Strategic Sourcing Consultant: Here’s everything you need to know…
Are you looking for a Strategic Sourcing Consultant to transform your organisation’s procurement strategy? Have you thought about working with a procurement expert, but are still unsure about what’s in it for you?
In this blog, we’ll go through the benefits of working with a Strategic Sourcing Consultant. Keep reading for more!
What is a Strategic Sourcing Consultant?
A Strategic Sourcing Consultant is a procurement or purchasing professional that helps organisations take a strategic approach to their procurement activities. In the role, they consider every aspect of the procurement cycle, from the initial idea through to delivery. Instead of purchasing the lowest priced goods, a Strategic Sourcing Consultant will help businesses get the best value for money.
Why should you work with a Strategic Sourcing Consultant?
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Save money
No matter where you are in your procurement journey, we have no doubt that you’ll be interested in saving money. That’s exactly what a Strategic Sourcing Consultant can help you do!
With strategic sourcing, they’ll help you tackle your procurement processes in a strategic, tactical way. They’ll help you evaluate suppliers to find the most economically advantageous tender, otherwise known as the MEAT. In public sector procurement, this means that the buyer is looking for the highest quality services for the lowest price. So, a Strategic Sourcing Consultant can help you find the best value for your money.
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Reduce risks
You might be surprised to learn that a Strategic Sourcing Consultant can benefit buyers and supplier alike. But it’s true! This is because they help to reduce risks, which is advantageous for both sides of the table.
As part of strategic sourcing, businesses are encouraged to conduct quality, financial, supply and customer support risk assessments. Strategic Sourcing Consultants can support you with this, reducing your chance of encountering risks as you navigate the procurement process.
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Improve your procurement strategy
There are more benefits that don’t just involve saving money and reducing risks. When you work with a Strategic Sourcing Consultant, they’ll identify ways that you can improve your procurement strategies. This could be anything from helping you refine your tender documentation to staying competitive in your sector.
And this is great news for your business! As your procurement strategy improves, so will other areas of your business.
How Strategic Sourcing Consultants will help you create a procurement strategy
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Analyse your spending behaviour
A Purchasing Consultant will assess your current spending activities and help you organise your future spending. They can help you categorise your key spend areas into:
- Critical and non-critical
- Domestic and international
- Direct and indirect.
As a result of this analysis, you’ll be in a better position to identify trends in your spending behaviour. This will make it easier to find areas that require improvement.
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Research the supplier market
Before publishing a tender notice, a Strategic Sourcing Consultant will help you research the supplier market. To do this, they’ll look at suppliers in your sector, including ones you’ve worked with in the past. They’ll assess:
- What is their market standing?
- How have they performed on previous contracts?
- Are there any risks associated with each supplier?
This process will enable you to learn more about the different suppliers that offer the services you require.
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Produce tender documentation on your behalf
As part of your sourcing strategy, a Strategic Sourcing Consultant will be able to produce tender documentation on your behalf. This could include:
- Description of what’s required
- Specification, including the marking criteria
- Delivery details, such as time and location
- Terms and conditions, including express terms and implied terms
- Service Level Agreement (SLA).
A Strategic Sourcing Consultant can ensure that everything that potential suppliers need to know is included in these documents. As a result, you have the best chance of securing suitable, high-quality businesses for your project.
In summary
A Strategic Sourcing Consultant is a procurement professional that helps organisations take a strategic approach to their procurement activities. In the role, they consider every aspect of the procurement cycle, from the initial idea through to delivery.
There are many benefits of working with Strategic Sourcing Consultants, including:
- You can save money
- There are fewer risks
- They can help you develop a procurement strategy.
A Strategic Sourcing Consultant will help you produce a procurement strategy in the following ways:
- Analyse your spending behaviour
- Research the supplier market
- Produce tender documentation on your behalf.
How can Hudson Procure help your business?
At Hudson Procure, our procurement experts have nearly two decades of experience. No matter what kind of support you’re looking for, we can help.
Procure Consult
With Procure Consult, we offer support with tender management and ad-hoc procurement consultancy. Our expert team will manage the end-to-end procurement process or offer assistance with any stage, as and when required.
Procure Health Check
With Procure Health Check, we’ll conduct a full review of the strategic and operational procurement processes within your organisation. We’ll identify the areas that need improvement and help you drive greater value from the procurement process.
Procure Analyse
The purpose of Procure Analyse is to conduct a high-level analysis of your spending activity. We’ll help you understand your current strategic purchasing behaviour and highlight areas that can deliver greater value. Procure Analyse is also offered as part of Procure Health Check or as a standalone service.
Procure Outsourcing
With Procure Outsourcing, we deliver a range of procurement solutions on an outsourced basis, completely bespoke to you. This can range from delivering multiple tender projects as a package to delivering the full procurement management function of your organisation.
Procure Post
Are you trying to find a supplier for your project? Post your tendering opportunity onto any of our 11 sector-specific portals for FREE with Procure Post!
Housed by our sister company, Hudson Discover, our portals host thousands of tendering opportunities for organisations of all sizes. For an additional cost, we’ll even help you identify your requirements and find the most suitable suppliers for your business.
Get in touch for a consultation and find out how we can help your business grow.
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