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The Three R's are Key to your Success

How big does a procurement team need to be?

In good times you can be tempted to expand your permanent resources to cover new projects and increasing spend.

In the current climate with increasing workloads to cope with and changing markets, you may not get the green light to take on new permanent resource.

Instead you might need to focus on making sure you have the right people, with the right skills, focused in the right way and supplement the team gaps with a ‘new breed’ of experienced short-term interim support.

The Three R’s can help make sure you take full advantage of changing economic conditions, help you identify skill gaps, training needs and missed opportunities, which can then help you get the right resource on board outside your permanent headcount.

First, Right Size - Examine your team to make sure it's big enough to deal with the tasks it faces.

In the new economic order, the workload for procurement functions is dramatically increasing.

With suppliers attempting to drive through cost increases in almost every category, a large proportion of the capacity of your team could be swallowed-up defending these, leaving limited resource to manage projects and find savings.

Combined with pressure from the business, procurement leaders may find themselves in a tough position needing to do more with less.

Consider outsourcing non-strategic spend or bring in a team of ‘fit for purpose’ experienced interims to free up resource.

Review the future workload now, assess your capacity and plan the best way to use it.

Second, Right Shape – Is your team configured correctly for the new economic landscape?

Less experienced buyers may never have worked through tough times with decreasing spend and increasing cost, so ensure you have resource with cost avoidance and cost containment experience to face up to the high impact suppliers and categories.

You may also have to redefine the traditional boundaries of procurement to meet your challenges; outsourcing where beneficial and putting resources deeper into the business to deliver supply chain savings.

Step back and review the shape of your team, to make sure it is working smarter.

Finally, Right Fit - Do you have the right people?

Do your teams have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to deliver quickly?

For example, if you plan to offset cost increases through low cost country sourcing, do you have the expertise in your teams to deliver this?

Tactical skill sets can be taught, so consider the immediate impact of upskilling existing resources. Short term, consider using expert interim resource to ensure the delivery of immediate targets and, medium term, plan to recruit the right people.

Once you've been through the Three R’s, stand back and take a good look at the big picture.

Now you're better equipped to cope with the demands of these difficult times - and be ideally placed to hit the ground running when the upturn finally comes.

For more information contact us on:
+44 (0)870 240 1667
or email: info@procurement-people.com