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How many companies do not use e-Procurement Tools? If you don’t, do you want a FREE TRIAL?

Tuesday, February 26th, 2013

Today’s post is from Ron Southard CEO at SafeSourcing. I’m ofeering you a FREE TRIAL!

There is no doubt that for those companies that have not used e-Procurement tools in the past.  In fact, below the Fortune 500 level, it is possible that as many as 80% of companies have not used these tools, as they have historically been too expensive. There will be a continuing struggle to change the way companies operate and collaborate internally on procurement initiatives in more current and productive ways. However, with the advent of SaaS cloud based solutions like SafeSourceIt™, these tools are now available to any company, regardless of size, that wishes to use them. There really is no spend too small or category too complex to omit from consideration. Savings will always be available because there are always suppliers available that are interested in earning new business that you may not even be aware of. These suppliers are properly vetted and also offer quality services. In many cases these suppliers are also beginning to use these tools to make their sourcing easier and more cost effective. It would only seem appropriate that companies also hold suppliers accountable to share in those savings. Companies may not know who these suppliers are, but the use of tools such as the SafeSourceIt™ Supplier Database will help you find them, improve your processes and shorten your sourcing cycle. Your company’s profitability will also improve as a result. At the executive suite this is what companies expect and also what business and free markets are all about.

If you’d like to learn more about how these tools can provide your company with at least a 10 X ROI on your use of these tools, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager. If you do, we’ll give you a Risk Free Trial  with event completion in under 30 days.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

 

Posted in E-procurement Tools

Here are Five Basic Tips for Writing a Strategic Online Survey!

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Creating an effective, quality written Online Survey that produces the detailed information you require from respondents can be a challenge. In this post, I will review 5 quick tips for writing a Strategic Online Survey.

  1. Create a naming convention for the survey and write a brief summarizing introduction. A Survey name and a brief introduction are great ways to give your respondents some detailed background and a frame of reference.
  2. Write a summarizing, brief survey.  Begin with an outline of details as to what is important to know for the project.  Formulate a question only when the answer will provide data you can use and need.
  3. Think ahead as to how the analysis of the information will look, as in what your end game will look like.  This should impact how you format your questions. Statistical reporting may not be able to be performed if your questions to not adhere to the results framework you have pre planned.
  4. Attempt to use closed-ended questions. Limit the number of open-ended questions as these provide and opportunity to the respondent to get off track. Respondents usually have a better understanding of closed-ended questions because they are more straightforward and offer responses they can choose from.   An excessive number of open-ended questions can frustrate the respondent and affect the quality of the answers they may provide.
  5. Craft a well-written pertinent subject line for the invitation email you plan on sending with the survey in order to capture your respondents’ attention.

Although these five simple steps are enough to get you started in the right direction reaching out to professionals like SafeSourcing about their SafeSurvey™   tool for additional guidance will guarantee the results you are looking for. A well-written online survey has much higher completion rates and is an effective method for gathering disparate data from differing sources in a format that us usable.

If you’d like to learn more about the Safesourcings SafeSurvey™ please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Posted in E-procurement Tools

On the Twelve Days of e-Procurement Christmas.

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

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 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.
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. Click CONTACT US!

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Continued best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season.

Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools

No matter what our current government leaders say, the economy is still terrible.

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012

This author still can not believe how many companies, buyers and category managers do not advocate for the use of modern e-procurement tools.

The use of these tools preserves and creates jobs as well as generating many other benefits that your business is not receiving today.

The lack of use can really only be one or two reasons at this point. First is that you or your procurement team just go to work and do your job and don’t really care one way or the other. Second is that you do not stay up to date in your trade and have very little influence within your company. If this is not true, why are you still writing your own RFI’s and RFP’s for a small group of suppliers?

Maybe now there is a final chance to step up and try or recommend using e-procurement tools including reverse auctions? Who knows, maybe you’ll save enough money to save someone’s job, hire someone new or insure that your job will still be there when next years planning is complete.

Although they may not impact your job directly, the reduction of cost of goods, expenses and preservation of capital are all immediately achievable if you’ll just take a look.

A customer recently told me that they would not be adding any new jobs to their procurement department next year. In fact they have already more than doubled the size of their departments staff to drive  down costs through the use  of the SafeSourceIt™ family of procure to pay tools. This customer went on to say that others in other departments will in fact be able to keep their jobs as a result of the work we’ve done together. So in the worst economy since many of us have been alive, this customer has added jobs, protected jobs, saved significant money, improved quality with the use of SafeSourcing products. Another benefit is that we also continue to add jobs to support our customers during this same time.
In addition to all of the benefits listed above, here are some additional quotes from a CEO and his team that watched their first reverse auction.
1. “This was pretty simple to do”
2. “If we hired someone we could do these ourselves with you guys”
3. “This is fun”
4. “You mean the reports are already available”
5. “I love the sports concept”
6. “It was easy to follow the marquis and what was going on from one screen”
7. “The multiple color schemes were great”
8. “I can’t believe how fast you guys set this up”
9. “We saved that much money and only have to pay what we discussed”
10. “Can we do another one today”
11. “I may get a promotion out of this”
12. “I love that calculator at the end of the bid process”
13. “I like all of the supplier data that was accessible during the auction”
14. “Now I know how the big guys get the pricing they do”

It’s too bad our current political combatants for the highest office in our land can not be this detailed during their debates.

Why not join others that have come a little late to the party. You can still benefit because today’s tools are easier to use, more interactive, maintain your attention during an auction, integrate gaming technology to keep it fun and are lower cost than their predecessors. If you happen to have already been doing this for years, why not find an easier way or do it less expensively.

If you would like to have fun, save money and do it quickly, please visit us at www.safesoucing.com.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools, E-supply Chain, Eprocurement Auction, Reverse Auction, Reverse Auction Procurement

How committed are you to your own success with your new e-procurement tools?

Friday, October 12th, 2012

If you are to be successful with the launch of your new e-procurement tools, you have to be committed to the process. This really is about nothing more than how prepared you are as a procurement knowledge worker regarding procurement in general and your category, product or service specifically. If you are committed, then you should be prepared. There really is no excuse to not be.

In order to be successful at e-procurement or the online or SaaS based e-RFX process, a procurement knowledge worker has to be committed to the process. First of all this means they have to understand the process. Beyond training in tool utilization, this suggests a willingness to share information relative their buying patterns as well as what their expectations are for selecting a new supplier to work with. All of this must be shared with their new solution provider.  Category managers, buyers and other knowledge workers that interface with the supply chain should be communicating regularly with their incumbent suppliers regarding current market conditions, quality, delivery and other potential pitfalls as part of their job.  If issues do exist they need to be discussed and documented so they can be reviewed with your new e-procurement solutions provider and included in the e-RFX setup and strategy. 

To be committed to the procurement process, procurement knowledge workers must be prepared to answer questions from suppliers even if the answers are to be issued through your solutions provider.  If you act as though you are not committed to this new process, your incumbent supplier as well as potential new sources of supply will pick up on that immediately. 

The bad news for your company is that if a buyer or category manager acts as though they do not support this new process, holds side bar conversations that mitigate its use or raises other red flags in the supplier community, you will not get the best pricing, you will not get the best quality and you will not have the best supplier relationships into the future.

If you tools are not working for you, contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager for assistance.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools, E-supply Chain

Part I of II. What type of savings should we see when we source Private Label items?

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

Todays post is by Ron Southard, founder and CEO of SafeSourcing.

I was asked the other day if I would share some experience in sourcing private label items in the Grocery and OTC area, and if there were any differences in those areas that might make using e-negotiation tools less effective than traditional negotiation methodologies.

At first I chuckled because the answer is so obvious to me. Then I thought that it obviously is not to others. Further more, greater than 80% of companies still don’t use these advanced tools today even though they have been around for over a dozen years.

The more I continued to think about it, the more the answer did become somewhat complicated. That’s because the answer concerns raw materials, commodities, services (as an example printing) and all the other things that go into making and delivering a product to market that as a private label deliverable is supposed to deliver better margin contribution than a national brand. And unlike the evolution of private label, in today’s world also deliver the same or better quality than the national brand. Additionally the challenge exists to find enough suppliers to provide these products that understand the regulatory concerns for the market being considered. An example might be the U.S. versus the CANADA or MEXICO markets.

The above has to be formulated into a specification that defines the product or products to be delivered in the approved brand format that suppliers can understand. At the same time that specification needs to be unbundled from a bid perspective in order to take advantage of market fluctuations so as to mitigate too much movement in price over a reasonable period time such as quarterly.

With all of the above to consider then should buyers try to do this on their own and if they do, will they see the same type of savings as they did when they sourced there expense or indirect categories? Check back tomorrow for Part II in order to get the original answer before this one became a little more complicated.

If you’d like to learn more about sourcing your private label categories, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in Business Sourcing, E-procurement Tools

Planning for Your Next Procurement Hire

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing.

As the landscape of the corporate world continues to change to adapt to changes in the economy, procurement departments are being asked to expand their areas of support throughout the organization.  This expansion will require that procurement staffs begin to look for specialized expertise to augment their current staff whether in the form of temporary, permanent or 3rd party help.

In today’s blog will be look at three areas of expertise that will be important to procurement staffs in the future.

IT – Historically, most companies have let their IT department’s research and negotiate their own hardware and software deals due to the level of expertise needed to understand the company requirements.  This process is beginning to shift as companies are looking to compress the pricing they receive after the RFP process has been narrowed down and the short list of vendors has been selected.  To do this requires staff or a 3rd party vendor who can help facilitate this process, speaking with the vendors at a technical level everyone understands.

Hired Services– Hired services are can be complex categories to understand within an organization and the larger the company the more complex the process to procure these services can be.  Many teams are looking for support help from the administrative and Human Resources departments to understand the scope and SOWs the company needs as well as looking to 3rd party vendors such as Managed Service Providers to help them with this process.

Transportation/Logistics – Very few spends within a large organization are as complex and as mission critical as the freight lanes they use.  Late product is unacceptable and can result in customers changing to the competition.  While they critical to the business they can also be very complex as the fuel prices fluctuate and as regulations, especially of the international variety, seem to change constantly.  Looking for new permanent or temporary staff that have a background in logistics can go a long way to helping your company put programs in place that are flexible enough to adjust with the market but protect you enough to budget the spend.
For assistance in filling some of these areas of expertise in your organization, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  

We look forward to your comments.

Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools

Do you think you understand the elements of an effective e-Procurement Program?

Friday, August 17th, 2012

Critical components for the buyer include but certainly are not limited to the following:

1.   A comprehensive database that is developed maintained and continually updated by the e-procurement service provider.
2.   Scope and accuracy of information that goes well beyond that of a simple on-line directory.
     a. Global and local sources of supply
     b. Detailed Vendor Information (capabilities, financials, history, safety  and environment information)
     c. Historical procurement details
     d. Industry Alerts
3.   A sophisticated software application program that provides extensive functionality:
     a. Allows for quick and easy access to information.
     b. Provides detailed information based on the buyer’s defined parameters  and queries, similar to that found in the opening pages of a comprehensive RFI.
     c. Allows for the easy retrieval of information that includes a substantial number of records.
     d. Classifies the results according to the parameters defined
     e. Communicates the information clearly in an uncluttered format
     f. Directs the application to carry out the required e-procurement action steps.
     g. Results in a summary presentation to the buyer that provides the best price scenarios that maintain the required level of quality and service.
4.   Software alone is insufficient. Those responsible for purchasing/spending need training, guidance and support.

The above definition is a part of a document that was developed by one of our customers after they had used our tools and experienced our services in order to define the process to their investors.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can use these tools to reduce costs and much more, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools

Is your freight company trying to pass on a base rate increase?

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

Today’s post is from Ryan Melowic Director of Customer Services at SafeSourcing.

With freight being such a large factor in your cost of doing business, any price increase can be painful.  Maybe it’s time for a challenge by executing Reverse Auctions to drive down these costs.   With SafeSourcing experience in this category, we can help your company control costs associated with this category. 

When any company indicates they need to offset their rising costs because of rising tariffs and other costs but also are reporting a  significant profit increase for the last year, it may be time to consider challenging them.  In today’s market, businesses need to be smart and well informed with their expenses.  Just because you have had a long relationship with a vendor doesn’t mean they necessarily have your best interests in mind.  It’s always important to research and shop the market in order to make sure that your current vendor is being held accountable.

SafeSourcing has tools that hold suppliers accountable for their business practices while also helping to save you money and improve quality.  Our Database of over 427,000 potential suppliers can help identify new sources of supply willing to bid for your business..  In addition, our RFI and RFP tools are used to qualify those suppliers to key buying criteria you have indicated as important factors in how you wish to conduct business.  Whether combined as an entire strategy or standalone these tools can collect and insure that you receive the best price for the items and services you purchase.  The tools mentioned above are available to our customers with no IT cost because our solution is offered as a cloud based SaaS where you buy what you need.

SafeSourcing would like to help your control your company’s freight and other costs.

Please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative to learn more.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in E-procurement Tools

If it ain’t broke……

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing.

While eProcurement technologies aren’t new, it is surprising how new of a concept they can be to some very large companies.  As with any new technology and process, the perception of the change that must come as a result can be a bit skewed.  Good solutions will dictate how much change is necessary by evaluating how well things are working today.

In today’s blog, we will be looking a few situations and where new eProcurement strategies can fit to leverage what you are currently doing today.

Improving what works – Companies don’t get big by having broken processes in every aspect of their business, so it stands to reason that there will be many good ways of procuring goods and services that they are using today.  If, for example, there is a process in place for purchasing equipment for every regional office that works, what may be needed is a process that helps bring in some additional vendors, products and services to evaluate and then to provide the means by which the best value can be achieved for an award.  As indicated below, there will be processes that need more help, so for the ones that don’t, focus on broadening the selection pool and getting the best value so that decision can be realized as soon as possible. 

Managing what works – There are always spend categories where things are generally working, just in 100 different ways across all offices.  When you have 50 different locations all using different vendors, tools and processes a good first move can be to let the locations continue business as usual but bring in a vendor to help manage what all 50 locations are doing, monitoring the activity and controlling the expenses and savings.  A good eProcurememt solution will assist with getting the vendor pool to select from to handle the management realizing value immediately by assuring things run smootghly.

Consolidating what works – Sometimes organizations need more than someone to manage what they are currently doing; they need consolidation of those vendors in a way that leaves their processes in tact but begins to leverage the value that comes with more volume and smaller numbers of vendors to have to manage relationships with.  The important thing in projects like these is to understand the current landscape so that in consolidating what works, “what works” doesn’t get lost in the process.  This can be achieved with internal polls of the locations and external polls to the current vendors supporting the business today.  Once this information is captured the plan for consolidation becomes much clearer.

For more information about how we can assist with sourcing your needs without changing what works for your company, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  

We look forward to your comments.

Posted in E-procurement, E-procurement Solutions, E-procurement Tools, Sourcing Strategy, Strategic Sourcing

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