Pantavanij
Delivering a Glocal Advantage within E-Procurement

 
Pantavanij platform serving customers from various industries, such as Telecom, Retail, Banking, Insurance, and university from large to small size.

As the procurement industry evolves to step into the digital economy, it has managed to shrink the world into a global village. Today, a customer located in Thailand can procure salmon from Europe at a price that is very close to the local price, thanks to the vast global network of buyers and suppliers working in synergy combined with the power of e-procurement. As Asia becomes the epicenter of global trade and commerce, e-procurement business is on the rise within the region.

"We strive to leverage the power of technology to enable our customers to identify the potential savings areas within their procurement endeavors"

Evidently, global procurement businesses are in the fray within the Asian markets. However, their procurement solutions are yet to touch a chord with the region’s demography. Having deeply studied the Thai market for over 19 years, Apisit Kuparatana, managing director of Pantavanij, says, “These applications from overseas providers are undeniably scalable, but equally significant are the associated costs.” A major factor that procurement solution providers need to consider is that most Asian organizations typically do not feel the imperative to attain procurement software at a high investment cost. In such a scenario, it becomes difficult to make these organizations realize the real benefit of digital procurement or e-procurement, not only in terms of cost savings but for providing more efficiency, transparency, visibility, and additional added value. On top of that, when dealing with diverse and complex Asian markets, the procurement industry has several other factors to consider than merely standard global apprehensions. “Various aspects including language, business culture, innovations, and how markets are being receptive to the change; everything comes into play,” adds Kuparatana.

Also, Asian markets have varying kinds of businesses ranging from both international to the ones that do not necessarily fit into the global and conventional business type. Stepping into this complex procurement arena is Pantavanij, which is set to transform the game with its e-procurement application. “We are a Thai company that specializes in developing e-procurement solutions that appeal to the specific and local requirements of our clients at a realistic price point,” states Kuparatana.

Today, as one of the leading e-procurement providers in the ASEAN region, Pantavanij’s developed e-procurement solutions are specifically tailored to comply with all the requirements and expectations of their customers at reasonable costs. Encompassing all business sizes and types, Pantavanij’s e-procurement offers a complete service from source to pay while enabling customers with features such as self-service information set up, eCatalog, real-time mobile approval, and product availability on the dashboard.

Renowned for a remarkable market stature, Pantavanij also marks its eminence in connecting suppliers across the ASEAN region. The company prides itself for bringing the businesses of different countries together. “Currently, we have more than 20,000 suppliers in our supplier database across 45 countries worldwide, where most of their business goes through our procurement software,” adds Kuparatana.

Customer Centricity at the Core

According to Kuparatana, organizations often require a unique procurement process that most conventional procurement solution providers cannot completely fulfill with their solutions. Pantavanij brings a niche quality in its e-procurement application, which is embedded with the company’s knowledge and experience of the industry. “We have channelized this experience and knowledge into the ‘Lego Box’ functionality of our solution,” remarks Kuparatana. After determining the intricate needs of the customer, Pantavanij incorporates the resultant information into ‘Lego Box’ functionalities, which align with the customer’s objectives and adjusts the procurement process to best fit with the customer’s business. What sets Pantavanij’s e-procurement solution apart is it significantly reduces the investment costs incurred by the customer while increasing their profit margins, creating new opportunities, and a competitive edge in the market. The solution allows organizations to evaluate their purchasing data in a dashboard format, enabling them to plan, administrate, and control their procurement in advance. The company helps its customers in optimizing their procurement right from the supplier selection process until purchase requisition and also provides them with visibility and transparency into the cost of every procurement. In the wake of rapidly expanding global trading with the proliferation of e-commerce and online businesses, organizations are experiencing severe competition from the procurement standpoint since maintaining profit margins has become challenging. In their quest to reduce the cost and improve the profit margin, businesses cannot afford to compromise on quality and lose out to the competition. Pantavanij’s e-procurement, on the other hand, helps these companies to retain the quality of their product at lower costs and helps them function more efficiently by enabling them to collaborate with other companies and merchants located in different countries. “Our ultimate goal is to reduce the operational cost for our clients, a factor further substantiated by our collaboration with a renowned leading European consulting firm,” explains Kuparatana.

The Testament of Success

Following the partnership with leading European consulting firm last December, Pantavanij provided consulting services to the second largest telecom provider in Thailand. The company developed a list of strategies for every procurement made by the telecom company. Pantavanij then developed a module to track which strategy effectively pays-off most for the customer. From that list, the company found over 10-20 strategies through which the customer could save substantial costs.

Pantavanij also closely analyzed their procurement data, spending, and financial information to identify the area of their maximum spend. Kuparatana says, “In merely three months, we successfully saved significant operational costs for them as they achieved more than $120 million in cost savings, which the client was immediately able to turn into profit.” Today 99 percent of this telecom provider and other 55 companies under the same group’s procurement passes through Pantavanij’s e-procurement system. “This customer, in fact, owns a football team whose entire merchandise is procured through our application,” states Kuparatana. Furthermore, by joining forces with leading European Consulting Firm, Pantavanij attained wider access to the ASEAN market as a professional consultant.

Pantavanij’s platform serves customers from various industries such as telecom, retail, banking, insurance, and universities. For instance, in the retail arena Pantavanij partnered with a company named CP All, known for establishing over 11,000 7-Eleven stores across Thailand. Initially, the entire procurement process within the stores used to be paper-based, which took days to take stock of the store inventory. Besides, it was observed that the sales or the service personnel working in these stores were not quite familiar or skilled with computers. However, they were well-versed with the operability of a mobile device. Pantavanij enabled all the 11,000 stores in Thailand with mobile-based e-procurement. This enhancement allowed the store workers to order purchases and add follow requests through smartphones, and after the delivery, they could also send the confirmation through mobile devices. With Pantavanij’s e-procurement solution, the store headquarters today has complete visibility into purchases made by the stores along with complete data on their inventory and supply.

Helping a multitude of such clients along the way, Pantavanij has charted a comprehensive roadmap for expanding further into the Asian e-procurement landscape. Alongside growing traction for Pantavanij’s professional consulting in Thailand, the company is set to release K2K invoicing and industry procurement services. Pantavanij also plans to venture far and beyond into other markets and geographies within Asia. With current offices located in Thailand and Vietnam, Pantavanij’s strategy is to expand its presence into four more nations in the next three years. The company also envisions bringing new product ranges into the market by next year. Combining supplier information and knowledge of cost savings in procurement with technologies such as robotic process automation and artificial intelligence, “We strive to leverage the power of technology to enable our customers to identify the potential savings areas within their procurement endeavors while reaping significant business profits as they go forward,” concludes Kuparatana.

With a promising roadmap to navigate their journey ahead, Pantavanij is well positioned to elevate the e-procurement landscape of tomorrow.