Impact of Electronic Procurement on the Operations of Kenya Commercial Bank

Abstract

The emergence of new technologies and changing of consumer needs have resulted to changes in organizational business practices. For companies to be more efficient and effective, e-procurement is one of the concepts that have been adopted by good performing organizations in the global market. The research objectives of this study were; to determine the extent of e-procurement adoption in Kenya Commercial Bank and to establish the impact of e-procurement in the operations of Kenya Commercial Bank. The target population for this study was KCB employees who were working in the procurement department and other staff from the retail branches. This study utilized an interview guide as the data collection tool. The collected data was critically analyzed using content analysis based on the facts that were presented by the respondents. The study established that, though KCB is in the initial stages of e-procurement adoption its impacts are clearly visible in terms of reduction of lead times and simplification of the procurement process. It was also established that some employees tried to resist adoption of the e-procurement concept since they feared for their jobs. Therefore, this study recommends that KCB should formulate policies to enable all employees recruited to work in the procurement department are trained on the e-procurement concept, top level management should cultivate innovative culture among employees through providing opportunities to employees to develop and employ new ideas, training should be provided to both key stakeholders involved in the supply chain and KCB should benchmark its e-procurement practices with good performing financial institutions in the global market in order to identify gaps and formulate policies to minimize or control online fraud.