Why Marine Procurement Still Runs on Email and Excel
Marine procurement has changed dramatically over the years.
Vessels are more connected.
Shipping companies have access to more software.
Data is becoming increasingly important.
Artificial intelligence is creating new possibilities.
Yet, in many procurement workflows, two familiar tools remain central:
Email and Excel.
An RFQ may arrive through email.
A supplier may respond with a PDF attached to another email.
Another supplier may send an Excel quotation.
A procurement professional may then copy the information into another spreadsheet to compare the offers.
The final decision may be communicated through email.
The purchase order may be created in a separate system.
The delivery update may arrive through another email.
None of these tools are inherently bad.
The problem begins when they become the glue connecting a complex procurement workflow.
This raises an important question:
Why does marine procurement still depend so heavily on email and Excel, and what would it take to move beyond them?
Why Email Became So Important in Marine Procurement
Email is simple.
Almost every organization can use it.
It works across companies.
It does not require suppliers to use the same software.
A shipping company can send an RFQ to a supplier.
The supplier can reply using the tools it already has.
No new platform is necessarily required.
This flexibility explains part of email's staying power.
Marine procurement involves many external organizations.
Suppliers may have different systems, different processes and different levels of digital maturity.
Email provides a common communication layer.
That makes it convenient.
But convenience can create a long term problem.
Email Is a Communication Tool, Not a Procurement System
Consider a simple procurement request.
The original requirement may begin in one email.
The RFQ may be sent to several suppliers.
Each supplier may respond separately.
The procurement team may exchange clarification emails.
A revised quotation may arrive later.
Someone may forward the quotation to another employee.
Another person may reply with comments.
Eventually, the team has to determine:
Which quotation is the latest?
Which supplier offered what?
What was the original requirement?
What changed?
Which terms were agreed?
Where is the supporting document?
All the information may exist.
But finding and organizing it can become difficult.
This is the difference between having information and having usable procurement information.
Why Excel Became So Important
Excel offers something email does not.
It gives procurement teams a flexible way to organize information.
A procurement employee can create a comparison table.
For example:
Supplier | Price | Delivery | Currency | Remarks |
Supplier A | 1,200 | 10 days | USD | Available |
Supplier B | 1,350 | 7 days | USD | Faster delivery |
Supplier C | 1,150 | 20 days | USD | Longer lead time |
For a small number of quotations, this can work very well.
The problem emerges when the spreadsheet becomes a critical part of the wider procurement process.
It may start containing more and more information.
Then additional sheets appear.
Then additional versions.
Then copies are shared.
Then someone maintains another spreadsheet.
Eventually, the organization may have valuable procurement information distributed across multiple files.
Email and Excel Are Not the Real Problem
It is easy to blame the tools.
But the deeper issue is usually the workflow around them.
Email is useful for communication.
Excel is useful for analysis.
The problem occurs when the organization expects them to perform the role of:
Procurement database
Workflow engine
Supplier management system
Document repository
Approval system
Historical procurement record
Audit trail
Analytics platform
That is where complexity begins.
The question should therefore not be:
"How do we eliminate email and Excel?"
It should be:
"Which parts of procurement should remain in these tools, and which parts should move into connected systems?"
The Marine Procurement Information Flow
A typical workflow may look like:
Requirement
↓
Email RFQ
↓
Supplier Email
↓
PDF / Excel Quotation
↓
Manual Data Entry
↓
Comparison Spreadsheet
↓
Approval Email
↓
Purchase Order
↓
Delivery Email
↓
Invoice
Each step creates information.
But the information may not automatically flow from one step to the next.
Someone has to move it.
Someone has to interpret it.
Someone has to copy it.
Someone has to check it.
That creates what can be called information friction.
What Is Information Friction?
Information friction occurs when people have access to information but have difficulty moving, finding, comparing or understanding it.
Imagine a procurement manager asking:
"Who supplied this item last time?"
The answer may exist in:
An old email
A PDF
A spreadsheet
A purchase order
An ERP record
A supplier database
The information exists.
But the employee still needs to find it.
Now imagine the manager asks:
"What price did we pay three times before, which suppliers quoted it, and how long did delivery take?"
Answering that question may require combining several sources.
This is where disconnected procurement information becomes expensive.
The Problem With Manual Data Entry
Every time someone copies information from one system into another, there is an opportunity for error.
Consider a supplier quotation.
The employee may manually enter:
Item
Quantity
Price
Currency
Delivery
Supplier
Terms
If several quotations are involved, the amount of manual work increases.
There is also the possibility of:
Typing errors
Missing fields
Incorrect units
Incorrect currency
Outdated information
Copying the wrong quotation version
The issue is not that employees are careless.
It is that repetitive information transfer is difficult to maintain at scale.
Why Different Supplier Formats Make It Harder
There is another structural challenge.
Suppliers do not necessarily use the same format.
Supplier A may send:
Excel
Supplier B may send:
Supplier C may write the quotation directly in an email.
Supplier D may provide a quotation through a portal.
The procurement team still needs to compare them.
That means a person often becomes the integration layer.
The employee reads different formats and converts them into a common comparison.
This is one of the areas where document processing and AI can potentially help.
The Hidden Cost of Spreadsheet Based Procurement
The visible cost of Excel is usually not the spreadsheet itself.
The hidden cost is the work surrounding it.
Someone needs to:
Create the file
Enter information
Update information
Check versions
Share the file
Review changes
Maintain formulas
Store the file
Find it later
As procurement volume increases, these activities can consume significant time.
More importantly, the organization may become dependent on individual employees who know where the information lives and how the spreadsheets work.
That creates operational dependency.
Procurement Knowledge Can Become Personal Knowledge
This is a subtle but important problem.
A procurement professional may know:
"We bought this part from that supplier two years ago."
They may remember:
The supplier
The price
The delivery experience
The product details
The relevant email thread
But another employee may not know any of this.
The knowledge exists inside the organization.
But it is not necessarily accessible as structured information.
This is why procurement technology is not simply about transactions.
It is also about capturing organizational knowledge.
Why Companies Do Not Simply Replace Email and Excel
If the problem is clear, why not replace everything with procurement software?
Because the maritime environment makes standardization difficult.
A shipping company may work with:
Many suppliers
Different ports
Different vessel requirements
Multiple departments
Existing enterprise systems
External agents
Local service providers
Not every supplier will adopt a new system.
Not every workflow can be redesigned immediately.
And not every spreadsheet is unnecessary.
This is why a practical technology strategy should focus on integration, not simply replacement.
A Better Model: Email + Systems
Email is likely to remain useful.
Suppliers may continue sending quotations through email.
The objective is not necessarily to prevent that.
Instead, the workflow can become:
↓
Document Intake
↓
AI / Document Processing
↓
Structured Procurement Data
↓
Procurement Workflow
↓
Human Review
↓
Decision
The supplier can continue using email.
The procurement organization gains structured information behind the scenes.
This is a more realistic approach.
Where AI Can Help
AI can potentially address several of the manual steps.
Reading Supplier Quotations
AI can identify relevant information from documents.
Extracting Data
Information such as price, quantity, supplier and delivery can potentially be structured.
Comparing Quotations
AI can help identify differences across supplier responses.
Searching Historical Information
AI can potentially help employees find relevant past procurement records.
Summarizing Supplier Responses
AI can make large amounts of information easier to review.
Identifying Exceptions
AI can potentially highlight missing or unusual information for human review.
The purpose is not to make AI the final decision maker.
It is to reduce the information processing burden.
Where Automation Can Help
Not everything needs AI.
Traditional workflow automation can handle predictable tasks.
For example:
If required approval is missing → route to approver.
If purchase order is approved → move to next workflow stage.
If required field is empty → request completion.
These are rule based processes.
Automation can handle them effectively.
The strongest procurement architecture may therefore combine:
Email + Systems + Automation + AI + Human Judgement
rather than attempting to replace one tool with another.
What a Connected Procurement Workflow Could Look Like
Consider a future workflow:
1. Requirement
A vessel submits a procurement request.
2. RFQ
The system structures the requirement and sends the RFQ.
3. Supplier Response
Suppliers continue responding through their preferred channels.
4. AI Processing
Incoming quotations are processed and relevant information is extracted.
5. Normalization
Different supplier formats are converted into a consistent structure.
6. Comparison
The system presents comparable information.
7. Human Review
The procurement professional evaluates the result.
8. Purchase Order
The approved transaction moves into the procurement workflow.
9. Delivery
Delivery information is recorded.
10. Historical Record
The transaction becomes searchable procurement data.
This creates continuity.
The information does not disappear after the transaction is completed.
From Spreadsheet to Procurement Intelligence
The biggest change is not replacing Excel.
It is changing what happens to procurement information.
In a spreadsheet driven process:
Data is collected for the current transaction.
In a connected system:
Data can become part of the organization's long term knowledge base.
That enables questions such as:
Which suppliers are used most often?
What items are repeatedly purchased?
How have prices changed?
Where do procurement delays occur?
Which suppliers respond quickly?
Which requests require the most manual effort?
These questions turn procurement records into procurement intelligence.
The Role of Historical Data
Historical procurement data becomes particularly valuable when it is connected.
Suppose the same vessel requires a component again.
The organization may want to see:
Previous supplier
Previous price
Previous delivery
Previous quotation
Previous purchase order
Previous outcome
If the information is easily accessible, historical knowledge can support the current procurement decision.
This is one of the biggest differences between storing procurement records and creating procurement intelligence.
Do Companies Need to Abandon Excel?
Not necessarily.
Excel can remain useful for:
Ad hoc analysis
Temporary calculations
Specific reporting
User controlled analysis
The problem is making Excel the only place where critical procurement information exists.
A stronger model is:
System of record → structured procurement data
and:
Excel → analysis when needed
This preserves flexibility without making spreadsheets the foundation of the entire workflow.
Do Companies Need to Abandon Email?
Again, not necessarily.
Email remains valuable for communication.
The opportunity is to reduce the amount of manual work required after information arrives through email.
Instead of:
Email → Human reads → Human copies → Spreadsheet
the process can become:
Email → System captures → AI extracts → Structured data → Human reviews
That is a meaningful improvement without requiring every supplier to change how they communicate.
The Importance of Integration
The next challenge is connecting procurement with other systems.
A procurement workflow may interact with:
Fleet systems
Finance
Inventory
Maintenance
Document management
Supplier information
Vessel operations
If these systems remain isolated, employees may still need to move information manually.
Integration can help create a continuous flow of information.
This is why procurement modernization should be considered as part of a broader maritime technology strategy.
A Practical Modernization Path
A shipping company does not need to redesign everything at once.
A practical sequence could be:
Step 1: Understand
Map how procurement actually works today.
Step 2: Identify Friction
Find where employees spend the most time moving or processing information.
Step 3: Structure
Create consistent data fields and procurement records.
Step 4: Connect
Integrate important systems.
Step 5: Automate
Automate predictable workflow steps.
Step 6: Apply AI
Use AI where interpretation or information processing creates a genuine opportunity.
Step 7: Measure
Track whether the process actually improved.
This approach reduces the risk of introducing technology without solving the underlying problem.
The Goal Is Not "Less Email and Excel"
This is an important distinction.
A successful procurement transformation should not be measured by:
"We reduced Excel usage by 40%."
The better questions are:
Did procurement teams spend less time processing information?
Can they find historical information faster?
Are quotation comparisons easier?
Are fewer errors introduced during data entry?
Is procurement information easier to analyze?
Can decision makers see relevant information sooner?
Those are business outcomes.
What the Future Could Look Like
Email will probably remain part of maritime procurement.
Excel will probably remain useful.
The difference is that neither needs to carry the entire workflow.
The future procurement environment could allow employees to communicate naturally while connected systems handle the underlying information.
A supplier sends an email.
The system captures the quotation.
AI extracts the relevant information.
The workflow checks required fields.
The procurement professional reviews the comparison.
The purchase order is created.
The delivery is recorded.
The transaction becomes part of historical procurement intelligence.
The tools remain familiar.
The workflow becomes more connected.
Final Takeaway
Marine procurement still relies heavily on email and Excel because they are flexible, familiar and easy to use across organizational boundaries.
The problem is not the existence of these tools.
The problem is when they become the primary mechanism for moving critical procurement information through the organization.
That creates:
Manual data entry
Fragmented information
Version problems
Repetitive work
Limited historical visibility
Dependence on individual knowledge
Difficulty connecting procurement with other systems
The answer is not necessarily to eliminate email or Excel.
It is to build a more connected procurement workflow around them.
Email can remain the communication layer.
Excel can remain an analysis tool.
Systems can become the source of structured procurement data.
Automation can handle predictable steps.
AI can help interpret complex information.
People can remain responsible for judgement.
That is how marine procurement can move from a collection of emails and spreadsheets toward a more connected source of operational intelligence.
FAQ
1. Why does marine procurement still use email?
Email is widely available, flexible and easy to use across companies. Maritime procurement often involves many external suppliers with different systems, making email a convenient common communication channel.
2. Why is Excel used in marine procurement?
Excel provides a flexible way to organize, compare and analyze supplier quotations and procurement information. It becomes problematic when critical procurement data is distributed across multiple spreadsheets and versions.
3. Is email bad for marine procurement?
No. Email is useful for communication. The challenge occurs when email becomes the primary system for managing procurement information, approvals, documents and historical records.
4. Is Excel bad for marine procurement?
No. Excel can be useful for analysis and calculations. The challenge is relying on spreadsheets as the main system of record for complex procurement workflows.
5. How can AI improve marine procurement?
AI can potentially extract information from supplier quotations, compare different documents, search historical procurement records, summarize supplier responses and identify information requiring human review.
6. Can marine procurement be automated without AI?
Yes. Rule based activities such as workflow routing, approval notifications and required field checks can often be handled through conventional automation without AI.
7. How can shipping companies modernize marine procurement?
Companies can begin by understanding the existing workflow, identifying information bottlenecks, structuring procurement data, connecting systems, automating predictable activities and then applying AI to workflows where interpretation or information processing provides value.
8. Will email and Excel disappear from marine procurement?
Not necessarily. They can continue to serve useful roles. The goal is to prevent them from becoming the primary infrastructure for managing the entire procurement lifecycle.
