Monthly Archives: March 2017

Serex – Searing SRM into the CRM World

Serex was founded 23 years ago to help clients select, implement, deploy and effectively use CRM and marketing automation systems, something it still does to this day. However, a few years ago, during a routine meeting, a client asked if it had any systems to support buying because while it had its CRM and order management under control, and working like a fine-tuned oiled machine (their words, not Serex or SI’s), it’s Procurement organization was unable to keep up, and it was having to hire more and more buyers on a regular basis. Serex’s first response was, appropriately, why not use a social media platform to collect bids, and more specifically use a reverse auction and let the suppliers come to it? The answer Serex got was not the answer they expected — the organization had tried over a dozen auction platforms and not a single one met its need. Not one. (Sounds surprising, but when you consider the limitations of first generation auction platforms, it’s really not. And when you consider that marketing from these first generation platforms dominate the marketing airwaves, it would not be a surprise if only first generation platforms were tested.)

So Serex said that if they really wanted a useable solution that worked, they would build one, under an appropriate agreement. First of all, the solution would be designed under the guidance of the CPO, who had a lot of cross-vertical industry experience at Global 3000 companies. Secondly, the buying team would engage in regular review sessions, assist in UI design, and begin to use the beta as soon as it was ready. Third, the company would commit up front to use, so that the system would be developed by buyers, for buyers, and be used from buyers day one. And while new, and basic in some respects, it is obviously an auction platform designed by buyers for buyers that is used by buyers and works. (Serex’s first customer saved over 6 Million in its first year. And since launch, its first few clients have achieved similar success to its first customer.)

But the real proof that the solution is useable, even it is still a point-based procurement solution, is that all of the ten plus companies it is in negotiations with following it’s inaugural ISM event are all Fortune 500 companies, many of which already have big sourcing and procurement implementations with auctions (like Ariba, Zycus, and Emptoris). This only goes to show that while the e-Auction market is crowded, there is always room for a useable solution that does exactly what a buyer needs it to do in an easy and obvious manner. So while the platform has miles to go, the miles it has crossed make it well suited for a certain market. Which market? For now, in SI’s view, the mid-size market with a need for an easy best-of-breed solution.

The platform is essentially an e-Auction solution built to enable buyers to quickly set up and run auctions through quick bidder search and selection, quick product search and selection, quicker selection of which suppliers can bid on which products, and default auction parameters (which can easily be overridden). Complete product specs can be defined or uploaded as attachments if needed. Suppliers can send detailed messages during the auction to request or offer alternate delivery dates or substitutions for quicker delivery, and a buyer can update the auction specs as needed. In addition, all auctions are saved and new auctions can be created as copies of old auctions, and then updated as needed, allowing repeat auctions to be setup in just minutes (which is valuable if a product sells better than expected and an auction needs to be repeated on short notice to meet demand). (The auction platform has a built in attachment viewer that displays standard web formats.)

The platform also has a product manager sub-component that allows a complete product database that can be maintained and uploaded into the auction platform using a standard flat file format with attachments. In addition, a complete bidder database can be uploaded and maintained into the auction platform with all relevant supplier information.

Serex is not an extensive e-Procurement platform, but it’s one that fledgling organizations need when they want to being their strategic sourcing journey.

For a much deeper dive, check out the doctor and the prophet‘s in-depth dive over on Spend Matters Pro [membership required]. (Part I, Part II, and Part III.)

Spring Will Soon Be Here. Time to Clean Up Your Procurement Operation. Part II

Spring is on the way, and that means that it’s spring cleaning or not, and whether you want to admit it or not, your Procurement operation has a few messes that can be cleaned up, or at least minimized. And, as we indicated yesterday there is no better time than the present to clean those messes up … as much as you might want to leave them behind.

If you’ve taken the first step, you’ve identified (the worst of) the messes you have. Now you get to tackle them. How depends on the mess in question, but we’ll help stimulate some ideas by discussing how you might deal with the messes we mentioned in yesterdays post.

People – Maverick Buying

If the maverick buying is due to the fact that buyers just don’t know about the contracts in place, then make sure they have easy access to a centralized e-contract repository with powerful, free-text, search which understands product and services similarity. This way, a single search should identify the majority of products and services they should be buying on contract. They may still miss some contracts for obscure products or services which can only be uncovered with obscure keywords, but the majority of off-contract purchases going forward will be intentional (and then you have a different problem).

People – Master Data Degredation

Hold mandatory training sessions for all employees on procurement and data management processes, insure that the processes are adequate to prevent data degradation, and that only the right people have approval authority. This will keep data clean and useable.

People – Denied Party Dealings

Put processes in place where the only people with contract signing authority have been trained in denied party searches, sign a statement indicating that they will always do a denied party search before signing a contract, and have them immediately report potential denied parties to appropriate legal counsel in the company. Not only will the chances of a denied party transaction be greatly reduced but if, by some chance, a transaction ever occurs with a denied party, the organization will be able to show best efforts to prevent such a situation.

Process – Piles of Paper

This is an easy problem to remedy — install a modern e-Invoice management solution with EDI, XML, PO-flip, intelligent OCR, and m-way matching and the organization will not only approach 99% e-Invoice rates, but 96% straight-through processing (where suppliers deal with routine exceptions and small errors and resolve 90% of those without purchaser interaction).

Process – Slack Sourcing

This is another easy problem to ready — a modern e-Sourcing or e-Source to Pay platform with easy RFX and e-Auction creation, customizeable workflows and lots, as little or as much detail as you want, bulk attachment uploads, templated projects and weightings, and everything else an average buyer needs to get a 3-to-6 bids and a buy event configured and launched on tail spend that would normally just go to the first supplier identified.

Process – Quality Quarrels

Another problem easily remedied by technology — scorecard technology to be exact. Keep good data on all key metrics, monitor them monthly, and automatically alert the buyer and supplier when a threshold is hit or a downward trend (defined as lapses in performance over 3 regular measurement periods) is detected. This allows both parties to collaboratively identify, and correct, a root cause before slips become falls and minor losses become major losses.

Platform – No Platform

Get one — and if you’re starting from scratch, get one that supports a Virtual Procurement Center of Excellence.

Platform – 1st Generation Platform

If the budget is there and the right stakeholders can be convinced, upgrade, if not, bolt on missing functionality from best of breed providers to cover the key components of the end-to-end source to pay cycle as well as deep analytics.

Progression – Change Management

Make sure the organization has a great competency in change management. Hire someone if needed.

There is no silver bullet, or should we say, silver dustpan that can clean up every mess, just like there is no one-size fits all

Spring Will Soon Be Here. Time to Clean Up Your Procurement Operation. Part I

Spring will soon be here, that means it’s spring cleaning time and, chances are, somewhere in your Procurement organization is a mess … maybe a whole whack of messes. And there’s no better time than the present to clean those messes up … as much as you might want to leave them buried.

The first step is to identify the messes you have. Chances are they fall into one of the following buckets.

People

We’re not saying that your people are a mess, and should be let go (although that is sometimes the case), just that, probably due to lack of experience or lack of training, they are contributing to the mess. For example, they might be regularly ordering off contract or from non-preferred suppliers (because they don’t know how to look up contracts cut by the centralized CoE), screwing up the master data (because they don’t know the proper procedures for requesting data updates that can be properly verified and approved), or even signing contracts with denied parties (because they don’t know how to check the lists).

Process

Maybe you are getting a third of your invoices on (e-)paper when only 3% should be coming in on (e-)paper, maybe you are only sourcing 30% of your buys when you should be sourcing 80%, and maybe your return rate is 10%, when it should be 2%, as a result of poor quality control processes.

Platform

Maybe you are lucky (given that only 6/10 Procurement organizations have any Procurement Technology at all) and have a first generation e-Sourcing or e-Procurement platform and have primitive RFX, e-Auction, or Supplier Information Management technology, and maybe you are not so lucky. Anyway, without the right platform, you’ll be impaired day in and day out.

Progression

Maybe you have some sort of process / technology review, and / or some sort of change management capability, but chances are you don’t. In most organizations, any evolution of the function is literally seat-of-the-pants, and that’s a recipe for chaos and even disruption. Change management is critical for procurement success as modern supply chains are the most dynamic entities on the planet, with disturbances and disruptions occurring on almost a daily basis, and the severity never known until it hits.

In other words, you need to take stock of where you are and what you need. Then you need to do something. What? Come back tomorrow for part II.