Gluttony
Today?s post is written by Heather Powell, Manager of the COE Department & Project Manager at SafeSourcing Inc.
??2. Gluttony – Similar to greed, but gluttony is the action of taking too much of something in.
???? a.?Gluttony is excessive consumption of something.? This usually relates to eating too much, but broadly speaking it?s any time you use more?? than is your right to.? This is not greed (desire for power over others).? This is the mistreatment of your own body and the absorption of constantly doing something.? It?s possible to be a glutton in the use of video games or social media; you?re using the entertainment as brain candy.
In e-procurement gluttony can be defined as- comparing apples with oranges.
This is probably the single most difficult aspect of e- procurement. To make a decision about offers on the table it is imperative you are comparing like with like. This ?sin? encompasses a number of the others i.e. not reading the small print, not having a detailed brief and confusing low cost with value for money. All of this will lead to you making an ill-informed decision.
How to avoid this:
??1. If your current supplier is providing a service which you feel may need to be changed, ensure that prospective suppliers provide two quotes ? one like-for-like and one based on an enhanced specification.
??2. Draw up a robust RFP (Request for Proposal) document asking for all sections to be completed as detailed but then having an additional section for the supplier?s own suggestions about how to improve the current offering.
??3. It?s also helpful to add a weighting to the responses in a RFP i.e. 10% of the marks for product specification, 10% for financial strength, 20% for customer service and so on. This ensures every supplier is benchmarked in the same way.
Do you recognize Gluttony as a sign of sins in your business practices today? Stay tuned tomorrow for the 3rd sin in e-procurement: Lust and how to realize and avoid it.
For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions 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.
