Category Archives: Sourcing Blogs
It’s Super Bowl week here in Indianapolis. More than 11,000 volunteers are prepared to make Super Bowl XLVI an amazing experience for the fans, tourists and locals. Just today I heard that the NFL experience attracted a record 42,000+ visitors on Saturday. And as the teams are arriving Monday, it comes to mind how making the Super Bowl is a huge victory for any football team; think of it like accomplishing the executive mandate of the sourcing world. So, what … More
As the year comes to an end, we crunched the numbers to see which blog posts were the most popular. We’ll use the data to continue providing content that is relevant and useful. We thought you might be interested in knowing too so here they are. In ranked order, the top 5 blog posts on eSourcing Forum were: 1. Three Lessons Sourcing Can Learn from Firework Shopping 2. Procurement Fraud: A Costly White Collar Crime on the Rise 3. What Procurement Can Learn … More
An article in the September issue of Inside Supply Management, entitled “Market Intelligence Matters,” compelled me to think about the reasons why we manage the supply chain proactively and develop sourcing strategies. Fundamentally, we engage in these activities to ensure that our businesses can continue to provide world-class goods and services in a global marketplace. Moreover, we want to demonstrate that purchasing adds significant value to our organizations. In his article, Joseph Mullan references some market intelligence best practices: • Supply … More
Consortium Agreements and Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) are one of many sourcing tools that should be in every sourcing toolkit. In many cases, these types of agreements should take a much higher position in the hierarchy of tools. In fact, Consortium Agreements and GPOs often provide ‘Fortune 100′ prices and contract terms to businesses and provide built in commodity experts and contract management services. Many companies no longer have the internal resources, experience, or expertise to focus on certain categories … More
In the fourth of the 4 part series, we will dive more deeply into the third possible approach to finding savings in indirect goods and services: Organizational Assessment. How are indirect goods and services being purchased currently? How does your organization stand up against best practices? Map your existing organizational procure-to-pay processes and assess them against leading companies. Which areas can you make more efficient and automated? Can you reduce errors and cut cycle time? Key to success: Once … More
