Archive for the ‘E-procurement Solutions’ Category

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You should consider Lifecycle Costing when calculating savings on new business awards.

Tuesday, February 21st, 2023

Today is a re-post from a long long time ago. What’s changed you ask? NOT MUCH!

It’s true that a reverse auction can create substantial low quote savings. However, much needs to be considered when tracking realized savings once the event has concluded and the award of business is ready to be made.

Lifecycle Costing is a procurement technique which considers operating, maintenance, acquisition price, and other costs of ownership in the award of contracts to ensure that the items or services to be acquired will result in the lowest total cost of ownership during the time the item’s function is required.

If a category is truly returning event savings, it should be able to be tracked from original delivery to contract termination on a companies detailed P&L. The trick is that many of the associated costs go to different departments on the P&L. If you don’t know which ones, your pre-event discovery was not complete and the odds of getting the actual savings reported are at significant risk.

So, give us a call.  And ask us about our e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database  that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers. We can get you better pricing on about any category of product or service.

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How do you collect disparate information across your organization

Wednesday, January 25th, 2023

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

At SafeSourcing we are often faced with customers not having accurate information. Often the best place to get it is from the end user. If a company has dozens to hundreds if not thousands of locations, there is often no company product designed to do this. SafeSourcing created SafeSurvey™ for just that purpose.

SafeSurvey™ is a user-friendly tool that allows users to create online questionnaires internally or externally to collect data within their organization as well as throughout the entire supply chain area of interest. SafeSurvey™ makes it easy to create a survey, track responses, as well as view and report the results.

Questions can be created to allow answers to be input through a Checkbox, Drop-Down List, Label Only, Radio Button or Text Area. With capability for both named and anonymous users to submit their responses, this tool is a perfect fit for quickly gathering a large variety of information from a small, medium, or large group of participants.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. These include but are not limited to SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers. To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

 

 

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What Goes Up Must Come Down….

Tuesday, January 17th, 2023

 

Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR, and Administration at SafeSourcing

Prices are going up and have been for some time. Supply shortages and no shortage of demand have triggered companies to increase prices to cover their costs. While this is inflation hits every one of us, there are some things to keep in mind. Prices always fluctuate and will eventually level. Just like the say, what goes up must come down.

In all reality, prices can go up and stay up for a long time, but eventually they will hit a point where the price is too high and demand will dwindle, spurring that eventual price drop. While some things may have a high price all the time, like gold or diamonds, the prices there can fluctuate a great deal. This is when having an agreement in place can help your organization maintain a steady supply and a steady price.

A procurement partner, like SafeSourcing, can help you find the goods or services you need and help find the right supplier that can offer a competitive price and the stability that lets you carry on without concern over the day-to-day price changes. While we may not be able to control the price of gold or diamonds, we can help you source just about anything your organization needs at a competitive price and the reliability of a vendor you trust.

While this tactic may not work for every item, the general idea is the same – that there are ways to overcome shortages or at least make effective use of the time until the shortage is back in stock. SafeSourcing is a procurement partner that can help you find products that you already buy or even ones you have never bought.

For more information on what the SafeSourcing team can offer you, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

 

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On the Twelve Days of e-Procurement Christmas.

Tuesday, December 13th, 2022

 

It is actually twelve days until Christmas and today’s post is a holiday favorite by our CEO Ron Southard from our SafeSourcing Archives.

  1. On the first day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, a streamlined procurement process.
  2. On the second day of Christmas our e-service provider gave to us, more suppliers to source our goods and services from.
  3. On the third day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, pricing that works for smallest categories.
  4. On the fourth day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, consistent and customized product specifications.
  5. On the fifth day of Christmas our e-procurement service supplier gave to us, more time for other priorities.
  6. On the sixth day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, improved quality in our products and services.
  7. On the seventh day of Christmas our e-procurement service supplier gave to us, better supplier education.
  8. On the eighth day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, a simple award of business process.
  9. On the ninth day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, support for a better carbon footprint.
  10. On the tenth day of Christmas our e-procurement service supplier gave to us, total category e-procurement.
  11. On the eleventh day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, safer products for our customers and planet.
  12. On the twelfth day of Christmas our e-procurement service provider gave to us, a sustainable e-procurement process and improved corporate net earnings.

Now, ask yourself if all of these goals are accomplished on your company’s behalf by your present e-procurement service provider. If n0t, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager.

Continued best wishes for a very Merry Christmas the rest of the 2022 Holiday Season.

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The United States did better financially than we all thought.

Friday, December 2nd, 2022

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

According to Paul Wiseman of the Associated Press in an Article titled, US Revises up last quarter’s growth. The writer mentioned that regardless of high interest rates and high inflation that our economy grew 2.9% from July through September.

Woe is me, while it appears based on what we here from the media that the sky is falling, consumers continue to spend, companies continue to buy and deals for both are out there if you know how to shop.

In another article from Paul Hannon of the Wall Street Journal titled Eurozone Inflation Declines, but ECB Remains on Guard. This means that the rate of inflation during November was lower than expected by almost 6% at 10% versus 10.6% from the year earlier period.

While we all need to remain vigilant, there are some bright signs out there, like the FED suggesting the easing of rate increases going forward. Every area of the globe has its economic issues, and many are still calling for a mild recession. This author does not agree.

I do think we can all do better with our spending both personally and corporately, and this will help improve corporate earnings and allow companies to retain employees. Personally, it is not different. The savings from proper negotiations will reduce personal debt and the reliance on credit.

How do you go about this? If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. I watched a company today reduce the cost on a category the source by >24%. It’s possible.

How do you make sure you are sourcing your products and services in the best way possible? Contact SafeSourcing Inc. We buy them more often than you do and know the levers to pull. Glad to share some recent examples when you reach out.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. These include but are not limited to SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers.

For more information, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Associate.

 

Sources:

  1. Wall Street Journal, Paul Hannon
  2. Associated Press, Paul Wiseman

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How do you keep track of all the moving parts with your Procurement Team?

Monday, November 14th, 2022

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

You must be a WIZARD, and we have any easy to deploy solution for you.

SafeDashboard™ is the configurable entry point for companies to view every piece of information and tool that they have access to within the SafeSourceIt™ Portfolio.

Custom fit for every company, and to some extent every role and user within the company, the SafeDashboard™ allows a company to see the information that is most relevant to specific users in a way that does not require them to jump from screen to screen.

KPIs can be included to give executives an overview of their overall sourcing event activity within the system.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. These include but are not limited to SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers.

To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

 

 

 

 

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Did you win last night’s Powerball?

Tuesday, November 8th, 2022

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

While I can’t provide the customer’s name, they are NOT a $5B retailer per yesterday’s posts example. However, they are smart and focused and may well be some day. They took SafeSourcing up on our No Risk Offer. Their ROI will more than pay for their contract moving forward. Most procurement teams do not believe these types of results are possible in the current economy. Most of your teams will tell you this is a waste of time. I’ll bet you could use another $338K right now.

Here are the results:

  1. Expense Category: Pilot Event Number One:
    1. Savings $298,270.80
  2. For Resale Category: Event Number Two:
    1. Savings $40,072.32
  3. Total Savings: $338,343.12
    1. ROI 26X

You can still test me, if you’d like, this link will come directly to me. Your team will tell you this is not possible. I guarantee that your odds are better than 1 in 292 million to win Powerball.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. These include but are not limited to SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers.

For more information, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Associate.

 

 

 

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Powerball is at Two Billion Dollars WOW. Did you buy a ticket?

Monday, November 7th, 2022

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

If you took the risk of buying a ticket or many tickets in the recent Power Ball. Join the losers club. That includes yours truly. According to sources, your chance of winning Powerball is 1 in 292 million. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning. Oh, and guess what? You cannot get your money back.

So, if you were silly enough to make this bet as I was and will do on Monday, why not try a sure thing. SafeSourcing guarantees our results. If you don’t win, you don’t pay. Our risk-free trial just might be the best thing to happen to your company. How many jobs would be saved or delayed, or new initiatives started if you had a billion dollars.

Here’s An Example:

Assume a $5B Retail Company. Assume cost of goods for this company is 70 percent or $3.5B. Let’s also assume this company were to only source thirty percent of their for-resale COGS. or $1.5B. With SafeSourcing’ s average annual savings of 24%, savings generated would be $840M. Now let’s assume that we also source the indirect or expense category. That would be $1.5B minus average payroll and benefits expense of 20%, so $1.2B. If we also average 24% savings here, that would be an additional savings of $288M. Therefor total savings would be $1.128B. From here we’d have to manage award of business and contract begin and end dates.

If you don’t have $5B in sales, the numbers would still be dramatic. When’s the last time Powerball guaranteed a $1M winner.

Can you find thirty percent of your COGS or Not for Resale spend to source? That’s up to you! Can you test me, if you’d like, this link will come directly to me. Your team will tell you this is not possible. I guarantee that your odds are better than 1 in 292 million.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. These include but are not limited to SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers.

Best of Luck!

For more information, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Associate.

 

 

 

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Retailers it’s really pretty simple; just look at your Gross Profit.

Thursday, October 20th, 2022

 

Todays post is by Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

How many times do we hear all of the reasons for a retail company’s performance being off? It’s the cost of doing business over seas, the economy, the cost of fuel, heath care costs etc. How often do we hear, that we are doing better than the same period a year ago or we are exceeding plan. All of that is nice stuff, but the bottom line is your bottom line. If you top line sales are up and your net profit is up it does not necessarily mean that you have all of your procurement issues under control.

Let’s start with some numbers you might want to look at. Don’t just assume that profit is a good thing because profit could be caused by an imbalance in your category margins.

Here are a few good questions to ask yourself.
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1. How do your cost of goods compare to the rest of the industry for a chain of your size?
2. How do your operating expenses compare to other chains of your size?
3. How do your gross margins compare to other chains your size?

All of the above can be good indicators of overall company health and certainly procurement health. If your cost of goods is higher than industry averages for a chain of your size, why is that? Is there a specific category that is causing the issue? Do you know how to isolate the problem and then eliminate it?

If you don’t have or know this information, you should ask your e-procurement provider if they have it, because they should if they want to model an improvement plan for you.

As an example, here is an example of a previous years U.S. based convenience store chains targets for non fuel.

1. Cost of Goods Sold should run somewhere around 71% or 72%
2. Gross Profit should run around 28% to 30%
3. Operating Expenses should run around 26% to 29%
4. Net Operating Income around 2%

While these numbers are certainly off based on Pandemic issues, product  or services mix, you can build a case model on them to compare before and after for you company. That is if you have a tool like SafeBIM™ from SafeSourcing. BIM stands for Business Impact Model.

If you are way out of balance with these numbers and want to understand how to rebalance them, contact a  SafeSourcing Customer Services Associate.

 

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Why do you need to use eProcurement tools like eRFQ’s or Reverse Auctions

Thursday, October 13th, 2022

 

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

Because of terms like Off-Invoiced Amount which is not a sustainable negotiation tactic

What aggravates me in Business-to-Business supplier/customer negotiations are old tactics like the term off-invoiced amount which are generally not captured properly or sustainable in your ongoing negotiations. The use of eProcurement tools that capture all information from suppliers drives better measurable savings that can be easily tracked across any enterprise.

The term off-invoiced amount is an amount which is reduced to a retailer in return of purchasing specific quantities of goods in a specific period of time to increase the volume of sale to the retailer.  Also, an off-invoice amount could be a sales promotion in which the manufacturer offers the retailer a price reduction on the product price at the time of ordering.

SafeSourcing is a Procure to Pay SaaS based provider of a number of e-Procurement solutions and associated white glove services that are part of our SaaS offered SafeSourceIt™ eSourcing suite. These include but are not limited to SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers.

To learn more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services associate.

 

 

 

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