Welcome to the second edition of a three-part article series on the concept of “visibility.” The term visibility is thrown around quite frequently in the procurement and spend management worlds, and it is incumbent of today’s Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) to do all that they can to ensure that they enable visibility into corporate spending and provide other key stakeholders with the necessary insights into financials to help effectively forecast, plan, and budget for the future. The second entry in this CPO Rising article series highlights the growing concern over complex spend category visibility, and the three specific areas that CPOs must improve in order to effectively balance the utilization of these categories and visibility into their effectiveness.

The realm of complex spend management is a consistently-evolving state: contingent labor is on a strategic uprising (and transforming into a “perfect storm”), business travel is increasing in budget and offering business travelers with more varied options than ever before, marketing departments must balance globalization and brand consistency in how they purchase materials and services, and the modern-day business event planner must effectively meet the demands of the attendee experience.

With these issues in mind within the world of complex spend management, the procurement function must leverage its vast expertise to ensure that the greater organization holds clear visibility into an array of aspects related to these complex categories:

• Visibility into talent-based resources across the entire enterprise. The current scope of contingent workforce management certainly relies on the expertise of the procurement function; beyond staffing suppliers, the makeup of contingent labor includes professional services and contractors, all of which can fall through the cracks without robust capabilities in place. Procurement must utilize its supplier management prowess to accurately portray current, available talent resources and how they align with critical corporate projects and objectives.
• Visibility into all current booking options for business travel. The contemporary perception of business travel has evolved in recent years as booking options have changed, leaving enterprises with less control over how employees plan their trips. Outlets such as Uber and Airbnb provide business travelers with more convenient and cost-effective options, however, these platforms are not always included in the average company’s travel spend management program. It is critical that procurement develop a means to accurately capture this spend (as well as other new travel options) to paint a vivid picture of current business travel spend against corporate budgets.
• Visibility into all phases of contemporary events management. The time has come to treat the phases in events management (design, sourcing, social engagement, attendee management, live event, analytics, etc.) in the same crucial light that the source-to-settle spectrum sits in. We’ve discussed the evolution of the events management industry previously here at CPO Rising, and while the changes in this market are certainly exciting, it places more pressure on the procurement function to not only collaborate more tightly with marketing, but also attempt to drive visibility into the total events management spectrum:
  • Which suppliers offer the most value from an event management perspective?
  • Are events designed with costs in mind? Does procurement actively collaborate with marketing / meeting planners on the best balance between cost and quality?
  • Is there a means to analyze event spend data along with attendee experience / eROI data under the same platform?

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Tagged in: Chief Procurement Officer, Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, CPO, Finance, People, Process, Solution Providers, T&E