Are you sourcing services for your company based on what you’ve always known to be your only options?
Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.
The current issue of Time magazine had an article on the future of television and what new companies are doing to offer alternatives to normal cable and satellite offerings. The article goes into detail about how many companies are out there offering options for consumers to obtain TV programming without paying the cable and satellite companies big money to get it. The reason many people are still going down the cable and satellite TV path is simple: they don’t know they have other options. The reason why people who know about these options and still aren’t using them is also simple: they lack the know-how to do it.
The focus of today’s blog is to look into areas of procurement where the same process is happening and services or products are being purchased because no one has taken the extra time to look for alternatives. Sometimes these alternatives are in their infancy and some require some expertise to implement them, but the potential return for your company can be staggering in the long-run.
Different methods, current applications – Some of the best ways to find new alternatives for your sourcing needs is to implement different methods to currently sourced items and services. One hot area where this is happening is in leasing and renting. Recently we performed a project for a customer who was looking to collect pricing on purchasing new and used equipment he had an upcoming need for. We asked about looking into renting the equipment for his short term uses and he stated that he had never really explored the option. The flipside to this is looking into purchase programs where you have historically rented/leased. This is getting great traction in corporate uniform programs. Companies are creating purchase programs for their employees to buy the uniforms and maintain them as well. Where there is a corporate culture to support it, these programs are saving companies hundreds or thousands of dollars in uniforms expenses.
Understand New Options – If you stay in business long enough it won’t take long to see that where companies are making money, others will follow. When companies get too big and lose great employees, those employees have a tendency to start competing businesses and create new alternatives to old problems. In both of these cases it means a constant stream of new players coming into the business world with new products and new ideas. As is the case with any business, no matter how great the idea, if the business is not managed well it will fail. This is important to your company because as you look for alternatives to some of your sourcing needs that you will find exciting new companies with options that need to be researched and followed up on before they can be chosen for business. The key is to take the step to understand what they have and where they are currently as well as to commit to following their growth.
Know When to Take a Chance – On the heels of stating above about monitoring new solutions without committing your business to them before they proven, it is also important to know when you have an opportunity to partner with a company with a revolutionary new solution. Often times the cost will be lower but it will require an investment in resources and patience to make it work. These opportunities arise many times in IT as new companies with breaking technology are emerging every day that will work with your company to make the solution work. Knowing when it is worth the time and resources to invest is important and the return can pay great dividends. Investing in a young company with a great solution that can quickly adapt to fit your company’s need without having to pay huge custom development charges is one of the big benefits to taking this chance.
There are new solutions emerging every day in every department that can reshape how your company does business in a way that will better prepare them for the future. Knowing what those solutions are is half of the battle and determining what to do with those solutions is the other half but the results of investing time in each half can lead to great new possibilities for your company. For more information on how we can help you research these new solutions or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.
We look forward to your comments.
