Procurement Managers / Commercial Buyers

Many businesses, with larger purchasing budgets, are experiencing the value of a dedicated procurement unit, with a specific brief of delivering the best terms from any supplier.

Frequently, this involves taking a wholly objective view of any proposition and marginalising the value that a traditional ‘buyer’ may attach to previous dealings and experiences with particular supplier.

Procurement units are often responsible for creating the strategy to make their supply chains more reliable, or of better value in terms of delivery, quality and cost. The measure of success will usually be securing the ‘right’ solution at the ‘right’ time at the ‘right’ price.

However, there are some risks involved with passing responsibility to a procurement function. These specialists are almost never involved with using the product and or service they have acquired and it is therefore essential that the specification and terms negotiated meet the operational needs of the business. It has been known for goods and services to have been acquired, primarily on the grounds of cost, whose specifications have not met the needs of the underlying business. A false economy at best, which can be an expensive mistake impacting on the bottom line.

The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply offer an excellent programme of development, but we can offer procurement teams the added dimension of understanding strategies and tactics which may be utilized by professional sales teams.