High performance procurement: 3 questions for procurement leaders
Are you focusing on strategy or transactions?
Regardless of internal department, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks, and in procurement that often means managing transactions.Procurement leaders who are able to take a step back and focus on making system wide improvements and evaluating the purchasing activities of a their company are more effective than those who micromanage transactions. Ultimately, a strategic procurement outlook will have an influence on the way that each transaction takes place as well as the way overarching plans are developed and implemented, leading to improved performance on all cylinders.
Are you utilizing the most effective technologies?
The best procurement technology will remove the guesswork from the decision making process. To do this, you need a platform that has your data, understands the buyer’s habitual actions and is able to analyze it. There is an exciting world of hidden information to be uncovered in large data sets, and it is is essential that you have the right tools to harness its power. For most companies it’s is unlikely you’ll be able to assemble all the best in class tools in one integrated system but to maximize your teams time and performance it is essential that you take the steps automate the repetitive sourcing processes to look towards more strategic initiatives.
How is your Return on Investment (ROI)?
Procurement, more than almost any other strategic function, needs to prove ROI. If asked, many procurement professionals would say that cost savings as a percentage of spend is the number one metric to measure procurement success. While we think there are many ways to define success in procurement, cost savings is definitely not one to be ignored. Automating the purchasing process is one of the easiest ways to improve cost savings metrics and team performance. Implementing this system takes an initial investment but by speeding up the process and simplifying purchasing, savings and improved performance will be the final product.
