Supplier Relationship Management Software (SRM)

Supplier relationship management (SRM) software enables businesses to manage the relationship between buyers and suppliers. Procurement personnel use SRM software to define replenishment strategies, manage contracts, evaluate supplier performance, and establish strategic sourcing relationships. Event management tools such as alerts and notifications help minimize inventory stock-outs and stockpiles. Collaborative planning tools enable managers to exchange order forecasts with vendors and maintain a supplier scorecard with historical data. Typically, supplier relationship management (SRM) software is integrated with a larger enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Supplier relationship management (SRM) software can also used with customer relationship management (CRM) software to speed order fulfillment. In this way, SRM software covers the buy-side of the supply chain while CRM software covers the sell-side.