Maximising value from your supplier contracts.
Supplier contracts are essential to your organisation's success. Not only do they define the terms and conditions of your supplier contracts and relationships, they should also play a vital role in ensuring that you get the best possible value for money.
But with stretched procurement teams and senior management pushing for cost-savings and better value for money, finding the time to focus on contracts whilst getting the day-to-day done is one of the biggest challenges.
Are you sure that your supplier contracts are working in your organisations best interests?
Read on...
Let's start with an eye-opening statistic...
An average of 9.2% is annual revenue is lost through poor contract management. In larger organisations, that figure can increase to as much as 15%.
Source: WCC
So, why is this happening? There's a whole host of reasons; including:
It's a simple fact that many procurement teams are stretched and don't have the consistent resources or long-lasting expertise to focus 100% on their long-term contracts.
But we're preaching to the converted, right? This challenge is likely to resonate with you as a recent report stated that 98% are facing critical barriers to transforming their handling of contracts.
Getting on top of your SRM/contract management processes may seem like a challenging task, especially if you're a larger organisation with hundreds, if not thousands, of complex contracts. This is where we advise you to start with manageable changes: small steps can reap big rewards.
How you can transform your contract management.
Optimise Supplier Relationships
The better your relationship with your suppliers, the better the overall deal you are going to achieve both in procurement and within Contract Lifecycle Management. Regularly engaging with suppliers after the goods or services have been procured develops a positive win-win relationships with suppliers. This can be key in times when you require items for unforeseen issues or resolving any disputes in a timely manner.
There is of course a fine line between maintaining supplier relationships which can get overly formal, or too friendly. The key is to optimise the relationship to ensure you realise the expected contract value. If you want to optimise your supplier relationships, there are a few things you can do to improve this;
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Purchase Orders & Negotiation T&Cs
When it comes to creating a purchase order or even negotiating the terms and conditions of a contract, the first phase of a procurement team is about having a negotiation strategy and selecting the right suppliers. A ‘qualified supplier’ will allow your team to be able to quickly engage, draw up purchase orders and even move stock and services in a shorter timescale.
Once you have a list of approved suppliers, you can move away from manual processes which take time, cause errors and can over time erode trust with your suppliers. By automating the process of supplier selection as well as receiving proposals when required and then selecting the supplier you want to work with, you can increase efficiency in a short space of time. By having pre-approved suppliers in a centralised system, you can negotiate contracts and speed up associated processes in contract data.
Contract data will include pricing, Service-Level Agreements (SLAs), and terms & conditions. Advanced CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management) solutions ensure that the organisation’s approval policies are followed and all necessary information is included in every contract.
Streamlining the Procurement Process
When streamlining the procurement process, you are creating a database of suppliers and contract register with the relevant information. From names, email addresses, telephone numbers and key supplier policies and certificates, you are making it easier to get in touch with your contacts, increase efficiency and remove human error with procurement procedures.
But how can the procurement process be streamlined? There are a few ways that this can be achieved, including;
Monitor and Managing Expenses and Terms
When everything becomes more centralised through software and process systems, it becomes easier to monitor and manage contract terms ensuring compliance and governance. In short, it is easier to understand how much money you are spending with suppliers, see spending patterns and savings opportunities, and if the terms of agreements are being adhered to or not.
A CLM solution can work by improving transparency across the procurement process, as such it can give a thorough breakdown of the terms and conditions of each contract as well as monitor the level of spend and expenses per supplier.
Enhancing Supplier Performance Visibility
Automation helps organisations in their procurement procedures identify problems at an early stage – by continuously monitoring what is happening through the terms of the contract and the performance of the vendor. This is essential to ensure that a procurement department can identify any issues early on and develop either new relationships for better performance or investigate problems to raise awareness to the vendor and in return strengthen relationships.
You can measure performance through a series of different metrics, importantly your CLM software will be able to help in all of these areas as they are integral to the analytics packages which are incorporated into the programs. This includes;
Contract management is a large part of the ongoing services that eXceeding brings to organisations, delivering solutions designed to help organisations thrive.
Don’t take our word for it though, here is what the BGL Group said about their experience when it came to our procurement solutions for their business:
“eXceeding worked with us to ensure that our procurement processes and procedures were aligned with our culture. They also helped us to identify an overspend in one area which resulted in a spend review and led to considerable savings for our business.”
If you're in need of some support, knowledge, or simply want to ask for some guidance, please do drop us a message.