Today’s post is  a refresh that still applies today from our SafeSourcing, Inc Archives.

Our country has never seen a year like 2020. We certainly have no shortage of disasters what  with COIVID -19, Hurricanes, Wild Fires and  the resulting Economic Impact.  We’ve seen thousands of homes and businesses destroyed, evacuees seeking refuge in emergency shelters and government under extreme stress as a result. We’ve actually  never seen  anything like this in nay of our lifetimes.

As I read about these tragedies, I’m constantly thinking about how our customers and businesses  might recover from the ongoing  devastation? This brought to mind a previous white paper written by our CEO, Ron Southard, entitled, “4 Tips and 3 Pitfalls to Avoid when Sourcing Professional Services, A Little Planning can Save Companies Millions.” In it Ron listed poplar services targeted for new procurement projects: The professional services that could be useful for homes and businesses in Gatlinburg are: Disaster Response (Emergency Cleanup), Environmental Services, Construction Services, Temporary Labor, and Waste Management Services. Yes, Gatlinburg will be great again and sourcing professional services during this tragic disaster can help.

SafeSourcing, Inc. can assist you in times of disaster, and today may be a better time to source most categories than many buyers have seen in their lifetime. SafeSourcing provides innovative eProcurement tools that can increase efficiency and improve profitability for our customers, and provide superior value for all stakeholders. In addition to providing information, tools and services, SafeSourcing proactively supports consumer safety and environmental standards throughout the global supply chain management process. To learn more, visit SafeSourcing.com

Let SafeSourcing manage your sourcing projects so that you can continue to focus on other recovery related issues. We enjoy bringing this blog to you daily and hope you find value in it. 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.

Todays post is from Dave Wenig, Sr. Vice President of Sales and Services at SafeSourcing Inc.

In this post, which will be the first of several, we’re going to take a close look at the online Request for Quote (RFQ) from a different perspective. Rather than focus on measuring the value delivered as savings, let’s examine when that value is created and consider the vendor behaviors that went into that moment. If you need a primer on what an RFQ is, click here.

I honestly don’t know how many of these I’ve watched live over the years, but I suspect the number is in the thousands. Having done that, I’ve picked up on some trends. More recently, SafeSourcing introduced our Graphical View which has brought some of the trends I’ve noticed into focus visually.

Let’s start at the beginning of an RFQ. For years, I have said that many vendors will sit on the sidelines and wait a while before entering their bids. Many other vendors will begin with a higher price to start with. Others choose to start with a very low starting price and try to put their best foot forward. I respect all bidding strategies and it’s important that each vendor has a plan in place when they start. It’s all part of the RFQ process. In the image below, you’ll see a recent RFQ for receipt paper event that illustrates this starting point and the various strategies that the vendors are using in the first 5 or so minutes of an RFQ.

In this example, we can clearly see each of these vendor strategies beginning to play out. Each of the participating vendors were trained by SafeSourcing and knew in advance that this RFQ was scheduled to last 20 minutes plus extensions. As a result, most of them went with a strategy that allowded them to start with somewhat higher price than where they intended to begin. The vendor in green decided to enter in very aggressively low pricing from the start which set them apart. More on that later.

Consider these strategies and what you might take away from watching this unfold. As SafeSourcing’s customer, you would eventually wind up doing business with at least one of these vendors. How would it be helpful to know how they went about arriving at their final price? Does the vendor’s pricing strategy and behavior impact the way you will continue to work with them beyond the RFQ?

In the next installment, we’ll take a close look at the middle of the RFQ and then we’ll move on to the end of the RFQ and see how it all played out.

For more information, please contact SafeSourcing.

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

Have you ever wanted to know how to do a specific task? As an example, maybe you want to change the faucet in your kitchen sink, but do not have the knowledge or experience to do it. You could try guessing at how to do it, but the results may not be the best. You could ask friends, but perhaps none of them have done this either. Or you could look to the internet for instructions, guides, tools lists, and how-to videos.

The latter is what many of us do when faced with small tasks that we do not have prior experience in. If you want to pick up a new skill or begin some kind of project, you likely will look into it before you begin. This will help you in a number of ways.

First, researching a new project can give you an idea of the timeline. Will this project take an hour, two days, or three weeks? Knowing how long you will need can help you better prepare, like knitting. For instance, you can better prepare by knowing that a hat can be knitted in a few hours or that a sweater will likely take days.

Second, you may find out that you do not have all the tools you need. With many home repair projects, there may be large, specialized tools needed to complete all or a portion of a task, like needing a posthole digger to put in a fence. Often these specialized or high priced tools can be leased or rented to you for a fairly low price from your local home improvement store.

Third, you may research your project and find out you will need certain skills. Watching videos and reading explanations can help you understand what is needed and help you work to gain the skills needed. For instance, you may want to build a table, but may need to freshen up on your fractions and math skills before you begin cutting your wood.

There are some projects that, even after doing your research, you find that you will still need help. For example, you may need to hire an electrician to move your wall outlet across the room. Here, the risk of injury or damage is high and is likely better left to a professional. This is where SafeSourcing comes in. While we are not electricians, we are experts in our field and can help you or your organization in your procurement or supply needs. We have not only the tools needed to get the project completed with the best results, but also the experience to help you get through it on the appropriate timeline.

For more information on ways we can with your procurement goals or projects, 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 originally from 2015 is from our SafeSourcing Archives and still relevant today!

If you’re not very imbedded with what’s going on in software development today, you have heard terms like “Software as a Service”, or “Open source” thrown around, but may not know much about what they may mean. And if you are having to make decisions for your company about the kind of software tools you use, you may find yourself needing some basic understanding of the different models for deployment that are available. Many of these models have similar components to them, but may not have the same full structure. As such, it can get a little confusing, but will be important to know the differences so that you know what to look for if for example you don’t need hosted service, but do need support, though not unlimited licenses, etc.

1.  Software licensing model: A company creates the software, and sells to customers for a one-time fee. It is essentially the customer’s responsibility to manage all aspects of the software as needed, for which all costs are borne by the buyer.
2. Outsourcing model: Here you may purchase a software solution for a one-time fee, but also outsource support and development, rather than take on the responsibility in-house. This can be advantageous for cost savings, but brings with it many of the same risks and obstacles the come with doing multinational business.
3. Hybrid Model: In this model, the buyer purchases the software upfront, but then the seller is paid regularly for ongoing service. So if a buyer wants to own the software, but doesn’t have the datacenter to host the software, this model may be a good solution.
4. SaaS (Software as a Service) Model: A subscription based model, in which a buyer pays for both access to the software, and hosting performed by the seller’s resources. This model has been leapfrogging all other models because it allows segmentation of specialty, where someone with a great idea but no software expertise, can pay those with the technical skills to support businesses that never would be able to get off the ground otherwise. According to Gartner, “The traditional deployment model for on-premises software is expected to significantly shrink from 34 percent today to 18 percent by 2017”^[1], and there are more and more options becoming available as SaaS providers continue to multiply.
5. Open source model: In this case, the software is free (usually online) for the taking, but often unfinished, and unsupported. Many large and widely deployed products had their start as an open source project; however turning the software into a commercially viable product can still be very expensive to develop.

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^[1] “Gartner Survey Reveals That SaaS Deployments Are Now …” 2014. 15 Nov. 2015 <http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2923217>

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist your team 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 and appreciate your comments