Process & Best Practices Content

As companies set their strategic priorities for 2018, the push for digital transformation has taken hold. But while functions such as sales and marketing already have a firm foothold in the digital world, supply chain-related functions have had to wait their turn to revolutionize their tools and process. This year, however, stands to be the one where procurement and accounts payable organizations shed their back office brand for a new, strategic approach. To find out just where CPOs and CFOs are focusing in 2018 as they lead their digital transformations, we sat down for a quick Q&A with Xavier Olivera, our in-house purchase-to-pay (P2P) expert, and David Gustin, executive editor of Trade Financing Matters, for a conversation spanning procurement-finance collaboration, common barriers to technology adoption and the future of early payment programs. 

“How did you like selling to procurement?” This has been one of the most frequently asked questions I have received since stepping away from BravoSolution, following our acquisition by Jaggaer in November 2017. People usually ask in a tongue-in-cheek way, expecting the response will be negative — comments about outdated and non-business-focused processes, burdensome and often overlapping or conflicting checklists, constant demands for discounts and the like. To be honest, there is some of that. But there is also so much more. Selling to procurement is to know procurement today. And it’s a complex being.

Drawing from the KPMG and Procurement Leaders research study: High Impact Procurement Operating Models – A Survey of Global CPOs, we examine the relationship between the two key takeaways: Retaining the benefit of past models of procurement in the current model and discovering how changing the model delivers savings.

If there’s one place that procurement organizations fail almost universally, it’s in maintaining accurate, up-to-date supplier information on a level that other business stakeholders require. It’s been our experience that when it comes to vendor selection, on-boarding, and general management, A/P and finance are interested in tracking a range of information fields and extended company information, some of which (but not all) will overlap with what procurement needs to best engage suppliers.

Next week, I’m presenting at ISM’s 2nd Annual Risk Management Conference in Chicago on Thursday and Friday (July 25-26). During my talk, for which I’m writing all new material– I’ll be sharing it with Spend Matters Plus/PRO readers in more details after the event – I’ll be addressing quite simply this question: What’s next? As the agenda describes the session: Great — Now you now know how important risk management is and how failing to prepare for the worst can keep you from doing your best. But how do you advance this train of thought within your company? How do you prepare and present a business case to convince your C-suite?

Today, we present an unedited (and true laundry list) of 80 or so of the most foundational fields you should collect and continuously update on all of your suppliers. If you’re not doing this today, in an automated manner, please prioritize it. Your procurement organization and extended areas of the business (sourcing, supplier diversity, legal, sales, etc.) will thank you!

All too often, we think usability and the overall “user experience” of a toolset are synonymous with the actual interface of the tool for various users. But this is not necessarily the case. As Peter Smith observes in the above-linked analysis, “Consideration of the flexibility of what the organization is buying, its scalability, and indeed the exit route if it ever comes to that, can all be considered under usability.”

Even before considering all of the interests of different stakeholders, it’s important to take a step back. Consider key general factors when thinking about building a sustainable supplier management program even prior to making any content or software investments. Therefore, consider the collective answers to the following questions the “you are here dot” when it comes to supplier management and what programs you should build.