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

Is it a good time to invest in a new laptop?  There a lot of good deals available from all the major brands.  Whether you need a new laptop for business or for home, there are a lot of things to consider from size, speed, memory, and features.  Below are some things to consider when you are researching your next laptop computer.

Size and weight for portability

The heavier the laptop, the less portable it will become.  Keep in mind where and how you will use the laptop.  If you will be traveling a lot, you may consider a small light-weight laptop

Size of screen and resolution

Depending on what you will be using the laptop for will help decide which size and resolution you need.  If you are using the laptop for business, then you will most likely want to go with a small to mid-size screen (11”-14”) for portability.  If you are thinking of replacing a desktop computer at home, you may want to go with a larger size (15”-17”).  This will be large enough to replace your current monitor and view videos.

Processor

The processor effects how fast a computer will run the installed software and how many software programs that you can run at a given time.  With a faster processor comes more efficient multi-tasking.

Graphics

The graphics processor is used to display the content to the screen.  If you are planning on using the laptop for video and gaming, look for a laptop that has a dedicated graphics chip.  Integrated graphics chips are fine for most business applications and some support 1080p video.

Storage

There are different types of internal drives available.  Hard Drives, which most laptops still have, are less expensive.  Solid State drives, which are more expensive and more reliable, don’t rely on moveable parts. 

Memory

Every software program that runs on the laptop uses the Random Access Memory (RAM) to store information, including the operating system.  This is one feature that you will want to upgrade if possible. 

Along with the items listed above, there are many other things to consider when buying your next laptop.  At SafeSourcing, we can gather all the necessary information and help you decide what laptop would be a good fit for your needs.  If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help your business, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is by Shelly Hayre,  CFT Manager at SafeSourcing.

Would you order food from a new restaurant without knowing the price prior to placing the order?

After an incredibly unacceptable wait for your food, what if the waitress came out and said they have many other orders that have a higher importance than yours?

Now, you finally got your food order and it does not add up to the description/picture. You would not be happy if you got meat lasagna, but there was no meat in the lasagna!

The problems you just faced with your restaurant experience are common issues within the procurement industry.

Not knowing the price of your food – Spend Visibility: It is very important to keep spend visible within a company. Keeping track of spend allows procurement departments to track and find areas of improvement. Having a system that tracks and monitors this for your company is key.

Long wait for food, and not priority – Limited Resources: Many procurement departments are left with lack of resources and staffing to manage spend. This makes efficiency and prioritization extremely important, but if every category does not receive adequate attention, potential savings are lost. Having a third-party assist in analyzing your spend can help give every category the attention it needs.

Order doesn’t match what you ordered– Compliance: The level of service or price agreed upon is not being met. When multiple branches are handling this service-level and pricing it makes verifying compliance even more difficult. It is the procurement department’s job to ensure compliance for all branches at a high-level. It requires support from branches and senior leadership. How are you currently monitoring compliance?

Maybe your company currently struggles with a few of the common issues above, or maybe all of them. How are you currently handling these issues? SafeSourcing is your one-stop shop for procurement’s needs and software. We can help your procurement department overcome these issues, while decreasing your spend and increasing your resources.

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

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

With winter upon us it may be time to consider ways to improve the efficiency of your HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) unit.? Studies show that heating and cooling account for about half of the energy use in a typical U.S. home.? One thing you can do to lower this expense is to replace your current thermostat with a smart thermostat.? There are several different types of thermostats available.? There are programmable thermostats which allow you to set different temperatures for different times of the day and smart thermostats which program themselves by learning from your behavior and your desired temperatures for certain days and times throughout the week.? Smart thermostats can also be controlled remotely allowing you to change temperatures miles from home.? Changing to one of these types of devices can save you approximately 20% on your heating and cooling.? Below are some benefits of a smart thermostat.

Benefits of a Smart Thermostat

??Save Money
??Reduce Energy Use
??Control Remotely
??Displays Energy Consumption in Real Time

At SafeSourcing, we can gather all the necessary information for you and help you decide what thermostat 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.

We look forward to your comments.

Todays post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.

There certainly are business trends that can provide somewhat of a prediction, but is there any way to keep a measure on the pulse of how the economy is affecting you on a more regular basis?

A Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is a great way to keep track of market fluctuations.  The PMI measures activity such as production, new orders, inventories, and employment levels.  The PMI is compiled by the Markit Group and the Institute for Supply Management and is calculated on a monthly basis by polling businesses that represent the make-up of the private sector.  According to Wikipedia, “the manufacturing data is generally released on the 1st working day of the month, followed by construction on the 2nd working day and services on the 3rd working day.”

The data for the index are collected through a survey of over 400 purchasing managers in the manufacturing sector on five different fields.  Each respondent has the opportunity to report on levels of better, same, or worse than previous months.  Depending on the manufacturing region, there may be a specific survey of results for the region as well as the specific manufacturing sector.

As an example, a US national PMI would be issued in the first few days of February and might report that nine out of eighteen manufacturing industries were reporting growth in January.  So if you wanted to keep a better pulse on the economy of your industry, the PMI survey is a great place to start and is updated monthly.

In addition to our own internal data, SafeSourcing tracks how multiple industries are doing on a regular basis, please contact a Customer Service Representative for more information.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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

Through the years the one lesson that should have been burned into my consciousness but somehow still gets missed is to back up your work regularly.? Whether that is a word processing document, spreadsheet or backing up the files on your hardware the practice in the business world should be second nature?.and yet?.it happens.? Hours of work down the drain that must be started from scratch.?

As much as it drives me insane when it happens, some of the best final output has occurred for me in these situations.? For me this occurs in some way or form because of opportunities, whether new, missed or false, these concepts can apply for our world of procurement when we stop and take a step back from rushing to get prices and deals solidified, racing onto the next project before the one we are on is barely finished.? While it may be uncomfortable for some us, taking a step back to re-evaluate where we are with a category can lead to some of the same good results as having to start that spreadsheet over.

New opportunities ? Taking a step back from a current view of category has its advantages.? It provides an opportunity to examine and look at new opportunities in the form of new companies, new technologies and new processes that may not have been there when the work on a category was done during the last contract.? When companies plow ahead trying to close as many projects as they can, these opportunities might get missed and an opportunity to leverage early with it.? If the time can be spared, starting as many projects off with a quick RFI of the industry can help uncover some of these options.

Missed opportunities ? Like new opportunities, missed opportunities generally get passed by when companies are trying close projects quickly without taking a step back.? These can be situations where a strong supplier was not asked what they could do to adjust their final offer before a decision was made.? Sometimes this results in missed savings but other times it results in a missed opportunity to leverage something else the vendor may do that is not part of the current project.? If two suppliers are close in price and overall offering but one offers a portfolio or products/services the company can also leverage, this is an opportunity with that vendor to get a better deal with the possibility of getting more business that will benefit the company.

False opportunities ? False opportunities arise when companies are too quick to make an award decision without digging to see what that decision with that vendor(s) will mean to the company.? Changeover costs, industry reputation, hidden costs are all part of what can come back to bite a company if the time look at what they thought they wanted is not invested.? Many suppliers will tell you if they have missed a piece of a project that should be included but do not be afraid to ask that of the vendors during a sourcing project.? It may increase the scope and overall cost of the project but at least it will be known and on the table.?

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help you take a step back and really look at these 3 classes of opportunities, 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 post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing.

Last year Paul Teague published a blog about the possibility of developing a video game type of training program to train new procurement professionals more about the industry. So with the 20th anniversary of what is arguably the most popular video game family ever, the Sony PlayStation, we will explore a few of the ways a game like that would need to work in order to be an effective training tool.

Analyzing the spend – The beginning part of any procurement professionals journey with a company and thus the beginning of this game would need to focus on understanding the company spend.  This includes direct as well as indirect expenses as they may apply.  This phase would focus on where different company types spend their money and what types of criteria make one category a better one to focus on than another (Hint: it’s not always about the size of the spend!).  Criteria such as approaching contract deadlines and diversity of a categories incumbent supplier base can also factor into this process.   The key to passing this level is to gain an understanding of how to prioritize the projects for what will surely be an understaffed and over worked procurement team in order to get the best results.

Understanding complex categories – As the game progresses, like any game, it will progress in difficulty the longer you play and this procurement training game would be no different.  Eventually it would get to very complex categories such as fuel, temporary labor, heavy equipment with dozens of options, etc.  With each complex category mission there would be challenges the user must overcome in order to even get the company executives to even pursue it.  Another key would be to understand not only how to execute the project but how to communicate internally what the project goal is so that time invested is not wasted because the right people weren’t engaged.

Engaging the suppliers – One of the aspects that would pop up in the projects a user must complete, but especially for the complex categories, is the management and engagement of suppliers.  There would obviously be several levels to master in this area because managing suppliers with a $100M company is altogether different than managing those same suppliers for a $100B company.  The game would need to help develop the skills to manage both incumbent vendors when there is only one incumbent, when there is more than one incumbent and when a category is brand new and has no incumbent supplier.  This would also be one of the most frustrating areas for users to master because of the dynamic nature of suppliers and how they react to a given scenario and how the user communicates with them as the game/project progresses.

Until a training module gets developed you can contact SafeSourcing for ideas on how to bring new resources up to speed.  For more information on that, our procurement Wiki 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.

Stay tuned for the second part of this blog series tomorrow.

Today post is by Ryan Melowic, Director of Special Projects at SafeSourcing Inc.

When negotiating a Master Lease Agreement for Fleet Vehicles, it is important to include all the negotiable elements that make up the monthly lease payment.

Master Lease Agreements should include a monetary discount off the MSRP by class of vehicle.  This dollar amount can be applied to any vehicle at the time of lease initiation.   Depending on the number of vehicles needed, the manufacturer or the dealer will offer a MSRP discount. 

Inception fees, such as security deposit, acquisition fee, first month’s payment, taxes, or title fees per vehicle, can be due at lease signing or included in the monthly lease payment.  These fees should be addressed in the Master Lease Agreement. 

The percent of value retained at the end of the lease term can be negotiated.  A percentage of MSRP can be collected and used by vehicle class to determine what part of the value will be paid on during the term of the lease.  These percentages can be static elements within a Master Lease Agreement. 

The Money Factor should be collected by duration of lease term.  This is a variable rate that must be identified in a lease agreement and can be captured in the Master Lease agreement.

Administrative Fees can also be included in a Master Lease Agreement. This fee can be as much as $20 a month.  A fleet with 200 vehicles can equate to almost forty thousand dollars a year of spend for this item alone.  These fees can also be negotiated.

All the items listed above can make up a monthly fleet lease payment.  Therefore, they should be negotiated as well as captured in a Master Lease Agreement.  For more information on Master Lease agreements and making sure you are not overpaying on your fleet leases, 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

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

Yesterday we began a two part series on the reasons your procurement staff should be looking at moving away from spreadsheets and toward an enterprise online solution toolset.   We looked at the accessibility and security advantages of using an enterprise system and today we will look at a few additional reasons to ditch the spreadsheets and embrace an online set of tools.

Industry friendly – Spreadsheets are great tools for smaller projects where the type of analysis and data storage is known and the eventual conclusions are determined for the most part.   There are tools and templates that support certain industries; however the spreadsheet tool itself was not designed with specialized functionality the way online enterprise solutions can be.  In the enterprise model the tool can be configured to be used and to report on data that is specific to the industry using it, stripping away the confusing functionality that is not needed nor be used.

Scalable – There are two types of limitations a spreadsheet has.  The number of tabs (tables) and the number of rows (records) within that tab.   For most people, the limits of their spreadsheet application will never be reached as they work on individual projects that will never exceed those limits.  Depending on the dataset you are reviewing, exceeding those limits is an easy thing to do especially when looking at retail, shipping or manufacturing data that can contain millions of records and complex datasets.  No matter how big the data being reviewed becomes, an enterprise solution will be able to grow with the company and accommodate the storage and analysis of billions of rows of data.

Version Control – Another big problem many organizations have with using spreadsheet tools is that users have numerous spreadsheet program versions and sometimes the documents of one version cannot be opened by another.  By moving to an enterprise solution that is accessible through a web browser, the version can be controlled so that everyone is using the same version of the tool at all times.   This reduces training time, technical support resolution time and ensures that data created by one user will be accessible by another.

Integration with other tools – Companies will often find that they have data in numerous formats of various types all over the organization.   This data is useful and could prove even more useful if other applications have access to the trends that it reports.  Spreadsheets are not easily integrated and in some cases can never fully integrate either with each other, or with external business tools the way an enterprise solution could do.  Having one solution that can be the gatekeeper of this data can allow the tools the organization has already invested in to operate on an even higher level.

It is difficult sometimes to let go of tools that have been used for a long time and that users are comfortable with, however as the industry continues to advance and technology with it, looking for more effective solutions is an important step for companies to take.  For more information on how we can assist with helping you find a replacement for your spreadsheets 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 post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing.

It is no secret that when an organization gets comfortable with a tool or process that works for them, that they are very hesitant to move away from it.  The problem with this thought process is that many times the disadvantages and potential risks that can come with these tools and processes sneak up on an organization leaving them vulnerable without them even knowing it. 

This is especially true with spreadsheets because companies have begun to take this tool that they feel comfortable with and use it in ways it is not optimized for.  Today we will be looking at a few of the advantages for moving away from spreadsheets and towards stable enterprise online solutions.

Security – Spreadsheets have become a popular tool because they make many jobs and tasks easier to track and report on.  Some organizations have even done a good job leveraging the capability to secure a spreadsheet with a password.  Where that becomes a problem, however, is when an individual just needs to restrict access to a portion of the data.  Spreadsheets do not offer this in the same way an online solution can.  With spreadsheets it is an all or nothing option, whereas with an online tool, access can not only be restricted to portions of the data but also down to individual groups and users for certain areas.   This gives an organization ultimate control of who sees and can manipulate the data.

Accessibility – Accessible data is one of the biggest complaints with projects and processes within an organization especially when that data is contained in a spreadsheet.  With thousands of individual spreadsheets being created there is no clean way to search through all of it at once or to access working copies.  There are always options like SharePoint and DropBox, but these solutions are already halfway to having an online enterprise solution that would provide 24/7 access to however needs it.  Why not take the process the rest of the way and embrace a solution that captures and stores the data from those thousands of spreadsheets in one location to be accessed and searched when needed?

Data Consolidation – Duplicate efforts and data within an organization that relies on spreadsheets is also a very common issue.  With so many people operating within a tiny technical sphere of data in their own spreadsheet they cannot see the other work that is being performed and often times are not able to draw more valuable conclusions because of the lack of insight they have to what other departments are doing.  With an online enterprise solution they can see what trends and experiences other parts of the company are dealing with and make better decisions for their department by having access to a consolidated set of data that is capturing everything.

Tomorrow we will conclude this two-part blog with some other advantages with moving away from spreadsheets towards enterprise online solutions.  For more information on 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.