Mastering the Strategic Sourcing Process with Effective Project Management

As per the recent Hackett Group research, procurement executives are working to expand the quantity and quality of their organization’s spending influence via sourcing, category management and supplier relationship management.

• 65% of procurement executives are open to innovation – pursuing game changing innovation or technology to support organization strategy
• 88% of organizations cite strategic sourcing as ‘major’ or ‘critical’

The above statistics highlight the new and strategic role of sourcing in pursuing organizational goals, to be more process oriented rather than transaction oriented.

Although the primary objective of strategic sourcing is to save money, it is also important that the sourcing execs focus on improving the process of supplier acquisition, managing supplier performance, managing resources at each stage of the sourcing project and at the same time ensure risk mitigation. Keeping all these requirements in mind it is important that organizations give strategic sourcing process its due importance.

Large scale sourcing projects are complex and cannot be managed manually. A well planned project delivers the desired results within the defined scope, time and resources. Inefficient project plan would leave the organization adrift and result in loss of valuable resources. However, a plan is of no good if it is not implemented well.