In e-procurement, there are no Sacred Cows!

February 1st, 2013

All product and service categories are fair game (wild or otherwise) so to speak!

Today’s post is from Debbie Wilcox Vice President of Marketing and Professional Services at SafeSourcing.

It wasn’t long ago that when you read an article or listened to a seminar about reverse-auctions as a procurement tool, the leader would indicate that the best items for this sourcing strategy were simple, straight-forward, commodity type products. That is no longer the case; there is no product or service that is off-limits when utilizing e-procurement and reverse-auction tools.

Much of the successful outcome of complex or service-related sourcing projects is determined by how the event is structured. Is there enough detail within the lotting structure of an auction to cover a broad range of items and service offerings? Are service level requirements and expectations spelled out and defined effectively? Are top tier national suppliers invited to participate as well as regional and local alternatives?  Are you collecting enough data to make a decision based on quality, terms and other value added services as well as overall price competitiveness?

SafeSourcing has recently conducted very successful auction events for many service related categories including professional legal services, temporary labor, security guards and janitorial cleaning services to name a few. All resulted in high double-digit savings percentages for our customers. Did we get initial push back from internal stakeholders? Yes, in many cases we did. But once we laid out the strategy, addressed concerns and completed the sourcing events, the savings results from quality supplier options equated to project success.

If you are looking for new sourcing opportunities and new categories for savings, reverse auctions can be used for procurement of all product and category types, including those that have traditionally been viewed as highly complex.

Why not reach out to a SafeSourcing Customer Services representative in order to learn more.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

 

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