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

In yesterday’s blog we looked at some of the well-known reasons that Steve Jobs was one of the most successful leaders of all time and how they are closely connected to being successful in other areas such as procurement.  We will wrap up this two-part series today by looking at four more reasons why Steve Jobs was successful and how they resonate in the procurement world.

Never stop learning– Steve Jobs and many, many other successful business people have shown that a dedication to learning and continued pursuit of knowledge will never be wasted.  There are few places this is truer than in procurement where services, goods and equipment are being purchased every day with a speed impossible to keep up with.  The only way procurement managers can be successful is to pursue the knowledge to help them understand the categories they source.   Whether this comes from periodicals, the internet, books, television programs or through conversations with people smarter than they are about a topic, it must happen.  Only in knowing everything they can about something can they expect to succeed at handling any part of it; this includes the markets affecting it, the conditions of the world that can influence and the environment of one’s company that can make it or kill it if the knowledge is not known in advance.

Develop strong supporting teams– This reason of Steve Jobs’ success is almost the antithesis of the point above.  There are things someone knows, things they can learn and then there are people who are going to know more and be better than they are.  Projects need these people to be successful and managers need to be smart enough to admit it.  In the procurement world this translates frequently to involving a Subject Matter Expert.  The most successful projects are those with good management and great knowledge of what must be done to complete it in a manner that will deliver the company what it needs to make decisions.  Most managers who have been in this space more than 5 years know how to source but that does not mean they understand the details or specifications behind everything they will be asked to assist in sourcing, requiring the need of a strong external partner, or internal resource, or both to see the project through.

Be willing to take a risk– Virtually every risk becomes either a mistake or a triumph that rises above the path not taking the risk becomes.  To the procurement professional the meaning of this is clear.  Continuing to source a few categories a year, while others evergreen, collecting the three paper quotes and negotiating from there is a standard and safe way to move ahead.  It produces reliable, although modest, results.  The risk would be to depart from this model; to pursue tools and processes and partners that can help turn 8% savings into 25%.  Calculated risks that can be planned for and understood can produce great results in many cases and learning experiences in every case.

Don’t wait– The sadness of Steve Jobs life and so many people like him that leave this world before it is ready for them to is the hole that appears when they are gone.  This happens so quickly that what was unchanging becomes changed in an instant.  It is for these reasons that every category and every potential project should be reviewed for opportunity regularly.  Business landscapes change, companies are purchased, natural disasters occur regularly that affect a business.  If a contract ends in three months it should be beginning the review process now to make sure deadlines and contract dates for change (if that happens) can be honored and so that data can be collected to ensure a strong view of options.  Waiting to review upcoming categories may end up creating missed opportunities to save or to strengthen contracts already in place.

This blog series could easily have been written about any area of human existence.  Planning with strong teams that are bright and pursue perfection is the start of greatness especially when they do not wait for the opportunity but are willing to take a risk to seize it.  While few would claim to achieve the success Steve Jobs did, these ideals can be put into action with any sourcing project a company has.  For more information on how we can help with these projects 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 Steve Schwerin, Account Manager at SafeSourcing.

Purchasing is often divided strategic and transactional.  I like these distinctions, because they help me hone in on the places where value is added in our field as things change.  There are certainly other ways to categorize spend.  One way of looking at strategic purchasing as distinct from transactional is that it deals with the non-commoditized.  Another is how it affects your core business.  This is not to say that it doesn’t deal in commodities.  Strategic purchasing is just something that needs to be dealt with a little more deftly, and as such, adds value to your firm in often intrinsic ways.

Not too long ago, I was watching a fascinating video clip on the “appliance boom.”  I had long heard of electronics booms, various industrial booms, the housing boom, the plastics boom and even the computer boom.  Forgotten in this mix was the appliance boom, yet there was a very real appliance boom back in the early 20th century as electricity became more of a household reality.  In the beginning of this phase, appliances were not something the average person often bought.  Households might have one washer and drier for years and a toaster was not a disposable item.  Appliances back then were actually screwed into light sockets since houses were not wired for appliances; they didn’t have electrical outlets.  In situations like this, knowing who you bought your appliance from and what brand it was were very important details.  Today, many appliances have become commoditized.  We buy the cheapest one with the most features.  Toasters and irons have become ubiquitous fixtures in our households.  Our situation today would have been hard to believe back then.  

What Changed?  Time?  Technology?  The sheer number of appliances on the market?  Regardless, lots of things that are more important to our well-being than a toaster were once strategic purchases, but have become transactional.  Details in business are always morphing, so continuing to purchase things in the same old way can be very costly.  Certain products that were once transactional purchases might even become strategic purchases as they become more critical to your central line of business or develop new features that are hard to place a value on.  The way you go about purchasing whether it be strategic or transactional may not only determine if you reach your savings targets, but how successful certain business endeavors are period.    Keeping an eye on which category each of your purchases currently falls into may be the beginning of keeping on top of savings opportunities as they come and go. 

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 at 888-261-9070.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

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

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal headlined the methods by which Safeway expects to have a strong 2nd half of the year due to emphasis on new programs like their health and wellness initiative.? Safeway?s ?Live Life, Live Long, Live Well?? program has helped its employees and their families manage of the pieces of a healthier life and now they are expanding a variance of that program to their customers with all new healthy food options.? The Simple Nutrition, which will soon be available online, will allow customers to create a dietary program on their own focusing on characteristics like lowering their sodium or cholesterol.

Increasing profits, however, is just one of many reasons to explore a health and wellness program and in today?s blog we will be looking at a few areas that companies can begin exploring to source for their companies in order to achieve a healthier balance for their customers and employees.

Retailer Customer Wellness ? Retailers are choosing to focus on the types of offerings that will benefit their customers first, recognizing that by taking care of their customers, the rest of the business will fall in line.?? With Health and Wellness programs being a strong way to demonstrate this commitment it is no wonder that more companies are embracing them.? The keys to making the program work are to establish buy-in at the executive level that will help you organize a team that learn what is important to your customers.? Surveying your customers to find this out is a good method to learn this information.?

Once you know what is important to your customers you can tailor a program to meet those, whether it is new products, discounts, marketing, in-store cooking demonstrations or finding a 3rd party to partner with to help you develop the program.? Communicating this program effectively to your customers is the key to the success with success being measured by previously established metrics in advance.? All of these things can be done internally or with the assistance of 3rd party consultants.

Corporate Programs ? Focusing on your employees is just as important as focusing on your customers and is why many companies are looking at the long-term cost benefits of having a healthier team.? Whether you are partnering with your health insurance provider or a 3rd party medical consultant, there are many entities who are capable of working with your HR team to develop staged approaches to achieving a stronger and healthier group of employees.?

At the center of all of these programs is usually an internal website for employees to utilize resources developed to help them with weight loss, tobacco cessation, heart health, or even stress management, but the commitment to health and wellness goes beyond an intranet site.? By providing incentives for employees to get healthier, companies can drive down health care costs, increase productivity and morale and improve overall retention.? Companies like Lifeworks.com are available to help employers develop these types of programs.

At SafeSourcing we support many companies how are striving to develop health and wellness programs and vendors who can assist them in doing this and routinely help retailers and other industries in finding the right mix of services and vendors for their needs.? For more information on how we can help you, 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.

A new program SafeSourcing has launched with our partner KPM Enterprises is called Strategic Cost Initiative (SCI).This is a very extensive program that addresses all functional areas within a company by assigning cost champions in every area that focus on collecting analyzing and improving processes that impact cost. This program is typically sponsored at the CEO and CFO level and delivered by individuals with extensive financial backgrounds including CFO’s.

Strategic Cost Initiative (SCI) tools and deliverables include but are not limited to the following

1. Cost Reductions
2. Expense Analysis
3. Budget Effectiveness Review
4. Supplier Billing Analysis
5. Zero-Based Budgeting
6. Cost/Benefit Analysis
7. Detailed Tracking/Monitoring Procedures

If you have any questions regarding SCI or other Safesourcing deliverables listed in “SafeSourcing is great at eRFX execution, but what else do you do Part I, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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

There are many companies with large supply chain/procurement teams that have spent years going after the easy cost reduction/increased value or low hanging fruit.? Many companies, however, even very large companies have procurement staffs with barely enough bandwidth to monitor a portion of the overall spend.? For these companies, the need to look at low labor areas of spend is crucial and is a great place to start to focus on, especially if you have a strategic sourcing partner to work with.

Standardize the specification ? One way to quickly find ways to reduce costs, especially in companies where there many departments or locations, is the standardization of the basic purchases made.? By standardizing what your company buys you can achieve two things that will help in reducing cost.? First, you will ensure that groups are not buying at a price or quality level that is outside the norm of what the rest of the company is doing.? By standardizing the specification it is also easier to track how your company is doing against prices they should be getting.? This leads right into the second advantage which is being able to consolidate all of your spend in one bigger level that allows for stronger National or Regional contracts.? This may not add up to the company?s largest savings opportunities but they are not resource intensive and can be achieved quickly.

Quality Needs and Non-branded items ? In the process of standardizing the specifications for low hanging fruit categories, another way to affect more value is to evaluate whether the items being purchased fit the true needs of the organization.? Does your company need a $2,500/month multi-functional device when a $1,200 one will do?? This is also a time to determine whether the need for branded items could be replaced with non-branded items.? The quality of non-branded items such as generic drugs, paper products, and small appliances has increased greatly in the past few years and because of that companies are beginning to look more and more to non-branded products for their business needs.

Suppliers: too many, too long ? Maybe it?s not your products and services you want to change it is the fact that you have too many suppliers supplying the same thing or maybe you have a supplier who has been supplying you for years without any real accountability.? These are also examples of where a procurement department can get great increased value with little effort.? The reason for this is because you aren?t changing what you are purchasing and so you know the levels of spend and specification in advance.? Armed with that, it becomes a matter of consolidating your vendors or opening up the opportunity to new vendors as the case may be.? Either instance can provide very good results without having to change what you are purchasing at all.

If you are looking to put some attention on your low hanging fruit and find yourself without the resources to even go after that, 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.

This week we have been looking at the MSPMentor?s Top 100 (actually it was the top 501) providers and the associated trends in this space among the suppliers and their customers.? In particular, we are focusing on the most commonly offered services and what they may mean to your company and its profitability.

Mobile Device Management (74%*) ? Technology has completely consumed us when there are more people that know what BYOD means than BYOB but the facts are we live in a world full of mobile devices that are ingrained into our lives.? These devices need updates and need to be secured for their protection and the protection of the company when they are connected to the network.? These are the services that many MSPs are providing and are considerations few companies have spent much time thinking about.? They have desktops and laptops secured but have given virtually no thought to managing the mobile devices that occupy their network.

Vendor Management (74%*) ? Vendor management has been a popular service that many companies have been looking to MSPs more and more for.? National footprint companies in particular tend to think that they get good service when they let individual locations handle some services like janitorial or temporary labor services themselves.? The issue lies in how all of those vendors are monitored and managed to ensure that best practices and company SOPs are being followed.? This is just one way MSPs can help manage vendors.? Controlling rate cards, introducing new vendors and monitoring the performance of existing vendors are other important benefits companies can be looking to gain today.

Warranty Management (69%*) ? Warranty management is another area that has seen great growth as companies are moving toward a ONE NUMBER HELP DESK.? This concept replaces people?s long lists of people to call when there is a technical warranty issue with just one number.? Companies like Fine MSP offer their customers better faster support in a much easier one-call fashion.? Having a 3rd party MSP handle your warranty calls means your staff can continue back to their normal jobs with the peace of mind that the situation is being resolved on their behalf.

To understand more about how we can help you find vendors to meet some of these needs, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.? Please check back tomorrow as we finish the weeklong series? on MSP Services Review.

We look forward to your comments.

* Source: MSPmentor 501 Global Report, February 2013, all survey participants.