A NEW online procurement tool is aiming to save businesses money and simplify the procurement process by taking a more social approach.

SourceDogg, developed by Big Dogg with input from procurement professionals, gives buyers and buying groups access to suppliers that are rated by their peers, in a similar way to community ratings on sites such as Amazon.

The software, which is delivered over the internet, could also help out business seeking to reduce costs. The company believes using SourceDogg could cut between 18 and 25 per cent from bills, and can also reduce the sourcing cycle time by 60 or 70 per cent.

Its chief executive, John Quigley, estimates that the Irish public sector could save up to €1.4 billion per year by using a collaborative buying system such as SourceDogg.

“We enable collaboration. We allow for buying groups and people to communicate in a collaborative environment because we’re using the internet. The internet, I suppose, is the enabler for collaboration,” he said.

“It’s a more user-friendly and user-focused approach.”

Simplicity is key to SourceDogg, Mr Quigley said. “It’s easy to use. If you can use Facebook or LinkedIn, Gmail or eBay, then you can use our system,” he said.

“We said ‘what if we could make business and enterprise software as easy to use and intuitive to use as personal software?’ We’re making that possible now because of the advent of social media, web 2.0 and cloud computing,” he said.

Suppliers can sign up free until 2011, and potential customers have the option to try it out for 30 days before paying for the service on a month-to-month basis.

The sourcing tool will also have a workflow element for an approval process. Other functions allow users to evaluate, negotiate and discover the best suppliers globally, according to the company.