The biggest stumbling block of any supply chain is when the
departments involved aren’t on the same page with procurement and are isolated
from the project. Overcoming this challenge requires both sides to start
bridging the gap—easy to say, of course, but hard to promote… especially when
each side waits the other to make the first move. So what can procurement
professionals do to get this process moving quickly and in the right direction?
There is a connection between cross-department
procurement collaboration and reaching an organization’s full potential, and
employees on both sides need to recognize this. When new strengths are brought
to the table and output gains another dimension, these alliances are increasingly
valued and repeated.

Best
Practices for Collaborative Sourcing
Last evening at the ISM Philadelphia January 2015 Dinner
Meeting, Kathleen Jordan and David Pastore emphasized the power of employees
willing to collaborate with diverse departments in an influential sourcing
practice. At the dinner meeting, both speakers expanded on best practices for
sourcing unique spend categories with this perspective in mind.
The audience knew all too well how missed opportunities to
collaborate affect the bottom line. One ISM
member shared a story about a company facing drastic budgetary cut backs when
the IT spend unexpectedly exceeded the budget with maintenance and renewal fees
embedded in unmanaged contracts. How did this happen? Communication between
procurement and IT wasn’t leveraged, and communication suffered as a result.
Another ISM member approached Kathleen following her
presentation with a question many professionals encounter when beginning to
support marketing from a sourcing group: What is the best way to begin? Kathleen
noted that the more tactical areas – print and promotional items for example – are
a great transition into the more unique marketing spend categories such as
creative, media buying, or public relations.
In uniting core competencies, Marketing and IT are finding
benefit in aligning with sourcing, and this goes for many other departments as
well. Much of this acceptance begins internally, so pursuing new options
available once diverse groups come together to expand their resources is a
worthwhile pursuit. Following David and Kathleen’s advice, the audience members
know where to start.
Image
courtesy of: englishmaninmarseille.wordpress.com
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