Online Procurement 101.

• Position: Brief Article

Have you ever bought a book online? A CD? A vacation? Don't let another day go by before you do. Buy yourself something today, but buy it online. CFOs can't lead from the sidelines. The sooner you're comfortable with the online universe, the sooner you'll be able to understand your organization's buy-side needs.

Other factors to consider:

* Teach your chief information officer to speak plain English. If you're going to revolutionize the way your organization does business, do it with a clear, understandable message. When was the last time terms like "bandwidth" and "throughput" served as rallying cries for revolutionaries? Form a solid partnership with your CIO and mesh his or her technological needs with your concerns for communication, control and cost savings.

* The cross-functionality of e-commerce demands a unified team approach. This means all the number crunching and business vision in the world can't provide all the information you need to make e-business work for your organization. Build an executive team for your e-commerce plan that represents every conceivable area affected by the decision. That includes the technology experts -- who know the bits and bytes -- and the experts from human resources or training -- who know how to communicate a new way of working.

* Think of it this way: Your goals are to reduce costs and drive revenue. Your CIO's goal is to ensure seamless system integration -- and to reduce costs and drive revenue. Your purchasing manager's goal is to maximize strategic discounts and manage the supply chain to your advantage -- to reduce costs and drive revenue. There are no cross-purposes when it comes to an e-commerce plan. Get all the players on board and build the solution that satisfies everyone.

* Before you implement your e-commerce solution, have a clear picture of where you stand today, where you're heading tomorrow and how well suited your current technological environment is to get you there. Then set goals.

* When was the last time you did a thorough process audit or carefully examined your supply chain? Who in your organization buys what, from whom, how often and for how much? These inquiries take precious time, an ever-decreasing commodity. But not taking that time will almost guarantee you a place in the dot-coin graveyard of the near future. In the rush to jump on the e-commerce bandwagon, organizations may...