In the early (19)80´s, Kraljik and Porter developed 2 key
tools for Procurement: Portfolio analysis and 5 Forces analysis. 35 years later, few
companies are using them on a regular basis and several gurus have rightly created
more updated approaches. Sourcing process, e-auctions, category management are now
20+ years old and there is still plenty of room for improvement in term of general
deployment, appropriate use, and simplification. Some experts tell us that, for
many good reasons, CatMan should be replaced.
Among our community, we are still not clear on what SRM
means as we can choose among the following definitions: 1.- the Procurement IT
tools and solutions (the worst choice), 2.- the whole process of selecting,
tiering and managing the supplier panel or 3.- the way to specifically manage the
strategic supplier relationships. Referring to the third option, experts have
recently thought of a new branding and deeper collaborative mindset like Collaborative
Business Mgmt., Trading Relationship Mgmt., Global Account Mgmt., Vested model,
Return On Relationships, etc…
We can now find quite many other tools, solutions and Procurement
(BPO) services that are punctually or partially applied.
With old concepts, tools and processes not fully implemented,
with new services, applications, approaches under development and/or slow
ramp-up, and as we still have a fragmented and rather weak worldwide
Procurement community, it seems obvious that we can do better at sharing ideas,
concepts and adopting standard naming, processes and tools. We can do better at harmonizing, deploying
and improving our ways of working.
As more and more companies need to co-create or simply
get more value from their supplier network, Procurement has a key role to play.
Buyers should become (select just a couple of them):
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The
guardian of compliance, ethics, corporate brand
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The body guard of spend efficiency, productivity, EBITDA
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The golden sponsor of sustainable business practices
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The Captain of innovation
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The best fan or supporter for sales and marketing
As Emmanuel Cambresy, a good colleague, wrote, we will
necessarily tend to transform ourselves into integrators, business relationship
builders, value architects.
Our community will make this possible if we are able to
have a much more coordinated approach by sharing and working on defining and
implementing a much more scientific function.
As to me, it means becoming more rigorous in 7 different fields:
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From talking to defining the Procurement ValueContribution for the company and selecting the appropriate Procurement operatingmodel
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From implementing to truly benefiting from compliant, efficient,and friendly user Processes, Systems and tools (incl. analytics)
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From organizing our resources to properly outsourcing ourProc. activities
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From complying to driving the Sustainability agenda
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From SRM to Global Account Management Program
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From being reactive and uncoordinated to acting
proactively, in an interconnected and immediate manner.
Within the next months, I will share my views on each of
those 7 points.
Do you see any other key area we should focus on in order
to become a more scientific function?
I invite you to stay connected and contribute.
