Jan Culshaw, Category Manager for Payment Solutions at Crown Commercial Service explains how greater use of procurement cards can save the blue light sector time and money this winter.
The usual winter pressures, combined with the Coronavirus pandemic, means the pressure on the police and emergency services is growing day by day. More than ever before, using finite resources as efficiently and effectively as possible is an absolute necessity.
This winter, there’s a clear and urgent need for solutions that can rapidly provide impactful and tangible results. Solutions that almost overnight can save time and money.
For this reason, we encourage the entire blue light community to extract the maximum possible benefit from every purchase they make by paying through a procurement card.
Benefit when you buy – the power is in your hands
Whatever you’re buying – whether it’s training, travel or tech – can be bought through a procurement card, meaning you can enjoy the following benefits every time you buy:
Save time and money
Purchasing with a procurement card means your finance team doesn’t need to raise POs or process invoices, freeing up valuable resources. Also, using a card typically saves around £5 per transaction compared with traditional methods
Strengthen your supply chain
Suppliers get paid within four days by the card provider, meaning your supply chain and business resilience are strengthened. Furthermore, the faster payment isn’t at your expense – the cards work on a buy now, pay later basis
Actively generate funds
Prompt payment generates discounts from suppliers who, on average, are willing to offer a 3% discount for being paid just 15 days earlier. You receive an annual rebate from your card provider and the more you spend, the more you recoup
Enjoy more control
You can easily set or update transaction limits for both staff and suppliers, while a bespoke reporting suite allows you to monitor purchasing in real-time. Meaning you can track every penny that’s spent.
Start benefiting today
Already using procurement cards?
Despite their unlimited scope, many organisations use cards for a narrow set of purchases.
We recommend that you conduct a review of all current and future purchases to see where there’s opportunity to spend more on cards. You can also work with your finance department and card provider to integrate payments into your existing procurement card programme and talk to your suppliers. If they don’t accept card payment, highlight that they will be paid earlier and ask them to speak to their bank to enable card payments.
You may also find our Payment Solutions webpage useful. It’s packed with detail on how to get the most from procurement cards.
New to procurement cards?
If your organisation is not currently using procurement cards, or are interested in switching providers, contact our team today. You can also find out more about the agreement on our Payment Solutions webpage.
It’s quick and easy to integrate procurement cards into your organisation. You can start saving time and money, strengthening your supply chain, generating additional funds, and enjoying increased financial control within weeks.
