In part 2 of this blog series we uncovered the 6 steps companies need to follow in order to get a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their current sourcing process. We want to first just put it out there: It’s OK to have weaknesses. All the successful organisations have some flaws in their organisation. The important thing is to be aware of those weaknesses, so that you can take the steps toward making improvements. The second important thing is to recognise that sometimes your company won’t have the expertise or resource to make the necessary improvements. It’s also OK to ask for help outside of your organisation.
In our experience the CPOs with the highest levels of job satisfaction and who are achieving the best results are the ones who recognise what they are good at and know when to outsource the more repetitive activities to a sourcing partner they can trust.
They key thing here is to find the right partner for your business, the one that can help you build an efficient procurement sourcing process and a trustworthy relationship. Our “Quest to Sourcing Excellence” eBook highlights the importance of maintaining trust and transparency with your business partners, whether we’re talking about your network of suppliers or the procurement consultants you chose to partner with to help enrich your sourcing process.
It is often an underestimated aspect and many companies go on to believe that everyone’s in it for their own benefit, whereas it should be for the common good. Happy customers, happy business!
While we believe companies need to work continuously on creating trust and transparency with their business partners, here are our top 5 tips for doing so in the procurement area:
5 tips for creating trust and driving the right results
- Be 100% transparent across all your suppliers
Easier said than done. eProcurement tools provide a great advantage for creating transparency in your relationship with your suppliers. They make the whole process more collaborative, are easy to use and have a common data model
Whether you are using an eProcurement system or not, communication is key. Both suppliers and customers need to ensure the other party is aware of any changes in systems, payments, business needs/updates etc to help avoid conflict and run things smoothly.
Treat your suppliers, and business partners in general, the same way you would expect them to treat you. Companies should provide their suppliers with as many details as possible and make sure to have clearly defined requirements. Also, businesses should ensure to provide the necessary training to existing and potential suppliers, especially if using eAuction.
Always be prepared to commit to the supplier that wins the bid. Another important aspect here is to provide feedback to the other suppliers, regarding the areas where they were not successful
- Make it a positive experience
The process should be a positive experience for all the parties involved. This will ensure good relationships for the future.
Maintaining a strong and transparent relationship with your suppliers is one of the key components for an efficient sourcing process, however, there is much more to it than that. Using the right technology for your business is also very important, as well as knowing how to allocate your resources and expertise where they are most needed and outsource administrative and repetitive processes to procurement sourcing partners to help you focus on more strategic tasks.
With our Sourcing Excellence blog series and eBook we aim to help organisations achieve the most from their sourcing strategy and make them aware of their strengths, expertise and weaknesses, with the help of a 6 steps assessment process.
Get in touch with our sourcing experts to book a free, no obligation, 90-minute review with our experienced procurement consultants and let us help you come up with ways to better understand savings potential, use procurement sourcing skills where they are best suited and deliver ambitious profitability goals.
In part 2 of this blog series we uncovered the 6 steps companies need to follow in order to get a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their current sourcing process. We want to first just put it out there: It’s OK to have weaknesses. All the successful organisations have some flaws in their organisation. The important thing is to be aware of those weaknesses, so that you can take the steps toward making improvements. The second important thing is to recognise that sometimes your company won’t have the expertise or resource to make the necessary improvements. It’s also OK to ask for help outside of your organisation.
In our experience the CPOs with the highest levels of job satisfaction and who are achieving the best results are the ones who recognise what they are good at and know when to outsource the more repetitive activities to a sourcing partner they can trust.
They key thing here is to find the right partner for your business, the one that can help you build an efficient procurement sourcing process and a trustworthy relationship. Our “Quest to Sourcing Excellence” eBook highlights the importance of maintaining trust and transparency with your business partners, whether we’re talking about your network of suppliers or the procurement consultants you chose to partner with to help enrich your sourcing process.
It is often an underestimated aspect and many companies go on to believe that everyone’s in it for their own benefit, whereas it should be for the common good. Happy customers, happy business!
While we believe companies need to work continuously on creating trust and transparency with their business partners, here are our top 5 tips for doing so in the procurement area:
5 tips for creating trust and driving the right results
Easier said than done. eProcurement tools provide a great advantage for creating transparency in your relationship with your suppliers. They make the whole process more collaborative, are easy to use and have a common data model
Whether you are using an eProcurement system or not, communication is key. Both suppliers and customers need to ensure the other party is aware of any changes in systems, payments, business needs/updates etc to help avoid conflict and run things smoothly.
Treat your suppliers, and business partners in general, the same way you would expect them to treat you. Companies should provide their suppliers with as many details as possible and make sure to have clearly defined requirements. Also, businesses should ensure to provide the necessary training to existing and potential suppliers, especially if using eAuction.
Always be prepared to commit to the supplier that wins the bid. Another important aspect here is to provide feedback to the other suppliers, regarding the areas where they were not successful
The process should be a positive experience for all the parties involved. This will ensure good relationships for the future.
Maintaining a strong and transparent relationship with your suppliers is one of the key components for an efficient sourcing process, however, there is much more to it than that. Using the right technology for your business is also very important, as well as knowing how to allocate your resources and expertise where they are most needed and outsource administrative and repetitive processes to procurement sourcing partners to help you focus on more strategic tasks.
With our Sourcing Excellence blog series and eBook we aim to help organisations achieve the most from their sourcing strategy and make them aware of their strengths, expertise and weaknesses, with the help of a 6 steps assessment process.
Get in touch with our sourcing experts to book a free, no obligation, 90-minute review with our experienced procurement consultants and let us help you come up with ways to better understand savings potential, use procurement sourcing skills where they are best suited and deliver ambitious profitability goals.