How to Get Your Purchasing Group Out of Chaos Mode

The majority of purchasing managers that contact me operate in chaos mode and want a roadmap out.

If it feels like your team continually finishes at the deadline or after, this is not an exclusive club.

Driving efficiency in sourcing and supplier management are common goals in purchasing and procurement.

Many organizations that have grown dramatically have systems and processes that can’t support the size and complexity of the operation.

What would be the impact on profits if your group could enhance:

  • Visibility
  • Analytics
  • Knowledge Retention
  • Communication
  • Efficiency

I will share some of the benefits to be gained with the right purchasing platform for your consideration.

Visibility – How often do you receive a call, email or text from a stakeholder looking for an update? Does your supervisor have a habit of asking for a status report late on Friday?

  • Reports can be configured with multiple views that meet each stakeholders’ preferences in minutes. Each report can be automatically delivered to their inbox at a frequency of their choice. This will minimize status questions.
  • Utilizing a shared project management view is another way to virtually eliminate status questions and the stress they cause.

Analytics – How much time do you spend each week cutting, pasting and massaging information to generate reports? How many days does it take to generate award scenarios that are based on multiple constraints?

  • Sourcing tools that contain all the bids data inside each bid dynamically increase analysis speed. TOC calculations and multiple bid scenarios can be automatically generated. This will end hours of spreadsheet analysis time and virtually eliminate calculation errors that are so common in spreadsheets.
  • Optimization tools can reduce award analysis time to hours versus days. Awards that include numerous constraints are nearly impossible to get right using spreadsheet tools. Optimization allows step-by-step analysis of each constraint and this knowledge is powerful in negotiations.

Knowledge Retention – How many times have you created a new spreadsheet because the prior one was too complicated? What if the person that set up the original one is no longer with the company? Have you ever started over because you found mistakes?

  • Sourcing tools eliminate the problem caused by a lack of documentation. Your company’s knowledge base grows with each event and is not impacted when someone leaves, is transferred or promoted.
  • The controls in place are much stronger and an audit trail of all changes is maintained.
  • You can do anything you could do on a spreadsheet and layouts are easier to understand and manage. Standard reports can be set up and what if scenarios can be created quickly.

Communication – How many hours do you waste each week following an email trail? How many times have you heard the excuse “I didn’t get the email?” How much time do you spend chasing suppliers and stakeholders who haven’t responded to an invitation or request?

  • Sourcing tools allow all communication and documents to reside within the tool. This will give you one version of the truth.
  • I love automated reminders. It won’t keep everyone on track, but it is close.
  • Project status will be at your fingertips especially if you utilize dashboards.

Efficiency – How many projects do you have to start from scratch even if they have been done before? Do you live with inefficiencies because you can’t get a new system on the roadmap?

  • Sourcing tools allow rapid creation of new events and that can save you 50% to 80% of the time to develop the same event from scratch.
  • Access to all past events in a common format is powerful. Doing it right becomes the norm not the exception.
  • Simplifying the process increases stakeholder participation and can significantly reduce rogue spend.

You don’t have to operate in chaos any longer.

A sourcing platform can be in place in weeks not months or years.

It can be connected quickly to existing systems to exchange data.

It can be bolted on or implemented as a standalone tool.

A convenient way to figure out if a platform will work for you is to utilize a pilot.

You will know very quickly if this works as well as the demo.

If you are ready to drive your competitive advantage, please request a 30-minute discovery call with me using the link below.

If I can’t help you, I will let you know that, and we can part friends. If we both agree that we should continue the conversation we can set up the next logical step.

Ask better questions, make changes and 2019 will be your best year ever.

Action Step: If you are uncertain where to start the process of change, a procurement professional like myself can provide guidance and expertise to help your organization achieve the results you want.

If you want to go explore this topic in greater detail, please contact me. I invite you to request 30-minute discovery conversation. In my experience the next step will be apparent at the end of the call. I never assume that what I have to offer will be right for everyone, so don’t expect a sales pitch. You can reach me at 973-936-9672.

If you would like to know more ways to reduce costs without changing the way you do business, simply give me a call or send me an email with your contact information and the best time to reach you.

You Won’t Drift to Success©

Commit to taking the next step.

Until Next Time, I Wish You Great Success in Your Business and in Your Life

Mike Jeffries