Mature procurement teams have influence over the majority of the third-party controllable expenditure in their organisations. For others, some categories of spend may be no-go areas. Either for historical reasons or because they seem too difficult to grasp - indirect spend on support services is the most difficult area to tackle. Categories such as professional services, IT and telecommunications, and human resources are challenging areas but need not be out-of-bounds.
Within
professional services, there are commodities (also called sub-categories),
which have some common themes that, if addressed properly, can yield great
results. Marketing, management consulting, legal and insurance are commodities
that have unclear pricing structures that take time to understand fully, but we
need to persevere.
Marketing services
The marketing services category is complex and requires focus, stamina and patience. Traditionally, advertising agencies have been the major recipients of marketing spend; some providing a one-stop service, maybe with no contract or service level agreement (SLA).
The
chosen agency would often oversee a wide portfolio, including: media buying;
printed matter; brand management; and public relations, with poor price
disclosure and hidden margins. The status quo is a comfortable place but the
digital agency era has arrived and these contracts should be revisited.
Legal services
Even though the legal services area is complex, it is possible to build credibility with the in-house legal team by finding out and understanding:
a)
what their needs and issues are;
b)
which areas have potential for savings;
c) where better value can be achieved from external legal firms.
The
low-end, routine or commoditised legal services are the easiest to address. Learn
the language of attorneys so that you can express your sourcing ideas in words
they understand. Managing supplier relationships with law firms needs to be
focused on minimising bad behaviours and rewarding and incentivising those who
provide accurate, transparent pricing and deliver excellent service and good
advice.
Pricing of professional services
The trend is towards full price transparency, which is a relief for procurement. But it is making life somewhat difficult for companies submitting bids for new work. Suppliers have been known to undercut on price to win the deal, and then ratchet-up fees, claiming scope-creep.
A tactic in consulting has been to allocate juniors to the tasks that seniors have been selected and priced for, potentially compromising the advice given to your company, while improving their profit margin.
There are three main types of pricing model:
·
Project-based
fees – where there are clearly defined deliverables and timelines. For example,
an event with a start and clear deliverables, in a given timeframe.
·
Cost
plus (or Time and Expenses). These are open-ended fees, based on rate cards
(hourly or daily rates per skill level). This method is more difficult to
manage and is best used only for projects where the scope is unclear or subject
to change.
·
Contingent
fees. This is where the fee is dependent on pre-determined metrics or multiple
performance milestones, but it doesn’t work so well in professional services.
IT and telecommunications
Sourcing and contracting IT services is different from any other category. Here, the function is mission critical to the company operations. For example, in banks and insurance companies, procurement and sourcing professionals need to be totally immersed in the category and its commodities. These can include: software licences, hardware, peripherals, servers, data and telephony, 3D printing, warranties and maintenance.
This
category is developing into a career path of its own and companies regularly
recruit internal candidates with in-depth knowledge.
Tips to help you succeed in difficult categories:
·
Develop
a database for each type of service by evaluating current suppliers, their
pricing structures and capabilities;
·
Research
the market by benchmarking pricing and services to establish competitiveness of
current suppliers;
·
Establish
what sets of skills you need for each type of service so that you can determine
which suppliers provide them;
·
Identify
incentives to improve relationships with your incumbent suppliers and aim to
consolidate your base;
·
Re-negotiate
and improve the contractual terms and conditions, pricing models and rates on
current agreements and/or go to market with a well-thought outsourcing
strategy.
Contributed by: Elaine Porteous - a senior associate at Bespoke
Article
first appeared Bespoke Procurement Bulletin: 
http://www.bespoke.co.za/articles/190818-procurement-categories-tackling-the-difficult-ones-by-elaine-porteous
