By Guest Contributor, Patrice Orenes-Lerma

For an organisation’s procurement function to operate at full efficiency, it needs to connect seamlessly to other corporate-wide systems. This can be achieved – with the right processes and the right technologies linking them together. But it’s not easy. Sometimes, processes can slip and the overall procurement effort suffers, leading to missed deadlines, cost overruns and reduced profitability. How can you tell if your procurement process needs fixing? Here are eight signs things are going awry – and some corresponding tips on ways to improve business processes.