Procure to Pay solutions are no longer an ‘early adoption’ luxury - they are vital business management tools in today’s global market.

However, recent surveys of chief procurement officers show that although cost savings are the top procurement metric, it is the misalignment between systems, policies and processes that remains the biggest barrier to meeting cost-saving objectives.This misalignment, combined with lower margins can lead to significant spending increases (up to (70% of total revenues).

Managing misalignment

Procurement projects might seem clear on paper, but like any new process fallout will always occur following its introduction. It is how this fallout is managed that determines the success of any project.

The real issue

While directors demand more accurate and dynamic reporting, the specific Issues Xoomworks are regularly resolving are:

• Getting transactional flows right to maximise efficiency
• The non-system side including greater end-user adoption

Xoomworks’ engagement framework provides a practical working process to ensure all transactional issues are sorted out first.  Only then are organisations able to focus on more strategic uses of their P2P systems.

Building a tangible business asset

We’ve seen the damage when companies lose the support of key suppliers just when  they need it most. And we know what happens when procurement initiatives don’t have the buy in of those at the coal face. Our processes mean you strike the right balance between suppliers and strategies, between goals and staff, and between stakeholders and your bottom line.

Xoomworks’ engagement framework also minimises risk. So right from the start, you feel the difference in the way your project is working. And it means you can look forward to a successful outcome – realising the full potential of your P2P systems, turning them into a tangible business asset.

Procurement transformation

Transforming procurement into a world class asset relies on three steps:

1.       Integration:  To quickly bring together systems and processes
2.       Transparency: To bring together suppliers, supply chains and the processes and procedures that drive them
3.       Adoption: To involve all levels of the business from the board to users as a planned approach

Using these steps, we can help you develop and implement key initiatives:

• Procurement Strategy: We work with your stakeholders to deliver business best practices, processes and procedures, diagnose your current performance and quantify the cost opportunities.
• Purchase-to-Pay Process Design: Using industry best practices, we partner major international organisations in the design of highly complex solutions that address all aspects of the P2P process.
• Organisational Design: We help you balance your objectives and restraints to ensure your P2P strategies are optimised to your specific requirements.
• Solution Selection and Implementation: Our transformation strategists help you identify and implement a tailored solution, which ensures a rapid and effective deployment - on time and within budget.

With Xoomworks you gain exclusive access to in-depth technical and business procurement knowledge from a team of experts that have already successfully implemented complex, world class P2P systems in major organisations across many market sectors.

Driving better P2P systems 

A global media organisation was looking to develop their back office to a world-beating standard. At the same time, they wanted to use the opportunity of increased efficiency to drive significant savings.

Our engagement framework made sure the project involved all the relevant people from the beginning, that the business benefits were understood and the objectives were fully aligned to board strategy. This ensured the project was supported throughout the company.

The scale of the project was huge - a Procurement Transformation strategy with a significant number of deliverables across 11 different work streams. This involved a number of critical components:

• Supplier and user portal for e-invoicing, help-desk and contractor invoicing
• Ariba customisation to enhance the user experience
• Procurement function re-organisation to achieve strategic objectives
• Redesign of commodity data and structure to support the sourcing process
• Implementation of a capital strategy feeding from contract negotiations, electronic payment and early discount recovery
• Commodity-specific purchasing processes, supported by an online buying guide to channel users through the optimum purchasing process
• KPI framework to measure project benefits and diagnose ongoing issues
• Formalised helpdesk procedures and ITIL framework
• Full training programmes, materials and processes

Through strategic procurement, resource efficiencies, payment discounts and compliance, the global media organisation anticipates significant benefits:

• Savings of over £2 million pa by increasing compliance rates
• Savings of £800,000 pa by increasing the number  of electronic invoices
• Savings of £1 million pa through better capital management, negotiating early payment discounts and paying on invoice due dates
• Savings of £150,000 pa through supplier self service invoice tracking

Integration: the strategic shift from cost control to asset creation

Transparency: access to optimised information

Adoption: the step change in procurement organisation performance

Your world class transformation

By bringing more people into the P2P process and gaining their support, you achieve greater momentum.  Coupled with an engagement framework that every stakeholder can trust and understand, your project develops benefits from a company-wide ‘will to succeed’.