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

It never ceases to amaze me that as human beings we spend our entire lives searching for prizes, concepts, and goals only to achieve them and then find, much to our chagrin, what they promised only leads to new and sometimes bigger problems.? I believe that the concept of comfort is one of those sensitive areas whose very definition proves alluring and yet in practice can create problems for individuals and companies alike.

Let?s look at Merriam-Webster?s definition of comfort.?

?Comfort – a state or situation in which you are relaxed and do not have any physically unpleasant feelings caused by pain, heat, cold, etc.?

While this definition focuses more on the physical well being, I believe the definition of comfort stretches to the intellectual and emotional areas as well.? Let?s be honest though, reading this definition, who wouldn?t want comfort?? Taken to the next step, once achieved, who wouldn?t want to do whatever it took to stay in comfort, to keep in a ?state or situation in which you are relaxed??

Therein lies the trap of comfort because people begin to make decisions, overlook opportunities that involve risk, and shy from the ?new? because they are afraid of losing the security of? the comfort zone.? When this happens the enticing nature of the benefits of comfort will create much bigger problems than the person or company ever faced before they became comfortable.

Does this mean comfort is a bad thing?? Definitely, not; it can bring a much needed break from an otherwise chaotic world if you are lucky enough to find it even briefly.? What is dangerous is when comfort slips into complacency and the mind starts looking at the risks associated with an opportunity with fear and mistrust rather than excitement and optimism.? Companies need to continue to look for the opportunities that will help them grow and get to new heights.? They need to examine longstanding vendor relationships they have grown ?comfortable? with.? They need to investigate new technologies that could make them stronger.? They need to evaluate the mindsets they have when making decisions for the future to ensure they are not too entrenched in the ?comfort? zone.

The comfort zone is nice and can be hard to break free of, but by moving on from a brief stay in this zone and into unchartered territories, the benefits will lead to stronger employees and business relationships and provide a stronger long term environment for your company based on weighing each risk and opportunity instead of investing that time trying to figure out how to maintain the comfort of the status quo.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you? to break out of the ?comfort zone? 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 and COO at SafeSourcing.

Change is inevitable.? We all know this.?? No matter how much some people refuse to embrace that fact, it does not prevent it from happening.? The real question is whether a person is someone that waits and lets the change happen or runs in front? of change and determines the best route to take before the change occurs.? Taking advantage of new opportunities is one way to? get in front of change and position the company in a place to be proactive rather than reactive.

Research The Industry ? New opportunities can come in areas where the company has current vendors and experience or new technologies, products or services where there is little to no background.? One of the ways to understand a new opportunity is by issuing RFIs to the strong players in the space.? Using tools such as Forrester and Gartner can assist with a starting point to identify the major players in the field and can be augmented with other research performed by an internal team or external strategic sourcing partners.?? Once an understanding of the industry for the opportunity is identified strategies and plans can be formed for taking the next best steps.

Talk to suppliers ? When opportunities arise in areas that a company has traditionally not?done business it can be a wise task to reach out to incumbents and potential suppliers to get their thoughts on what the opportunities can mean for the industry and them.? Many times new technology, software, products and processes can change everything about how a business operates and the best source of information can be found in those companies who work in the industry every day.? Tempering the information collected this way with what a particular supplier has to gain or lose by the emergence of this new opportunity is also an important must.

Understand the Risk ? The final piece to understanding any new opportunity is in fully understanding the risk associated with embracing it.? This can mean the risk in switching suppliers, switching technology, or embracing a process that changes how the business operates.? Another important aspect of understanding the risk associated with change is calculating the changeover costs or any potential cost associated with any leftover inventory from an incumbent.? These risks and costs will be the final piece to evaluate the total picture of a new opportunity.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist with any aspect of evaluating a new opportunity 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.

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

Change is inevitable.  We all know this.   No matter how much some people refuse to embrace that fact, it does not prevent it from happening.  The real question is whether a person is someone that waits and lets the change happen or runs in front  of change and determines the best route to take before the change occurs.  Taking advantage of new opportunities is one way to  get in front of change and position the company in a place to be proactive rather than reactive.

Research The Industry – New opportunities can come in areas where the company has current vendors and experience or new technologies, products or services where there is little to no background.  One of the ways to understand a new opportunity is by issuing RFIs to the strong players in the space.  Using tools such as Forrester and Gartner can assist with a starting point to identify the major players in the field and can be augmented with other research performed by an internal team or external strategic sourcing partners.   Once an understanding of the industry for the opportunity is identified strategies and plans can be formed for taking the next best steps.

Talk to suppliers – When opportunities arise in areas that a company has traditionally not done business it can be a wise task to reach out to incumbents and potential suppliers to get their thoughts on what the opportunities can mean for the industry and them.  Many times new technology, software, products and processes can change everything about how a business operates and the best source of information can be found in those companies who work in the industry every day.  Tempering the information collected this way with what a particular supplier has to gain or lose by the emergence of this new opportunity is also an important must.

Understand the Risk – The final piece to understanding any new opportunity is in fully understanding the risk associated with embracing it.  This can mean the risk in switching suppliers, switching technology, or embracing a process that changes how the business operates.  Another important aspect of understanding the risk associated with change is calculating the changeover costs or any potential cost associated with any leftover inventory from an incumbent.  These risks and costs will be the final piece to evaluate the total picture of a new opportunity.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist with any aspect of evaluating a new opportunity 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.

Today?s post is by Ryan Melowic; Vice President of Customer Services at SafeSourcing

What began as a religious feast day for patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival. We celebrate with parades, food, dancing, parties and GREEN!

St. Patrick?s Day has become associated with green, gold, shamrocks, luck, and Irish food dishes. With every holiday there are items and themes associated with them, but it does not stop at holidays.

Companies have a brand, and establishing the brand may be the easiest part. How do you sustain the brand and cut cost is the question? Your customer is your judge and knowing your customer base is important in this process. When you are purchasing a product, this will effect what your company will be associated with.

When sourcing a product or service, and possibly selecting a new vendor, many questions and concerns come to mind.

• What is the sustainability of this company?
• Will the quality be to your company?s standards?
• Is the product helping your companies ?green? initiative?

When running an eProcurement event, it may be a concern how these things will be handled. How can you capture this information online? SafeSourcing has many tools to capture information about the companies experience and overall value to your company. We understand price alone is not the final deciding factor. Let us ?meet? with potential customers through an online RFI/RFP. We also have the ability to facilitate samples from select suppliers to keep your company?s brand to the standards you expect.

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.

Today’s post is by Ryan Melowic; Vice President of Customer Services at SafeSourcing

What began as a religious feast day for patron saint of Ireland has become an international festival. We celebrate with parades, food, dancing, parties and GREEN!

St. Patrick’s Day has become associated with green, gold, shamrocks, luck, and Irish food dishes. With every holiday there are items and themes associated with them, but it does not stop at holidays.

Companies have a brand, and establishing the brand may be the easiest part. How do you sustain the brand and cut cost is the question? Your customer is your judge and knowing your customer base is important in this process. When you are purchasing a product, this will effect what your company will be associated with.

When sourcing a product or service, and possibly selecting a new vendor, many questions and concerns come to mind.

• What is the sustainability of this company?
• Will the quality be to your company’s standards?
• Is the product helping your companies “green” initiative?

When running an eProcurement event, it may be a concern how these things will be handled. How can you capture this information online? SafeSourcing has many tools to capture information about the companies experience and overall value to your company. We understand price alone is not the final deciding factor. Let us “meet” with potential customers through an online RFI/RFP. We also have the ability to facilitate samples from select suppliers to keep your company’s brand to the standards you expect.

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.

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

With the recent news of mergers and acquisitions such as Cerberus? offer of $9B for Safeway, FaceBook?s offer of $19B for WhatsApp, or Comcast?s $45B offer to purchase Time Warner there is no doubt that periods of transition and adjustment are necessary and these times frequently lead to procurement opportunities for the new organization.?? In today?s blog we will look at three areas that procurement and supply chain organizations can focus on to get the most out of their efforts

Combined Spend ? One of the obvious advantages to having a larger company due a merger or acquisition is the increase in the spend that accompanies it.? This low-hanging fruit allows the company to establish stronger contracts and services due to taking the best features of what each company had before.? Being able to understand the common categories and services will be important to determining which categories get addressed first.? This involves creating a baseline view of each category for both companies that looks at price, volume, contracts and service levels that each company currently has.? An additional outcome of this process will be to streamline the number of different products and vendors the new company works with leaving less to manage by the procurement team.

Efficiencies in Process ? Every successful company does some things really well and usually every company being purchased by one of those successful companies presumably does a number of things really well too.? One of the important tasks that gets done during a merger or acquisition is determining quickly what each piece does well and leverage that against the weaker areas of the other.? If one company is strong in logistics but weaker in IT, then those should be areas of synergy early on.? Learning these things and implementing new services and products can mean a very large increase in Request For Proposal and Information projects.? Having a team prepared to execute these or a 3rd party strategic sourcing partner can help make this process go much smoother.

New products & Services ? Along with the new products and services that will be required early in the merge process there will usually be many other things that must be quickly sourced as well especially with Marketing and Branding, assuming a new image or company name is a result of the process.? Bags, signage, business cards, websites, and uniforms just begin to scratch the surface of the marketing related items that are frequently needed on the day a merger or acquisition is complete.? There are other projects as it relates to IT infrastructure, temporary labor, warehouse supplies and raw material, however, that are just as important and especially so if keeping a unified standard of product or service is required and more than one standard between both companies exist.?

Companies involved with a merger or acquisition should have teams assigned to determine where the synergies and gaps are between the two companies and prepare plans for how sourcing will move forward starting at day one.? For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist your team with this type of planning 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.