Executive Teams, are you thinking through e-procurement self service? Think Again!

November 3rd, 2011

I’ll bet your team thinks they can do it themselves and do it better than an e-procurement service provider?

Let’s also assume that you want to drive the greatest possible savings across the broadest range of categories in the shortest amount of time, like the next budget period; and have a sustainable process moving forward.

If all of the above is true, you should consider what constitutes developing full service events and whether you have the requisite headcount, specifications, strategy and research skills as well as new sources of supply to conduct the service yourself. Then there is always the question of what tool sets to use.

The question one needs to ask is; what type of event services can an e-procurement provider offer to help us get ready if we did want to do it ourselves? What we are talking about is to be 100% self-sufficient. A provider should offer readily available classroom education that can be conducted on-site in order to train your team in all the nuances of event creation and support. These skills are the foundation that allows e-procurement providers to support large volumes of events in a full service mode, which drive greater savings over the long term. They should be able to provide reference to where they have done it in the past and how much staff the reference needed to add. Ask the reference what their average savings were in year one versus what a full service provider can drive. Remember, knowledge transfer in this area is one thing; the passion, skill and headcount to carry out these practices on a day by day basis are what drive results.

This process is normally provided by people behind the scenes with a very specific skill set. If you plan to do self service it would be very wise to make sure you have them covered at the same quality level.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

If you thought this page is useful to your friend, use this form to send.
Friend Email
Enter your message