I recently traded emails with Andrew Bartolini of Aberdeen Group, thanks to this blog. Andrew Bartolini, as far as you can read on his offical bio, is meant to know what he is talking about, as he is” a Supply Management professional with rich experience in Strategic Sourcing, Business Process Transformation, and Software Implementation. As a leader at several solution providers, Bartolini managed the design and implementation of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement processes for retail, manufacturing, energy, technology, transportation, defense, and finance companies. (…)“. In a recent, free and nice-to-read Aberdeen report issued in December 2006 ( The art and science of the deal) about advanced eSourcing, Andrew Bartolini says that, ” to maintain the momentum generated by many maturing eSourcing programs, procurement groups should:
- Develop advanced eSourcing capabilities – Move your focus from lowest cost to highest value. Leverage capabilities from solution providers and consider recruiting experienced eSourcing specialists who are well-versed in eSourcing best practices and maximizing the use of available technology.
- Centralize eSourcing capabilities – Capitalize on the move to center-led organizational structures by aggregating eSourcing capabilities into centralized eSourcing Operations teams.
- Improve supplier discovery capabilities – Expend incremental effort on supplier discovery for second and third generation eSourcing projects. Where appropriate, pursue LCCS opportunities.
- Extend their eSourcing solution – If you have not done so already, consider investing in technology and/or services that will extend the reach of your program to include spend analysis, process management, and contract management.”
Andrew Bartolini is now looking after the completion of a new and extensive survey for his upcoming Advanced Sourcing & Negotiations Report and he told me that he would be very excited to invite this blog’s readership to take his latest survey: The study will look to quantify a wide range of key performance indicators (KPIs) for eSourcing effectiveness and to identify the practices and attributes of top-performing sourcing programs and to provide a basic framework for quantifying the success of eSourcing initiatives by estimating the operational and financial impact of adopting such practices. All respondents will receive a complimentary copy of the final report upon publication.
Andrew Bartolini says:
” This research effort is looking at the usage of advanced strategies, so a key KPI will be in the % of sourcing events that employ advanced strategies and the savings these strategies deliver.Other KPI’s that we seek to capture:
- Percent of spend strategically sourced (%)
- 2006 procurement cost reductions ($)
- Contract compliance rates (% of total purchases that are compliant with contracts)
- Percent of total spend with low-cost country suppliers (%)
- average savings REALIZED by an eSourcing event “
If you want to contribute, the survey is available at the link below:
Advanced sourcing adn negotiation benchmark Survey
The Avanced sourcing survey is, according to Andrew, a 10′ exercice with 35-40 questions. The survey is will be closed in a week from now and the report published at the end of January. Looking at previous Aberdeen’s studies, I think it worth your time.
If you are interested in Aberdeen’s reports as I do, though Jason Busch looked disappointed by Aberdeen’s quality and though-leadership (read his post here) while Sourcing Innovation is still confident (read post there), let me advise you to go, bookmark and browse the 2 links below:
- Second 2006 CPO’s summit report (free – update of CPO agenda, priorities and issues)
- Procurement and Supply Research Channel (Aberdeen research catalogue on this topic. Many free downloads
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