Today’s post is  from  our SafeSourcing archives.

If you are a sports enthusiast there is no doubt that you are probably familiar with the Buffalo Wild Wings chain of restaurants.  The fact that this statement is geared to sports fans and not food or Buffalo wings fans is the biggest reason this company is one of the fastest growing in the world.  By shifting the focus away from what they had traditionally done (food first; atmosphere second) to a primary sports fan destination that happens to offer good food, the chain has been able to explode with growth almost tripling revenue numbers in the last five years.  This effort to give customers more than the traditional offering and some of the ways procurement professionals can begin doing the same for their internal customers is the focus of today’s blog.

Get involved early – Negotiating contracts and handling vendor negotiations has always been a main focus of procurement teams.  Many times they are engaged well after the decision has been made for services and products.   The problem with this approach is that there is no longer any leverage for the procurement team to get a better deal for the company and often they are not equipped with the background details and project progress that allow them to execute the most beneficial contracts.  By getting engaged through annual or bi-annual meetings with the department heads, a procurement team can make themselves better prepared to help the department and the company get the most value from a new agreement once the decision has been made.

Provide Extra Information – With the assumption that they have been engaged early, procurement teams can offer their internal customers more than the traditional approach by helping departments better understand how they are spending money with their current incumbents.  Helping to track down the details of how well a contract has been executed, whether through internal means or directly from the incumbent suppliers, can provide very important details for departments in making decisions of who they do business with in the future.  Another way procurement teams can assist their internal customers is by helping them to understand how the company uses and feels about the products and services they have selected in the form of supplier scorecards.  These can be used as leverage for future contracts even if a supplier change is not made.

Offer New Tools – In some companies procurement teams are actively using eProcurement tools in conjunction with strategic sourcing partners to accomplish some of their goals on many sourcing projects.  So many times these solutions and partners offer functionality that other parts of the company can use.  Contract management, survey tools, and online RFx tools are just a few of the tools that procurement departments can bring to their internal customers that will provide extra value and support beyond what they have traditionally done.

At SafeSourcing we know that many procurement departments are looking for ways to be more involved with the purchasing projects that go on in the rest of the company. At SafeSourcing we want to work with your team to help provide extra value to your internal customers paving the way for involvement at a new level.   For more information on how we can help with this process 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.

Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Manager of HR and Administration at Safesourcing

Have you ever been looking for a document and weren’t sure where you put it? Finding a necessary file or any kind of document can be daunting, especially if you haven’t needed it in quite some time. Whether it is your pet’s proof of vaccination or the warranty on your refrigerator, organizing and copying your important files is essential to ensure they are always available.

If you have ever lost a file or simply could not find it again, you probably know how important it is to organize and copy your files. If you ever ask a professional writer about where they keep their written work, you’ll likely hear that they will keep multiple versions of any work in at least three separate places. The reason for this is simple. The more places a document is stored, the better the odds that if a device is damaged, a server is down, or a file is corrupted, altered, or deleted that the file is not lost entirely.

Ultimately, the best place to store your documents is everywhere you can. Zip drives and portable hard drives are useful storage because they can hold a large amount of data and can easily be plugged into other computers and accessed. The downside is that if a file is accidently deleted, that file is gone forever. Saving files directly on your computer is beneficial because it allows easy access and often auto saves your progress when editing. However, files can become corrupted and computers can crash, leaving you without your files. One of the best places to save your files is within a cloud. This allows for access from anywhere with an internet connection (and your login credentials).

Cloud based file storage systems, like SafeSourcing’s SafeDocument™, allows for multiple versions to be saved as well as easy key word searching. Files are saved in the cloud, so they can be accessed from any computer with internet, yet are secure and safe. Copying your files into a safe and secure location can prevent future loss and problems accessing and finding a file you need.

For more information on SafeSourcing and how we can help you with file storage, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Today’s post is by Heather A. Powell, Director of Customer Services & Project Manager at SafeSourcing.

Dear Buyer,

This is your 30-day notice that your annual contract is coming up, let’s discuss how we can extend your current contract…

Sincerely,

The Seller

STOP! Do not call the seller! Research, research, research your options! I wrote this blog almost five years ago, and the truth is nothing has changed when it comes to doing your homework and researching what you are purchasing and what is within your contract.

Worse than getting the above notice is the evergreen clause. An evergreen clause is a statement within a contract, that says something to the effect of “this agreement shall automatically renew for another one (1) year term, unless either party provides notice to the other of its intent to terminate this agreement not less than thirty (30) days before the end of the then current term.”

Do not procrastinate to the point you are struggling whether to stick with your current supplier (evergreen a poor contract/poor service) or search for a new supplier. Give yourself time to research your alternatives. If you know a contract is going to expire within 60 or 90 days, start your research NOW! There is no harm in learning as much to know as possible about your product and your company’s annual needs for that product.

Maybe your current supplier does have the best price in town, maybe not…. If you could save 5, 10, 15, even 20% or more on your current product why would you stick with your current supplier, and why not explore your options with a new supplier who can give you better savings, maybe better service, with a better product? Are you lost and not sure which way to look? Are you unsure of where to start or who to talk too? You don’t have enough time to start the process or do the research you know needs to be done? Let SafeSourcing be your guide and source to getting you the answers you need, even if you did procrastinate and have 30 days left. We can do all of this for you and your company from research of the product, to research of the suppliers, to follow through of hosting an RFQ to get your company the best possible savings and value of your product.

Don’t become the King or Queen of Procrastination! For more information about how we can assist with sourcing your needs for your company, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative

Today post was written by Ryan Melowic, Vice President of Customer Services at SafeSourcing.

According to Wikipedia, Procurement is the act of acquiring, buying goods, services or works from an external source. It is favorable that the goods, services or works are appropriate and that they are procured at the best possible cost to meet the needs of the acquirer in terms of quality and quantity, time, and location.

wiseGeek defines a procurement department as being responsible for managing the purchasing activity for the organization. There are two types of purchasing or procurement departments: centralized and decentralized. In a centralized model, all requests for materials or goods are center to this department. In a decentralized model, individual departments can process their own purchases.

SafeSourcing is an e-procurement company offering a complete procure-to-pay suite of applications under the SafeSourceIt™ banner which reduces costs, improves efficiency and extends the reach of your current procurement organization. The heart of our family of products is our eSourcing tools which includes our popular reverse auction technology. Our historic ROI is greater than 10x and in many cases companies receive an ROI on their subsequent roll-out during the pilot stage.

For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs 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.

Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Executive Assistant at SafeSourcing.

Whether it is business or personal, it is important to keep essential files. As the tax season approaches, we are reminded that we must keep tax returns for several years. Just like taxes, there are other important documents each of us must keep, such as many financial statements, contracts, warranty paperwork, or even photographs. The problem is that many of us keep adding to the list of documents to keep, while the amount of items we can shred or recycle doesn’t go down as much. So, what options are available?

Traditionally, everything has been in paper form. Stacks of paperwork can be hard to sift through and even harder to organize. If a document is needed, it can take a grueling amount of time to obtain. Even if we can efficiently organize all the paperwork we need, it still takes up larger and larger amounts of space, likely creeping in to our work areas. Not only does all the extra paperwork hinder our efficiency and is aesthetically unwanted, but it can also be a fire hazard.

Luckily today, we are able to store most items electronically. Storing these on your own computer, however, can really slow down your computer. SafeSourcing can help your business or organization with this problem. The cloud-based storage programs, SafeDocument™ and SafeContract™, allow you to free up space on your device and securely store your important papers and contracts electronically. With these programs, you can access your items anytime anywhere and is exceptionally easy to use and easy to find what you need.

For more information on SafeSourcing’s cloud-based storage, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Today’s post is written by Heather Powell, Director of the Customer Focus Team & Project Manager at SafeSourcing Inc.

Recently, I was working with a client on creating a Request for Information for a project and was requested to include a particular supplier. When I inquired why they were to be included, the answer was because we have always done business with them. Ok.  When I asked for the latest copy of their contract, I was met with silence and then an unsure answer of IF there was a contract and WHERE the contact is.

Within a few days I was sent a correspondence with an attachment.  The e-mail apologized for the delay in responding to my request and that the contract took days to find as it was in the computer of a past employee. Once it was found, the contract had expired in 2002!

All because they have “always done business with them” mentality:

•  The contract became outdated.
•  It was stored in one computer that no one had access – the employee no longer worked for the company and IT had to retrieve it from the hard drive.
•  The supplier was charging them prices that had doubled and tripled over time.

Ask yourself and ask those you hold responsible:

•  Where are my contracts?
•  Are they current?
•  How do I know when the contract is set to expire?
•  Who has access to them?
•  Are they electronic copies or paper copies?
•  How do I avoid all of the issues above?

SafeSourcing has the solution for you!

SafeContract™ is a tool that companies can use to automate and improve their contract flow by electronically capturing their company’s contracts and contract details.

By implementing SafeContract™, companies can improve their contract cycles, standardize processes, reduce administrative costs, improve contract compliance, and increase the effectiveness of negotiations.

SafeContract™ provides financial, role, and organization security, as well as supporting regulatory compliance. It makes contract creation, contract activation, and contract compliance safe and easy to access and use.

SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your contract management procedures for your business 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.

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

The answer is probably not or you would not have any and 80% of all companies not only have contract leakage, but because of it they often do not realize the hard earned savings the negotiated with their new e-procurement tools.

However congratulations are in order, you have used your new e-procurement tools effectively and awarded the business to a new supplier. You may have also offer a Letter of Intent or LOI to get things moving while the contract is being completed. With that assumption in place, how does your organization ensure that the award of business is implemented or delivered as awarded so that you indeed receive all of your savings?

This is probably the most difficult part of the entire procurement lifecycle. The first step is to understand your data and where it is kept, that includes understanding what constitutes contract leakage so that you know what you are looking for. This data needs to be looked at on a regular basis in order to insure leakage is not occurring. This should be at least monthly depending on specific contract language (Meta data). Most contract management systems have alerts that can be triggered as frequently as required against this data.

The following list although not all inclusive speaks too many of areas in which contract leakage can occur. This happens in all companies large and small. If you are aware of them, capture them and report on them regularly there is a good possibility of controlling them.

1.  Award Date
2.  LOI Date
3.  Contract Date
4.  Delivery Dates
5.  Quality specifications variances
6.  Making payments at a prices different from the contract
7.  SOW creep
8.  Rebate misses
9.  Escalator Misses
10.  Invoice discrepancies
11.  Missed volume discounts
12.  Insurance discrepancies
13.  Shipping discrepancies
14.  Expiration dates
15.  Expiration Notification Dates
16.  Auto Renewals & Evergreening

Don’t work hard to drive benefits from your procurement organization and then lose much of what you have gained to contract leakage. If you’d like to learn more about SaaS based Contract Management offerings, contact your SafeSourcing customer services representative and ask how they can help.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Today’s post is from the  SafeSourcing Archive.

Faxes, letters, catalogs, whitepapers, newspapers, and books are all things that are in the process of becoming extinct or have been converted to a newer electronic version of what used to be.  The world has been electronic for decades and will continue to move in a direction where nothing gets printed on paper any more.  Whether you support or fight this trend, it is clear that the management of corporate documents is becoming a top priority as file cabinets become empty and hard drives get full.  Today we will look at some of the key points to developing a strategy for managing your digital documents and some details to keep in mind when looking for third party suppliers who can provide assistance to help you with the task.

Establish the starting point – One of first strategic decisions you will make in managing your documents electronically will be to decide how far back you are going to go in getting old documents converted to digital format.  Historical contracts, agreements, and other legal documents will likely need to be managed in this process but will not always have an electronic format.  Some strategic partners will recommend starting with all documents right now moving forward and develop a phase II strategy of converting historical documents later.  The strategic partner you select may also have a staff of employees and solutions that will allow for an easier conversion path as well.

Storage Location– Where you store your electronic versions of documents is the most important decision you will make for the security and protection of your company.  Your IT department will likely have input to lend on this matter and a corporate policy on sensitive documents will also come into play here as well.  Whether they are stored digitally in a database, as files in a folder structure, on computers within your company or  by a 3rd party, the location of your files and the backup procedures to ensure they are safe are important pieces that will dictate the solution, process or partner you choose.

Workflow integration – Document storage and management are one piece of this process, the other piece will be how those solutions/processes integrate with the productivity tools you are using today.  Many document management systems have links into the major office suites of tools like Microsoft Office that will allow for links into the document management system within the tool you are using.  This makes checking out and editing files by multiple people much easier.  Worklflow aspects of a document management system are very important as the majority of documents will have multiple people all working together on them and the capability for a system to allow this without overwriting existing edits is critical.

Version Control & Audit Trail – Along with workflow integration the capability of a document management system to allow users to lock files for changes, create new versions and to provide audit trails for all edits should be one that is required in any implementation.  Being able to track and rollout back to previous versions of a document is an important aspect to protecting companies in situations that arise years after an activity was conducted.  Automated alerts and change subscription features are other aspects to link directly to version control and should be investigated in any solution you review.

Managing corporate documents should be a top priority for every company and the keys above should be considered when evaluating current processes and new vendors to help with the process.  For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist your team in sourcing Document Management 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.