Category Archives: Spend Analysis
At month end, many families struggle with too many bills and not enough cash. What to do? Financial planners suggest that families start a log of all expenses so that at the end of the month they can see where the cash went. Families that do that find opportunities to cut back. “I didn’t realize I spent that much at Starbucks” is a typical revelation. Businesses face the same situation; cash seems to disappear: Financial statements show expense categories, but … More
Today, many children will roam the streets trick-or-treating, and people of all ages will attend costume parties and decorate their homes with all things “scary.” This spooky holiday got us thinking about what fears keep procurement professionals restless and awake all night. Below are three of the scary situations we came up with for procurement: 1. Supplier risk – Risk should always be taken into account as part of good supply chain governance. Without having a process in place to track and … More
During the first half of 2011, more than 4,100 merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions took place, according to a recent article on Open Forum. These transactions were valued at more than $620 billion. In the second quarter of the year alone, more than 2,000 M&As were successfully completed, with a transaction value exceeding $260 billion. You don’t see only big companies participating in M&As, either. According to the article, “People are attracted to larger numbers and that’s why those deals … More
Did you know post M&A spend analysis efforts typically yield a savings of 7-10 times the project investment? Spend visibility is critical in helping your organization consolidate its purchasing power. Without spend visibility, you could be missing out on significant cost-savings opportunities. You never know where your organization’s true and best opportunities are until the majority of spend data has been analyzed. Join Iasta, Ciena and Andrew Bartels from Forrester Research for a free Webcast titled Using Spend Analysis to … More
Everyone in procurement knows that spend analysis is important. The problem is they also know that it’s hard. It means getting a lot of data that may come from multiple sources, determining a hierarchical classification system, and classifying each piece of data (usually each financial transaction). You’re also going to need software tools to compile the data in meaningful ways so that you can see spending patterns and identify opportunities for savings. It’s not about getting the data one time; … More
In the second of the 4 part series, we will dive more deeply into the first possible approach to finding savings in indirect goods and services: Spend Visibility. Although most companies realize how important spend visibility is, many companies struggle with three common issues: 1. How do I build a business case to prove we need visibility? 2. I have an ERP system, can’t I use that? 3. I have a spend visibility provider, but I am not sure if it is giving … More
