Working in procurement – be able to sell

Roger OakdenProcurement

A view of Procurement. Is procurement (you can call it supply, purchasing or acquisition) just about sourcing and buying materials, goods and services? Well no – to be an effective procurement organisation and meet the targeted business outcomes requires more capabilities than sourcing and buying. What about selling? Procurement should do this both internally and externally. Inside your business there … Read More

Procurement can cost money

Roger OakdenProcurement

Obtain value. Its difficult to be pure when under pressure. In the best of situations the role of procurement is obtaining value for your organisation when acquiring externally supplied goods and services. This sounds reasonable, except when procurement professionals are under pressure to meet time deadlines or price objectives, then objectives can become hazy. I read about this type of … Read More

Suppliers are part of your business

Roger OakdenProcurement

It costs to get paid. Outsourcing the work of accounts payable is not uncommon, but I recently read of twist in the story. The service provider to whom a government owned commercial operation has outsourced its AP is charging suppliers 15.5c per $100 of invoice value as a processing fee! Here is another example of what has always been the … Read More