Scratching the Surface of A Supplier Relationship Management Strategy

“Innovation led by cross functional procurement and non-procurement teams, supplier management has grown to encompass a wide range of initiatives and numerous individuals both within and outside the organisation.”

• SpendMatters.com, (2016). ‘Supplier Management in 2016: Onboarding, Risk Management, Development and More’. Online

The article explains some of the trends that are shaping supplier relationship management strategy initiatives and technology in 2016. Establishing that supplier management has encompassed a wide range of benefits for procurement and non-procurement teams, the article is reflecting on the role of technology and how it is both the glue and the bridge that brings contract management and supplier relationship management together.

The trends included in the article are:

• Increased priority
• Clean supplier master data
• A supplier network or more?
• P2P and finance lending
• Supplier diversity remains detached

We provide contract management systems to both organisations globally in the public and private sector and during recent meetings and changes in system functionality, we have come across some of the trends that are hitting the agendas of businesses that are looking to adopt better contract and improve their supplier relationship management strategy.

Organisations have recently been taking action on the way the business should prioritise supply chain management and supplier risk management. Procurement and purchasing departments require a better understanding of their supply chain to understand the risk and contract terms. There has been a demand in technology development to contract management systems to provide the functionality of risk analysis on suppliers and ensure better control and compliance to provide a better path for making savings.

The need for better management and improved visibility on supply chain data has created a trend for a connected supplier network to be developed between suppliers and the procurement and purchasing departments. We have continued to develop supplier relationship management into our own contract management systems so clients are able to have the supplier information they need against the contract they are working on. The integrated functionality is allowing procurement officers a 360-degree view of contract and supply chain data so nothing is overlooked and important negotiations and decisions can be made.

We created a supplier network for our clients by developing a supplier login, where the supplier can have their own access to the integrated system and provide their own insurance compliance and easily exchange basic documentation.

Improving your supplier relationship management strategy has been bubbling away in the background while establishing better practices towards contract data with contract management systems has been playing out. 2016 is looking to be the year where more organisations will be scratching the surface to find better ways to manage supply chain data with new solutions being developed as technology for procurement and purchasing departments begin change.