E-Sourcing Forum » Accelerate Your Sourcing Cycle

Accelerate Your Sourcing Cycle

February 14th, 2008 at 06:21am David Bush - Iasta

The Supply Chain Management Review recently ran an article on how to accelerate sourcing cycle times that had some good suggestions on how to keep your sourcing cycle lean and mean.

According to the article, obstacles that prevent the rapid execution of a quality sourcing process typically fall within one of the following four categories:

insufficient and/or inaccurate data
good sourcing needs good data; be sure to clearly define and articulate what data you will need before the project begins
poor process definition and knowledge
you should have standard methodologies and processes, and standard templates for each major category to insure that the team doesn’t have to “re-invent the wheel” every project
insufficient resources
strategic sourcing requires dedicated resources; although one can automate tactical purchasing, the very nature of strategic sourcing is that it requires qualified, intelligent individuals concentrating on the problem
lack of corporate culture for sourcing
sourcing affects multiple business units; they must be aligned to ensure success

The article then goes on to focus on two areas that can make a difference: spend data and talent.

Good strategic sourcing starts with a detailed spend analysis project that identifies the opportunities and illuminates the data you will need to conduct a successful sourcing project.

But in the end, it comes down to the talent assigned to the project. As the author points out, successful sourcing requires creativity and perseverance, drawing heavily upon:

teamwork and collaboration
leadership and communication
analytics and problem solving
broad expertise that encompasses project management, legal issues, and technical skills

Virtual teaming with collaborative processes and access to improving analytics and toolsets is creating the means for speed, the framework for results and the platform for sustaining category leadership despite the constant flow of talent … as long as the right e-Sourcing platform is in place to support it!

Email Forward & Bookmarks

Close this Window Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Entry Filed under: General, Spend Analysis, Supply Management Best Practices

Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed