Maximising the impact of your professional services and consultancy spend on your business' performance fundamentally depends on measurement and analysis. But to truly understand its impact, first you have to ensure you're working with real information.
Supplier relationships based on real performance are better for long-term success
"Oh, we always use Acme Consulting for that service" and statements of this nature are surprisingly common in organisations of all sizes. An absence of objective performance measurement often means long-term supplier relationships are founded on the 'nobody got fired for buying IBM' mentality. But at the next QBR, when someone asks, "what value are we really getting from our investment?" the answer needs to be more credible.
In tough economic times, procurement teams need to hold suppliers to higher account and must be able to review performance on demonstrable value, cost-savings and ultimately ROI.
A relationship based on objective performance measurement is also better for the supplier. With clarity on KPIs, objectives and results, suppliers can ensure their efforts are focused on areas of their service that really matter.
The result is a positive experience for both sides of the supply chain and the foundations for a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
Evolving the supply chain as an extension of your business
As businesses look for these solutions, professional services procurement teams need to be in a position to enable and encourage innovation but, at the same time, defend against rogue spend.
Being able to call upon real performance data enables procurement teams to proactively shape and refine their network of suppliers, whilst ensuring:
- Stronger relationships and better commercial terms are in place with the best-performing suppliers
- Suppliers are accountable to high standards around delivering quality outcomes on-time and on-budget
Of course, this considered curation of the supply chain based on real performance creates long-term relationships with suppliers who effectively become an extension of the business itself. This creates greater stability, better outcomes and an improved customer experience.
Now's the time to get real
Your data is your most valuable commodity - only once you've access to real performance data can you begin to unlock the insights that lead to the business performance improvements mentioned above.
Zivio's mission to help its customers deliver real performance is based on two core principles:
Capture spend & performance data down to the finest detail
Your ability to control costs and deliver business impact is constrained by what you can measure. Zivio's ability to capture the end-to-end professional services procurement process means you have access to supplier performance data on every penny of spend – right down to quantitative and qualitative measurement of individual milestone delivery.
Leverage insights through automation
As the old saying goes, 'knowledge is power'. However, the average lean procurement team needs help freeing up time and headspace to turn their insights into cost-savings or business improvements.
Automated insights, powered by smart AI, can provide lean procurement teams detailed insights into their spend patterns, project pipelines, supplier capabilities and supplier performance, which help them become more proactive and ultimately increases their value within the overall organisation.
