Understanding the time required in a procurement activity is possibly the single most important driver in the whole procurement undertaking. Too many people believe that an arbitrary time can be allocated to the procurement process and are always surprised when the process overruns and has a myriad of issues to be resolved.
Recognising that the business has a need that drives the procurement activity, depending on whether the need is immediate or planned, will often drive the generosity in size of the procurement time window. The procurement function needs to respond in a timely manner but the old adage ‘act in haste, repent at leisure’ is very apt. (more…)
I head vendor management for UK Retail & Business Banking (UKRBB) at Barclays, reporting to the UKRBB chief operating officer. I am responsible for the service and supplier management of more than £500 million of annual supplier spend and look after the critical, operational suppliers that support the bank.
Sourcing and supplier management functions play in a similar space. In some organisations both sit in procurement, but I’m a firm believer the business should be accountable for managing its own suppliers post contract. There are also some suppliers it makes sense to manage centrally, such as group wide technology and telecoms suppliers. (more…)
We are strong advocates of procurement embedding modern, robust business processes that are capable of delivering superior value. Category management is still one of the most important of these, but is it succeeding? What are the enablers of success and what are the major blockers and barriers? (more…)
As an operational manager, my interaction with RSA’s sourcing team is critical to achieving my business objectives. In other firms, this operational and sourcing relationship can be compared to the quote from Nasa astronaut Alan Shepard, who, when asked what he thought about as he sat waiting in the rocket for lift-off, said: “The fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder.” (more…)
Understanding the time required in a procurement activity is possibly the single most important driver in the whole procurement undertaking. Too many people believe that an arbitrary time can be allocated to the procurement process and are always surprised when the process overruns and has a myriad of issues to be resolved.![[Bloglines]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
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