How to Improve Procurement Efficiency
When it comes to improving procurement efficiency, though, a sourcing hero’s work is never truly done. Instead of sitting back, the profession must make a long-term and ongoing commitment to sharpening its sourcing processes.
1. Identify
Inefficient Processes
To make meaningful
changes, you’ll first need to conduct a thorough review of your existing
processes. What factors are causing bottlenecks or holding back meaningful
progress, and how much is this costing your organization? Are there certain
areas in which increased efficiency will have a significant and measurable
impact?
Be sure to consult
your team and other key stakeholders for their feedback and insights. Once the
relevant information has been collected, you’ll be able to prioritize how best
to direct your resources and time.
2. Consolidate Your
Supplier Lists
There are several
benefits associated with supplier consolidation. It enables procurement teams
to leverage economies of scale and improve the quality of products and services
purchased. Reducing suppliers also helps mitigate risk throughout the
supply chain.
The reduction in
maverick spend, tail spend, and administrative burden of managing a huge
supply base will also improve efficiency. Procurement professionals will be
less consumed by endless supplier relationship management (SRM),
negotiations, and the processing of purchase orders or invoices. Instead,
they'll be able to spend more time nurturing the relationships that really
matter.
By establishing
meaningful and trusting relationships with a core group of strategic suppliers,
procurement will enjoy an improved and seamless service.
3. Educate your
workforce
Maverick
spending typically happens for one of the following three reasons:
- There are no effective preventative
barriers in place.
- Internal buyers consider existing
processes to be too tedious and/or confusing.
- Internal buyers are unaware of existing
processes.
Curbing maverick
spending and encouraging buyers to spend with preferred suppliers is best
achieved through educating the workforce.
When employees
understand the purpose behind procurement processes and how to navigate them
with ease, compliance will naturally improve. Procurement teams will spend less
time managing conflicts and chasing after invoices, and be able to focus
on value-adding activities.
You might also
consider limiting the number of approved buyers in your organization or setting
a purchasing limit. However, if you do choose to go down this route, be careful
not to exert too much control over your buyers. They'll likely
become frustrated having to seek a manager’s approval for every single
purchase. Enforcing this rule can result in major purchasing bottlenecks.
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