Sudy Bharadwaj

For several years, enterprises have been applying cost-reduction measures, including reductions in force (layoffs) and closing or outsourcing facilities and manufacturing functions. Today, for direct materials cost reductions, activities that focus on asking suppliers to do more while beating them down on price are not sufficient to make repeatable and sustainable reductions. Eventually, those suppliers will have trouble with their costs. Meanwhile, other factors, such as quality and on-time delivery, could suffer.

Continued pressures to reduce costs while maintaining quality and other non-cost factors have caused enterprises to look beyond incumbent providers and traditional sources of supply. In many cases, these new sources are manufacturers and suppliers in foreign countries which add variables to an enterprise’s supply chain. Factors such as lead time, quality and delivery performance are subsequently changed and can adversely affect a supply chain.

From my column in Supply Chain Management Review

From my Column in Supply Chain Management Review

Invoice Reconciliation and Payment (IR&P) is more than simply processing invoices and paying bills. It is the foundation into gaining real-time visibility into costs and supplier performance.

On Demand applications are making headlines in a number of functional areas, the most prominent being sales force automation. However, this phenomenon is spreading quickly through the supply management world and in the minds of procurement professionals.

As corporate procurement organizations are charged with securing products and services of the best quality and the lowest possible cost, their enterprises are counting on them to be much more than just “order takers.” To accomplish that, procurement organizations must develop capabilities in spend intelligence.

One of my Aberdeen Briefs

An Aberdeen Market Alert