs) and CARs, are streamlined and can be initiated from within the system, monitored, recorded and resolved.

Greater Collaboration – With the supply chain facing strong headwinds for the foreseeable future, it is more important than ever to maximize relationships with suppliers. Supplier management software opens the door to better supplier collaboration by fostering communication and the ability to quickly respond to issues. Closer collaboration can help suppliers ensure that their products or services are meeting your needs, enabling them to be a better partner and helping establish a more dependable supply chain for your business.

Monitoring Regulatory Compliance – Regulatory guidelines, including ISO 9001, FDA 21 CFR Part 820 and ICH Q10, outline manufacturer requirements for ensuring the quality of a supplier’s goods and services. These guidelines include determining, applying and communicating quality guidelines to suppliers, as well as maintaining related documentation.

Supplier management software supports these efforts by being a central repository for information and data, making it easy for manufacturers to share procedures, requirements and tasks with suppliers, and for suppliers to have one place to go to access or even upload necessary information.

Supplier management software also serves as an accessible source for your team to schedule audits and inspections and share documentation with auditors, better ensuring consistent audits and reviews.

Stronger supply chain - Being able to monitor supplier performance lets you choose the suppliers that best fit your quality and compliance needs. Better communication with suppliers leads to improved relationships, which can strengthen your supply chain down the road.

Core features of supplier management software

The features your business needs from supplier management software will vary based on industry and current business situation. Whether your priorities are information management, data management, performance management or relationship building, here are a few of the core features to look for in supplier management software.

Automated, Integrated Workflows

The ability to easily onboard suppliers, update and view records, and request changes in one central system is a key feature of supplier management software. Through your supplier management software you should be able to easily integrate data and tasks. If problems arise, manufacturers can initiate a corrective action right from the software. They’ll also be able to schedule audits and inspections, complete supplier evaluations and surveys, and check compliance status.

Document Management

With supplier management software, documents and records are accessible through one application and organized for easy access and shareability. Procurement managers can quickly see results of deliveries, ensure certifications are in order, review or respond to supplier surveys, and link to other quality applications so that all pertinent data is updated in real time.

Supplier Portal

A supplier portal is a web-based access point for suppliers that makes it easy to share information and collaborate on quality issues. A supplier portal is where you can share policies, schedule audits and initiate tasks, such as corrective actions and engineering change requests. All supplier interactions are captured, giving you a thorough understanding of supplier performance and an automatic resource for demonstrating compliance. Depending on level of use, it can allow a supplier to have some measure of control over their relationship with your business, fostering better relations and mutual goals.

Electronic Surveys and Evaluations

Using supplier management software, supplier surveys and evaluations can be electronically created, distributed and recorded. This removes the time-consuming burden of manually completing and entering results, and provides easy access to supplier performance during audits or future planning. QT9 QMS incorporates a Supplier Scorecard in its supplier management software. The scorecard measures a supplier’s performance and weights it against user-defined metrics for a consistent view of relevant data.

Reporting and Analytics

Supplier management software gives you real-time data about how your suppliers are performing allowing for deeper insight into potential impact on your business, and easier determination of whether you should work with the supplier in the future. Manufacturers can review a supplier’s impact on targeted goals and note any negative trends. This can help to find the most qualified suppliers and gain a better understanding of ways to prevent problems.

Compliance Monitoring

With supplier management software, you can store compliance certifications and be alerted to when a supplier’s certification is due for renewal. The software also enables you to track supplier evaluations regarding quality performance, providing objective ratings based on pre-selected criteria.  

Supplier management software and your QMS

Given the connection between the quality of a supplier’s goods and services and manufacturing, it makes sense to combine these tasks into one, comprehensive system. QMS software that includes robust supplier management applications can offer a host of efficiencies that give your business a competitive advantage.

The main advantage of a supplier management software QMS system is the automatic integration between production and compliance, providing you with a total quality picture. Performance data from a supplier is automatically pulled into the system, making it easier to quickly identify and address quality risks and collaborate on corrective actions.

Easier identification of high-performing suppliers builds relationships and makes it easier to leverage supplier capabilities, so that you can deliver the highest quality products to customers in the fastest way possible.

Below are supplier management software providers that incorporate quality and supplier management for ultimate quality and relationship management.