Category Archives: Spend Analysis
For many Sourcing organizations, especially those at mid-market companies, being involved in Strategic Sourcing of Indirect Spend categories is still a relatively new opportunity… and a challenge! Many manufacturing companies, which have historically had sourcing organizations focused on Direct Material and Capital Equipment purchases, may not have the internal staff or correct Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to get involved in negotiating and managing indirect expense categories. In fact, sourcing organizations may not even exist at some companies, namely those in … More
Despite the challenging circumstances of today’s economic environment, you must embrace change in order to support shifting external environments and business strategies. At the same time, you look for opportunities to capitalize on disruptive changes in supply markets, which can drive greater value for your organization. You must become a purchasing hero. What is a purchasing hero? We believe a purchasing hero brings knowledge capital to multiple departments. They inspire collaboration and cross-coordinate with as many internal stakeholders as possible. … More
How are you using procurement data and insight to bring teams together? Procurement and data can dance (and sing) together if you have the proper tools, processes, and strategy in place to support your goals and growth initiatives. More importantly, you need the confidence to build strong internal relationships. What does it take to let the dancing and singing begin? Join Spend Matters, AOL, and Iasta for a live Webinar on Wednesday, March 27 to learn: A history of spend … More
Until recently, governments at all levels have found the market for budgeting tools to be woefully inadequate. Accordingly, most governmental organizations continue to use cobbled-together, Frankenstein-like budgeting tools that, more often than not, rely on users to extract or re-enter data in offline spreadsheets to analyze budgetary policy proposals. Such tools are labor-intensive, inflexible, error prone, limited by the data collected and fail to provide timely, sufficient budgetary insight to optimize resource allocation. In this time of greater public budget … More
Using a spend analysis solution allows you to uncover the hidden potential lying within your data. You can empower your team with business intelligence to make discoveries that can quickly grow your sourcing pipeline. However, procurement teams implementing a spend analysis solution often have to overcome challenges and roadblocks before they gain greater influence and spend under management with the tool. Below are four challenges procurement organizations face when implementing a spend analysis solution: Lack of Spend Understanding: Often, spend … More
Procurement professionals like you have indicated two main roadblocks hindering them from becoming a best in class procurement organization include: 41% a lack of culture that accepts procurement as strategic 38% a lack of technology to automate the strategic sourcing process Join us for a Webcast on May 2 at 11 AM EST, “10 Ways to Drive Procurement Influence Using Advanced Technology.” Jason Busch from Spend Matters and Joanna Martinez from Cushman & Wakefield will discuss tips on how you can … More
In Part 1, I discussed why some companies don’t have a solid control over indirect spend. Click here to read Part 1. In Part 2, I will cover some tips Sindewald shared on how to better manage indirect spend from his years of experience. First, procurement should partner with departments business owners to better understand their needs, supplier relationships and processes. It’s important to show them that you’re not just trying to come in and find a lower price at … More
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend ISM Orange County’s monthly dinner meeting earlier. Walt Sindewald, owner and principal consultant for Competitive Edge Procurement, spoke about how procurement can strategically attack indirect spend, which is anything not included on a bill of materials such as office supplies, MRO, marketing, print, telecom, software, and digital equipment. Services such as landscaping, janitorial, security, IT, and consulting can also be part of indirect spend. The topic resonated well with the southern … More
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
Last week, Seth Balsam, Director of Global IT Sourcing at Ciena, contributed to Iasta’s Webcast, Using Spend Analysis to Smooth the M&A Path: 4 Steps to Consolidate Your Purchasing Power. When Ciena acquired Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Networks, Ciena literally doubled its size overnight: twice the revenue, twice the customers, and twice the employees. All those doubles don’t come for free. Even though spend data doesn’t get a lot of headlines in M&A news, the merger also resulted in twice the … More
Don’t forget to register for Iasta’s Webcast next week featuring Andy Bartels from Forrester Research and Seth Balsam from Ciena, Using Spend Analysis to Smooth the M&A Path: 4 Steps to Consolidate Your Purchasing Power, on September 21, 2011 at 11 AM – 12 PM EST. You will learn how to: Expedite M&A decisions through use of spend analysis Determine the taxonomy system that best fits your organization Tackle complex issues associated with importing data from multiple ERP systems, locations & … More
The United States’ economy is making headlines and causing much debate this week. Because this is not a political blog, I won’t go into details and opinions on that matter. However, I do believe that this economical downturn stresses the importance that now, more than ever before, is the time for procurement to lead the way to overcoming complex business challenges. Per Segerberg agrees and writes in a recent article in Supply Chain Management Review, “All over the world, the … More
Image this scenario. After some debate, a company finally decides to implement an eSourcing initiative and technology. The relevant software gets acquired and SME consultants are duly engaged. A short time later, there is a large eSourcing kick-off meeting with lots of fanfare and positive noise. Everyone is gung-ho and all seemed to be going well. Yet, six months later enthusiasm within the company has considerably diminished and eSourcing usage and popularity has dramatically decreased. Ultimately, management begins thinking of … 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
In Greek mythology, Cerberus is the three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades. For many of today’s retailers, approaching the topic of indirect or non-merchandise spend is like fighting a three-headed dog. It stumps many retailers because purchases of indirect goods and services are usually not controlled by a center-led procurement organization. Even though indirect goods and services are part of division or store budgets, many retailers have little or no visibility across buying organizations and into spending habits. Retailers … More
