CPO's crucial role in adding value to UK services procurement

27 Sep 2010

Source:  CPO Agenda

A lack of support, resourcing or adequate training can prevent buyers of professional services in the UK from doing their job. CPOs can help them deliver value by providing scope to develop greater expertise according to Paul Vincent, managing director of Insight Sourcing Solutions, a professional services procurement consultancy, based in Essex, UK.
 Economic and market conditions have forced most organisations to review their non-core spend. Many have been busily deploying a full armoury of procurement tools and techniques on their use of consultants and other professional service providers.

As revenues, margins and opportunities  have shrunk for the professional services industry, you could argue this has been a procurement job well done. But has this procurement armoury delivered a better understanding of what constitutes best value asks Vincent. Are organisations now realising better business outcomes from every pound they spend because of an improved focus on procurement? Or, in reality, is it just that organisations are merely getting the same as before, only for a lower price and from fewer sources? CPOs should be aware of just how dependent their colleagues, senior executives and the organisation as a whole may be on professional services support. There is no other spend category that requires as much careful navigation around the corridors of power in an organisation and no other category is comparable when it comes to the challenge of justifying procurement’s involvement in a purchasing decision.

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