Introducing the vendor portal: Manage, bill and collaborate

Any business, whether it’s big or small, has to make purchases from vendors from time to time as all supplies cannot be managed in-house. When the purchase frequency and the number of suppliers increase, it can become difficult to manage orders and keep track of payments, leading to poor vendor relationships. 

To handle this, Zoho Books has introduced the Vendor Portal, which lets vendors access their transactions with you, communicate, review orders, and much more. It’s secure and super convenient for your vendors—they can skip the lengthy clarifying emails and get direct access to the transaction information they need.

Enabling the portal can help you:

Quickly process orders and negotiate prices

The purchase orders you’ve created will be available immediately in your vendors portal. This gives the vendor a record of the items and quantities you require and the prices you’re planning to pay. Transactions get uploaded in real time, so vendors can view the orders instantly and share their feedback or work out new prices in the comments section if needed.

Review transaction documents and create bills

When your vendor has shipped your order or has it ready to dispatch, they can take a picture of their invoice and upload it in the portal. You can then review the invoice and approve it to create a bill in your Zoho Books organization and an invoice in their portal.

Share contact details easily

If your vendor has changed their operating location or contact details, they can edit their information in the portal and it will be automatically updated in your Zoho Books account. Similarly, if you’ve changed your address, your vendor can see your new billing and shipping address in the portal and always have updated shipment details. 

Converse and collaborate effortlessly

Discuss orders, comment on invoices, and work together to process your purchases. Any time your vendor wants to send you a quick update, they can hit the Send Email button from the portal home page and message you right away.

What’s in it for your vendors?

Insightful and actionable dashboard

The home page in the vendor portal is similar to your dashboard in Zoho Books. It displays the amounts for outstanding invoices, any credits available, the details of the last payment received from the customer, and any documents that have been uploaded.

Secure access to the portal

Once you’ve enabled the portal, your vendors will be able to log in to it from the email invite you sent. You can set up a password for the portal, which your vendors can update as required.

View, print, upload, and comment on transactions

Your vendors will be able to view all the transactions you’ve created for them, add comments and upload images of invoices they’ve created so you can verify and convert them to transactions. All the transactions and statements of accounts can be downloaded or printed for their use.

How to get started

You can enable the portal from the Vendors module. Just click the More dropdown and select Configure Vendor Portal for the required vendor. You can learn more about setting up and accessing the portal from our help document.

Enabling the portal increases transparency and ensures your vendor is always in the loop. We’ve mentioned just a few things you can do using the portal. Do try it out let us know how else it helps you meet your business challenges. If you have any questions or feedback, leave a comment below or send an email to [email protected].