The value driven by the average sourcing team over the last decade has, in many cases, been significant and transformative. But, competitive forces at play in a rapidly changing business environment require that many tried and true strategies must be enhanced if they are to retain their impact. Ardent Partners has recently published a report that looks at how a collaborative sourcing approach can help sourcing teams deliver greater value to the enterprise. The report was sponsored by Ariba. Here is a brief sampling:

In this market, competent and efficient sourcing, in the traditional sense, remains very important, but leaves significant opportunity for improvement and upside value. Collaborative sourcing, which blends traditional sourcing approaches with more robust category strategies, more penetrating views of supply markets, and deeper collaborative ties with suppliers is how the next generation of sourcing professionals will keep the business charging forward today while preparing to meet tomorrow’s top challenges……

The need for sourcing teams to employ a collaborative sourcing approach and begin to unlock the next level of value from their efforts is based upon several core assumptions:
• Procurement departments and their sourcing teams have defined or limited budgets and resources
• Expanding the scope of high-value sourcing activities across a wider range of spend, categories, and business units is desired
• No enterprise has cornered the market on innovation within its industry or supply chain

To read more about Collaborative Sourcing and Ardent’s views on the opportunities for sourcing teams to employ a more collaborative approach, you can download the report here (registration required).

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Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, Collaboration, Contract Lifecycle Management, Process, Sourcing, Spend Analysis, Supplier Performance Management