6 Steps to Successful Procurement Transformations – Step 2: Understand Where You Are Now

August 14, 2017 by Benj Street

This series looks at the key considerations in transforming your procurement function and building a modern, fit for purpose, procurement function.  This can look very different in different organisations depending on the goals of the business, the industry, and the maturity of the team.

Build a Baseline

If you followed the first step, you will have a clear view of the needs and wants of your customer.  The next thing to focus on is understanding how much of what you are currently doing is addressing those needs.  This will form a baseline to work from.  You will need to look at your in-flight activity, existing plans and strategies as well as the goals of your team.

Once you are clear on what the team is currently doing, an assessment of what capacity and capability you have in the existing team can be carried out.  As you do this, it helps to understand the tools, policies and procedures that are being used and how effective they are with respect to existing activity and for meeting the needs of the customer.

As well as focusing on internal team reviews, it is important to incorporate customer satisfaction surveys and ‘Voice of the Customer’ reviews into this step of the process.  Online feedback surveys can be built quickly and easily and, if used regularly, the data they provide is invaluable.  It can form a clear picture of the current state of your function and solid evidence for future decisions and investment.

In the next step, I will discuss some ideas on how to develop a clear plan for your transformation to maximise the probability of its success.