Choosing the right consultancy to help you with your procurement transformation is a critical decision. In the past, engaging one of the big brand Global System Integrators (GSIs) was considered a ‘safe bet’. This view is being challenged as the smarter Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) are shifting to smaller, niche procurement consultancies to deliver the benefits they are looking for.
A number of factors are driving this change:
- More specialised, agile procurement consultancies bring a wealth of experience and expertise in procurement which often isn’t matched by the traditional consultancies. Because they focus on procurement projects, they have a deep understanding of your business challenges, and hit the ground running.
- Your relationship with these organisations is different too. With their low staff turnover and collaborative ways of working, trust is more quickly established, and long-term relationships can be established that bring lasting benefits.
- Size is no guarantee of success and this is certainly true of GSIs, with the media highlighting high-profile, large scale project failures from established companies. Contrary to expectations, engaging a smaller, more agile and procurement-focussed consultancy can be a lower risk strategy.
- If your operations span multiple countries, a GSI with a global presence may not deliver a truly global capability. Larger consultancies often bring complexity to projects, with internal resource markets, with associated costs. A single team of multi-lingual implementation and change management specialists, dedicated to delivering end-to-end solutions, can be a better option.
- Larger organisations may have an inertia which stifles innovation in methods and reduces their ability to learn lessons. The smaller procurement consultancies are able to harvest learning from every project, and quickly disseminate improvements to all their teams. Clients get the benefit of experience real-time and at no extra cost.
Our most recent eBook, “The shift to Specialised Consultancies for Procurement Implementations”, exploring this significant shift in the procurement implementation consultancy space, is based on conversations and feedback from those who have worked with us – both those that selected us first time, and those that are now working with us to support project turnarounds.
Stay tuned for our next blog series as we explore some of these factors.
Choosing the right consultancy to help you with your procurement transformation is a critical decision. In the past, engaging one of the big brand Global System Integrators (GSIs) was considered a ‘safe bet’. This view is being challenged as the smarter Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) are shifting to smaller, niche procurement consultancies to deliver the benefits they are looking for.
A number of factors are driving this change:
Our most recent eBook, “The shift to Specialised Consultancies for Procurement Implementations”, exploring this significant shift in the procurement implementation consultancy space, is based on conversations and feedback from those who have worked with us – both those that selected us first time, and those that are now working with us to support project turnarounds.
Stay tuned for our next blog series as we explore some of these factors.