PunchOut
catalog and CIF catalog are the two different ways by which a supplier
communicates with buyers about his products and services. Although CIF catalog
is easier to implement, it comes with a lot of limitations, hence can be a
cause of great headache in the long run for both the supplier and the buyer. For
instance, CIF catalog can considerably reduce the efficiency in your purchasing
process. So bluntly speaking, usage of CIF catalog has become obsolete.
Following are
the factors that help us to differentiate PunchOut catalog from a
CIF catalog:
Feature
CIF catalogs
are static, as a result data exchange between supplier and buyer’s eprocurement system does
not happen in real time. So when any new product is included or there are
changes in product pricing or description in CIF catalog, it is not immediately
available to the buyer. Firstly, the new product information has to be entered
manually in a spreadsheet. You have to then convert the spreadsheet into a CIF
file format, which is then loaded into the procurement system. Also, dealing
with end of life products that need to be removed from the catalog is a
nightmare as it requires a lot of manual work.
Ariba PunchOut catalogs are
dynamic, hence they support real time price and availability. No wonder, adding
or deleting products in PunchOut catalog is a breeze. Since exchange of
information is dynamic, constant changes being made to product information are
available to the buyer in real time. In short, it enables you to offer live
data to your customers. Moreover, PunchOut catalog completely eliminates the
need for any manual intervention.
Configuration
Products that
require configuration are not stored in CIF catalog. Inability to provide
configurable products is one of the biggest disadvantages of using CIF catalog.
It is mainly used when suppliers have non-configurable products i.e. basic
products and services to offer.
OCI PunchOut catalog can easily handle highly configurable content.
If you are into the business of selling IT products such as computers, laptops,
CPU and servers, you need to provide configuration options. With a PunchOut,
you can provide options to configure products.
Updates
CIF catalog
is not suitable for frequent updates. In fact, companies that provide services
related to creation of CIF catalog specifically mention that catalog can be
updated at the most 4 times in a year. Even making a small change in CIF
catalog content such as modifying the description of product, will require
replacing the catalog completely, which is an arduous task. So if you are
offering products whose pricing, available, product descriptions and other
attributes do not change over a significant period of time, then use of CIF
catalog is recommended.
Suppliers who
change the catalog content very often are advised to use a JD Edwards PunchOut
catalog. Updates with PunchOut catalog are quick, convenient and
hassle free. So if you wish to update the catalog several times in a year, go
for a PunchOut catalog.
Catalog Size
CIF catalog
can be difficult to manage, if it has more than 1000 products. Also, a CIF
catalog restricts the space for describing the products. It is not possible to
describe the products in a visually appealing manner. Suppliers who are
offering large number of products should not use the PunchOut catalog. When the
catalog size is relatively small, you can opt for CIF styled catalog.
When it comes
to handling large number of products, you can rely on Oracle
iprocurement PunchOut
catalog. It is useful when you are offering huge volume of data
with extensive documentation (reviews and user guide) for various products. You
can also use images more effectively to display the products.
On the whole,
in today’s fast paced environment that is highly dynamic, it doesn’t make sense
to use a static CIF catalog that burdens you with extra manual work. Whereas,
PunchOut catalog offers a better way to communicate as it supports real time
exchange of information. Hence using this dynamic product is always a better
option in terms of ease of business and attracting more customers.
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