Every day enterprise sourcing & procurement professionals strive to reduce costs and increase the value gained on managed spend. It's what we do – and it's a constant battle. But with skill, energy and determination, we often succeed in structuring some excellent deals. Still, we are all painfully aware that a share of our negotiated savings – sometimes a significant share – will leak away.
One major source of leakage can be traced to the implementation of supplier contracts. Consistent and continual evaluation of the roll-out of negotiated agreements, and the concomitant level of compliance with them, is key to realizing the full fruits of your labor.
In particular, the review and close management of large-dollar (i.e. multimillion) contracts, long-term contracts (typically 5 years and above), SLA-linked contracts, as well as contracts in certain categories, such as facilities management, telecommunications and logistics, can deliver big dividends – literally.