Category Archives: e-Sourcing Marketplace
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
Greg Henkin Managing, Partner iXchange, has more than 30 years of experience in the insurance industry. He has held senior management positions in several major insurance brokerages, owned his own brokerage and risk management consulting firms, and now owns and operates the iXchange. In his experience, reverse auctions in the insurance space are most successful when the sourcing event follows these six steps: Establish goals and parameters. Agree on the timing and date of the auction. In addition, you should … More
In Part 1, I covered the model and value of free tools. Click here to read Part 1. In Part 2, I will cover another important component of free tools, support. Another hard truth about free eSourcing tools is that many of them do not come with much support. Perhaps you get some online manuals or a video tutorial, but don’t expect live, experienced user support to help guide you during critical events. The onset of an eSourcing program is … More
Many companies these days are providing free services and technology to different markets. This is not a new trend. Over a decade ago, I got my first free, Web-based e-mail account. It was a Hotmail account and, in fact, I still have it today. Free storage, free tools, free address book, etc. – it’s pretty cool. Today, you can find dozens of free, Web-based e-mail solutions, each having its own hook but all looking pretty much the same. The one … More
As sourcing organizations mature, it becomes more and more challenging to deliver significant savings across well-sourced categories. However, it has been Paladin Associates’ experience that there continue to be opportunities in both direct and indirect categories. Recently a client engaged Paladin to lead the sourcing process for Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBCs). While the process was not unusual, its rigor demonstrated efficiency, effectiveness and the capability to deliver not only savings, but to provide greater understanding of and continuity of … More
The 12th Annual ISM Services Conference, this year held in Phoenix, AZ December 1-2, focused on many topics dealing with the challenges involved in sourcing things like temporary labor, marketing agencies, and legal services. The conference had a full agenda, covering topics such as Building a High-Impact Indirect Sourcing Function and The Five Golden Rules of Negotiation. Several of the sessions are summarized below: Enlightening Marketing Procurement: Maximizing Investment. Minimizing Waste. Presenters: Chuck Hatsis: President of Surge Consulting and Shannon Puhl, … 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
As service delivery destinations have become increasingly globalized over the years, selecting the optimal location for a sourcing engagement has become a more and more complex process. While the number of possible locations has grown dramatically, each destination is also busy self-promoting, creating a competitive atmosphere that further magnifies the difficulty of your decision. What might appear to be a relatively straightforward choice based on general awareness of popular countries and cities, selection is — in reality — a much … More
The next generation of strategic sourcing solutions has enhanced greatly over the past few years, allowing purchasing teams to become more strategic within their company. By following best practices to drive user adoption of these tools, these teams are quickly gaining traction and increasing their sourcing credibility. Jason Treida, Chief Operating Officer of Iasta, will participate on a panel discussion about this topic at the 2011 Finance Transformation Conference in Dallas, Texas on September 22. The panel is titled, “Expanding … More
As my colleague Bobby Neil and I wrote earlier this year, if you’re looking to buy Software as a Service (SaaS), it takes diligence. It’s important to understand whether you’re buying a true SaaS solution or simply a repackaged, “on-demand” version of the software. The same can be said for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). A true IaaS service can, at times, be difficult to discern from a more traditional managed service. Unfortunately, many vendors continue to market and sell … More
As Steve Jobs walks away from his CEO position at Apple, the financial and technology world has been speculating about Apple’s future. Steve Jobs is largely credited with supplying the magic that made Apple products so successful. He brought an alien vocabulary to the consumer electronics business when he spoke of people wanting poetry in the objects they use. He built Apple’s brand based on the premise that not only would people pay for that poetry they’d pay a premium … More
You’ve just completed a competitive bidding event with large potential savings for at least equal quality and service. Congratulations! However, to capture the savings you must move significant business from an incumbent supplier. Do the following scenarios sound familiar? Scenario 1: You approach the incumbent supplier to break the bad news. They offer to meet competing pricing if you leave the business with them. Scenario 2: You go to internal stakeholders to sell the award recommendation. They ask you to … More
In the third of the 4 part series, we will dive more deeply into the second possible approach to finding savings in indirect goods and services: Sourcing. You can also read part 1 and part 2. Can you centrally source two or three key categories–waste management or security, for example–and show significant savings? Although retailers generally cannot often mandate contract usage, sourcing and sharing those savings at an operating company level on a pro-rata basis often gains buy in and … More
It seems that there are still some misunderstandings in the marketplace about the place of reverse auctions in eSourcing. I’ve noticed that several procurement professionals are facing resistance from their internal stakeholders to using eSourcing platforms. This puzzled me, so I decided to put on my detective’s hat. In my investigation, I determined that many procurement professionals: • Use a rigorous sourcing process or “playbook” • Have a common platform that provides a centralized place for everyone to collaborate and gain visibility … More
Implementing a multi-provider sourcing strategy across multiple countries requires tight coordination between business units, finance, legal and internal contract management. Success depends on an appropriate commercial structure, well-managed multiple-provider service delivery, smooth invoicing and allocation processes, and optimal service levels. Note these TPI Top 5 questions and their answers, which will be unique to your organization, when considering a multi-provider, multi-country sourcing strategy: 1. How do we create a suitable commercial structure? Cross-border taxes and cross-subsidization are key factors in determining … More
