Interim Management Purchasing Experts
As a specialist provider of supply chain interim management services we're often asked to provide clients with interim management purchasing specialists.
Why Purchasing?
Purchasing is one of those strategic areas in a business where investing in purchasing interim managers is likely to have a substantial impact on the business' bottom line. Return on investment is usually significantly higher than compared with other areas within a client's business, because often even an additional 1 or 2% saving above budget on a large purchasing expenditure can save far more than the cost of employing a purchasing interim management specialist if the spend is large enough. Interim management e-Sourcing specialists can often deliver substantially more than this, even if the client doesn't have access to their own e-Sourcing platform by using an "on demand" e-Sourcing solution.
"No Go" Areas
However, there are often also categories of expenditure, particularly indirect or non-production categories which historically have not been areas to which internal purchasing teams have had much access. This often includes sensitive areas such as:
- Advertising (particularly the creative element) Agencies
- Public Relations (PR) Agencies
Irrespective of the actual categories though, it is often the case that any business will have one or two "off limits" areas for its own purchasing team, that are difficult to break into.
However, using an interim manager who has a successful track record of delivering benefit to sensitive categories can be a very beneficial way of breaking through these barriers; particularly where its absolutely vital to have the right interpersonal skills, to build appropriate relationships with internal customers.
Case Example
An Executive Interim purchasing manager was "sold" by our client's new Purchasing Director to assist his colleague, the VP of Sales with negotiations for a contract sales force used by the business; which had grown incrementally over a ten year period without the benefit of a strategic purchasing review. Until that time the VP of Sales had little confidence that the purchasing team could add more to the commercial skills that he and his team already possessed.
Nevertheless our client's Purchasing Director persuaded his colleague to meet with one of our interim management purchasing experts who had outsourced more complex professional services in albeit in a different industry, but on a scale one hundred times larger. The VP of Sales was quickly convinced that the interim manager had the gravitas for the role and moreover could probably add substantially more value to the process, not least because the interim manager could dedicate more time to the process of engaging with the supplier than the VP himself would have been able to.
Very rapidly the interim purchasing manager specialist identified not only identified and delivered the tactical savings that he was brought in to deliver, but surfaced some broader strategic issues for much needed discussion. If that wasn't enough, even before the contract sales force project was finished the interim management purchasing specialist was being invited to support the renegotiation of advertising agency spend; which had also previously been "off-limits".
Other Interim Management Supply Chain Specialists:
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