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

As we all know, market fluctuations are inevitable. From geopolitical tensions to supply chain disruptions and unexpected shifts in consumer demand, people and businesses are often at the mercy of unpredictable forces. Amid this uncertainty, procurement has emerged as a critical function that enables organizations to remain agile, cost-effective, and resilient because procurement isn’t just about buying—it’s about planning and mitigating risks.

In volatile markets, prices of raw materials, logistics, and labor can swing wildly. Procurement teams play a vital role in mitigating these risks by negotiating long-term contracts, leveraging bulk purchases, and providing insight into the market. Locking in prices for key materials through long-term agreements can protect businesses from sudden price hikes. Aggregating demand across business units can lead to economies of scale, driving down costs. Regularly analyzing market trends helps procurement professionals anticipate fluctuations and make timely purchasing decisions.

Procurement functions are closely tied to risk management. By identifying potential risks in the supply chain, procurement professionals can assess supplier stability and create contingency plans. Evaluating suppliers’ financial health and operational capacity can prevent future disruptions. Having backup suppliers or inventory buffers ensures operations continue smoothly during unexpected events.

Technology-driven procurement processes help businesses stay ahead in a fluctuating market. Tools like predictive analytics, AI, and blockchain enhance data-driven decisions and transparency. Predictive analytics provide insights into market trends, enabling timely and informed procurement decisions. Blockchain technology ensures supply chain transparency, helping businesses trace and verify sources.

As market conditions continue to fluctuate, the importance of procurement will only grow. Businesses must recognize procurement as a strategic function rather than a back-office task. By investing in skilled procurement professionals, leveraging advanced technologies, and building resilient supplier networks, organizations can turn market challenges into opportunities for growth. Procurement is not just about securing the best deal—it’s about building a foundation for sustainability, resilience, and long-term success. By prioritizing procurement in your organization, you’re not just managing costs—you’re building a resilient and adaptive enterprise ready to face any market conditions head-on.

For more information on how the SafeSourcing can help your e-procurement needs, 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 Troy Lowe; Vice President of Development at SafeSourcing.

Well, if you are like everyone else you noticed that when your home insurance policy renewed there was probably a significant jump in cost.  Rates are skyrocketing across the country, and they are more likely to be other price increases coming.  According to researchers, the insurance rates have increased nearly 22 percent since 2020 and two of the biggest contributors of this are inflation and weather disasters.  This increase is affecting everyone even if you have not made any changes or any claims reported.  Another factor for the increases is due to the fact that the cost of rebuilding a home has skyrocketed as well over the last few years.  They estimate that labor costs alone have increased by 25 percent, which sharply increased the expenses for the insurance companies.  The lumber and building material needed to build a home have gone up significantly since the pandemic which has not helped the situation.  The areas that are seeing the highest price increases are states like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, California, and Pennsylvania.  If you are wondering if there is anything that you can do to bring down your home insurance rates you may consider researching the suggestions below.  After researching these items, you may want to start comparing your current company to other companies that insure in your area to see if you can negotiate better at the same time.

• Add Protective Devices
• Review your current coverage.
• Increase your Deductible.
• Bundle Multiple Polices
• Review Available Discounts
• Improve your Credit Score

If you need help researching more affordable insurance policies, feel free to contact SafeSourcing.   We can gather all the necessary information for you and help you decide which company meets your needs.  If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

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

Miricle on 34^th Street was one of my favorite childhood movies, I mean who does not want to believe in Santa Claus. We probably need more of that magic today than we have in many years. If you don’t remember, a divorced New York mother hires a nice old man named Kris Kringle to play Santa Claus at Macy’s, and we get to watch a lawyer prove in court that he really is Santa Claus.

In a recent article regarding the closures, it mentioned that this is part of a larger cost-cutting and investment realignment with a focus on more profitable stores and expanding e-commerce.

Now for Magic!

Well as you know, I am all for cost-cutting and I don’t know what Macy’s is doing about it, but I know it can be done better.

Personally, I have a distaste for bottom line improvement via headcount reduction, when I KNOW that more money can come out of cost of goods, expenses, and capital projects. While these may be areas of focus, most companies do a poor job of it even with advanced tools and big consulting firms helping them and charging out their nose for it.

And now we hear another American Icon is declaring bankruptcy and selling to the competition True Value announces their discontinuation. And While I’m at it, Walgreens another American household name has announced closing 1200 locations.

It’s true that e-commerce has made it easier for people to shop from home and that makes it more difficult for companies to offer in-store marketing plans that encourage upselling, but we also know that many are not shopping because they cannot afford it. Prices are just too high. I recently read Walmart’s CEO said they are doing everything in their power to keep consumer prices down. Congratulations!

More companies need to do the same by focusing on compressing their prices on all for resale products, all services, and all non-P&L related projects. Who knows, you might still be able to improve margins and earnings.

If you don’t know how, give me a jingle (as in bells). You’ve got to love holiday magic.

For those of you that are looking for an opportunity to claw back against the recent price increases on everything, it is right in front of you. For those that listen to your vendors, expect the price increases to continue.

For more information, please contact SafeSourcing.

Today’s post is by Troy Lowe; Vice President of Development at SafeSourcing.

On Monday Apple launched its new iPhone 16 which usually leads to people wondering if it is time to upgrade from their current iPhone that they are using.  Back in the day when there were releases, I would always upgrade to the newest because there were significant changes that lead me to believe that I needed to have it.  But over the last ten years I usually upgrade to the newest one every other released and not every time a new one is released.  The main reasons for upgrading for me are usually a bigger screen size or a significant change to the camera that I would like to utilize.  With this said there are changes to the camera in the iPhone 16 that may persuade you into upgrading.  First there is a new Camera Control feature that works in portrait or landscape mode with a button located on the side of the phone.  If you lightly press the button, it will show camera functions that you can choose from such as exposure, zoom, or focal lengths by swiping between the available options.  The Camera Control also uses Apple’s Visual Intelligence that allows you to capture a photo of things around you like a flyer or restaurant and then uses the AI capability to search for it and give you more information about it.  This feature is much like the Google Lens capabilities.  The new phone also comes with a new 48MP fusion camera, 48MP ultra-wide camera and the same 5x optical zoom 12MP telephoto camera.  The camera also allows for the user to capture 4K Dolby Visions videos at a frame rate up to 120fps and is also available with slo-mo videos as well.  Below are some other features to research if you are thinking of upgrading to the new iPhone 16.

• Apple Intelligence
• Extended Battery Life
• New Charging Technology
• Larger Screen
• New Ceramic Shield
• New A18 Pro Chip
• Wi-Fi 7

At SafeSourcing, we can gather all the necessary information for you and help you decide what Smartphone fits your needs.  If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

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

Businesses are continuously seeking innovative ways to streamline operations and improve efficiency and one area where digital transformation has had a significant impact is e-procurement. The use of electronic systems to acquire goods and services has become an essential tool for modern businesses, offering a wide array of benefits that extend far beyond traditional procurement methods.

One of the most immediate and tangible benefits of e-procurement is cost savings. Traditional procurement often involves manual processes that are time-consuming and prone to errors, resulting in increased operational costs. E-procurement systems automate many of these processes, reducing paperwork, minimizing manual labor, and decreasing the likelihood of costly mistakes. Furthermore, e-procurement platforms allow businesses to easily compare prices, negotiate better deals with suppliers, and take advantage of bulk purchasing, leading to more cost-effective purchasing decisions.

E-procurement drastically improves the speed and efficiency of the procurement process. With automated workflows, purchase orders, approvals, and payments can be completed more quickly and accurately. This reduces the time spent on repetitive tasks and allows procurement teams to focus on more strategic activities. By eliminating the need for manual intervention in many stages of the procurement cycle, businesses can ensure a more seamless, faster, and reliable purchasing process.

Additionally, the results from E-procurement solutions improve gross margins and also drop directly to the company’s bottom line earnings if implemented within the current years’ operating plan.

Is your business ready to embrace e-procurement? Start by assessing your current procurement processes and explore how automation can transform your operations for the better.

For more information on how the SafeSourcing can help your e-procurement needs, 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 Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc

We have just finished refreshing our website while taking a slight rebranding action that positions SafeSourcing as a Procurement as a Service provider of strategic sourcing solutions. While our SafeSourceIt™ continues to be deployable in a Software as a Services model, our SafeSourceIt™ family of products can all be delivered via our white glove service approach that can also be deployed using our competitors’ or customer developed products.

Our mission is pretty strait forward. SafeSourcing assists our customers in reducing costs to increase gross margins and net earnings while supporting their growth plans and maintaining and or retraining where necessary their employee headcount that may be displaced by cost reductions.

SafeSourcing was Founded in 2008 and is an e-procurement company offering a complete cloud based procure-to-pay suite of applications and services under our SafeSourceIt™ banner.

We are very proud of our cloud-based offerings that include our SafeSourceIt™ eRFX sourcing suite,   offering eRFI’s, eRFP’s and eRFQ’s. SafeSourcing has evolved to offer additional cloud-based solutions including SafeContract™, SafePO™, SafeDocument™ and our SafeSourceIt™ Global Supplier Database that includes over 557,000 vendor/suppliers that want to bid on your business. All are supported vis SaaS and PaaS models.

Today, SafeSourcing is a global Procurement as a Service (PaaS) provider. This means that we can deliver our services using our own platform or competitive platforms that our customers may have already purchased but may not be achieving the benefits for which they had hoped. We accomplish this through our unique “Eight Step” detailed White Glove managed delivery program.

SafeSourcing has been able to deliver savings on all areas of cost including cost of goods, expense, and capital. We have averaged twenty-four percent more than our customers were able to negotiate on their own. As such, our historic ROI is greater than ten times and in many cases, companies receive an ROI on their subsequent roll-out during our guaranteed pilot stage.

If you are interested in further information, please contact a SafeSourcing customers services representative.

Today’s post is by Troy Lowe; Vice President of Development at SafeSourcing.

With the prices of vehicles, the way they are now I am sure you are like everyone else and trying to find a way to keep your existing vehicles longer.  That means that you need to follow the maintenance schedules for your vehicle and hope that this will help extend the life of the vehicle.  Just like keeping yourself healthy, you need to routinely maintain your vehicles so that bigger problems do not arise.  To check and see what items need to be maintained and how often you can refer to the manual that came with the vehicle when purchased.  One of the biggest clues to a problem is when the check engine light comes on.  In order to see why the light is on you can go to your local mechanic or you can purchase an Onboard Diagnostic II (OBD-II) scanner.  Below is a BLOG that I wrote a few years ago explaining OBD-II scanners and how to use them to diagnose your vehicles issues when the check engine light is on.

An Onboard Diagnostic II (OBD-II) scanner is a device that is used to read information from the computer within vehicles that were built after 1996.  There are two types of OBD-II devices.  The first are basic code readers which can read and clear codes.  The second are scan tools which can provide more information about specific codes and provide access to recorded and live data.  The scan tool is the more expensive of the two and offers a variety of features not found in the basic reader.  The devices are fairly simple to use and connect to a standard connector usually located under the dash.  Some of the devices are Bluetooth or Wi-Fi enabled and can connect to your smart phone using apps that are available for download.  There is many apps available that offer unique features, you just need to make sure it is compatible with your OBD-II device you own.  To use the scanner, simply plug the device into the vehicle’s connector, connect to the device using your smartphone and then open the OBD-II application.  The most common use for the device is reading current trouble code(s).  These are codes that can be given off by the check engine light, check transmission light, ABS light, airbag light or other modules.  These codes can be accessed and cleared by using the downloaded application.  Depending on the application you may also be given additional information about the trouble codes such as possible causes and possible fixes for the recorded code.  Below are some other diagnostic features that are available with a scan tool and compatible application.

• Engine Temperature
• Fuel Rate
• O2 Sensors
• MAF Airflow Rate
• Batter Voltage
• Vehicle Speed
• RPM

If you would like some help finding the right scanner, we can gather all the necessary information for you and help you decide which one will meet your needs.  If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

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

Businesses today are continually searching for ways to streamline operations, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge. One of the most significant advancements in this journey is the convergence of e-procurement and artificial intelligence (AI). This powerful combination is not just transforming procurement processes but is also setting the stage for a more efficient, transparent, and responsive supply chain ecosystem. Artificial Intelligence has been a game-changer across various industries, and procurement is no exception. When integrated with e-procurement systems, AI brings a host of benefits that fundamentally reshape how businesses manage their purchasing activities.

One of the most significant advantages of AI in e-procurement is its ability to analyze vast amounts of data quickly and accurately. AI algorithms can process historical purchasing data, market trends, and supplier performance metrics to provide actionable insights. These insights enable procurement professionals to make informed decisions through a number of diverse ways.

The integration of AI into e-procurement is still in its initial stages, but the potential for growth is immense. As AI technology continues to advance, we can expect even more sophisticated applications in areas such as cognitive procurement, where AI systems can learn and adapt to the nuances of an organization’s procurement processes. Additionally, AI’s ability to process natural language and interact with users through conversational interfaces could lead to the development of intelligent procurement assistants that simplify the purchasing process even further.

As we move forward, the continued evolution of AI in e-procurement will likely usher in a new era of innovation, where procurement is not just a back-office function but a key driver of business success.

For more information on how the SafeSourcing Ai tools can help your organization, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.