How many clients with indirect spend do we run across that conduct strategic sourcing, develop pre-negotiated contracts, and implement savings plans that can’t get those savings flow to the bottom line?  Answer: all of them. Related: Supply risk defined in supplier relationship management When it comes to locking in cost reductions from hard-fought sourcing engagements, companies don't just identify opportunities, but rather they implement savings. Here are 5 tactics to drive compliance and benefits to...

There are many challenges for achieving supplier rationalization and standardization. A typical tactic deployed by procurement organizations is trying to reduce the variety of similar items that the organization purchases. The reasons for this rationalization go beyond cost savings and can include: Supplier diversity initiatives Supply mitigation and management Going green Ultimately, standardizing is not as easy as it may first appear. Take, for example, an organization with multiple manufacturing plants, each of which buys tens of...