Today’s post is from your team at SafeSourcing Inc..

Large major airlines struggle to stay afloat, so how can these low-cost smaller airlines do it?

When I need to buy a plane ticket, I go to a search engine for various airlines and enter my destination and time. I am then given several flight options. They all get me to the destination, but at different times, and that makes all the difference in price. My decision for a flight is weighted between cost and departure/arrival times. Others may also factor in layover ports or even preferred airlines.

We have had a few smaller airlines develop inexpensive and basic flights from limited cities at very low costs. These low costs mean that corners have to be cut. No food service offered during flight, no free non-alcoholic beverages, a lack of air conditioning until in the air, less foot-room, or poor customer service are just a few of the differences in low-cost flights. Other cost-cutting initiatives are present with legacy airlines, such as fees for checking bags or no food service on short distance flights.

So the low-cost airlines cut out frills to save money, but what major costs are also cut?

    •  Labor costs at majority of low-cost airlines are non-unionized (Nice to know whenever you are looking into service. The consumer will eat that cost).
    •  Selective routes and airplanes opt for less training, which help costs.
    •  Sell directly to the consumer – low-cost airlines do not use search engines for their tickets because it costs extra money. To buy from them you will want to go directly to their website.

When you go to search for flights, you will see pricing, arrival/departure times, and any layovers, but rarely do you see “Less foot-room” or “No Free Non-Alcoholic Beverages”. These facts do not sell tickets to all audiences. So how do you know what your money is buying you without experiencing it yourself? Or why is the airline cheaper; is it because of cost cuts mentioned above or poor service?

when it comes to personal purchases, the best practice is to read reviews before buying any good or service. If you are a corporation, the purchase can be done with more confidence. Through RFI/Ps the hidden costs and/or lack of ability is uncovered.

SafeSourcing works with corporations to uncover what suppliers may be hiding. We will help your company reach its end goal, discover what factors are important, and help with what your company needs.

Please contact a SafeSourcing Project Manager in order to learn more.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Today?s post is?from our??SafeSourcing archive by special request.

IT purchases can be daunting for many businesses and a task many procurement teams leave to that team for the best recommendation with or without regard to the best overall value to the company.? This can get even more daunting with ?commodity?-type purchases such as Microsoft Enterprise Software Licenses.?

It is important to note that even in the cases where there can be no substitute for the software, competitive vendor analysis can and should be performed to ensure you are getting the best agreement for the company.? In these cases, where the pricing can be difficult to compress between IT resellers, there are additional things to look for that will differentiate the companies from each other.? In today?s blog we will be looking at a few of these items.

The Training ? Most IT resellers have extensive offerings to train you and your staff on the best way to configure and use the software licenses that you are purchasing from them.? Being a Certified Training Partner of the software manufacturers will provide a great value to your company.? While many times there will be some charges applied to this training, it is a great tool to leverage when deciding who to award your software purchases to.

The Service ? Another offering that IT resellers will frequently provide their customers, either as part of the purchase, or for an additional fee, is the installation of the software.? So many companies have IT departments that are already extremely under-staffed, overburdened, or both that the option of having the IT reseller assist with some of the rollout can be a great value-add in the decision making process.

The Expertise ? One of the biggest area to collect information on and references for is the expertise that the vendor brings to your company.? The amount of training that their employees undergo in order to service you is critically important and something you should be understanding about any vendor you consider purchasing from.? The main reason this background work is so important is because this training will ensure the company has the resources to accurately assess your organization and provide the best recommendation for based on cost and based on your needs and future growth.? Millions of dollars can be saved or wasted if inaccurate assessments are performed. It is alarming at how often this occurs in companies all over the world every year.

IT purchases such as enterprise licensing can be intimidating on the surface but it is this the extra things vendors can offer you aside from the software that become important. This is also why this category needs to be run through a competitive process, so that you get the best value possible for the organization.? For more information about sourcing IT categories like enterprise software licenses, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.??

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Today’s post is from our  SafeSourcing archive by special request.

IT purchases can be daunting for many businesses and a task many procurement teams leave to that team for the best recommendation with or without regard to the best overall value to the company.  This can get even more daunting with “commodity”-type purchases such as Microsoft Enterprise Software Licenses. 

It is important to note that even in the cases where there can be no substitute for the software, competitive vendor analysis can and should be performed to ensure you are getting the best agreement for the company.  In these cases, where the pricing can be difficult to compress between IT resellers, there are additional things to look for that will differentiate the companies from each other.  In today’s blog we will be looking at a few of these items.

The Training – Most IT resellers have extensive offerings to train you and your staff on the best way to configure and use the software licenses that you are purchasing from them.  Being a Certified Training Partner of the software manufacturers will provide a great value to your company.  While many times there will be some charges applied to this training, it is a great tool to leverage when deciding who to award your software purchases to.

The Service – Another offering that IT resellers will frequently provide their customers, either as part of the purchase, or for an additional fee, is the installation of the software.  So many companies have IT departments that are already extremely under-staffed, overburdened, or both that the option of having the IT reseller assist with some of the rollout can be a great value-add in the decision making process.

The Expertise – One of the biggest area to collect information on and references for is the expertise that the vendor brings to your company.  The amount of training that their employees undergo in order to service you is critically important and something you should be understanding about any vendor you consider purchasing from.  The main reason this background work is so important is because this training will ensure the company has the resources to accurately assess your organization and provide the best recommendation for based on cost and based on your needs and future growth.  Millions of dollars can be saved or wasted if inaccurate assessments are performed. It is alarming at how often this occurs in companies all over the world every year.

IT purchases such as enterprise licensing can be intimidating on the surface but it is this the extra things vendors can offer you aside from the software that become important. This is also why this category needs to be run through a competitive process, so that you get the best value possible for the organization.  For more information about sourcing IT categories like enterprise software licenses, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Today’s post is by Alyson Usserman, Project Manager at SafeSourcing.

Over the weekend I threw a party for my now two year old son. He loves Frozen’s Olaf, (who doesn’t?) so therefore, we had an Olaf themed birthday party. In preparation for his party, I shopped for a couple of months for the specifics; the cake, his shirt, and other decorations. His party was completely custom; there was nothing that would be considered a standard specification. His cake was a custom order, as was the shirt that he wore, both products being more expensive than a cookie cutter party.

But how does this effect sourcing products and services?

Sourcing is a valuable resource for many companies, but what happens when there is a custom specification?

When presented a specification that is considered, “custom”, we vet it out. Is this really custom? We reach out to suppliers.  Who makes this? What is the quantity? Is it enough to engage supplier interest? How much will this custom product cost the end user? Will it be worth it for them instead of a more cost-effective approach?

These are all questions that we at SafeSourcing work through to source products. Just because a product is considered a custom item, does not mean that you are stuck with the same supplier who may be overcharging you.

Let SafeSourcing’s knowledgeable staff help you reduce costs for your “custom” products and services. 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.

So we have all heard it before, but the definition of insanity is ?doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? ? Albert Einstein.

Today?s blog was written by Shelly Hayre, CFT Manager at SafeSourcing Inc..

I see category managers strategizing on a project with creativity in mind, but sometimes change is not perceived well and the strategy starts to form the same as it did years ago. The only difference is everyone wants better results. I believe it is the procurement leaders? role to push for creative and thinking outside of the box. Easier said than done with some.

Below are three keys to increase Procurement ideas creativity and quality:

1.? Coaching ? coaching the team on how to develop a creative idea and what this may look like. Bring outside support in to help the team think outside the box. Not everyone is creative, and a new perspective can help with this.
2.? Utilizing Creative Thinkers– When bringing in outside help, make sure the individual has the creative ability to assist the team. Having a team that is designated to working complex projects that need special attention and focus on the breakthrough idea.
3.? Have a Scoring System– What defines creativity? What does that look like? Dedicating a leader to provide this picture and process of creative ideas.

Like I?indicated earlier, not everyone is creative, a leader will need to show them what this looks like and guide them to a path where they will receive feedback on their creativity.

This process of thinking and executing takes time. You cannot start this process, and then become pressed against a timeline that it falls back to executing as quick as possible. You will receive the same results you say last time. Some questions to start the creativity wheels at your next category meeting:

??What is the overall goal of the project?
??What are we doing today that costs us resources (money, time, management, etc.)?
??What does the market look like today? What does it look like compared to last time it ran?
??What new trends affect the market?
??How can you leverage index pricing to be beneficial for you and the supplier?
??What other categories can you include to leverage better pricing?
??How will you compare suppliers pricing? How will you know you are offered fair and best pricing?

If you reach out SafeSourcing can be your creative team. We have a new way to see on categories and have experience running various categories in different fashions. We will find the best and creative way to execute a procurement project that brings greater results.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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

In yesterday’s blog we covered some of the areas a video game type training program for new procurement professionals would have to include in order to train them in as mainly strategic sourcing scenarios as possible focusing on the analysis of spend, handling complex projects and engaging suppliers.  Today we will take a look at a few more areas that would round a solution like this out.

Awarding the business – It would seem to the novice user that once the pricing has been provided and the details about what is being offered are on the table the award decision would be clear-cut and at the beginning it would be.   As the game progressed the difficulty of knowing how to award would not be as obvious.  Running a temporary labor project for 50 locations across the country where local, regional and national companies all performed well and all three levels are currently servicing the company today in some way.  The project may have had good proposals from the incumbents and some not so good.  It may have produced 3 or 4 new players that the company has never done business with before.  The question becomes “Do I have enough information to make a decision and how much of the business should I award to any particular company?”  In a good video game training tool the answer to these questions would be slightly different with each project depending on the variables.

Tracking the performance – At this point the user has progressed and has mastered the sourcing projects from beginning to end and has awarded suppliers millions of dollars of business.  Any good training program would then take all of those GREAT results and throw them out the door as the new contract pricing fails to be realized due to a glitch the suppliers invoicing system or some other factor.   Being able to creatively develop ways to track realized savings with analyzing every invoice may be another element of this program.  At advanced levels the game may require the user to track the performance location by location instead of across the entire company increasing the difficulty even more.

Controlling the savings – The final piece of the training module for each project in this training program/game would be the ongoing management of the category and contracts.   As the user progresses through the program they may forget about that $100,000 contract they wrote for copy paper that has gone unchecked for 5 years and is now a $250,000 contract without increasing the volume of copy paper the company is getting.  The tool would have a built-in contract manager that would help the user keep track of these details and alert them to upcoming deadlines on old projects right in the middle of trying to work new projects. 

Obviously Sony does not have a game like this for the PlayStation (yet) but until that time there are still practices that can be put in place to help develop new procurement team members.  For more information on how SafeSourcing can help in this area, 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.

It is a good time for a scare! As Halloween approaches, scary movies are beginning to appear in theaters, online, and on television. There are many people that do not like the adrenaline rush that stems from tales of terror, but there are a few things that can be learned from watching them.

Stay Together! This tactic is seen in multiple genres of film, but most notable in those Halloween classics. When faced with a challenge, everyone must stick together. Not doing so leaves a person vulnerable and without help. This can be applied to business as well. When everyone pulls together as a team, more can be accomplished and the business is better prepared for whatever obstacle is hiding behind each door.

Behave! We all know that the misbehaving teens in the movie are the first to go. It is a classic faux pas saying that if we behave, we will make it out in the end. Even this can be applied to the business world. If you work hard and stay dedicated, you will live a long and happy life with your team. If someone misbehaves or shows the company how little it means, they may be on the way out too. Every person must be as committed as the next for a team to be truly strong.

It was someone else the whole time! This is the classic maneuver famously seen by even the likes of the Scooby Doo gang. They often would expect someone or something as a problem, but after removing the mask, they find out it was someone else entirely. Many scary movies follow the same formula of keeping the audience guessing “who did it?” throughout, with the final twist revealed at the end. This lesson also applies in the business world because it teaches us to always stay on our toes and be ready for whatever twist or dilemma comes our way. It teaches us to be ready for anything.

Even though scary movies aren’t for everyone, there are lessons there that can be applied to everyday life and the business world. Recognizing those lessons and utilizing them in the workplace can turn an organization around and lead a group in a positive direction.

If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help your business pull together as a team and be prepared for the unexpected or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.