How to Choose a Procurement Outsourcing Partner: Seven Questions I’d Always Ask Choosing a procurement outsourcing partner isn’t just about finding someone who can negotiate better prices. You’re choosing a business to represent your organisation, work alongside your people and build relationships with your suppliers. Get that decision right and you’ll wonder how you managed […]
Procurement Maturity: The Four Stages Most SMEs Go Through Most business owners don’t wake up thinking about procurement maturity. They notice something else first. Supplier costs keep creeping up. Contracts renew without challenge. Different departments buy the same products or services from different suppliers. Nobody is quite sure when key agreements expire. The natural reaction […]
Why Your Last Procurement Hire Didn’t Work, and What to Do Differently This Time The post-mortem nobody runs Most businesses that have tried full-time procurement and been disappointed do not run a proper post-mortem on why it did not work. The person leaves, the role gets quietly absorbed back into finance or operations, and a […]
Outsourced Procurement vs In-House: The Real Cost Comparison Most cost comparisons get this wrong before they start Ask a finance director to compare in-house procurement with an outsourced model and you will usually get a back-of-envelope answer. Salary on one side, monthly fee on the other, and a quick judgement about which looks cheaper. The […]
Procurement Operations Outsourcing: What It Covers and When It Fits The unglamorous half of procurement is where the leaks live When people talk about procurement, they usually mean the strategic end. Category strategy, big tenders, supplier negotiations, the deals that move the P&L in one go. That work matters, but it is not where most […]
From Theory to Action: Building a Procurement Strategy You Can Actually Use Most procurement professionals can describe the four quadrant model. Far fewer can tell you what they did with it on Monday morning. That gap, between understanding a model and running your category off the back of it, is where a lot of procurement […]
Should You Outsource Procurement? A Decision Test The wrong question is the one most businesses ask first Almost every conversation I have with an MD or FD about outsourcing starts the same way. Will it save us money. It is the wrong opening question, because the honest answer is that it depends entirely on what […]
Everyone uses the term, almost nobody agrees on it Ask five business owners what procurement outsourcing actually is and you will get five different answers. One will describe a buying agency that bulk-orders stationery. Another will mention a consultancy that ran a savings review three years ago. A third will talk about contract staffing. None […]
Does Your Business Need a Fractional Procurement Leader or a Full-Time Head of Procurement? A fractional procurement leader can provide senior procurement expertise, supplier management and governance support without the cost of a full-time executive hire. For many SMEs, choosing between a fractional procurement leader and a permanent Head of Procurement is not as straightforward […]
ESG Is No Longer a Side Project, Procurement Is Now Driving It Procurement and ESG are now far more closely connected than most organisations realise. The latest CIPS Global State of Procurement & Supply 2026 Report shows procurement is increasingly becoming the function responsible for delivering ESG commitments across supplier networks and operational supply chains. […]