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Savings for direct purchases — For example, presume there are twelve items on the bill of material. When a company purchases each these materials at a 1% reduction, the saving creates a 12% reduction in the cost of the finished item. Conservative estimates for web-enabled sourcing are from 3-16% reduction in costs depending on the supplier base and the nature of the items or services that are being sourced. Promoting sourcing best practices — Detailed information on similar sourcing events form the database allows a company to analyze best practices in a readily accessible manner for easy reference at a later time. These practices may be similar across product categories and business units. Improving the process flow — Web-enabled sourcing speeds individual tasks (less paper chasing), reduces error rates, reduces deployment re-work and increases collaboration among buyers. Data can also be collected and disseminated more easily to management. This could be important for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Allowing extended collaboration — Information on the web is easily accessible to an extended community of people such as engineers, technicians and legal experts for examination, analysis and collaboration. Reducing the overall buying-selling cycle time — Typically, cycle times are reduced by 25%, allowing more rounds of bidding to take place in a given amount of time and faster delivery of estimates. Creating a more responsive supplier base — Some suppliers will feel threatened by internet bidding. Face it, relationships are built by people with people. A web-based purchasing tool does not interfere with a real relationship anymore than a fax machine does. Can you image someone these days saying "I don't want to use a fax machine because it interferes with my supplier relationships? The fact is that new technologies strengthens a relationship by making the exchange of information easier for both parties. Modifying buyer focus — The role of the buyer becomes less focused on organizing the buy to more value added activities such as qualifying new suppliers and negotiating strategies.