Good sourcing strategies are indispensable when you want to run an effective procurement operation. They boost procurement’s performance, deliver impressive savings and give businesses a significant competitive edge.
But the challenge of dealing with myriad categories or grappling with clunky technology can distract enterprise procurement teams from their strategic focus, making it difficult to achieve sourcing success. And that’s where sourcing business process outsourcing (BPO) can step in and offer in-house procurement organizations a big assist.
"We’ve had a very successful sourcing partnership with GEP. They’ve helped supplement our procurement team with subject matter experts who worked closely with us to get us focused."
Why Consider Sourcing BPO?
A reliable strategic sourcing services provider can bring advantages to in-house teams that make up for capabilities those teams might lack. They provide access to a wide pool of category-specific experts, along with the assurance of road-tested, smooth-running processes and the efficiency of powerful technology. Not only does this enable best-value sourcing, it allows procurement teams to advance along the maturity curve with a sharper focus on core strategic activities and better alignment with organizational goals.
Category Experience
Extensive category experience and expertise is a given for any sourcing services firm, evidenced by the quality and diversity of talent at its disposal. A vast pool of in-house category and subject matter experts usually points to a solid sourcing capability.
Leading sourcing services providers can be counted on to include many of the industry’s most accomplished, insightful and innovative category specialists on their roster. A roster that also comprises seasoned industry experts, recognized thought leaders, commodity and material consultants, and market intelligence professionals — all focused on delivering world-class value to clients.
Technology
Top-notch sourcing BPO companies come equipped with their own software systems, featuring a comprehensive range of intuitive, user-friendly sourcing tools designed to streamline and automate the sourcing process. Besides galvanizing enterprise-wide collaboration, these platforms ensure compliance with sourcing best practices, help manage risk and vault organizations out in front of their competition.
Flexibility
Sourcing consulting services require a great deal of flexibility. Best-of-breed sourcing BPO providers are inherently adaptable in their delivery approach. This means that their solutions are custom configured to fit varying client objectives, both short and long term, from category-specific programs to multiyear engagements aimed at achieving future-oriented targets.
International Presence
A worldwide footprint and global acumen are highly desirable assets of sourcing services companies. Operations centers in key geographies across the globe can be a vital source of sought-after data, market intelligence and cost-effective execution support — all of which help deliver better and faster returns on investment.
At a minimum, low-cost countries make up 20 percent of the total sourcing portfolio for best-in-class sourcing BPOs. Having a strong presence in, and understanding of, global markets — local language capability, knowledge of regional regulations, established supplier networks, and rapidly deployable ground-level resources — can help with low-cost country sourcing (LCCS).
GEP is a leading provider of strategic sourcing services to some of the world’s largest companies. Our unified end-to-end procurement platform, GEP SMART™, helps automate the sourcing process and gives enterprise procurement teams access to best-in-class sourcing tools — making it easier for them to find the right suppliers while streamlining source-to-contract operations. Partner with us today.
