Business Case
HOW TO GET A SEAT AT THE TABLE & PRESENT YOUR ESOURCING BUSINESS CASE
MAY 17, 2011
Can’t attend ISM’s 96th annual International Supply Management Conference this week? Don’t worry; we have some helpful notes from the conference to share with you. Lauren Panza, managing director of the greater Atlanta area for Iasta, attended the presentation, “Indirect Purchasing: Getting a Seat at the Table” yesterday morning. The presentation outlined how to build and present a strong business case to executives for indirect sourcing projects.
Based on the presentation, the formula for success is:
• Always get support from leadership on a specific category – don’t go into areas and spend time on categories that won’t make the cut.
• Make internal & external audit / finance your best ally.
• Be analytics and process driven.
• Create cross functional teams co-led with functional experts.
• Create compliance reports and meetings to sustain each project.
• Present success stories and bottom line impact to general ledger.
Ultimately, when purchasing and sourcing teams want to gain support from the leadership team, its best to pick a category you’ve been watching to be successful– or low hanging fruit. For example, these categories include catering spend, office supplies and IT contracts. It’s important to put a policy in place surrounding that category to track results and successes; focus on the dollars saved. From there, start pulling data, creating your presentation and illustrating the importance of cross functional teams to accelerate savings. Finally, review your presentation with leadership to showcase your findings / successes. By using your analytics and being process driven, you will increase your credibility in front of the executives. Additionally, you should be action-driven. Ask them if you can pilot the course and lead the project.
If you are interested in learning more about how to get a seat at the table and raise the value of procurement across
MAY 17, 2011
Can’t attend ISM’s 96th annual International Supply Management Conference this week? Don’t worry; we have some helpful notes from the conference to share with you. Lauren Panza, managing director of the greater Atlanta area for Iasta, attended the presentation, “Indirect Purchasing: Getting a Seat at the Table” yesterday morning. The presentation outlined how to build and present a strong business case to executives for indirect sourcing projects.
Based on the presentation, the formula for success is:
• Always get support from leadership on a specific category – don’t go into areas and spend time on categories that won’t make the cut.
• Make internal & external audit / finance your best ally.
• Be analytics and process driven.
• Create cross functional teams co-led with functional experts.
• Create compliance reports and meetings to sustain each project.
• Present success stories and bottom line impact to general ledger.
Ultimately, when purchasing and sourcing teams want to gain support from the leadership team, its best to pick a category you’ve been watching to be successful– or low hanging fruit. For example, these categories include catering spend, office supplies and IT contracts. It’s important to put a policy in place surrounding that category to track results and successes; focus on the dollars saved. From there, start pulling data, creating your presentation and illustrating the importance of cross functional teams to accelerate savings. Finally, review your presentation with leadership to showcase your findings / successes. By using your analytics and being process driven, you will increase your credibility in front of the executives. Additionally, you should be action-driven. Ask them if you can pilot the course and lead the project.
If you are interested in learning more about how to get a seat at the table and raise the value of procurement across