Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)

What Procurement Teams Can Learn from “The Wisdom of Crowds”

Posted: 07/14/2022 - 09:00
Helpful tips to leverage the collective wisdom your various business teams have accumulated over the years.

Today’s procurement systems are not as sophisticated as they should be, as they fail to incorporate basic tenets of human psychology.

What do we mean by this?

As of now, the primary means of surfacing suppliers in the course of a search selection remains very arbitrary – qualify the suppliers then pick the lowest price. This process does very little to ensure the quality of the supplier and does not reflect what other business teams’ experience with the supplier might have been.

10 Reasons to Use Purchase Orders

Posted: 07/11/2022 - 00:00
Learn 10 key reasons to use purchase orders, when other acquisition methods may also apply and get helpful tips for when the CFO asks "why."

The CPO for a financial services company recently asked me for reasons to use purchase orders. Their procurement group was receiving pushback from the firm's Finance division, which was happy to issue payments merely based on internal management just "approving" supplier invoices (grrr).

In my email to this executive, I put together a list of Top 10 Reasons to Use Purchase Orders which I’ll explain in this article.

How to Jump Off the Inflation Bandwagon

Posted: 06/13/2022 - 00:00
Inflation continues to be a thorn for procurement teams who want to maintain a strong bottom line without sacrificing quality.

It’s a word that everyone from high-ranking executives to the average grocery-store shopper dreads hearing: inflation. As the world continues to experience supply chain disruptions caused by a number of factors—the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, political crises, changes in production patterns and more—we’re seeing prices for goods and materials climb faster and higher. 

As the Threat of Lost Business Erodes, Supplier Hostility is Emboldened

Posted: 06/08/2022 - 09:00
Fortune 1000-sized firms feel they have no choice but to retain incumbent suppliers under less than favorable terms.

The threat of lost business.

Without it, even the largest customer lacks any real power in the marketplace. When a supplier doesn’t feel any plausible threat of lost business, it can adopt—figuratively, of course—the sales tactics employed by Vito Corleone in The Godfather, as relayed by Michael to Kay:

…my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.”

Insights on the Evolving Role of Supply Management

Posted: 05/27/2022 - 00:00

The global COVID-19 pandemic put supply chain management and procurement in a very bright and positive spotlight for keeping life moving as normal as possible during all the shutdowns, disruption and general uncertainty.

It also highlighted that business and supply chain disruption are ongoing facts of life – such as ongoing extreme weather events globally and a megaship blocking the Suez Canal for weeks, to name just two. And the impacts created a snowball effect on other industries:

9 Benefits of Supplier Performance Management Software

Posted: 05/06/2022 - 09:00
Procurement professionals are concerned with addressing supplier performance management.

About 65% of innovations are sourced through external suppliers and partners (ISM). This makes supplier and partner contributions to a supply chain’s production and profitability rather pivotal. 

Put into simple math: Good supplier performance = good supply chain performance.

Supplier performance management (SPM), when done right, can help your procurement organization to harness supplier performance and innovation to positively impact your business’ top-line value creation. 

Supplier-Enabled Innovation: Select Suppliers Carefully and Reap Big Benefits

Posted: 05/02/2022 - 00:00
Supplier-Led Innovation

Today, a lot of the low-hanging fruit has been picked by CPOs. But one area where there is significant scope for procurement to deliver value is supplier-enabled innovation (SEI). With 25% to 45% of revenues coming from product innovation and up to 65% of innovations sourced externally through external partners and suppliers, SEI represents a treasure trove of opportunity.

3 Ways to Empower Procurement and Prepare for the Next Supply Chain Crisis

Posted: 04/08/2022 - 09:00
Today's globalized world means that organizations are more exposed to risk than ever before.

When we look back at the globally disruptive events of the last 18 months, there aren’t a huge number of positives to draw on. But one significant silver lining is that major crisis events like the pandemic and the Suez Canal blockage have helped leading procurement teams step into the spotlight and demonstrate their skills at mitigating risk and ensuring business continuity.

Tracking the Evolution of Procurement and Where It’s Going Next

Posted: 03/09/2022 - 09:00
How procurement has evolved throughout its history, why 2020 was such a turning point for the function and where things are headed next.

From the outside, procurement appears to be a relatively static department focused on one core goal: Acquiring the right goods at the right price.

But behind the scenes, procurement teams have been silently evolving. They’ve been growing their capabilities, creating value in new ways and driving growth while ensuring business continuity.

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