In the first post in this series, I asked the question “Is procurement outsourcing right for you?”. In the second post in this series, I provided some pointers on selecting a Procurement Service Provider, or PSP. In the third post I provided some hints on getting the most out of your PSP and in my fourth post I tackled the question I poised in my first post.

In this post, I’m going to introduce you to Provade – a leading provider of managed procurement services for the Global 2000. I’m not going to overload you with details of their services at this time, as you can find lots of information on your own on their site, but simply focus on three distinct advantages they can provide you.

First of all, they focus on Technology Enabled Outsourcing. They use eTools that they have custom developed in house to generate significant savings for their customers in a variety of indirect goods and MRO categories, including labour and legal services – tough nuts to crack for your average BPO.

They built their solution offering using a custom developed off shoot of PeopleTools on top of Oracle – for which they maintain valid licenses on behalf of their clients. Therefore, you do not have to worry about their long-term viability or what happens if you decide that you want to migrate control back in house down the road due to organizational restructurings because you could always migrate the technology they are using in-house, and we know Oracle isn’t going anywhere.

They have acquired significant expertise and experience in the managed procurement space and can apply that experience and expertise on your behalf to give you significant savings on the categories you do not have the volume or expertise to manage in house. Moreover, with the expected growth in the industry, and their standing as a major player, as their current customers entrust more of their spend to them and they acquire more customers, their leverage is only going to increase. I know I’m assuming they are going to continue to grow, but after talking to them last month, I feel that they have what it takes and when you combine the explosive growth that is being predicted with the lack of procurement focused business process outsourcers out there, I see no reason why they should not continue to grow. I’ll be talking to them again in the new year and you can be sure I’ll have more to report at a later date.