Thomas Account Adds New Supplier Discovery Features

Industrial sourcing platform Thomas has updated its Thomas Account features with a new dashboard to boost supplier discovery and additional organization and visibility, a blog post reads.

The innovations came by way of solving needs that included searching and evaluating data, and the need to connect with top suppliers for a company’s needs.

The upgrade will include a new dashboard, which the firm says makes it easier to edit job functions, company details, buyer or supplier status or other details.

In addition, recent searches and supplier evaluations will be provided, allowing for quick reference points. And the company added featured suppliers so customers can easily access the companies they most want to contact. Thomas has more than 500,000 North American suppliers on its website, and the upgrades will make it easier to access the correct one for any specific job, identified through queries like location, certifications and ownership.

The upgrade also includes a way to keep track of communications, allowing for better access to company information, more efficient means of requesting information, or ways to download structured data into a CSV file. And when a company contacts suppliers directly with a request for information (RFI), it will receive verification that the RFI has gone through.

Also, there will be free supplier summary reports and in-depth, expertly-written white papers, which will aid in the buying experience for customers.

Thomas, which has been around for over 122 years now, has witnessed the transformation of buyers’ and suppliers’ interactions. In a conversation with PYMNTS, President and CEO Tony Uphoff said request for quote (RFQ) platforms like Thomas could position themselves better for the new digital age. He said companies such as his could find new ground in payments, as opposed to the old standards which looked more at technological capabilities.

Payments are “inextricably intertwined” with the tech powers of a job a company bids on, he said.

As such, some of the recent upgrades by Thomas have focused on adding payment requirements to filters which companies can use to search for new vendors.