We could blame the pandemic, or high inflation, or world events wreaking havoc on global supply chains. But the simple fact is, reducing costs will always be a high priority for every organisation, no matter what’s happening externally. And one of the best ways to achieve this is by mobilising your team.
How do we do this?
Simply put, we give them the tools. If your procurement team is to improve and become more efficient, two things need to happen:
- They need the skills appropriate to their role.
- They need the technology that allows them to do their job.
As long-term procurement consultants, we know the main issues that hold teams back, and the quick-fire solutions that can get them firing on all cylinders. Here are four of them.
Put your staff where they belong.
When a team isn’t performing to the desired level, many organisations look to bring in outside talent. The alternative, however, is often much simpler (and cheaper). Re-deploy. Chances are, individuals aren’t in the roles suited to their skills. This leads to two things: underperformance and disengaged employees.
At Skills Gap Analysis, we have the tools and experience to efficiently map an individual’s and a team’s skillset. Know precisely what skills your staff possess, and where they’d be best used. A simple shuffling of the deck chairs can be incredibly transformative, in terms of output and mood.
Upskill your team.
Upon learning the true skillset of your team, it may become apparent that certain core abilities are lacking. Again, it’s tempting to bring in outside talent, but knowing candidates can do what you need isn’t easy, and the cost of a bad hire can be anywhere between 30% and 150% of the position’s salary.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but it’s more cost-effective to upskill the personnel you have. Not only does this give you certainty about your team’s skillset, but it also motivates them and promotes retention; employees want to stay with businesses that invest in their abilities and their future.
Academy of Procurement has a range of courses that dive into every aspect of procurement.
Locate cost-saving opportunities.
An important key to mobilising a team is knowing where to focus their efforts. The problem is that category managers are focused on their particular portfolios, and no one has a good understanding of the broader purchasing landscape.
The solution is cold, objective data. With dashboards like ProcureTRAK’s Opportunity Analysis, an organisation’s supply base is mapped and ordered based on metrics such as how core a supplier is to the business, how much could be saved by optimising a category, and how easy those savings are to achieve.
This objective data gives teams a clear direction that avoids having to rely on hunches or biases and puts precious resources to better use.
Adopt RPA and free up your human workforce.
Nothing kills morale quite like repetitive, mundane tasks. As necessary as they are, you need your human workforce focused on the dynamic, creative side of their jobs. This is why Robotic Process Automation is such a game-changer.
RPA is the new recruit, fresh-faced and eager to do all those boring jobs that don’t require much knowledge or emotional intelligence. We’re talking about things like purchase request to purchase order and vendor registration – tasks that need to be done but have traditionally taken up too much of your staff’s time and energy.
The adoption of RPA means these tasks actually get done faster and more accurately, and your staff are free to focus on the things better suited to humans.
Arm Your Team & Reduce Costs
An efficient procurement team has the right combination of skills and technology to call upon. You need to have staff performing roles that suit their abilities, and they need to be able to call upon data that makes their job easier. Comprara have deep experience when it comes to mobilising procurement teams and helping organisations reduce costs. Get in touch with the team today.
