Sustainable Sourcing: Strengthen Your Supply Chain With Reliability And Adaptability
Today, worldwide volatility and supply chain disruptions are creating huge uncertainties for global companies, making reliability and cost containment more critical than ever.
Effective supplier discovery and supplier information management have always been critical for driving procurement sustainability and success. And now, this applies not only to organizations that are looking for long-term results but also for those that must make immediate decisions, in the moment, during this unprecedented time of high demand for vital resources.
Many procurement departments have failed to keep their supplier information current, as it can be time-consuming and, in reality, hasn’t been a priority. However, this is a costly oversight that has ultimately led to missed savings opportunities.
Procurement priorities are evolving to be more critical than ever
In this time of extraordinary change, sourcing managers not only face new and evolving demands; they also must deal with the same challenges of everyday business that they were already trying to resolve. Combined, there is considerable pressure to meet these ever-changing priorities:
- Discovering savings opportunities in a time of constricted resources while attempting to understand detailed spend for everyday expenses
- Identifying and qualifying appropriate suppliers that can effectively support diversity, sustainability, cost efficiencies, and – most importantly – reliability in the midst of uncertainty
- Executing a strategic sourcing program with new supplier information and appropriate onboarding processes to find the right suppliers that can perform despite the volatility of today’s marketplace
- Driving process and category best practices with knowledgeable resources when under pressure to spend wisely and conservatively
- Ensuring confident sourcing with the proper market, commodity, operational, and contractual information while the world economy is in flux
Sustainable sourcing can be a game saver in these critical times
Evolving to an easier, more reliable way to increase performance and savings while achieving measurable outcomes is an ongoing objective for procurement teams – even more of a necessity as resources are reduced and budgets shrink.
It’s now more critical for procurement organizations to identify a solution with access to a reliable global network of suppliers that can help meet all of today’s sourcing needs more efficiently. Such a solution can provide you with:
- Access to unparalleled strategy and category expertise to realize greater value in your everyday procurement operations
- Adaptability for your organization’s evolution, allowing you to structure and execute sourcing events online that deliver real, measurable results without a substantial commitment of time or resources
- The ability to identify cost-cutting opportunities while you define and execute a supplier selection process, analyze supplier responses, and negotiate competitively priced contracts
As a result of these capabilities, your organization can increase compliant spend and achieve significant cost savings for your business.
The power of reliable, flexible strategic sourcing
With sourcing technology, companies can drive fast, sustainable results by automating and streamlining critical tasks across the sourcing lifecycle – and the results speak for themselves.
- A centrally managed sourcing process helped this consumer products company consolidate spend and minimize maverick spending, resulting in an average of 6% to 8% saving in the first few years after implementation.
- For this electrical appliances manufacturer, standardizing and better controlling spend across six divisions helped the company improve operational and decision-making processes while reducing transactional cost and time. The company achieved an average of 6% savings for certain product categories with reverse auction capabilities.
- Through automation, the procurement team at this public sector organization eliminated manual, paper-based processes. It can now access a network of vendors that are compatible with its socioeconomic objectives, such as local preference and green practices. Ninety percent of acquisitions are approved within the same day, as compared to four weeks historically, and it takes 80% less time to initially approve suppliers.
- This agrichemical company has been able to deliver global supply chain excellence and generate sustainable savings through streamlined procurement, saving US$ 2 million in the first six months after implementation. The company now has a global contract management system with source-to-contract capabilities that delivers transparency in its spend and ultimately a better experience for its customers.
Make the right sourcing decisions with confidence and assuredness
Disruption is the new normal, and in this time of uncertainty, making the right and informed sourcing decisions has become more of a business necessity than ever. For procurement, this means being able to access reliable suppliers who can work within their current constraints, with flexibility and adaptability – all while keeping your company competitive and resilient.
To learn more about sourcing solutions that can help your company through today’s challenges, visit SAP Ariba Smart Sourcing and find out how to get started for free.
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