I think that Accenture’s Six Distinctions of Great Procurement is one such theory.
Procurement has become an increasingly important aspect of business in general and has certainly impacted on the relationship between marketers and their communications agencies. So let’s take each of Accenture’s ‘Six Distinctions of Great Procurement’ and see how relevant they are to our industry and what we can learn from them;
Great procurement relentlessly pursues measurable financial impact
Marketing communications is a major line item for most consumer marketing companies. But as Accenture advises, it’s about maximising the value of the spend—not just driving the lowest price. In the end, it’s about getting the best price and solution, and ensuring this value is achieved, not lost, in execution.
Great procurement enables strategic business objectives
Spend strategy is more than just savings goals, but also includes sustainability metrics such as carbon footprint and recyclability. Critical and responsible but I’d be stretching to make it directly relevant to marcomms.
Great procurement protects the organization from risk
You have a vigilant 360 degree process, assessing and quantifying risk at every step. It’s what we do, so it’s music to our ears.
Great procurement is proactively embraced by business functions
Working seamlessly and collaboratively with other stakeholders, and even informing new strategies in their disciplines, will place you in a pivotal position.
From our observations, procurement is too often treated as an adversary. How about a partnership not only within organisations but with their suppliers as well?
Great procurement brings powerful insights and analytics to inform decisions
You’re fully quantified. You use analytics tools across categories, compliance, payments and supplier metrics to bring eagle-eye visibility to the organization. You’re able to analyze spend data to drive maximum savings, identify new opportunities and informed conversations.
Only through disciplined, measurement and monitoring can data be generated that will reveal the achievements to be applauded and the issues to be addressed.
Great procurement digitally drives automation, efficiency, agility & speed.
Ultimately, you’re using innovation technologies to exercise full control over.
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