Over the last several weeks, Source One has shared insights and reflections from some of Supply Management's most highly-regarded thought leaders. The four installments of Procurement Transformation: Industry Perspectives have looked at the ever-popular subject from every conceivable angle in hopes of eliminating confusion, cutting through the hype, and providing strategies for today's evolving Procurement departments.

Jennifer Ulrich, Source One's Procurement Transformation Practice Lead, brings things to close with Part 5. "The Last Word (For Now)" explores the importance of tracking Procurement's performance and reporting its success across the organization.

"In a sense," she writes, "metrics and reporting provide the bookends for a Procurement Transformation." Without demonstrating a clear, sustainable ROI, Procurement will always struggle to build the business case for a Transformation. Before organizations will commit to refining the department, they've got to recognize both its current value and its future potential.

Reporting can also boost morale and help maintain momentum throughout the life of an initiative. Both Procurement and its business partners can easily grow exhausted if an initiative grows long and drawn-out. If results and improvements are not readily apparent, enthusiasm could fizzle out and lead to the death of an initiative. That's why Procurement, Ulrich suggests, should take the same attitude toward metrics that it takes toward people, processes, and technology. Embarking on a Transformation, they should not only aim to produce better results moving forward, but also evolve the way they track and communicate these results.

With more thorough metrics and more impactful reporting Procurement can expect to make its Transformation an enterprise-wide concern. As other units come to understand the functions strategic potential, they'll engage with it more closely and invest themselves in its evolution.

This whitepaper series has ended, but the conversation surrounding Procurement Transformation is far from over. Source One's team of Strategic Sourcing specialists look forward to engaging clients, partners, and peers in this engaging discussion for years to come.

Did you miss an installment of Procurement Transformation: Industry Perspectives? Read all five today.


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