Procurement strategy development

Knowing where you are today, is knowing where to go tomorrow! We support Procurement and SCM leaders that want to future-proof their Procurement strategy and organization. Using our user-friendly on-line tool, we assess the current maturity level of the Procurement and Supply Management function and explore the biggest challenges and opportunities as perceived by the respondents. The results will be validated through a series of follow-up interviews, site-visits and a workshop. The end-result will be strong strategic recommendations to make your Procurement function future proof. 

Next generation procurement

Do you want to push your Procurement and Supply Chain Management organization to the next level? Are you struggling with creating a mind shift from cost savings towards value and innovation? We can help you to make the shift.

Based on our experience from research as well as from working with some of the world's leading procurement organizations, we have developed our 3-C model. Moving to Next Generation Procurement requires an organizational climate that fosters Creativity, Courage and Connectivity. You need all three C's to push the boundaries of Procurement.

Apart from creating the initial awareness and understanding, our support may consist of a mix of interventions (i.e. workshops, training, coaching-on-the-job, webinars) over a longer period of time. The goal is to develop disruptive and game changing sourcing strategies, and finding new and creative ways to co-create value with your strategic partners.

It could be that what you regard as Procurement today, will no longer be there tomorrow!

Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) 

Are you already using your key suppliers as a source of competitive advantage? If so, to what extent? Do you allow your suppliers to really connect with your company or do you keep them at a distance? Are you able to foster a creative and collaborative climate with your key suppliers? Based on academic research we developed our SRM model and assessment tool. We can support in improving the quality of the working relationships with your key suppliers through partner selection, relationship quality assessment, supplier satisfaction assessment and customer of choice positioning.

learning & development 

Procurement professionals and executives need specific knowledge and skills to do their job properly. When new knowledge and skills are required, we can help with designing and delivering learning and development interventions. We offer three different flavors:

Workshop: quick single learning session based on a specific topic or a clearly defined challenge. We will prepare a presentation and facilitate an in-company discussion with your department (0,5-1 day).

Training: an in-depth learning session (1 to 3 days) aimed at increasing the knowledge and understanding of your team on a clearly defined topic (e.g. Category Sourcing, SRM, Collaboration, ESI, Stakeholder Engagement, etc.). 

Action-learning program: consisting of several learning and development sessions spread over several months. We work with a blended learning approach combining face-to-face sessions, webinars, off-line learning and coaching-on-the-job. Participants learn and develop the knowledge and skills needed to realize a pre-defined goal.

Strategic Category Sourcing 

Moving from buying to strategic sourcing can deliver significant improvement of cost, value and risk. However, implementing a formal sourcing proces can be a challenge. We have supported companies developing a tailor made strategic sourcing toolkit. Sourcing strategy development is both highly analytic and creative at the same time. We help sourcing teams to understand the proces steps, how to use the tools & templates, and also focus on the behavioral side (e.g. stakeholder engagement, change management, team creativity, collaboration).

coaching

Successful Procurement and Supply Chain Management organizations show that how people think and act is often more crucial than the processes, tools and templates. This is something different than knowledge and skills.

Do you recognize questions like: how can I become more effective in communicating our value proposition to my business stakeholders?, how can I improve the quality of teamwork in our sourcing teams?, how to respond to resistance of my internal stakeholders?, what is needed to create a culture of collaboration with suppliers? We can support you with: 

Intervision: through a structured process we will discuss work-related problems in small teams. The goal is to learn from each other through active listening and giving constructive feedback to each other.

Coaching: through individual sessions we will help the client to reflect on daily experiences, to become more self-conscious about his/her own behavior, the origins of that behavior and increase his/her capability to cope with work-related stress situations.