Procurement professionals do not promote or advertise themselves, but when they communicate with stakeholders, they tend to let them know how efficient and performance-oriented procurement is when it comes to saving costs, ensuring compliance, conducting spend analysis, and requesting for quotations from suppliers.
While there is nothing wrong with these efforts, most internal stakeholders are not really impressed as these tasks may not always produce the results they anticipate.
Therefore, procurement professionals need to look for ways to transform procurement into a business function so that it is aligned with the needs of the business and can be on the same plane as internal stakeholders.
When you become part of a procurement team in an organisation, here are a few things that you can do to transform how internal stakeholders view you and your department:
- Ensure maximum outcomes: rather than trying to reduce costs by opting for the cheapest, work to maximise outcomes. This will ensure that you procure the best and in quick-time without sacrificing quality. When you do this, you will be helping your organisation meet its business targets.
- Cultivate internal relationships: as a procurement professional, you will be laying more emphasis on supplier relations. However, if you want to transform procurement into a business function, then focus on building internal relationships. Make sure that you involve the stakeholders in the planning so that they realise the amount of effort you are putting into procuring their requirements.
- Build your capabilities based on your company’s business needs: once you understand the business needs and strategies of your company, you will be able to focus on the right outcomes. This will make procurement into a contributor and ensure that it becomes a valuable partner for other departments.
- Take a look at the total cost of ownership: it is easy for procurement to pay attention just at the price of a product. However, when you change your perception and begin looking at the total cost of ownership, it will enable you to bring real value to your organisation. Do this without sacrificing quality while building a reliable supply chain.
These are some of the ways that procurement professionals and CPOs can change the perception of procurement and ensure that it becomes a profit-making business centre.