OnDemand Resources

Enterprise Financial Governance & Program Management Transformation Case Study

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 16:25:39 GMT

Enterprise Financial Governance & Program Management Transformation Case Study By Christian Hoffmann

As part of his extensive experience leading complex enterprise transformations, OnDemand Network Partner Christian Hoffmann has spearheaded initiatives that strengthen financial governance, enhance investment transparency, and elevate enterprise execution.

In one such engagement for a global manufacturing company , Christian led a comprehensive redesign of the organization’s enterprise program management and financial governance model.

The company had long struggled with decentralized budgeting, inconsistent prioritization, and siloed execution. These challenges limited transparency, slowed decision-making, and diluted the impact of strategic investments. Executive leadership sought a more unified, financially disciplined operating model to better support long-term growth and value creation.

Situation Overview

The organization managed a broad portfolio of strategic initiatives each year—ranging from technology modernization to operational efficiency programs—but lacked a cohesive governance structure to oversee them effectively.

Key challenges included:

No standardized process for project intake, prioritization, or financial evaluation
Limited visibility into project performance, value realization, and budget adherence
Overlapping initiatives with unclear ownership and accountability
Fragmented reporting that delayed executive decision-making
Inconsistent processes and tools across regions

The organization required a transparent, centralized, and financially grounded operating model to ensure resources were deployed toward the highest-impact initiatives.

Strategic Approach

Drawing on his background in financial planning, PMO leadership, and organizational transformation , Christian designed and led the initiative around three core pillars:

1. Establish an Enterprise Project Management Organization (EPMO)

Christian created a centralized EPMO to:

Implement a unified project intake and evaluation framework
Prioritize initiatives using financial, operational, and risk-based criteria
Standardize execution tools, templates, and reporting
Drive cross-functional alignment and accountability

The EPMO became the authoritative source for portfolio visibility, governance, and performance oversight.

2. Implement Financial Governance & Performance Tracking

To embed financial rigor across the initiative lifecycle, Christian:

Developed standardized business case models incorporating ROI, NPV, and cost–benefit analysis
Introduced a disciplined monthly financial performance review cadence
Built dashboards tracking budgets, forecasts, milestones, and value realization
Integrated reporting across Finance, Operations, and IT

These measures significantly improved transparency, forecasting accuracy, and investment discipline.

3. Redesign Operating and Decision-Making Models

To address cross-functional bottlenecks, Christian redesigned governance and decision structures to:

Clarify decision rights and ownership across functions
Establish clear escalation paths and approval checkpoints
Align Finance, Procurement, Operations, and IT around common governance standards

These changes accelerated decision cycles and reduced initiative backlogs.

Transformation Execution

Comprehensive Diagnostic

Conducted stakeholder interviews across Finance, Operations, IT, Supply Chain, and HR
Reviewed historical investment decisions and value realization
Assessed PMO maturity and project delivery capabilities

EPMO & Framework Design

Designed an end-to-end project lifecycle model
Built a portfolio prioritization scorecard
Implemented tiered governance based on financial impact and risk
Established a monthly executive portfolio review

Toolkit & Process Deployment

Standardized templates for business cases, risk registers, and resource planning
Consolidated reporting into unified performance dashboards
Integrated tools with ERP and planning systems

Change Management & Capability Building

Delivered training to more than 100 stakeholders
Defined clear roles for sponsors and steering committees
Elevated project management expectations across business units

Results

Within the first year, the organization achieved:

Full transparency into the strategic investment portfolio, including financial, operational, and risk KPIs
Faster project execution enabled by streamlined decision-making
Improved budget forecasting with fewer cost overruns
Higher ROI on prioritized initiatives through rigorous upfront evaluation
Retirement of low-value or redundant projects, freeing resources for high-impact priorities
A scalable, enterprise-wide governance model aligned across all functions

Collectively, these improvements strengthened the organization’s ability to manage strategic investments with clarity, discipline, and speed .

Meet Christian Hoffman – OnDemand Network Member since 2017

Improving CAPEX Procurement Model - Case Study

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 12:57:27 GMT

CAPEX Procurement & Large Capital Projects Organizational Strategy, Process Design & Execution Case Study

To strengthen its capital project performance and improve cost visibility, a global manufacturing company partnered with OnDemand Resources to redesign its CAPEX procurement model. Facing more than $550 million in planned capital projects over two years, the company recognized the need for a more strategic and forward-looking approach to managing large capital expenditures.

OnDemand Network Partner, Ricardo Trein , was engaged to lead the effort—bringing deep expertise in procurement transformation, capital project management, and supplier strategy.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The company’s CAPEX and large capital project procurement processes were fragmented and reactive. Strategic procurement decisions were often made outside the procurement function, while day-to-day purchasing operated transactionally with limited visibility and no focus on total cost of ownership.

In addition, the absence of long-term supplier relationships created slow response times and hindered effective capital planning. With a significant pipeline of upcoming projects, leadership sought to establish a unified CAPEX procurement strategy and execution model that would drive efficiency, accountability, and long-term value creation.

STRATEGIC APPROACH

Ricardo assumed interim leadership of the CAPEX Procurement function to:

Integrate Procurement into daily operations and strategic planning
Analyze future capital execution plans and define optimal engineering and construction strategies
Select the most suitable partners for project development and execution

In parallel, Ricardo led a full organizational and process redesign to:

Align procurement with business complexity
Increase spend under management
Apply best-in-class strategic sourcing tools tailored to current and future needs

TRANSFORMATION STEPS

Fact-based Assessment
comprehensive spend analysis covering historical and planned investments
Stakeholder Interviews
Mapped organizational needs, procurement gaps and future project requirements
Process Review
Identified inefficiencies and automation opportunities
18-Month Roadmap
Stakeholder mapping and communication discipline
KPI and reporting framework, Capital Planning cadence aligned with growth priorities
Future-state procurement design and category management model
Process automation and supplier relationship structure
Continuous Validation
Regular stakeholder reviews and iterative refinements

RESULTS

Procurement value nearly doubled YoY with existing resources
Spend under management increased from <40% to 80%
$20M in YoY benefits via cost reduction and improved payment terms
Category management now drives demand, supply base and total cost strategies
Source-to-Contract cycle time reduced by 30% through planning and standardization

Meet Ricardo Trein – OnDemand Network Member since 2019

Cutting Edge Sourcing - AI & Conversational Technologies

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:52:43 GMT

There is a great need for procurement expertise focused on the latest IT

A leading medical retail brand with over 1,700 outlets providing dental, esthetic, and veterinary services sought to transform how it engaged with patients and supported its professionals. To achieve this, the company turned to OnDemand Resources and selected Richard Henderson , an experienced procurement and sourcing consultant and OnDemand Professional Network member. Richard led a cross-functional team to evaluate, source, and implement the right conversational and artificial intelligence solutions.

SITUATION OVERVIEW
The Client employed more than 1,000 medical professionals, supported by call centers and web-based interactions. However, its patient engagement process faced critical challenges:

Interactions across call, chat, and email felt scripted and impersonal.
Medical professionals were frustrated by the time required to record patient interactions in compliant ways.
Sales leaders were concerned prospective patients lacked adequate information—such as financing options—leading to missed opportunities.
Outdated call center technology lacked conversational intelligence capabilities.

To address these gaps, the Client recognized that it needed a procurement-led sourcing strategy to identify best-in-class technologies that would:

Improve interactions with patients and potential patients.
Enhance satisfaction and efficiency for medical professionals.
Increase sales performance through deeper insights into patient engagement.
Reduce overall technology costs.

APPROACH
Richard Henderson applied a strategic sourcing process to identify, evaluate, and procure the right solutions. Partnering with senior leadership—including COOs, Medical Directors, and Technologists—he led a structured assessment of current processes, technology gaps, desired outcomes, and budget constraints.

Key steps included:

Conducting detailed evaluations of conversational and AI solutions and designing targeted RFPs to address process and technology gaps identified in the assessment.
Leveraging market research and sourcing expertise to evaluate solution providers.
Running extensive competitive pilots to validate supplier capabilities.
Negotiating contracts that ensured flexibility, competitive pricing, and strong post-implementation support.
Selecting best-in-class technologies for ambient transcription call analysis, and conversational call, web, and chat interactions.

This strategy ensured the Client could leverage multiple specialized solutions rather than relying on a single legacy platform.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

A sourcing strategy focused on best-in-class technologies that could simulate human conversation and agent interaction.
Ensure ease of adoption, integration, and measurable outcomes.
Competitive bidding and supplier negotiations that drove favorable pricing.
Negotiation of flexible and supportive contractual terms.

RESULTS
By applying a structured procurement and sourcing approach, Richard and the team, successfully identified and implemented technologies tailored to the Client’s unique challenges. The outcomes included:

Dramatic improvement in patient engagement and satisfaction.
Increased efficiency and satisfaction among medical professionals.
Stronger sales performance through better-informed patient interactions.
Cost savings exceeding $5 million through competitive sourcing and optimized vendor selection and contracts.

Through disciplined procurement practices and strategic sourcing expertise, the Client not only transformed its patient engagement model but also created a sustainable framework for cost efficiency and long-term growth.

Meet Richard Henderson – OnDemand Network Member since 2008

OnDemand Helps To Modernize Finance Operations By Leading Workday Implementation

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 13:53:33 GMT

A leading nonprofit research organization modernizes financial operations with OnDemand Resources Project Manager leading Workday implementation

To modernize its financial systems, a prominent nonprofit research institution partnered with OnDemand Resources to lead a full-scale ERP transformation. The organization — which supports a national network of academic and scientific programs — was operating on a decades-old financial system. They brought in OnDemand Network Partner, Jeffrey Patuto to serve as a lead Project Manager, successfully guiding the implementation of Workday Financials and Planning from strategy through go-live. The result: accelerated reporting, stronger controls, deeper insights, and long-term operational efficiency.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The organization was relying on a 30-year-old legacy financial and planning system that could no longer meet the demands of a complex, grant-driven, and research-oriented environment. Manual reporting processes, delayed close cycles, and limited visibility were creating operational challenges and hindering timely decision-making.

With a mission centered on supporting research, education, and collaboration across a broad scientific community, leadership recognized the need for a modern ERP platform. Workday was selected to enable real-time insights, improve internal controls, and increase the efficiency of financial operations. To lead this high-impact initiative, they partnered with OnDemand Resources and engaged experienced Project Manager, Jeff, to oversee the end-to-end implementation.

APPROACH

As Project Manager, Jeff led the full lifecycle of the Workday implementation, aligning internal stakeholders, consultants, and third-party partners to deliver a timely, seamless transition.

Planning Phase

Collaborated with leadership to identify key internal personnel for functional workstreams
Advised on the use of external consultants to backfill operational roles during the project
Defined project scope, timeline, success criteria, and budget parameters
Supported the selection of the Workday implementation partner
Prioritized and scheduled development of critical financial reports in the new system

Discovery & Design

Facilitated workshops to document current-state processes and gather system requirements
Helped define the future-state operating model to align with institutional goals

Build & Configure

Oversaw the configuration of Workday Financials and Planning modules
Ensured integration of financial, planning, and reporting processes across the organization

Testing & Validation

Directed comprehensive testing phases, including user acceptance and system validation
Managed the conversion of legacy financial data and executed validation cycles to ensure integrity
Led go-live readiness checks and coordinated stakeholder training

Jeff’s leadership ensured cross-functional collaboration, issue resolution, and project momentum from initiation through deployment.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Experienced Project Leadership
Jeff provided the structure, accountability, and decision-making needed to keep the project on track across multiple stakeholders.
Well-Defined Goals and Scope
Clear objectives around financial reporting, operational efficiency, and audit readiness helped drive decision-making and alignment.
Strategic Staffing
OnDemand Resources provided experienced consultants to support business continuity, allowing internal leaders to focus on the transformation.
Reporting Readiness from Day One
Early identification of key reporting requirements ensured the system delivered immediate operational value after go-live.
Strong Testing and Data Integrity
Rigorous testing and data validation built user confidence and ensured system reliability at launch.

RESULTS

The implementation successfully transitioned the organization to a modern Workday ERP platform:

Reduced monthly, quarterly, and year-end close times
Delivered real-time financial insights to support both compliance and strategic planning
Strengthened internal controls and improved audit readiness
Increased operational efficiency while reducing long-term technology costs
Positioned the organization for greater agility in supporting its mission-driven programs

This transformation not only modernized financial operations but also gave the organization the tools to better support its research, education, and partnership goals in a rapidly evolving environment.

MEET JEFFREY PATUTO - ONDEMAND NETWORK MEMBER SINCE 2018

Winning Back Trust in Hospital Sourcing

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 16:40:03 GMT

Strategic Sourcing is often associated with driving down cost, efficiency improvement and increased service levels. There are some situations where Strategic Sourcing is needed to help rebuild supplier relationships while enhancing trust all the while securing additional resources for core capabilities. Such is an example of work that OnDemand Professional Network member Chris Vu did for post-bankruptcy period at a hospital serving a major metropolitan area.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

A hospital in New York had emerged from bankruptcy and needed to stay afloat since it was the largest hospital and biggest employer in its Brooklyn neighborhood. The Materials Management/Purchasing Department was able to manage day-to-day activities to support patient care. However, indirect and ancillary areas were secondary in priority and the suppliers were extremely unhappy losing money as a part of the bankruptcy protection process . Chris was brought in to negotiate new contracts with suppliers to obtain improved terms and ensure uninterrupted service.

APPROACH

An incumbent approach was taken to help prevent disruptions in service and allow stakeholders to focus on their day-to-day responsibilities. In addition, it was difficult finding new suppliers willing to work with a financially distressed organization.

As a part of the approach, Chris not only had to negotiate improved terms, but rebuild trust and rapport with suppliers . Expectations were reset with suppliers encouraging them to view the hospital as a new organization and to look forward and not backwards.

The hospital’s group purchasing organization was leveraged as a baseline for pricing and terms . In addition, Chris met with current and potential new suppliers, where available, to support operational improvements for the future.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Leveraging the current supplier base
Rebuilding trust with incumbent suppliers
Developing custom pricing outside of the hospital’s GPO
Identifying innovative opportunities for the longer term

RESULTS

Pricing and terms were negotiated to provide annual recurring savings of 11% across 36+ suppliers . 2 to 3-year terms were secured with suppliers to ensure continuous service, and in most instances, pricing better than the hospital’s GPO. Stakeholders were also pleased since they were able to maintain their current supplier relationships and didn’t have to trial or switch to new products/services .

Furthermore, a pipeline of potential opportunities was left for the hospital to explore in the future. For example, the hospital could invest in new disposal containers for used needles that optimized storage capacity. Or the hospital could review several rent vs. buy scenarios from wheelchairs to floor mats to mops.

Meet CHRIS VU - OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2020

Biotech Procurement Transformation - Case Study

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 14:48:55 GMT

Structured approach, cross-functional leadership and rigorous analytics are key to procurement success. I asked a member of our OnDemand Professional Network Priya Kumar to share her approach. Here is her example.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Biotechnology company wanted to establish a procurement function for their $120 MM global external operations. Priya was brought in as a Procurement leader to work with the organization to develop a strategic procurement function to drive savings and improve efficiency.

APPROACH

She worked closely with engineering teams, product development, manufacturing operations and global planning to understand current processes and business priorities. Additionally, she conducted a supplier activity and spend assessment to analyze the current landscape. A thorough analysis of current challenges and gaps in processes revealed the following:

Supplier relationships with significant spend were highly transactional
Risk and relationship oversight was complex and arduous
Frequent planning and forecasting changes led to additional costs, cancellation fees and high risk exposure
Supplier contracts were often one-sided, with limited benefits for the client

EXECUTION & BENEFITS

Priya successfully crafted a robust category strategy to effectively manage and optimize the $120 million expenditure with suppliers . This strategy encompassed thorough market analysis, supplier evaluations, and strategic sourcing initiatives aimed at maximizing value and minimizing risks.

Her next step was to streamline processes across the organization, while building a truly strategic procurement function. She built the foundation for strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management and contract lifecycle management. This fostered harmonization in supplier engagement, elevating the value extracted from deepened supplier relationships. By aligning procurement activities with organizational goals and industry best practices, she also fortified the supply chain operations to withstand dynamic market conditions and unforeseen challenges.

In partnership with other stakeholder groups, she implemented robust visibility mechanisms within procurement , leveraging advanced analytics and reporting tools to enhance spend transparency and facilitate informed decision-making. This heightened visibility empowered stakeholders to proactively address potential bottlenecks, mitigate risks, and optimize resource allocation.

Priya’s greatest achievement was the immediate identification of several contract re-negotiation opportunities that served as quick wins to show procurement value early.

Priya developed the negotiation strategy and conducted negotiations with many key suppliers, ensuring alignment with the category strategy and business objectives. In an ever-changing landscape, Priya showed excellent insight and maturity in making agile decisions that would mitigate loss and risk throughout the lifecycle of the contract.

She achieved >$15MM of cost savings for Year 1 & 2 through execution of the newly developed category strategy. By leveraging strengthened supplier relationships and employing rigorous negotiation tactics, she secured favorable contract terms and pricing arrangements, driving tangible bottom-line results while maintaining quality standards and service levels.

Meet PRIYA KUMAR - OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2018

Contract Lifecycle Management System Implementation - Case Study

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 13:18:27 GMT

Many organizations benefit from implementing Contract Lifecycle Management System (CLMS). The key issues that implementation of a CLMS addresses include (i) lack of a central repository for contracts, documents, and reports, (ii) lack of direct access to documents outside of the contracts organization (email is used to share documents with employees who are not in the contracts organization) and (iii) potential document version control issues . OnDemand recently helped a client with their initial phase of Contract Lifecycle Management System implementation. I want to share the approach and lessons learned as I believe that you will find them helpful as your organization considers enhancements to the way contracts are managed.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

A non-profit, research and educational institution was seeking to rapidly assess the procurement technology market as part of a wider project to modernize their finance and procurement systems. After mapping their procurement, contracts, and finance processes, it was determined that the organization could benefit greatly from the implementation of a Contract Lifecycle Management System (CLMS) .

The client engaged the consulting team of Justin Valentine and Travis Mells, members of the OnDemand Professional Network , to assist them with a 3-phased sourcing approach:

Phase 1 – Requirements Validation and Market Research
Phase 2 – Streamlined Request for Proposal (RFP) Process
Phase 3 – Implementation Support

Justin and Travis had previously engaged with the client to perform process mapping and have deep IT category strategic sourcing expertise and an extensive background in procurement technology and technology acquisition.

APPROACH

During Phase 1, the consulting team established streamlined approach that included the following activities:

Worked with organization leadership to understand and validate their key system requirements and the prioritization of those requirements (e.g. “must have” versus “nice to have”).
Conducted interviews with key staff , including those who would be heavy / “power” users of the system and the IT function, to better understand their requirements for the system and how its implementation will impact their daily work.
Performed a market calibration study which included gathering insights from top research organizations (e.g. Gartner, Forrester, Capterra) to help determine the initial pool of vendors for outreach.
Developed and distributed a Request for Information (RFI) to gather information from vendors regarding their ability to meet requirements and high-level pricing.
Conducted brief introductory meetings with potential vendors to gauge their interest in responding to the RFI and answer any questions about the sourcing process. A small number of vendors chose to not respond to the RFI after these introductory meetings.
Reviewed RFI responses to assess potential vendor’s ability to meet key requirements and flag vendors that presented unreasonable pricing. A small number of vendors were eliminated from the process after reviewing their RFI response based on their inability to meet key requirements.
Scheduled and held system demonstrations with potential vendors to confirm their ability to meet key requirements and evaluate their systems in terms of user interface design and ease of use. Implementation timeline and required resources were also discussed during system demonstrations.
Compiled RFI responses and feedback on system demonstrations to present recommendations for which vendors should move forward to the RFP phase.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Performing market research to develop a deep understanding of the CLMS market landscape and system capabilities, including recent offerings that include artificial intelligence (AI).
Clear understanding of existing business processes in the client organization and how the introduction of the CLMS will improve those processes, bolster employee efficiency, and complement existing IT systems.
Establishing and prioritizing key requirements which determine the pool of vendors that may be appropriate to move forward to the RFP phase.

OnDemand's team will kick off Phase 2 of the engagement after the New Year, and we will share Approach and Critical Success Factors once that Phase is completed.

Meet JUSTIN VALENTINE AND TRAVIS MELLS - OnDemand Professional Network Members Since 2013

Out-of-Control IT Cloud Spend Mitigation

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 07:14:27 GMT

As companies move to IT Cloud-based computing infrastructure, many are finding that costs far exceed budgeted forecasts. Such was the case with an organization that recently moved to Cloud-based systems and needed to find ways to reduce and mitigate the unexpected costs.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

A fast-growing Digital Advertising Firm, which had recently migrated to a cloud-centric compute environment was faced with costs that greatly exceeded forecast. The CIO, CPO and CFO were all under pressure to rein in the overages, enhance transparency and implement governance processes. They were also asked to allocate cloud costs to each business unit, to foster accountability.

The company engaged Jamie Martino, a member of the OnDemand Professional Network with Strategic Sourcing / IT Category Expertise and an extensive expense management background, to evaluate the cloud optimization market. Martino was charged to work with IT and Procurement to identify aligned vendor solutions, which could reduce costs by at least 30%.

DISCOVERY & EVALUATION

During the Discovery Phase, the team learned that there was a robust set of platforms and managed services available in the market, which claimed to far exceed the capabilities of generic tools offered by the cloud compute vendors themselves (AWS, Azure, GCP). Through conversations with reference clients of these firms, the team was able to validate that 30% savings was a realistic goal.

They learned that common drivers of overages stem from a lack of visibility and challenges related to aligning the purchase decision for each Instance with the best opportunity available.

Cost overages were often due to:

Zero Usage Instances
Over Engineered Instances
Decentralized non-strategic ‘buying patterns’
Unclear Ownership & Inability to allocate costs
Lack of Internal Resources & Appropriate Tools/Reports

COLLABORATIVE LEAN SOURCING APPROACH

A Kaizen inspired “continuous improvement” approach was selected, as it fostered partnership between Procurement, IT, Finance, and the Suppliers. The tactical plan focused on:

Taking advantage of a Free Spend Assessment negotiated into the supplier POC. Identifying the biggest overages by category, using the Assessment Results
Running a PIC analysis to prioritize tactics
Aligning a phased execution approach to the PIC analysis
Enhancing Visibility & Reporting capabilities to remediate future waste

A two-stage Sourcing Strategy was agreed, which would first focus on selecting a cloud reporting and analytics product capable of driving savings thru visibility, analysis, and reporting. The second phase would focus on adopting AI driven purchasing/decision tools, which could take advantage of Secondary and Spot marketplaces, which had been identified by the OnDemand Advisor. Together the two phases were projected to deliver 30% savings.

RESULTS

In Stage 1 , after evaluating multiple “cloud reporting platforms”, the OnDemand professional helped the firm select a vendor solution that combined a cloud analytics platform with the support of professional services. The team was able to negotiate a Free Vendor Assessment into the agreement, which expedited the process by identifying the leading causes of overages. After 4 months, the program had already achieved 25% savings. A Tagging Manager solution was also implemented, which simplified detailed cost allocation, fostering accountability.

Stage 2 addressed the challenges around a lack of resources and sub-optimal ordering methodologies of each compute instance. An AI driven-managed solution was selected to tap the “Spot Marketplace” for compute, where savings in excess of 80% were available. This advanced use of AI allowed the firm to obtain a Guaranteed SLA from the optimization vendor, while also enjoying deep discounts only available to users of Spot marketplaces, wherein compute vendors offer excess capacity for short periods at deep discounts.

With the success of Stage 1 creating a win together environment, the team was able to enhance the savings by an additional 18% in Stage 2, for a combined savings of 43%, versus the goal of 30%. With over $1M in monthly cloud expenses, the project yielded over $430k per month in savings and enhanced visibility and cost control for this expanding taxonomy center.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Taking a Lean and Collaborative approach , which incorporated the views of all stakeholders
Enlisting the help of dedicated subject matter experts with ample time and tools to execute
Separating the work into Stages , using lean tools to harvest the largest savings first and then enhancing the savings thru more complex methodologies
Combining visibility & reporting with managed services to minimize overages in the future

MEET JAMIE MARTINO – ONDEMAND NETWORK MEMBER SINCE 2021

Jamie has extensive experience as a senior strategic sourcing, IT & commercial leader. He is a dedicated mentor to Technology Sourcing Professionals, thru his role as the Technology Sourcing Chapter Leader for Procurement Foundry, wherein he moderates & mentors over 3500 IT Sourcing professionals. Martino has held senior global leadership roles at technology dependent firms; Salomon Brothers, TCG\AT&T, Last Mile, Ingersoll Rand, Trane and Aryaka. He is a frequent conference speaker on topics such as: Cloud Optimization, Digital Transformation, Expense Management and Telecom Networking. At OnDemand, Jamie specializes in Digital Transformation and Technology Expense Management. Always on the forefront, Jamie helped develop over 100 of the first fiber optic networks and launched the first competitive dial tone product in the US market. He holds an MBA in International Finance from St. John’s University and is an active leader in the Charlotte IT Professionals and Leadership on the Lake organizations.

Tom Donatelli Joins OnDemand To Enhance Our Client Service Capabilities And Broaden Our Market Reach

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 07:28:04 GMT

OnDemand Resources, the leading provider of independent project and interim talent in Strategic Procurement, Supply Chain and Operations is delighted to announce the addition of Tom Donatelli, a seasoned senior executive with significant experience driving cost reduction, process efficiency and business effectiveness across Fortune 500 companies as our new Vice President Client Services. In this role, Tom will work with clients on identifying new opportunities for enhancing their business results and engaging the right talent to achieve exceptional outcomes.

Tom’s background includes senior leadership roles in Procurement, Finance, Corporate Real Estate and Consulting at high-performance organizations including Accenture, IBM, Pfizer and Teva. He designed and implemented the Global Procurement Operations division at Teva and has led procurement teams to deliver significant value at both Pfizer and Teva across dozens of spend categories. Additionally, Tom has led the Corporate Real Estate functions at both Teva and Pfizer and the Global Facilities and Corporate Security functions at Teva.

“I am delighted to join the high performing team at OnDemand. I got to know OnDemand during the early years of the company as their client while at Pfizer and have continued to engage them with great success throughout my careers at Pfizer and Teva. Joining OnDemand is a natural extension of my next career step as I strongly believe in the company’s value proposition and am excited to start working with clients to help them get exceptional results.” said Mr. Donatelli.

“We are very excited to welcome Tom to our team, to help us accelerate our strong growth which is only possible by continuing to deliver superior work for our clients,” said Jan Malasek, OnDemand’s CEO. “Tom’s great business acumen, engaging personality and strong focus on results will bring tremendous additional value to our clients across their strategic initiatives.”

………………………..

About OnDemand Resources

OnDemand Resources is the leading provider of independent project and interim talent in strategic procurement, supply chain and operations. We work with clients across all industries and are serving Fortune 500, PE, and mid-market companies, in addition to public and non-profit organizations. Since our inception in 2003, we have delivered over 650 engagements to over 200 client organizations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At the core of our offering is a pre-qualified network of high performance independent consultants and interim executives that we match with particular client needs for exceptional results. We are four-time Inc500/5000 fastest growing privately-held company in the USA, and are Women Business Certified.New Paragraph

Spend Assessment – Critical Step To Success Of Strategic Sourcing Initiative

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:32:25 GMT

Let’s say you’re committed to reducing costs whether it be direct materials or indirect materials and services. Where do you start? This article covers the essential steps for conducting a spend assessment which has a number of key challenges from “dirty data” to stakeholder alignment.

Step #1 – Data Collection

A good starting point is understanding exactly what you purchase currently, from whom do you buy it and at what cost; what is commonly referred to as a “spend cube”. This is easier said than done, especially if your company has multiple divisions, multiple systems etc. A typical starting point is collecting an Accounts Payable file or files covering one to two years of purchasing activity.

Step #2 – Data Cleansing & Normalization

The data first needs to be cleansed and normalized (IBM vs International Business Machines vs I.B.M.) before you begin to identify where the opportunities might be. This step is not to be taken lightly as it can be painstaking work. Hopefully you have a tool that can help with this, or you may utilize a third-party who has an intelligent tool (helps with categorization) and may choose to do the work somewhere where labor rates are not as expensive (e.g. India, Eastern Europe).

Step #3 – Data Mining

Once the spend cube is developed, then what? You need to search for potential opportunities. Look for evidence that spend is fragmented across a given category or categories of spend. If your company is buying laptops, whether with the same specifications or different, from five different suppliers, at different pricing levels, that would seem to indicate that the total spend should be leveraged across fewer suppliers or one supplier to obtain better pricing. If the spend is already leveraged with one supplier but that supplier hasn’t been challenged in twenty years, that could also be an indication that you could be paying too much. You get the idea. The point is that you must first develop a clear understanding of your spend and where the opportunities are.

Step #4 – Qualitative Analysis

Developing the understanding usually requires not only the data work outlined above but also interviews with key stakeholders. I was doing some work once for a supplier of CPG products and was interviewing a Logistics Manager whose last name was the same as the name of his #1 carrier. I kiddingly asked if there was any relation and he said “yes, he is my brother”. Obviously, this was a problem that I otherwise wouldn’t have uncovered had I not had that conversation. Interviewing key stakeholders serves a double purpose to not only help you understand what you are seeing in the data but also to gain agreement with the stakeholders that the given category should be sourced given the evidence uncovered in both the quantitative and qualitative portions of the assessment.

Step #5 – Category Prioritization

Having an understanding of total spend per category, along with potential savings should you decide to source that category (addressable spend and potential % savings), you are now in a position to prioritize the work. I always found it helpful to create a bubble chart where each category is plotted on a chart where the savings potential is on the “Y” axis and the ease of implementation on the “X” axis. The size of each category bubble reflects addressable spend. The resultant chart will display highest potential category bubbles in the upper right-hand corner (high savings potential and high ease of implementation). The chart is often called a “wave chart” to help determine which categories are appropriate to address in which waves; first, second and third.

Step #6 – Matching Talent with Categories for Sourcing
Finally, the question of who should do the sourcing work needs to be answered. If you don’t have the talent in-house or they are tied up doing other things, you may need to search outside for project related assistance which could be a consulting firm or a firm like OnDemand Resources who can provide the interim talent needed to complete the sourcing with you. Of note, OnDemand Resources is a WBENC certified women-owned company, which could also help you increase your diversity spend.

Whichever path you choose, the fact that you have methodically gone through a process to identify and prioritize sourcing categories will help focus your work and maximize savings capture.

If you are interested in more details spend assessment, please contact me at glong@ondemandresources.com to discuss how to best deliver significant value through setting up a successful strategic sourcing initiative.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gary has siginicant Procurement & Supply Chain experience across both industry and management consulting. His industry experience includes Pepperidge Farm, Sealed Air Corporation and Teva Pharmaceuticals. His consulting experience includes senior positions with Kearney, Accenture, FTI and others. He has supported clients in the areas of Sourcing & Procurement, Supply Chain Strategy, Logistics and S&OP. He has successfully combined his hands-on experience in industry with leveraging leading practices gained from 20+ years of management consulting experience across a broad array of industries including but not limited to CPG, Diversified Industrials, and Pharmaceuticals.

CPO Corner – Is Procurement Getting Better, Or Just Older???

Wed, 10 May 2023 14:11:00 GMT

By Steve Miller – https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemiller-coo/

Mike Nolan of SourceSuite.com noted that “the first traces of procurement can be seen throughout ancient history, including the Egyptians in 3,000 BC.”1 Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua made a company’s lead procurement role both famous and infamous over 30 years ago by first helping GM to “save billions of dollars” and then being “charged [by GM] that he had absconded with 20 boxes of top-secret documents.”2 Is it surprising, then, that after thousands of years of practice and 30+ years of high visibility that most CEOs and CFOs up until 2020 believed their procurement functions were either world class, or at least adequate, for the business challenges they might face?

These executives learned from 2020 to 2023 what many top procurement experts already knew: you can find stars and strategic executives in procurement, but overall, it is a function very early in its transformation toward functional excellence. Most business executives don’t understand what excellent procurement looks like. As an example, a Fortune 100 CEO in 2019 said this about the value of having a head of procurement: “if we can buy things like pencils for a cheaper price, then why not?” It probably is not a surprise that in 2020 this company saw its direct operating and SG&A costs increase over $400 million, almost all of which dropped to the bottom line in terms of reduced operating income.

Kearney’s 2022 Assessment of Excellence in Procurement study found that leaders, compared with their industry peers, generate nearly 2x more total shareholder return, rebounded 3x stronger through COVID, and contributed 200 basis points more to EBITDA from their third-party spend.3 Here are seven red flags that, when looked at in aggregate, show a company is NOT maximizing the value of its procurement function:

Poor Alignment Between Procurement Leaders and Budget Owners – Key indicators include lack of procurement integration in budget owners’ annual plans, no regular senior-level procurement meetings with key stakeholders, distributed ownership of the procurement function, and no co-ownership of initiatives in the strategic plan. Indicative comments include “we don’t see procurement’s bottom-line impact” and “procurement slows things down.” Most executives when interviewed will say they work well with procurement, but unless performance commitments are embedded in formal business plans, financial reporting, and organization structures, these positive comments are often just professional courtesy.
Narrow Skillset in Procurement – Successful procurement teams require a broad skill set in their leaders well beyond cost analysis, negotiation, and cost management. Procurement executives need to have strong decision-making, collaboration, and subject-matter expertise beyond procurement to make them strong business partners. Are they participating in cross-functional strategic initiatives? Have they spent their entire careers in procurement with limited promotion? Do performance competencies lack EQ-oriented and strategic planning capabilities? Without broader skillsets, procurement teams’ impact in the business will be limited and tactical.
Low Business Acumen – Most procurement leaders aspire to have ‘a seat at the table,’ meaning being embraced by their C-suite as contributors to the broader business. If they have not had experience in multiple functions, played key roles in initiatives that extend beyond procurement, or dedicated time in outside board leadership roles, this is unlikely. A short conversation about business priorities and strategies, and how procurement fits within them, is usually enough to determine if the leader has sufficient business acumen to elevate procurement’s impact. If the leader does not, the team will not.
Weak Technology Enablement – Poorly implemented technology, overcomplicated methods, and being behind the technology curve indicate both ineffective execution and lack of business commitment to procurement. Further, if organizations don’t couple technology enablement with people enablement, failure is inevitable. And if a company today has not yet justified implementation and maintenance of a spend cube, it is at least 10 years behind in application of procurement technology.
Siloed or Absence of Effective Supplier Management – Supplier management, or SRM, is often overcomplicated, administrative, and ineffective. Last month, one company’s head of supply chain asked a representative from one of his top distributors how he knew a delayed part shipment would be coming next week from the manufacturer. The answer was, “they said it would.” No other data, questioning, or root cause analysis on the original delay had been done. Effective SRM programs use data and are led from the top by both budget owners and procurement. Lack of procurement involvement in key supplier executive relationships and lack of performance data are strong indicators of low strategic procurement influence.
Lack of Supply Chain Management – Purchase Price Variance (PPV) is an important but inadequate measure of the strategic impact of procurement. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a more comprehensive one. Top procurement teams couple TCO with assurance of supply within the supply network back to the tier that presents the most risk in their supply chains. If procurement is not aware of tier 3 and tier 4 suppliers in its most critical areas of supply and is not involved in muti-tier joint process improvement initiatives, it is greatly limited in its ability to act strategically.
Low Process Agility– Business doesn’t always operate on “procurement time,” the time it takes a well-led procurement organization to execute a comprehensive strategic sourcing effort. Sometimes, a supply need must be satisfied under time duress and other non-ideal conditions. To maximize strategic impact, the entire sourcing team must be capable of flexing the procurement process to meet business needs, regardless of the extenuating circumstances. Those who use a “one-size-fits-all” procurement approach are roadblocks to business success.

With the likely billions of dollars invested in procurement tools and organizations over the last 20 years, it is hard to understand why procurement is not at a consistently higher level of performance in large and mid-size companies. With heightened inflation, supply chain risk, and near sourcing priorities, the positive impact of strategic procurement is more important than ever.

All is not lost, however! There are procurement shining stars and leading practices that help chart the path to performance excellence. Over the next several months, these will be highlighted in our Procurement Leaders and Leading Practices series. By sharing these examples and case studies, we hope this guidance will help you become more effective, not just older.

Experienced Procurement and Supply Chain Consultant Joins OnDemand Resources To Enhance Client Service Capabilities

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:47:00 GMT

March 29, 20 23

OnDemand Resources, the leading provider of independent project and interim talent in Strategic Procurement, Supply Chain and Operations is delighted to announce the addition of Gary Long, a seasoned consultant with significant experience supporting clients in their efforts to achieve exceptional results as they pursue cost reduction and efficiency improvement initiatives to the team.

Mr. Long brings to OnDemand over three decades of Procurement & Supply Chain experience across both industry and management consulting. His industry experience includes Pepperidge Farm, Sealed Air Corporation and Teva Pharmaceuticals. His consulting experience includes senior positions with Kearney, Accenture, FTI and others. He has supported clients in the areas of Sourcing & Procurement, Supply Chain Strategy, Logistics and S&OP. He has successfully combined his hands-on experience in industry with leveraging leading practices gained from 20+ years of management consulting experience across a broad array of industries including but not limited to CPG, Diversified Industrials, and Pharmaceuticals.

“I am delighted to join the high performing team at OnDemand. I had the pleasure to get to know Jan and his team over the years, both as their client as well as a consultant in their network and was always impressed with their ability to serve their clients with exceptional independent talent to get results.” said Gary Long.

“We are pleased to welcome Gary to our team, to help us accelerate our strong growth which is only possible by continuing to deliver superior work for our clients,” said Jan Malasek, OnDemand’s CEO. “Gary’s great client management and engagement skills will ensure that our existing and new clients will get the support needed to achieve exceptional results across their strategic initiatives.”

………………………..

About OnDemand Resources

OnDemand Resources is the leading provider of independent project and interim talent in strategic procurement, supply chain and operations. We work with clients across all industries and are serving Fortune 500, PE, and mid-market companies, in addition to public and non-profit organizations. Since our inception in 2003, we have delivered over 650 engagements to over 200 client organizations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At the core of our offering is a pre-qualified network of high performance independent consultants and interim executives that we match with particular client needs for exceptional results. We are four-time Inc500/5000 fastest growing company in the USA, and are Women Business Certified.

Brand and Marketing Sourcing – Ensure Success by Having Deep Subject Matter Expertise, Starting Small and Building Strong Relationships

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 19:21:00 GMT

A global confectionary company with HQ in the US has embarked on a mission to reduce cost and improve strategic supplier relationships. While making strong progress in most areas, Brand and Marketing has been a challenge to engage due to their perception that Procurement lacks subject matter expertise. In order to address this perceived shortcoming, the Global Director of Procurement turned to OnDemand Resources for help to provide a Marketing Spend Sourcing Expert who could lead projects across the Brand and Marketing Category. OnDemand engaged a former client and current independent consultant / member of the OnDemand Professional Network Michelle Griffith to help the company develop and execute strategic sourcing relationships with their Marketing partners.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The Marketing Category was challenging – Client had a large portfolio of brands (15+) and a large portfolio of agency types on the roster (15+) – all at different life cycle stages and with significantly different budgets. Additionally, the Client was transitioning a new piece of business, bringing in not only new brands but also new staff members that were not accustomed to their policies and practices. Single sourcing was happening throughout the organization as the procurement function was relatively new to most. Michelle started to engage with Brand and Marketing on smaller projects to build momentum – she understood that building trust and relationships is critical to procurement success. As time progressed, she was able to demonstrate significant procurement value and was tasked to lead larger and more complex sourcing engagements. Her success in building substantial procurement momentum helped Brand and Marketing deliver significant and sustained results. The Client was so impressed with her capabilities that they extended her contract multiple times.

APPROACH & CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Procurement must invest the time to learn everything about the brand(s) and understand the issues, challenges, and goals in order to gain the trust of their Brand and Marketing colleagues.
Procurement must also understand that standard sourcing strategy is not always applicable to Marketing engagements, be creative in the approach taken, offer alternatives that fit the situation but ultimately can deliver the results needed.
Know the market and changing technologies facing Marketers (i.e. Digital and Social vs. Traditional).
Having subject matter expertise can help build the bridge between Procurement and Marketing.
Use industry data, benchmarks, and news as a basis for negotiations. It’s not just about the ‘Hourly Fee’ – know your resources experience, the should cost of deliverables and industry standards for total resource hours for your project needs.
Start small. Procurement’s engagement in the first term was limited, being introduced to the brand teams late in the term with most of the scopes in discussion having previously been drafted and reviewed with agency directly by the brand teams. Even with the late engagement, by introducing the use of benchmark data we were successful in realizing a 10% savings on the just over $6M in fees. These savings helped to build trust with the brand teams and build their desire to partner with Procurement in the future.

RESULTS

Agency Outreach – a formal introduction of Procurement and the role they would play in ongoing negotiations was made to the agency roster.
Standardization – in the second term of the consultant’s engagement Procurement developed and implemented a standardized rate card and scope template for use in agency negotiations. By this time Procurement was leading the discussion on over thirty individual scopes of work, therefore the template had to be flexible to address the varying degrees of work needed across the brands. Use of the tool was ultimately accepted by most agency partners providing a standardized tool for Procurement and Marketing to rely on. Use of the template by the internal brand teams also aided in providing the agency partners with a more clearly defined scope of work leading to meaningful commercial negotiations with Procurement.
Negotiations – by addressing the total agency fee including staff plan, resource hours, hourly rates and total cost of deliverable we were successful in realizing an average 25% cost savings on over $11M in agency spend for the client in the second term.
Organizational support – a close partnership with our legal colleagues and alignment with Global Procurement Leadership, helped in realizing these results.
Expanding Services – by the end of the engagement Procurement had led six RFPs in the Creative Agency, Shopper Marketing and eCommerce areas on behalf of their Brand and Marketing partners.

MEET MICHELLE GRIFFITH

OnDemand Professional Network Partner Since 2019

Michelle has led Strategic Sourcing initiatives in the Financial, Hospitality, Gaming, Consumer Goods and Food Manufacturing sectors with a focus on indirect spend in the Marketing, Creative and Communications categories. Aimed at maximizing value and reducing risk she has successfully negotiated enterprise agency agreements in the areas of Creative Advertising, Social/Digital Marketing, Digital/ Traditional Media, Shopper/eCommerce Marketing, Retail Merchandising, Direct Marketing and Marketing IT Technologies. In her various roles as both client and provider throughout her career, Michelle has gained a unique perspective not held by most. In 2008 Michelle joined Green Dot Corporation in Pasadena, CA as Director Supply Chain. In this role she led her team in the creation and implementation of programs to assess and promote supplier performance and development, including the introduction of contract-based partnership agreements which led to a 30% cost savings. Working with all cross-functional teams she was able to effectively strike a balance between highly creative/innovative solutions and costs. After relocating to Nevada, in 2014 Michelle joined Caesars Entertainment’s Strategic Sourcing team to manage indirect spend for their Marketing and Creative Services. In this role she collaborated with corporate leaders to drive synergies, improve strategies, and organize efficient operations. Michelle attended Ashland University where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and Business Management.

Digitize Source-To-Pay For Improved Efficiency, Visibility and Accuracy

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 11:48:00 GMT

Digitization of strategic procurement processes and capabilities has been the biggest advance in the world of procurement over the past 10 years. This enablement allows companies and their suppliers to be more efficient, effective and accurate and hence significantly adds to increasing value across the extended enterprise. Read how a global oil services company went about improving the digitization of the source-to-pay process after a merger.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

When the CFO heard the procurement team explain the importance of a software portal for suppliers to register and manage their banking and payment information, he had an “ah-ha” moment. Realizing a similar need for the company to register and use their customers supplier portals to ensure proper payment through the order-to-cash process, he understood the efficiency of the same process for a supplier portal to manage the company’s suppliers. This “ah-ha” moment provided the procurement team with a way to align with the CFO and other executives to continue developing their source-to-pay digital strategy.

As a result of a recently merged global oil services company with over $3 billion in annual revenue, the procurement team needed to implement a digital system to support the purchasing requirements across multiple business units and ERP systems. This need was driven by two factors. Frist, because of the merger, prior procurement software licenses expired and second, the newly merged entity started to experience significant operational problems processing supplier payments. These factors had a cascading impact on the central procurement’s team capability to manage supplier relationships necessary to meet delivery and cost reduction goals.

Given these factors, executives including the CFO, COO, CIO and VP of Procurement appointed a team to evaluate and recommend system and process improvements. To lead this effort, the client brought in OnDemand Professional Network member Dave Stowe to work with the VP of Procurement, the Director of Global Procurement Operations, Director of Accounts Payable Global and other staff members to evaluate processes, issues, offerings and the market for comprehensive Source-to-Pay (S2P) platforms.

APPROACH

Within each one of these parts, the team collected detail information, analyzed and discussed findings as well as solicited feedback from the operational steering committee. This four part structure facilitated organizational feedback, input and support.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Given the magnitude of this project in terms of financial cost, resource requirements and organizational impact, the team met with several stakeholders across functions, business units and countries to understand and solicit input. Time spent meeting with stakeholders from IT, Accounts Payable, operations, plant buying, Tax, Legal, and others were extremely valuable. As a result of these meetings, there was better clarity of the proposed changes to the procurement and sourcing process, organizational responsibilities, process improvements and systems.

By understanding the comprehensive structure of their sourcing and procurement processes, systems and organizational responsibilities across business units and ERP systems, the team was in a good position to conduct a RFP and develop the business case. Important process improvements and software selection criteria were identified and use cases were developed to facilitate software evaluation.

RESULTS

This process resulted in the following accomplishments:

Evaluation of three S2P software platforms across:
Platform features
License fees
Implementation costs
Change management requirements
Business case outlining costs, benefits and return on investment yielding:
Positive NPV
24.7% IRR
2.4 years for payback
Organizational support for implementation resources
Executive level approval

MEET DAVE STOWE

OnDemand Professional Network Member since 2005

Dave works with clients to create value through strong supplier relationships. He has developed and implemented procurement organization models bringing together organizational responsibilities, policies, systems and metrics in both industry leadership and consulting roles. In addition, he has sourced global goods and services for multiple direct and indirect categories in life sciences, healthcare, aerospace and industrial products. Dave earned his MBA and a MS Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan and a BS Industrial Management from Purdue University.

Employee Benefits Sourcing Delivers Savings While Improving Service Levels

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 14:59:00 GMT

SITUATION OVERVIEW

A leading global transport company anticipated generating significant cost savings and scale efficiencies as the direct result of a merger. A majority of the cost savings were expected to come from a North America-wide strategic sourcing initiative, within which Employee Benefits was targeted as a key savings area. The company lacked deep domain expertise in sourcing employee benefits – given the potential for significant savings, but also the risk involved in sourcing this category, the company turned to OnDemand Resources to provide a strategic sourcing expert with deep experience sourcing the employee benefits category. Their desire was to deliver savings while maintaining benefits levels, and also transfer category knowledge onto their in-house team for on-going effective category management. OnDemand offered several consultants with the desired background, and the company chose a member of our OnDemand Professional Network to lead and implement the project.

SOLUTION

OnDemand consultant provided hands-on project leadership for cross-functional teams in understanding and defining requirements and managing the transition throughout the company. He followed a sourcing methodology that included spend analysis and requirements gathering, especially focused on understanding the current benefits levels, market research and sourcing strategy development, and contract negotiation and implementation. The consultant worked closely with internal resources to develop and implement an e-auction process for each product within Employee Benefits category in order to maximize marketplace competition and savings while maintaining – if not improving – each segment of the employee benefit program.

RESULTS

The results of the process far exceeded our expectations, especially in light of the very short timeframe

Director, Indirect Sourcing

As a result of OnDemand consultant’s leadership, the team far exceeded the company’s expectations for the five month engagement, delivering an overall cost savings of 13% on an addressable spend of $36M while significantly consolidating the number of preferred providers in North America.

Over $5MM Savings Through Strategically Sourcing Legal Spend – Case Study

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 18:11:00 GMT

Managing professional services spend is always a challenge – often vendors have deep relationships with key stakeholders within a company that can lead to suboptimal engagement of the right external capabilities and diminished value. To be successful strategic sourcing must use data and a fact-based approach in close collaboration with key internal stakeholders to deliver the optimal results – here is an example of F500 company Legal Sourcing exercise that delivered significant savings for the organization.

SITUATION

The Corporate Legal department had over 200 law+ firms servicing their various corporate needs. Numerous firms were one-time use only, many were engaged for one case only, and others were routinely given new cases due to an existing relationship with the firm or one of its lawyers, and not based on their core capabilities or the best value provided. The company did not have formalized guidelines or procedures in places to manage legal spend – each law firm was managed individually, or even worse, each case was managed differently. There were no negotiated rates in place for external counsel. An e-billing system was in place, but was used poorly and often not at all.

A new General Counsel joined the Company with one of key goals of applying cost management practices to law firms and external services as part of Company’s overall profitability drive. He was supported by the Category Lead, Jo Ellen Hatfield, a member of the OnDemand Professional Network.

APPROACH

First, to gain an understanding of how firms are selected and assigned a case, Jo Ellen met with Legal team leaders of each practice area to understand their key requirements , and their process for selecting, engagement and managing day-to-day activities and billings of their select law firms. Second, she analyzed billing/rate data across the company and presented finding to the new GC including average rates per location, by practice area and attorney level. The GC, the rest of legal team and the Category Lead developed a cost optimization strategy they wanted to pursue. Leveraging various analysis and requirements, the team agreed to pursue a competitive RFP strategy to identify a core panel of firms for day-to-day work and a small group of niche firms for key practice areas. Goal was set to reduce all external firm fees by 20% and to reduce the total number of firms engaged from current 200+ to 25.

RESULTS

1. The Legal department identified 3 core panel firms and entered into master engagement letters, committing the firms to their fee proposals for 2 years and to Company’s External Counsel Guidelines which mandated e-billing system invoicing and other operational efficiencies; all 3 firms were new to the Company providing fresh perspectives.

2. Total of 15 firms were selected for the niche areas of labor & employment, intellectual property, environmental, and government affairs. These niche firms also locked in their rates for 2 years and agreed to the Guidelines.

3. External fees were tracked through the e-billing system and savings reported monthly; total annual savings exceeded $5MM.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

1. Improve efficiency by implementing the rate sheet element within the e-billing tool and educate users on correctly using billing codes;

2. Decrease the total number of firms to 25 or less and reduce fees overall by 20%;

3. Conduct an RFP to identify a panel of preferred firms, and identify niche firms for key practice areas.

Meet Jo Ellen Hatfield – Network Member Since 2021

Jo Ellen’s career includes progressive procurement leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies, across the food manufacturing and energy industries. Each role was focused on indirect spend categories, legal, consulting, financial and professional services. In addition, her various roles included change management, policy development, and procurement systems implementations. Jo Ellen relocated to Houston in 2009 where she was responsible for the category of Legal Services at BP Plc. Within that role, she developed Indirect Procurement’s partnership with BP Legal, delivering solid value to the Company. Jo Ellen joined Bunge Ltd in 2015 relocating to her home town of St. Louis, where she led the Indirect Procurement team which was responsible for Professional Services on a global basis. In this role, Jo Ellen worked closely with the Global Risk Management team as well as the Legal Department to drive value for each categories. Jo Ellen attended Webster University where she earned a Master’s Degree in Management. Previously she earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Fontbonne University.

Pandemic Spurs P2P Improvements For Greater Efficiency and Effectiveness

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 15:54:00 GMT

A global Cruise Line company with multiple brands faced with limited resources post-pandemic was looking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their P2P processes in preparation for a full return to service. They hired OnDemand Professional Network member Alvin Wong to help them with two challenges: 1) to analyze, assess root-causes, and help address a backlog of unpaid supplier invoices, and 2) to develop a P2P roadmap to improve the process.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

During the pandemic, an unintentional backlog of past-due invoices, changes in leadership, and the reduction of resources resulted in an urgent need for help to address issues and establish a “roadmap” to improve the organization’s P2P processes.

Although the predominant number of invoices were paid on time, there were hundreds of invoices past due over 60 days, with many over 120 days, the company was at risk of being cut-off by suppliers. The invoices were not past-due for a lack of company funds, but rather for validation and confirmation by purchasers before payment.

Something was failing in their P2P process and any findings were to be incorporated into a “roadmap” for a recommended P2P modernization plan.

APPROACH

Working with Finance, Sourcing, Technical Operations, and Supply Chain Procurement, we conducted a series of past-due invoice reviews, stakeholder interviews, and process and system mappings. Using the findings, we analyzed root-causes of the past-due invoice problems, implemented changes, and identified various opportunities to incorporate into a “roadmap” to improve P2P processes and systems.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Fact-Based Data-Driven Analysis and Findings: Commit the time to smartly collect and analyze data first to avoid wasted efforts solutioning the wrong problems.
Multi-Functional Collaboration: Persistent problems exist typically because no one department such as Operations, Supply Chain, or Finance is responsible for persistent issues. Understanding each group’s strategies, goals, and objectives provides the “why” the problem exists, as well as insights into “how” to move forward with a better solution.
Stakeholder Involvement in Recommendations: In the end, recommendations must help solve stakeholder problems and be implementable by the stakeholders involved. Getting their feedback early helps identify potential obstacles to the implementation of recommendations.

RESULTS

The various bottlenecks and issues causing past-due invoices were found to include (but not limited to):

Suppliers submitting invoices late
Lack of approval responsibility tracking and accountability
Poor visibility of metrics for timely action
Multiple approval routing and communication methods
Lack of integration across multiple systems
Inadequate spreadsheet based status reports

Actions implemented to reduce past-due invoices by more than an estimated 30% include:

Updated and communicated to suppliers new policies, processes, and procedures to hold suppliers accountable for late invoice submissions.
Standardized internal routing and communication methods for stakeholder approvals.
Defined and implemented metrics and tracking tools for timely invoice approvals.
Leadership communication to purchasers of the urgency to prioritize invoice reviews.

The resulting P2P “roadmap” developed included the mapping, assessment, and recommendations for:

P2P related systems used by the various brands in the company’s Business Group.
P2P processes and payment methods across Supply Chain, Operations, and Finance.
P2P related Organizational design and responsibilities for Planning, Sourcing, Procurement, Logistics, IT/Systems, and Payment.
Opportunities to standardize and leverage capabilities with their Corporate parent and other Business Groups in areas such as Master Data, Contract Management, and Analytics.

MEET ALVIN WONG

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2019

Alvin has over 35 years of industry and consulting experience in the areas of Supply Chain & Logistics, Project Management, Operations, Data Analytics, Organizational and Process Design, Systems, and Implementations. He has strong analytical and solutions development skills and has worked successfully at all levels of an organization to build cross-functional relationships for pragmatic holistic solutions. Prior to embarking on an independent consulting career, Alvin was a Supply Chain consultant with both Accenture and Deloitte. He holds a BS in General Engineering from Harvey Mudd College, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Southern California, and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Loyola Marymount University.

Cost Reduction Through Near Shore Manufacturing Optimization and Low Cost Country Sourcing

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 12:42:00 GMT

A major consumer products US company aimed to significantly reduce COGS through their OPEX manufacturing strategic plan. The company understood that in order to significantly reduce COGS, they needed to diversify their manufacturing footprint and simultaneously optimize the Product Portfolio, and Low-Cost Procurement and Low-Cost Manufacturing Practices.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The company had a number of plants across different regions in the US but no international plants. The current manufacturing footprint could not sustain the market pressure caused by the lower prices of competitors with plants in Asia and Latin America despite all the cost reduction efforts. Driven by the new aggressive cost reduction mandate Senior Management decided to start up a manufacturing plant in Mexico to take advantage of the low-cost manufacturing labor in the country as a key strategic initiative to reduce COGS and improve EBITDA.

The company hired OnDemand Professional Network member Juan-Luis Munoz as the VP/GM of International Operations to lead this strategic endeavor.

APPROACH

The team first performed an assessment of the OPEX Current State, Product Portfolio, Manufacturing Network, OTC Lead Times (Order-To-Cash) and top spending accounts. The company graded poorly along several high-level OPEX critical elements:

Fragmented and isolated improvement efforts
Lack of manufacturing standardization and best practice deployment system
People engagement, motivation and empowerment
Structural misalignment
Unstandardized KPI measurement and reporting
Business macro flows not properly connected
Obsolete manufacturing methodologies

Understanding the current state was crucial in planning a successful manufacturing plant in another country. Among other things, the team uncovered significant manufacturing practices being conducted with the use of “tribal knowledge” only. When some level of standardization of processes was found, this was executed by multiple individuals in different functional areas across plants– that was causing significant level of confusion and consequently affecting all improvement efforts.

The approach followed a proven concept – Current State Analysis > Gap Analysis > Future State Design across People, Processes and Manufacturing Technologies.

This was necessary to be ready to design the first international plant of the company. The Team agreed that they should jointly work toward an end-state where:

Operations would have the personnel, skills and bandwidth to execute most modern manufacturing technologies when opening a new plant regardless of the geographic location
They would manage OPEX standardization centrally
The company would adopt the Balanced Scorecard to eliminate the lack of structural alignment and business micro flows disconnections.

The Gap Analysis outlined a good number of areas for improvement, but it was clear that the common factor was that the new operations organization had to increase the use of modern manufacturing technologies.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND COMPLIANCE: MX Corp set up, gov permits, certs and contracts
PEOPLE: HR plan, Union BA, knowledge transfer plan, perf eval system -PES, EHS
PRODUCT PORTFOLIO AND ENGINEERING: Prod. Specs, BOM, Routings, Testing, MSA, DFMEA
PROCESS AND FACILITY: Process Design and Validation, VAVE, PFMEA, PMS, QMS, IT & Coms
MATERIALS, PROCUREMENT, LOGISTICS, ORDER ENTRY AND IMPORT/EXPORT
FINANCE: FMS, Cost accounting, Taxes, Banking, Op Budget, Plant start up budget control

RESULTS

The new manufacturing plant started in less than a year successfully.

The company adopted several new best practices as a result of this project such as the new product and process validation and certification and the BSC (Balanced Scorecard).

These are the top 3 results:

Reduction of the average lead times from 6 to 2 weeks (order-to-delivery)
Labor efficiency increased from 72% to 95%
Fully loaded labor cost reduction from $21/hr. to $4.50/hr.

And perhaps most importantly, the new operations organization was positioned to become innovation and OPEX leaders in the business.

CHALLENGES

People and skills – Training and knowledge transfer of new operations to another country was a big challenge. We had to implement a very comprehensive training program using tutors, skill matrix management and a different job category system based on job complexity and a set of KPI’s for each category. Job complexity analysis was key in this process. Once finished, we were able to understand very well the training and skills needed by operation as well as the DPMO (Defect Per Million Opportunity) to better plan our manufacturability, quality and reliability assurance plan. Tribal knowledge was always the enemy because it causes lack of standardization and many issues in training new personnel.

Manufacturing Footprint Optimization – This was achieved through iterative kaizen events. Footprint evolved from straight-line batch production cells to modular flexible continuous flow production cells. Space utilization improved significantly in terms of sales per square foot. However, the master scheduling process had to be revised to optimize changeovers, people utilization and total lead-time. This was very critical because all improvements you make on the production floor are futile if the rest of the operational practices never change such as supply chain, customer order validation, order entry, master scheduling, logistics, etc.

Machinery and tools – Every time a manufacturing organization experiences new market pressures, it needs to decide between evolution vs. revolution. Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) and Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) had to be learned and mastered by the engineering team along with a comprehensive predictive maintenance program (not only preventive) using advanced reliability methods such as MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) and MFMEA (Machine Failure Mode and Effect Analysis). Using only a Corrective Maintenance Program is not acceptable.

Change Management – We had to develop a comprehensive program which included several sections such as the human side aspect, organizational dynamics, communications, change agents, new business practices, readiness, involvement, training and impact, among others.

Value Stream and Value Proposition Continuous Evolution – We had to develop the mantra of never be satisfied with the status quo, so this is something that is a big challenge, especially with people that are very complacent in their comfort zone of doing the same things over and over again.

OnDemand Professional Network Member since 2021

Juan-Luis has 25+ years of experience starting up and leading multi-plant and multi-country business units in diverse industrial sectors (automotive, aerospace and consumer products) with high concentration in Latin America.

He practices a very decisive and assertive servant leadership through operational excellence, best in class business practices, team development and communication that has led to sustainable and profitable growth of public and private companies.

Juan-Luis is very well versed in restructuring undervalued and under-performing businesses through TPS lean manufacturing transformation, 6Sigma deployment, product portfolio optimization, low cost procurement, low cost manufacturing, innovation and speed to market strategies.

Experience in start-ups and turnarounds in private and public companies with global supply chain and operations.

Pioneer in TPS Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence, 6 Sigma, TOC, DFT, DOE Taguchi, Shainin, Shingo, K&T, 8D, PFMEA. APQP, DFM and other manufacturing technologies and improvement initiatives.

He is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and he holds a BSE in Industrial Physics and Manufacturing Engineering and MBA from Monterrey Tech (ITESM) and EGADE Business School.

Procurement Approach To Sole-Source Vendor In Monopolistic Market

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 14:31:00 GMT

One of the largest biotechnology companies in the world needed to quickly develop a strategic supply agreement with a sole-source supplier before impending contract expiration. With no existing category manager or in-house expertise, and little time for execution, they were looking for a specialist who could identify opportunities for value, develop the sourcing strategy, and help them implement a long-term supply agreement that would lock in the value. They turned to OnDemand Professional Network member Art Brunton.

CHALLENGE

The sole-source nature of secondary data made it nearly impossible for the client to avoid significant annual price increases. They also had little control over the assurance of supply, quality and service of the data. In addition, all of the industry competitors procured the same data sets, so the competition for the supplier’s performance was extraordinary.

Proprietary data types – the supplier was sole-source because they owned data technology and supply sources that no other supplier could offer or penetrate. For nearly 30 years, the main barriers to entry for additional suppliers were technology, cost of entry, and access to data sources. There was no potential alternative to the supplier on the horizon either.
Data set obsolescence and rationalization – the client did not have a grasp on the data sets they were purchasing on a regular basis versus what was actually needed. Therefore, potential obsolescence and rationalization were not clear.
Fragmentation in spend across the client’s organization – the client had numerous groups within its US organization buying other products and services from the supplier. It also had many other business partners globally buying the same secondary data sets. However, consolidation of spend was not occurring anywhere, and the supplier was leveraging the fragmentation model as a result.

APPROACH

An opportunity analysis, including current business requirements identification, was conducted to provide an accurate business foundation for sourcing strategy development.

Spend analysis and business requirements development – A cross-functional team was immediately formed to conduct and validate the spend analysis, and determine true business requirements. The focus was not only on cost, as the team spent significant time identifying its quality, supply, and service needs. These were then reflected in the supply agreement as additional clauses that assured compliance by the supplier. The team included members from Global Strategic Sourcing, Procurement Operations, Marketing Operations, Finance, R&D, and Legal.
Data set rationalization – the team identified data sets that were no longer needed, and removed these from the scope of the project. This simplified the overall data set population for negotiations purposes, and created immediate quick wins cost savings for the client.
Inclusion of other global business partners – the business partners from Europe, Asia, Canada and Puerto Rico buying the same data sets were included in the negotiations. Even though the supplier did not have a functioning global business model in place, they agreed to honor the US pricing (which was superior to any other region) in exchange for the US contract to be adhered to by the business partners. This resulted in significant savings to the business partners and price control through the duration of the contract.
Sole-source negotiations strategy – a high-spend category that was effectively sole-sourced with minimal leverage required a comprehensive negotiations strategy. The team engaged three global subject matter experts in both secondary data and the supplier to gain market intelligence and supplier-specific knowledge. This provided valuable information and leverage points for the negotiations plan. Risk mitigation and value-add clauses for the business requirements relating to quality, supply and service were developed with Legal. The negotiations were patiently conducted in a face-to-face environment with multiple iterations which resulted in maximum value for the client over the four year contract duration.

RESULTS

Strategic sourcing savings and cost avoidance – 11%
Data set rationalization leading to greater savings
Opened up US-pricing to the rest of the client’s global partners resulting in higher savings for the global client and reduced risk of price inflation over the life of the contract
Long-term supply agreement – 4 years
Significant risk mitigation due to new supply, quality and service clauses included in the contract that protected the client’s data interests

MEET ART BRUNTON

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2017

Art has been creating significant financial and non-financial value for clients through procurement, supply chain and operations strategy for 22 years via leadership and interim management roles. He possesses a background across many industries including pharmaceutical and bio-technology, healthcare, medical devices, food and beverage, telecommunications, hospitality, financial services, metals and mining, among others. As a strategy development and supply chain improvement expert, Art is also proficient at bridging the gaps between the Operations and Commercial groups at his clients. Art earned an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic University and a BS in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University.

Engage Consultant For Rapid Procurement Transformation and Fast Time To Savings

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 18:28:00 GMT

SITUATION OVERVIEW

A newly hired CPO was not going to be able to be fully engaged with his new company, a national transportation equipment and service provider, for several months. The Company’s leadership had high expectations and had set aggressive savings targets for his first 12 months. Realizing that it takes time to understand the spend and opportunities, the CPO engaged Chris Lemnah, a long standing member of the OnDemand Professional Network to quickly analyze the spend and conduct the initial opportunity assessment (“OA”).

APPROACH

Chris kicked off an opportunity assessment consisting of stakeholder interviews, PO & AP spend analysis, and contract reviews. He also spoke with the existing procurement team members to better understand their current focus, as well as past activities.

The information gathered was used to create an OA package that presented the opportunities across 4 workstreams:

Controls
Key Customer Initiatives
Spend Reduction Teams
Technology Enablers

The Controls workstream focused on getting Procurements involved up front in supplier selection, vendor master additions and maintenance, contract reviews, and requisition approvals.

Key Customer Initiatives the team was involved in included enterprise-wide initiatives for Telecom, Benefits, and Oracle.

Spend Reduction teams focused on a myriad of projects in various areas identified during the OA and brought to the team by other departments.

Chris sourced and implemented multiple technology solutions for the client to help organize and solidify their sourcing and contracting processes.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Engaging & Aligning Stakeholders – Finance, IT & Operations were all engaged to help understand their impressions of the current procurement team and where they thought procurement could add more value.
Data Integrity – despite having relatively few systems, significant effort was required to ensure that all parties agreed with the scope & categorization of the spend data consolidated from the various sources.
Collaborative Deliverables – stakeholders and existing procurement team members worked together to identify and achieve goals through the Opportunity Assessment and prioritization process.

RESULTS

Within 6 months, the team had completed 36 projects that would deliver $13.7M in savings against $111 M in spend.

The Key Customer Initiatives had completed all commercial negotiations and were into implementation phases.

Chris implemented the sourcing platform with an integrated multi-step sourcing process customized for the client as part of its functionality. The platform facilitated eRFX and reverse auction events that were extensively used by the team of consultants and existing procurement professionals.

Chris pushed the business to conduct its first ever reverse auction , choosing to bid out laptops & desktops to the incumbent and multiple newly qualified potential suppliers. Event led to over 13% savings and awarded the business to the existing office supplies provider, greatly simplifying supplier management efforts.

Chris implemented the contract database with hundreds of agreements, collecting the applicable contract elements and renewal alerts in a tool that when combined with the sourcing platform.

Policies had been rewritten to ensure Procurement was engaged where appropriate and that spend controls were set up to ensure sufficient controllership without stifling the business’ operations.

Chris’ efforts to standardize the tools, process & procedures ending up reducing project cycle times by up to 30% – a significant improvement that ended up changing the perception of procurement from one of a hurdle that slows down projects, to one of a partner that can enable better solutions with significant savings.

MEET CHRIS LEMNAH

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2010

Chris is an experienced procurement and operations executive with over 25 years in leadership roles. He has worked extensively overseas, as well as in a variety of industries, in roles that have encompassed the areas of supply chain, outsourcing, strategic sourcing, acquisition integration, and financial controllership. Chris’ sourcing experience spans across many categories of Direct and Indirect Spend. He has strong analytical skills and has helped multiple companies implement strategic sourcing and category management programs. A former U.S. Navy Submarine Officer and member of GE’s Audit Staff, he holds a MBA from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Rochester.

Multiple Procurement Cost Reduction Strategies Drove Fast Savings Across Diverse Spend For Ground Moving Equipment Manufacturer

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 15:27:00 GMT

A PE-owned mid-market ground moving equipment manufacturer needed to quickly drive procurement savings ahead of impending major transactions. With disaggregated spend and vendor concentration across direct and indirect categories, they were looking for an expert who could quickly identify opportunities and help them execute varied strategies to maximize savings in the shortest period of time. They turned to OnDemand and selected a member of our Professional Network Kenton Phillips.

CHALLENGE

The mid-market position and spend levels of the company required lean, rapidly executed initiatives to maximize the project ROI, but the diverse range of products and services in scope necessitated a range of category-specific approaches to achieve the maximum savings.

Multiple categories with a wide range of volumes – the category characteristics and varying spend levels required multiple different sourcing strategies to be planned and executed in a short timeframe.
Product specification rationalization – the rationalization of specifications required by some categories drove the review of hundreds of engineering documents and substantial engagement with engineering personnel across two company locations.
Sole-source products and limited switching capability – other categories had limited alternative vendors or were limited in the client’s ability to switch leading to the need for sole-source, limited-source and time-phased sourcing strategies.

Client-tailored and category-specific approaches were designed to rapidly capture the greatest amount of savings within the limited timeframe.

Assessment and quick hits – during the assessment, categories were grouped by sourcing technique and other characteristics to accelerate the capture of quick-hit opportunities and enable the most efficient and effective strategic sourcing execution. Some of the quickest savings results were achieved by leveraging group purchasing and volume concentration with incumbents.
Rapid sourcing and make vs. buy assessment – in the more traditional sourcing approaches, global vendor lists were assembled, and RFPs distributed. Upon analyzing vendor responses, multiple implementation options were identified based on:
Quickest implementation favoring incumbent suppliers
Maximum savings favoring best price vendors
Combination of the two that offered best of both worlds
Detailed make vs. buy analysis were also performed for relevant products, and the recommended change more than doubled the savings that would have been achieved by strategic sourcing alone.
Product specification rationalization – engineering drawings of hundreds of products were collected to extract, assemble, and compare key attributes. Multi-factor analysis was conducted incorporating average and standard deviation of attribute values, cost, and ease of transition – from this, an initial rationalization perspective was developed. Refinements to the rationalization plan were applied after additional reviews with engineering and consideration of subjective factors.
Sole-source negotiations strategy – a high-spend category that was effectively sole-sourced with limited leverage required a particularly keen negotiation strategy. After conducting a detailed assessment of the vendor’s pricing mechanics, market dynamics and forecast, and client requirements, several points of leverage and areas of concern were developed from both the vendor and client perspectives. These points formed the backbone of the negotiations strategy which was outlined in a detailed package and provided to the client to execute independently.

RESULTS

Rapid sourcing savings – 6-27%
Make vs. buy business case savings – 25%
Product specification rationalization leading to greater savings
Negotiation strategy with up to 10% savings potential despite limited leverage

MEET KENTON PHILLIPS

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2006.

Kenton has driven immense value for clients through improved operations and via interim leadership roles for over 20 years. With background from AT Kearney, Accenture, McDonnell Douglas and the US Airforce, and extensive experience in strategy, operations, supply chain, and S&OP, Kenton has worked across several industries including TMT, food and beverage, CPG, industrial products, and oil and gas, among others. As a strategist and operations visionary with experience in software engineering, Kenton is also proficient at bridging the gap between business objectives and technology implementations. Kenton earned an MBA in Operations from Ohio State University and a BS in Management & Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Strategic Sourcing for Pharmacovigilance (PV) Services – Creating a Collaborative Environment to Improve Services and Reduce Costs

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 19:45:00 GMT

Sourcing is often designed as a cost saving exercise. However, in the case of complex services that are integral to an enterprise success, sourcing can often result in a better solution for the organization, not just savings. We like to think of this as a win-win opportunity – better service levels, lower costs – and if driven/supported by senior leadership can reap great rewards. Below I share an excerpt from Dave Stowe, a long-time member of our OnDemand Professional Network, that I think exemplifies this kind of complex sourcing – this time at a high-growth BioPharma company that was outgrowing the capabilities of it’s Pharmacovigilance Services (PV*) provider.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

A rapidly growing $1.3B biopharma company with 12 drugs on the market and ongoing drug development, needed to find a new supplier for PV services. As a result of the company’s rapid growth over the preceding 8 years, the incumbent supplier was unable to meet service level requirements creating a sizable business risk. The client had increasing concerns about the incumbent’s capability to respond to audits in a timely manner; rapidly scale to support spikes in volumes; and support advanced analytics and insights. As a result, executives including the EVP of R&D, CFO and CEO approved a sourcing effort to find a new service supplier and technology platform.

To lead the sourcing effort, the client brought in Dave Stowe, a member of the OnDemand Professional Network with deep pharmaceutical industry sourcing expertise to work with the VP of Patient Safety, scientists and the IT organization.

APPROACH

The client created a core team with representatives from PV, IT and procurement to manage the details of the sourcing process and established a steering committee to provide executive oversight prior to making the final recommendation.

The core team developed a three phased approach starting with a Request-for-information (RFI), continuing with a Request-for-Proposal (RFP) and concluding with a recommended vendor and technology platform for executive approval. This approach provided them with an opportunity to thoroughly understand the supply market, services, technology platforms and cost structure.

For the RFI phase, the team engaged nine suppliers to solicit information on services and technology platforms on how to deploy business processes to meet requirements for:

Case processing
Aggregate safety data reporting
Literature services
Signal detection and management
Data visualization and analytics
Quality metrics and inspections

As a result of the knowledge gained through the RFI phase, the team was able to select a technology platform, develop an RFP and down select four suppliers to solicit formal proposals.

To evaluate the proposals, the team:

Developed a comprehensive set of business and financial criteria
Solicited input from stakeholders across the R&D, regulatory, quality, medical information, regulatory affairs, legal and clinical operations to meet with the supplier teams and evaluate their offerings.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Facilitating working meetings with stakeholders to accurately capture requirements and issues across the following four areas:
Incumbent performance
Technology platform requirements
Service provider requirements
Transition requirements
Creating a collaborative RFI/RFP process with suppliers to uncover options which would serve the client team vs. standard offerings

Establishing and defining the roles for the following 3 different stakeholders:

As a result of this collaborative approach, the team was able to develop a solution acceptable to the users, finance, legal and the executive committee.

RESULTS

The engagement generated a 36% reduction (savings) in run rate costs for both the services and technology platform. Accounting for one-time transition costs to the new supplier and technology platform, the project generated 19% in overall cost savings.

Solution provided the PV team with a leading best in class technology platform and provided out of the box ability to integrate with company’s clinical trial system. Platform provided extensive analytic and reporting capabilities and continuous updates compliant with worldwide regulatory standards for PV case management.

Finally, the sourcing analysis was “executive ready” to secure agreement from the CEO and executive committed to finalize the contract with a new supplier.

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2005

Procurement Organization Redesign – Setting Up For Strategic Cost Savings Drive

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 15:00:00 GMT

A major industrial gas company’s North American Procurement Organization transformation journey highlights the importance of proper alignment to achieve significant and sustainable results.

A major industrial gas company’s North American business aimed to significantly increase savings from their strategic procurement activities. The company understood that in order to achieve their goals, they needed to re-align and optimize the Procurement Organization to fully harness its capabilities. They hired a small team of consultants led by OnDemand Professional Network member Steve Strickman to significantly upgrade the function.

Situation Overview:

The company had a centralized transactional procurement team but lacked spend transparency and strategic sourcing skills. Procurement was not seen as a value-added leader that could bring critical Sourcing and Cost Management expertise, which caused fragmented and localized execution of procurement activities across the company. Driven by the new cost reduction mandate Senior Management’s goal was to upgrade Strategic Procurement across-the-board by building out a new organizational structure and strengthening its capabilities.

Approach:

The Consulting Team first performed an assessment of the Procurement function, and the company graded poorly along seven high-level Procurement “success dimensions”:

Change readiness/willingness
Staff motivation and empowerment
Structural alignment
Spend transparency
Measurement and reporting
Business process management
Procurement data capture and tools

Understanding the current state was important in the successful re-design of the organization. Among other things, the Team uncovered significant “Shadow Procurement” activity – procurement being executed by non-Procurement staff – that was causing significant downgrade in opportunity to save money and increased cost by excessive use of personnel resources (several dozen FTEs).

The approach followed a proven concept – Current State Analysis/Gap Analysis/Future State Design across People, Process and Technology in Procurement. The Steering Committee and the Team agreed that they should jointly work toward an end-state where:

Procurement would have the personnel, skills and bandwidth to execute Strategic Sourcing events as well as tactical buys
They would manage strategic categories centrally
The company would reduce maverick spend
Procurement would be seen as a value-added partner by the Business

The Gap Analysis outlined a number of areas for improvement. For the Organization, it was clear that if the new Procurement was to increase preferred vendor/contract compliance (with 100% compliance goal), save money via strategic sourcing, and provide greater customer service, it had to align itself better, increase the number of staff and significantly upskill through training and new hires. It also became clear that several key processes need to be re-designed in order to be more effective and efficient.

Critical Success Factors:

Senior Management Buy-In: Whenever a company is going to embark on Organizational changes, it needs Senior Management that have a clear “why” as well as a willingness to clear obstacles
A Clear Picture of The Starting Point As Well As The Destination: Before embarking on a transformation journey, it’s imperative to know the baseline, the most acute needs, and “what good looks like”.
A Business Process Focus: If you want superior results, you must understand and improve your business processes.

Results:

The Company adapted the new Procurement Organization design that was centered around key best practices including Category Management, Technology Enablement, Skills Development and Process Improvement. This transformation set the Company on the path toward:

100% spend through Procurement
100% Spend Transparency
Leveraging spend across the entire enterprise and the use of technology sourcing platform to deliver $14M savings over the first three years, with a target of $6+M by the third year
Maintain the $3M in annual savings just captured via a Sourcing Wave

And perhaps most importantly, the new organization was positioned to become a value-added partner to the business that was viewed as an important component of the overall sustainable savings strategy

MEET STEVE STRICKMAN

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2005

Steve has over 20 years of industry and consulting experience in the areas of Expense Management, Organizational Design, Strategic Sourcing, Project Management, and Process Implementation. He has strong analytical and solutions development skills and significant negotiations experience. Prior to embarking on an independent consulting career, Steve was a consultant with the Mitchell Madison Group. He is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and has also received PMP certification. He holds a BSE in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from The Wharton School.

Drive Explosive Growth With Comprehensive Business Assessment

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 15:18:00 GMT

An Independent Business Assessment presents an often overlooked opportunity to drive dramatic value creation and profitable growth. Given the ever-increasing pace of change driven by enabling technologies and emerging risks such as pandemics, it is more essential than ever for businesses to drive their offerings and performance to the highest possible levels. The Assessment can be done quickly (typically 4 to 5 weeks for small to medium sized businesses), does not require a significant resource commitment and delivers prioritized opportunities to improve business performance and mitigate risk. This comprehensive Assessment covers Business Strategy, Deployment, Value Stream Core and Support Processes, Organization Design, Competencies and Performance, and Hard Assets (Footprint, Systems, Facilities, Equipment).

Below are several areas where opportunities are often found:

Business Strategy, Plan and Deployment – maintains a realistic, actionable Strategy Deployment with demonstrates progress on plan.
Management Operating System – has effective PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) based Business Management System with effective design of KPIs, reports, meetings to plan and achieve the business annual and strategic goals.
Value Stream Best Practice Processes – standard work is documented, deployed and managed for compliance, effectiveness and continual improvement
High Performing Team Culture – maintains and demonstrates progress to plan on an Organization Development Plan driven by Business Strategy

Jim Schoen , a member of our OnDemand Professional Network has has completed many assessments during his Executive and Consulting career and has a structured approach for delivering the best value creation opportunities. His recent work is highlighted in the Case Study below.

CASE STUDY – $25M Consumer Packaged Goods (Cannabis) Supplier

The Venture Capital Board of a $5M Cannabis start-up asked for a comprehensive business assessment reflecting concerns about slower than expected growth rate. A four-week business assessment delivered findings and prioritized recommendations including Financial Modeling, Process Standard Work, Management Operating System (MOS) and Organization Development (OD). The Board approved the implementation phase to develop and deploy those four immediate priorities. The Management Operating System consisted of a Plan-Do-Check-Act Management Process to lead business success including KPIs, reporting and meeting cadence and design. Standard Work included SOP Standard Operating Procedures for nine core processes and thirty two sub-processes. Organization Development included the documentation of process lead job descriptions matched to the standard work and leadership coaching of the process leaders. Financial modelling entailed the development of a pro forma cash flow model to sustain liquidity with reserves at all times.

Results were dramatic: Sales increased within 10 months from a $5M to a $25M annual run rate and were projected to reach over a $36M run rate. Cash Flow and Profit both went from negative to double digit positive % of Sales. Team productivity and morale improved dramatically based on clear job descriptions and process design.

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE BUSINESS ASSESSMENT INITIATIVE

Thoroughly prepare prior to engagement with information request and review, best practice tailoring, workplan, value stream assessment framework (“Business Assessment Value Stream Mapping”)
Conduct robust kickoff meeting to communicate assessment goals & plan and meet process owners and key stakeholders
Engage Leading Executive Sponsor for Business or Business Unit
Engage Process owners in limited interviews
Assess performance through Gemba kaizen walks and selected meetings
Just Do It – Identify &/or implement quick wins as they surface
Present Deliverable of prioritized opportunities (“Opportunity Radar Chart”), fact based performance dashboards (“Performance Dashboard”) and process scorecard and assessments (“Business Assessment Summary and Scorecard”)

MEET JIM SCHOEN

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2015

Jim is an experienced Operating Executive and Management Consultant focused on assessing, improving and growing businesses across diverse industries including Aerospace, Industrial Products, Consumer Packaged Goods, Food & Beverage and Logistics. He has worked for and with companies of all sizes ranging from $5M to over $50B in sales – A.T.Kearney, Danaher, Colfax, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon, General Motors, FedEx, Treehouse Foods, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and many others. With depth in General and Program Management, Operations/Supply Chain, Product Development, Lean process improvement and Leadership / Team Development, Jim brings a full consulting toolset to client success including Business Assessment, Strategy, Value Stream, Problem Solving, Project Management, and team and best practice process development. Jim has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from UCLA.

Strategic Sourcing Can Help to Realign IT Cost Structure After Divestiture

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 13:57:00 GMT

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The US arm of a Japanese multinational Consumer Electronics company required Strategic Sourcing support to tailor its centralized IT organization’s Service costs to match its new revenue structure after a key business unit (BU) exited the US market. Due to the shared nature of the IT organization, initial IT cost reductions accompanying the BU exit were not proportional with the revenue reduction. The situation caused a ‘stranded cost’ issue that impacted the remaining BUs profitability going-forward. This issue was made more difficult by an IT expense allocation methodology that was overly complex.

The company engaged Tony Raimundo , a member of the OnDemand Professional Network with Strategic Sourcing / IT Category Expertise and an extensive IT Operations background, to participate as a member of a steering committee with the CIO, CFO and representatives from the going forward BUs to address the ‘stranded cost’ issue. The team was given 90 days to consider all options including outsourcing the IT function.

DISCOVERY & EVALUATION

After establishing a working team that included the CIO, the Finance team, and representatives from each BU, business requirements were defined and roles & responsibilities were communicated to the project team. The team agreed that the following deliverables would be required.

Articulation of a complete IT Service Catalog illustrating delivery costs for each service
Commitments from BUs for IT Services & volume
Detailed Sourcing plan (including a detailed RFI document) to solicit proposals from IT Outsource (ITO) providers

The team assembled internal & external data and analyzed IT spend for the previous 18 months clearly mapping relationships of costs to existing Services in the existing IT cost allocation methodology.

The team discovered that imprecise allocation of IT costs was causing essential allocations of IT Services such the firm’s SAP ERP infrastructure to be overstated due to the inclusion of unrelated IT Services, such as – Business Compliance & Security, BU specific projects and Application Support. Consequently, the inflated allocations limited BU’s ability to opt out of the underlying Services and caused Services like the SAP ERP infrastructure to come in above industry benchmarks.

Armed with this insight the team developed a new IT Service Catalog that presented BUs with a differentiated set of IT Services and corresponding costs. This provided a more granular model from which BUs could select IT Services levels and budget required. With this input from the BUs, the CIO was able to aggregate BU requirements and develop a baseline IT budget for the coming year.

SOURCING APPROACH

A two-pronged Sourcing Strategy was agreed which would include an RFI round, and an RFP round soliciting IT Outsourcing options along with targeted IT Sourcing support that would allow the existing CIO organization to submit its own proposal to continue providing IT support.

RFI Round – Using the new IT Service Catalog as a platform, an RFI was conducted to collect data and recommendation for optimization from six potential ITO providers – Fujitsu, InfoSys, Knack Systems, NTT Data, SoftTek, and Tata Consulting Services.

RFP Rounds – Five ITO providers were invited to participate in the RFP round. They were all measured on business viability (2%), service excellence (5%), people and relationships (5%), professionalism (3%), transition (10%), solution implementation (10%), business/product strategy/use of technology (8%), budgetary discipline/predictability (12%), and economic evaluation (45%), with a heavy weighting on the proposal economics as defined by the steering committee.

Given the quality of the pre-work done by the project team prior to the RFP, demand management resulting from the IT Service Catalog exercise, and the participation of the CIO organization as an aggressive sixth “bidder, ” the team went into the RFP with a “floor” budget that included a minimum savings of $3.15MM (19.5%) over the baseline budget.

The RFP process resulted in proposals that would potentially reduce the “floor” budget by an incremental $1.1MM (9%) to $1.7MM (13%).

RESULTS

Steering Committee opted for a hybrid CIO ‘floor’ proposal with $800K of additional optimizations based on insights gained from the RFP process
IT Budget reduced by $3.95MM (24.5%)

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Effective partnership between CIO, Finance, and BU teams around clear project objectives led to successful project outcomes.
Fact-based and data-driven IT Service Catalog enabled crucial decisions to be made around IT service consumption and crisp planning by the CIO organization.
CIO, Finance, and BU gained exposure and strongly bought in to a procurement IT category management process.
Deep preparation in understanding existing IT services and costs enabled client to be highly credible and effective in interactions with bidders driving significant reductions in successive proposals through the three round bidding process.

MEET TONY RAIMUNDO

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2020

Tony has over 20 years of experience as a senior strategic sourcing, IT & operations leader. He is known as a results oriented, and delivery driven strategic thinker that consistently achieves above average savings for his clients.

He has extensive international experience in Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, IT and Operations Management and has sourced hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods & services globally across many industries in such categories as IT Hardware & Software, Telecommunications, Real Estate & Facilities, Benefits & Insurance, Packaging, Professional Services, Legal, Fleet Management, etc.

Prior to his consulting career Tony held senior roles at AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Citigroup, and Bridgewater Associates. Tony is fluent in English and Portuguese and holds a BS degree in Information Systems from New Jersey Institute of Technology and a BA degree in Economics Rutgers University.

Tail Spend Focus Can Deliver Significant Savings

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 14:55:00 GMT

Ever since Peter Drucker made his famous statement about procurement being the last frontier of finding corporate efficiency in 1982, companies of all sizes have embarked on implementing procurement enhancements as a way to control and reduce cost. In nearly 50 years of procurement focus, one portion of vendor cost has gotten very little attention – Tail Spend, broadly speaking 20% of the overall spend that comes from 80% of vendors. While Tail Spend is something that always will be present in the cost structure of any organization, below are some examples where Tail Spend represents inefficiency:

Using local vendors for services when there are existing agreements with national vendors, e.g. housekeeping services
Using software services specifically for individual business functions when there are enterprise level services available, e.g. business intelligence
Using services that are not required or are already provided by existing vendors, e.g. certifications, marketing research, project management
Rogue spend, not approved under any budget

Because of the relatively small amount of spend associated with any individual vendor, Tail Spend can escape attention from finance and procurement functions for a long time.

Paul Dhaliwal , a member of our OnDemand Professional Network has developed a systematic approach to identify suspect vendors within tail spend that may fit the criteria outlined above. This approach enables rapid identification of these vendors and take appropriate action in collaboration with individual spend owners. Typical disposition off these vendors includes immediate shut-off of their services, transition of their services to existing vendors, or consolidation with a national vendor. Tail Spend initiatives can yield cost reduction totaling 2% – 5% of overall total indirect cost and can be implemented quickly within 6-12 weeks depending on the size of an enterprise. Tail Spend represents one of the best opportunities for quick cost reduction initiatives in these times.

RECENT CASE – $4B FAST FASHION RETAILER

A national Fast Fashion Retailer had grown rapidly through both organic growth and acquisitions. They had already instituted procurement excellence on all major categories of indirect spend related to categories like facilities, marketing, logistics, professional services, HR, etc. The company decided to look for additional cost reduction opportunity in Tail Spend management. Over a 12-week engagement spend data related to ~5000 suppliers was reviewed, over 50 functional and other spend owners were interviewed, and over 12 workshops centered on specific functions like marketing were conducted. A two-pronged approach was used:

Individual discussions and analysis of all vendors with spend greater than $25K. The goal was to identify select vendors who could be shut down or combined.
Direct communication with spend owners of a large number of vendors with spend less than $25K annually, here all vendors were presumed to be shut off unless the spend owners could provide a written justification on why their services or products needed to be continued.

Overall the initiative resulted in net annualized cost reduction of $18M, 4.5% of total $400M indirect spend.

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE TAIL SPEND INITIATIVES

Focus only on indirect cost, exclude any vendors with direct revenue impact, this minimizes the risk
Exclude items like taxes, other government payments, rent, benefits
Exclude spend related to large projects which have defined budgets and timelines
Analyze 2 – 3 years of spend data at minimum to establish trends
Top down executive mandate or push to reduce tail spend is very helpful in communicating goals to individual spend owners
Budgets need to be reduced after any vendor shut-offs are agreed to, otherwise savings realization cannot be tracked

MEET PAUL DHALIWAL

OnDemand Professional Network Member Since 2018

Seasoned executive with 24 years of experience in delivering bottom-line results for clients by reducing operating costs, reorganizing core business functions like Finance & IT, improving asset utilization, and reducing working capital requirements. Ability to work and deliver results in range of company sizes ($200M – $5B+), situations (enterprise improvement, PMI, distress, carve outs), and roles (exec leader, advisor, hands on implementer). Paul has BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois and MBA from MIT Sloan School.

Marketing Agency Sourcing – F100 Global Retailer Case Study

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 11:25:06 GMT

After establishing a cross-functional team from Marketing, Finance and Procurement, business requirements were defined, and roles & responsibilities were communicated to the project team. The team assembled internal & external data and analyzed marketing spend over the previous 2 years, and the projected media budgets for the coming year. Agreed upon sourcing strategy included an RFI round, potentially 2 rounds of RFPs and potentially a final Reverse Auction round.

The current fee structure thought to be high (proven correct with savings of 50%), and the rebates were low (only 5% – the marketing team was convinced this was low given the spend size and knowledge of competition).

Procurement and Marketing had never worked together in the past and Marketing viewed Procurement with distrust and lacking in the subject matter expertise needed to support this area. To build a common understanding, an outside consultant, Alan Rice facilitated several workshops to share knowledge between the two departments. Marketing learned how the Strategic Sourcing process worked, along with examples from other internal projects and the consultant’s experience with other external projects. Additionally, one-on-one discussions were held with the Chief Marketing Officer and his direct reports to establish a strong relationship and build a bridge as a trusted advisor.

APPROACH

RFI Round – RFI was run to collect data from potential new agencies and the incumbent agencies were asked to provide detailed spend reports for the previous 2 years.

RFP Rounds – 11 agencies were invited to participate in the first RFP round. They were all measured on assurance of supply, creative quality, service, costs (fees & rebates) and innovation, as defined by the internal marketing stakeholders during business requirements identification. Given the results of the first RFP round including the fact that the proposed fees were still not significantly different, a second RFP round was designed and it included a 3 year agreement term (vs. original 1 year). In the second round, the fees only came down slightly, so this triggered the need for an auction, as defined in the strategic plan. Given the nature of fees needing to be reduced and rebates increased, a Reverse Auction was selected – the first that the retailer had ever run in marketing. 9 agencies were invited to participate in the last round process and 4 separate Reverse Auctions were run the same day. Two for fees (online/offline) and two for rebates (online/offline)

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Trust was built between Marketing and Procurement, leading to the first successful joint project.
Marketing saw that Reverse Auctions are a viable way to obtain the best value for their marketing budgets.
Marketing was educated on the category management sourcing process and had buy-in.
The Reverse Auction generated a fierce competition among the agencies.

RESULTS

Fees reduced by 50%
Rebates increased from 5% to 35%
Creative media services were consolidated into 1 agency of record, thereby achieving standardization in creative content and messaging

Meet Alan Rice – OnDemand Network Member Since 2009

Alan has over 20 years of experience as a CPO and senior procurement executive. He is known as strategic thinker who challenges the “Status Quo” and consistently achieves above average savings results for his clients. He has extensive international experience in Procurement, Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Management. He has sourced billions of dollars’ worth of goods & services globally across many industries in such categories as Marketing, IT, Telecommunications, HR, Travel and Corporate Service. Alan is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and holds a BS degree from Florida State University and MS from AERCE in Spain.

Building Strategic Procurement Function – National Sporting Goods Retailer

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 11:32:33 GMT

SITUATION OVERVIEW

National Sporting Goods Retailer desired to build a highly functioning Strategic Procurement organization. They hired Kas Chupa, a member of the OnDemand Professional Network as the new Chief Procurement Officer to drive this effort. Kas was tasked to build a procurement organization with the capability of sourcing $550M of Indirect Goods & Services, Capital Equipment and some Direct Goods for resale and implement year over year savings programs.

DISCOVERY & EVALUATION

As the new CPO, Kas interviewed all business unit leaders to introduce himself and to get their perspective on what they expected from Strategic Procurement, to understand their business goals and objectives for the coming year(s) and discover how their respective procurement activities were being executed currently. Part of the evaluation phase was to uncover quick win opportunities, prepare the business for the upcoming organizational changes and the timeline for those changes, as well as the Mission and Vision for Procurement within the company. The interviews and data collection revealed the following:

All buying was being executed within the various business units by non-procurement individuals.
All contracts we being negotiated and signed by the business units with limited to no legal review.
There were multiple payment channels, and close to 100 different payment terms.

EXECUTION & BENEFITS

The CPO quickly engaged external consulting support while he was building internal procurement capabilities. The key focus of the consultants was to work with the business and build strawman sourcing plans and pipeline of quick wins.

While focusing on quick wins to demonstrate the value of strategic sourcing and procurement, the CPO built the procurement team with internal resources, with a net zero increase in costs for the company, quickly implementing teams to lead professional category management, supplier relationship management, order execution, buying and contract management.

Other key steps taken included segmenting suppliers to more acutely manage them based on criticality to the business, normalizing payment terms by supplier category and implementing procurement review process of all contracts. Additionally, the Finance team was engaged to reflect all procurement savings in divisional budgets.

External consultants helped to drive the initial execution of category sourcing plans, creating year over year savings strategies resulting in $25M in savings over the first 2 years. The strategic sourcing projects quickly moved to the internal team, using the consultants for change management.

RESULTS

Procurement took over all contract reviews, negotiations and signatures, resulting in previously outsourced legal work moving back in house with $10MM in savings realized in the first year and $25MM in 24 month period.

The organization implemented the Zycus Contracts Management Module, including contracts authoring and signature workflow to ensure contract visibility and compliance.

Meet Kas Chupa – OnDemand Network Member since 2013

Kas Chupa is a Procurement executive with 20+ years of experience in strategic sourcing and supply chain focused on developing and procurement and payables strategies to deliver bottom-line savings, increase service quality, improve processes and reduce risk for private and public sector companies. He has specialized category knowledge across Indirect & Direct Categories and Capital Equipment in multiple industries on a global basis. Additionally, he has broad knowledge of procurement operations including accounts payable, supplier management, contract management, supplier risk mitigation and P2P systems including Ariba, Zycus, SAP and Coupa. Kas prides himself to have strong people leadership skills and proficiency leveraging technology to optimize procurement processes. He is a respected, influential leader; a trusted change agent who is effective in collaborating with others to tackle complex problems and implement creative solutions to improve the bottom line. Proven track record of designing and implementing strategic transformational initiatives, delivering high level supply base performance and building empowered high-performance teams. In additional to his CPO role with the retailer, his experience includes roles with UNUM Insurance, Accenture, IBM, Vodafone and Eaton Corporation.

Marketing Spend Sourcing – Key Learnings From The Field

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 11:42:16 GMT

By David Brown, Vice President, Client Services, OnDemand Resources, LLC

We are seeing Marketing spend becoming a key focus area for companies to generate substantial savings. Yet, organizations often put more analytical rigor and require more business justification for a $1,000 laptop purchase than they do for multi-million-dollar advertising investments. Marketing IS one of the last green sourcing pastures in corporate America and one that is particularly ripe to harvest in the current business environment.

APPROACH

For the RFI phase, the team engaged nine suppliers to solicit information on services and technology platforms on how to deploy business processes to meet requirements for:

Case processing
Aggregate safety data reporting
Literature services
Signal detection and management
Data visualization and analytics
Quality metrics and inspections

As a result of the knowledge gained through the RFI phase, the team was able to select a technology platform, develop an RFP and down select four suppliers to solicit formal proposals.

To evaluate the proposals, the team:

Developed a comprehensive set of business and financial criteria
Solicited input from stakeholders across the R&D, regulatory, quality, medical information, regulatory affairs, legal and clinical operations to meet with the supplier teams and evaluate their offerings.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Facilitating working meetings with stakeholders to accurately capture requirements and issues across the following four areas:
Incumbent performance
Technology platform requirements
Service provider requirements
Transition requirements
Creating a collaborative RFI/RFP process with suppliers to uncover options which would serve the client team vs. standard offerings

Establishing and defining the roles for the following 3 different stakeholders:

As a result of this collaborative approach, the team was able to develop a solution acceptable to the users, finance, legal and the executive committee.

RESULTS

Finally, the sourcing analysis was “executive ready” to secure agreement from the CEO and executive committed to finalize the contract with a new supplier.

I have spent a large part of my career focused on enhancing value and capturing savings in the area of Marketing Spend. Here are TEN KEY LEARNINGS that might benefit anyone getting ready to make a run at this elusive space. Additionally, you can review our case study on Marketing Spend Sourcing with a F500 B2B Services company here :

Procurement fundamentals are no different for Marketing purchases.
Savings are captured from de-fragmentation.
Savings are captured as suppliers compete for your business.
Audits often find recoverable spend.
Professional service costs are a function of labor: the number of resources, the seniority mix, and the market cost for their expertise.
Get “C” level executive support and air cover before you dive in.
Ideal support comes from the CMO, but the CFO or CEO can make it work, too.
If the CMO and his/her lieutenants do not want you there initially, make sure the CFO is willing to stick out his/her neck to keep you there until you can build trust, otherwise, hunt elsewhere.
The big efficiencies are where the big dollars are: media.
Most companies focus on creative agencies, however the largest spend is working media, both traditional and increasingly digital.
Saving ranges in media sourcing are 10 to 30%+; do the math on what that equates to at your company.
Media procurement is technical, so you will need an expert to go head to head with the incumbent media buyers and agencies.
If you are new to Marketing sourcing, train under an expert, then go it alone.
Any good, analytical sourcing professional can source advertising once they learn the terminology, the techniques, and the space.
Come up the learning curve by reading Ad Age, taking ANA (Association of National Advertisers) courses and reading their publications.
Once you’ve trained under an expert for one cycle, you can perform subsequent iterations alone.
Expect the popular defenses (usually in this sequence).
Nothing to find here defense: “We’ve already cut to the bone.”
The money defense: “We’ll lose revenue if we do this.”
The competitive defense: “We’re already outspent by our competition. This will make things worse.”
The brand defense: “If we do this, it will harm the brand.”
The “we’re different” defense: “Buying Marketing is different than buying paper clips.” (see #1)
The question the data defense: “The conclusions are accurate, but I don’t know where they got their data.”
The “shoot the messenger” defense: “They only care about cost.”
With data and executive support, all objections will ultimately be overcome, and efficiencies will be delivered.
It should be noted that many Marketing professionals are not defensive, are open minded and willing to innovate. (see #6)
Market your sourcing wins under the “innovation” banner.
Innovation is rewarded by corporations whereas overspending by millions is not.
Done correctly, Marketing sourcing is a win-win.
Consider starting with an agency audit or sourcing commercial print to build momentum.
Auditors are less threatening, and nobody is against recovering owed money.
Proactively performing an audit demonstrates fiduciary responsibility for Marketing executives.
Recovering money via an audit is a “base hit” one can build momentum on to move up the value chain.
The best way to succeed is by building relationships of trust and credibility.
Consultants can break glass, deliver results in a few months, then walk away whereas corporate professionals must take a longer term (1 – 2 years), patient perspective.
Building trust and rapport will make Marketing colleagues start to view the glass as “half full.”
Bring something beyond academic sourcing to the table.
Bring an idea that you learned from a functional industry peer or at a conference.
Perform analysis which uncovers an insight that suggests a course of action.
Smart Marketing personnel can replicate academic purchasing theory and practice (e.g. 3 bids and a cloud of dust), so you need to bring more.
Marketing is still part science and part art. Don’t kill the creative process.
The companies with the strongest brands have market capitalizations 3x vs. their peers, so done right, it is a tremendous investment vs. a cost to minimize.
There are rarely definitive rights and wrongs, just cost-benefit trade-off decisions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a former management consultant and procurement executive with extensive experience in strategic sourcing and outsourcing focusing on indirect categories, with particular expertise in Marketing and Real Estate categories. Prior to joining OnDemand Resources in May 2020, his career included a VP Strategic Sourcing role with Ameriprise Financial, VP Global Sourcing at Deutsche Bank, Manager Sourcing & Category Management at ICG Commerce (now Accenture), founding member of Zeborg and a consultant with Mitchell Madison Group. Additionally, David completed over 20 engagements as an independent consultant in US and Europe across multiple industries including financial services, consumer products, gaming, government, hotels, HVAC service, manufacturing, non-profit, retail products and transportation.

David is happy to share his Marketing Sourcing knowledge and discuss how OnDemand can help deliver significant value in the area of Marketing Spend. He can be reached at dbrown@ondemandresources.com

Technology Enablement For Remote Operations – COVID-19

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 11:39:11 GMT

David Dickson, Principal of Strategic Planning Consultants shared a paper with us focused on how to approach enabling remote operations with technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper is specifically focus on small to mid-size enterprises. If you are interested, please contact us to set up a conversation with David on how to best support your business.

Download the paper here

Structured Rapid Sourcing Delivered Significant Savings To Mattress ManufacturerStructured Rapid Sourcing Delivered Significant Savings To Mattress Manufacturer

Tue, 26 May 2020 03:38:43 GMT

Today’s rapidly changing economy has created immense challenges for manufacturers as supply markets are in flux. Materials markets as sources of supply are contracting, slowing production or disappearing entirely. The current circumstances dictate that competitive manufacturers embrace a structured rapid sourcing approach to ensure that their products remain competitive in the current deflationary environment.

There are a number of success factors associated with Structured Rapid Sourcing which include:

It is imperative to create a total cost model for the product to be supplied, including logistics and financing costs. Creation of a complete and transparent cost model gives the suppliers the confidence necessary to quote competitively.
It is imperative to understand the supplier’s cost structure for the products to be supplied. Raw materials can represent anywhere from 10-70% of the ultimate sales price. Understanding the supplier’s cost structure is integral to the creation of a valid total cost model.
Raw material markets have highly variable degrees of transparency, ranging from highly transparent markets for publicly traded metals like copper to somewhat murky markets for less common metals like tungsten or certain plastics or electronic components. When less transparent supplier commodity markets are involved, it is beneficial to go to the market on a more frequent basis.
The buyer must have the ability to qualify multiple sources and to maintain those surveillances. Normally, qualifications should be established in advance of the negotiation to help manage risk and ensure that supply changes can be effected quickly, which increases the competitiveness of the market. In the current environment, it is as important to manage risk as to achieve cost savings.

MATTRESS MANUFACTURER CASE STUDY

We recently completed a sourcing engagement for a PE-owned major manufacturer of mattresses under the leadership of OnDemand Partner Brian DelBarba. The sourcing organization had been stagnant for some time and incumbent suppliers were well-entrenched, especially the foam supplier. The markets for the main chemical components (TDI and Polyol) had been trending downward for some time and the adjustments offered by the main incumbent failed to reflect the market conditions. The existing sourcing team predicted a 1-2% cost savings opportunity with foam.

A total cost RFQ was created for the 20+ line items and 10+ delivery locations. Full cost breakdowns were requested as well allowing the buyer to compete their backhaul logistics as part of the award scenario. Instead of a single unit price, suppliers were encouraged to quote varying rates from their different production facilities. As a result true market pricing was achieved. Sourcing events were held quarterly and prices dropped precipitously over the course of two quarters as the supply base adjusted to the new process.

After the second event, foam costs on a delivered total cost basis were 28% below the initial prices. Profit margin for the company improved by over 5% as the result of this one category (similar results were achieved in other categories as well – in total, delivered $38 million in savings on $250 million addressable spend).

“One of the keys to the substantial savings Brian delivered that often goes overlooked is specifying exactly what we needed to buy. It is my belief that nearly every company either over- or under-specifies. Before sending anything out for quote Brian optimized our internal specifications, sent out RFIs to suppliers to see what they were capable of, and prepared the RFQs to optimize our profitability. Many companies will claim savings on a RFQ, but often buy more than they need (over spec) leading to a higher piece price or less than they need (under spec) leading to manufacturing issues. Brian brought a scientific / engineering approach leading to excellent savings.“

Chief Operating Officer

Meet Brian DelBarba – OnDemand Network Member Since 2005

Following stints as a nuclear submarine officer and mechanical engineer, Brian transitioned to a career as a technical strategic sourcing and engineering consultant, serving clients in the aerospace, industrial, automotive, and energy industries. For over 20 years, Brian’s areas of particular interest include consulting related to cost engineering, low cost country sourcing, supplier qualification and management, and design for sourcing. Brian holds a degree in aerospace engineering from the US Naval Academy and is a former registered professional engineer (mechanical).

Complex PMO Implementation Delivered Significant Benefits To National Client

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Sun, 17 May 2020 03:58:51 GMT

OnDemand recently completed a complex, nation-wide multi-project PMO implementation effort that produced significant benefits to our client, a national collision center chain. As we see the business complexity only increasing, having strong external partner to successfully deliver critical initiatives, especially in time of uncertainty is paramount. The following case study highlights the capabilities we brought to this client – let us know how we can help your organization.

Situation Overview:

National collision center chain with over 350 locations, a portfolio company of a major PE firm was pursuing aggressive growth strategy. Executive leadership identified a host of strategic projects fundamental to this objective. The company tapped OnDemand partner Allen Rupple to provide PMO leadership to ensure implementation success of program initiatives.

Key Focus Areas:

Over the course of the engagement, Allen led several key projects and many internal delivery teams across the following areas:

PRO MODEL – nationwide implementation of standardized 12-step repair operating model across all company locations. Various internal teams were focused on implementing operating standards, store blueprinting, store facility prep, “to-be” process implementation and benefits tracking.

CENTRAL ESTIMATING – co-location of a specialized group of estimators providing support to all locations. This move enabled local store advisors to be much more customer-focused and was the key to significantly increase productivity.

CCC ONE REPAIR WORKFLOW – system-wide implementation of a new management system that streamlined the vehicle repair process to create a superior repair experience, strengthen relationship with insurance carriers and increase overall customer satisfaction. The workflow provides a unified source and solution for the organization while eliminating many manual processes and duplicate entry/reconciliation required by multiple current, non-integrated systems.

BOS PILOT – establishment of store groupings to share expert resources to address key back office functions including closing files, managing receivables/payables and payroll.

Critical Success Factors:

Strategic Importance… The company, guided by their PE partner, was pursuing an acquisition growth strategy and having all shops embracing a common operating model was paramount.

Executive Sponsorship and Involvement… The strategic project portfolio was fully funded and a top priority. Regular weekly 1-on-1 meetings with the COO and a 1.5 hour block of time reserved every Monday to provide an update at the Executive Steering Team meeting gave the initiative high visibility.

Strong PMO Leadership… Having highly experienced external PMO lead able to work from the C-level to the shop floor, and able to bring innovative project management tools proved critical to the success.

Key Organization Resources Made Available… The aggressive implementation time-frame required the utilization of top level in-house talent to offset not using an external based consulting team. All the identified resources (4 immediately, then 4 more staggered) were made available full-time to the project.

Transformation takes time… Everyone wants immediate results, but transforming the organization culture from a “task” orientation to a “contribution” orientation takes time. Implementation sequence was adjusted and a balanced metric tracker developed (lead/lag metrics) to promote this transformation path.

Organization Involvement… Multiple levels of formal and informal communication to the organization were required and were incorporated throughout the transformation journey… CEO monthly updates, information sharing lunches, shop implementation success stories, etc.

Shop Implementation Readiness… It was imperative that ALL shops were ready given the aggressive sequence and timing of the implementation (PRO Model… up to 8 stores weekly and CCC ONE averaged 22 stores weekly). Planning had to be over-emphasized and rehearsed via functional team meetings and Pilot efforts to ensure that EVERYONE was fully prepared. Separate work plans (Smartsheet) were detailed for the shop (350+ total shops) and corporate (functional teams) levels to ensure that everyone knew what had to be completed and the time-frame required for completion.

Celebrate successes… It’s important that the organization participates and relishes in the success of the effort. Formally, this was achieved via communications (i.e. success stories) and informally via happy hour events.

Results:

Employee Productivity – over $12 million in realized benefits by Central Estimating team through increased store revenue, greater Service Advisor productivity, and the elimination of duplicate functions via better system integration.

Increase Vehicle Throughput – individual shop locations were able to increase monthly vehicle throughput by 10-20% without adding headcount.

Better Overall Customer Service Experience – significant increase in insurance carrier and end customer experience ratings within 6 months of implementation.

Improved Operating Efficiency – PRO MODEL and CCC ONE promoted formal QA checks, predictable flow and visual queuing that improved operations and quality, and decreased cycle time.

” Allen – your leadership and guidance through all aspects of Pro Model has been invaluable. Thank you very much and I hope we have the opportunity to work together again soon. You have become a part our company’s family and led us on our greatest initiative in our history. Proud of our partnership and thankful for your work.“

COMPANY’S CEO

Meet Allen Rupple

Member of OnDemand Professional Network since 2017

Pioneer in TPS Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence, 6 Sigma, TOC, DFT, DOE Taguchi, Shainin, Shingo, K&T, 8D, PFMEA. APQP, DFM and other manufacturing technologies and improvement initiatives.

Procurement Expert Joins OnDemand Resources to Further Support Client Growth and Engagement

Tue, 12 May 2020 03:54:10 GMT

OnDemand Resources, the leading provider of independent project and interim talent in strategic procurement, supply chain and operations is delighted to announce that David Brown has joined the firm.

David is a highly experienced strategic procurement executive and consultant with significant experience supporting clients in their efforts to achieve exceptional results as they pursue cost reduction and efficiency improvement initiatives.

David will assume the role of Vice President, Client Services and will be responsible for business development and client support efforts.

David is a former management consultant and procurement executive with extensive experience in strategic sourcing and outsourcing focusing on indirect categories. He brings broad knowledge of procurement functions including category management, organizational assessment/design, vendor management, contract management, vendor risk and P2P systems.

David started collaborating with OnDemand in 2006 when he embarked on his independent consulting career. As an independent consultant, he led 20 projects in the US and Europe across multiple industries including financial services, consumer products, gaming, government, hotels, HVAC service, manufacturing, non-profit, retail products and transportation.

In addition to being an independent consultant, he was most recently VP Strategic Sourcing at Ameriprise Financial, where he led a team of 13 in the US and India supporting category and contract management in the Marketing, Real Estate, HR and Travel verticals. He also held positions as Manager of Sourcing & Category Management at ICG Commerce (now Accenture), and VP Global Sourcing at Deutsche Bank. He was a founding employee of Zeborg, a procurement technology and services startup, and a consultant with Mitchell Madison Group.

The combination of corporate, top tier and independent consulting background gives David a unique perspective on how to best create value and will serve clients well as he helps them to connect with top project and interim talent.

David holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia. He is married with 2 children and lives in Princeton, NJ and serves on the board of the day care where his children attended.

“I am delighted to join the high performing team at OnDemand. I had the pleasure to get to know Jan and his team over the years and was always impressed with their ability to serve their clients” said David Brown.

“We are pleased to welcome David to our team, to help us accelerate our strong growth which is only possible by continuing to deliver superior work for our clients,” said Jan Malasek, OnDemand’s CEO. “David’s great client and people management and engagement skills will ensure that our existing and new clients will get the support needed to achieve exceptional results across their strategic initiatives.”

………………………..

About OnDemand Resources

OnDemand Resources is the leading provider of independent project and interim talent in strategic procurement, supply chain and operations. We work with clients across all industries and are serving Fortune 500, PE, and mid-market companies, in addition to public and non-profit organizations. Since our inception in 2003, we have delivered over 600 engagements to over 200 client organizations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At the core of our offering is a pre-qualified network of high- performance independent consultants and interim executives that we match with particular client needs for exceptional results. We are four-time Inc500/5000 fastest growing company in the USA and are Women Business Certified.

What Our Clients Are Telling Us

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 04:49:12 GMT

These are truly extraordinary times. Every industry and every segment of society is being impacted like never before, and navigating this crisis will require extraordinary leadership, execution and support.

In our daily calls with clients, we hear first about their focus on keeping everyone in their organizations safe and healthy, but they have concerns about mitigating the impact of the crisis and planning for recovery. The concerns most frequently shared can be grouped into three categories:

Business Continuity
Supply Chain Risk Mitigation
Cash Flow and Fast Procurement Savings

Business continuity requires having the right team in place – on location, and virtually – to execute critical efforts, and maintain essential functions and services. But it also calls for unique skills needed during this crisis.

Supply chain risk mitigation as a strategic imperative has never been more important than today. As with any crisis, this challenging time provides an opportunity to identify problem areas and develop plans and processes to mitigate them in the short term while planning for new paradigms in the mid- to long-term to reduce the impact of future disruptions.

Fast procurement savings will ensure that the business will continue to perform well, cash flow will be managed, and sacrifices will be shared across the value chain. Companies and their suppliers will share common interest in making business work as everyone recovers; however, capturing savings quickly in this environment will require deep expertise in key procurement categories, and strong ability to execute.

Since our start in 2003, we have worked with over 165 companies and organizations and help to deliver over 600 critical initiatives. Our business model is based on bringing highly qualified project and interim experts from our network of 10,000+ independent professionals primarily focused on procurement, supply chain and operations – to address your critical resource needs – where, when and how you need them. Our resource network is skilled in all areas – strategy, planning and execution. We are ready to help.

I know that many of these are obvious, yet important. I hope you find them helpful!

Remote Work – Setting Up For Success

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 04:45:05 GMT

This might be the first time that some of us work remotely. Sure, there are those occasional Fridays when remote work happened, but this is very different. A lot of us are forced to deliver in much more challenging conditions. Being ready and being effective remotely is important. As someone who has worked virtually since starting OnDemand Resources, and someone who recently prepped several consultants starting new roles at new clients virtually, I want to offer a few thoughts that you might find helpful, especially if this is the first time doing it, and especially for new clients – it is very important to start strong and make a great first impression.

Make sure that you are available at all times during work hours – be very quick responding to emails, and, in case you miss a phone call from someone at the client, return it/respond very quickly – you want to create a sense that you are 110% engaged despite the fact that you are not on site. This is especially important if you are new to the team, and don’t have existing relationships to draw upon.
Be proactive in reaching out and introducing yourself to members of the client team, and key stakeholders. This means to initially build a list of people that are key to your projects – proactively use your sponsor and others on the team to help you. If you need additional help, use other consultants on the same project to help you navigate and get a sense of client’s culture, you are in this together.
Create a dedicated work space – as much as you can, dedicate a space for work – hopefully you are able to curve out a room, or at least a quiet corner where you can fully work without interruptions. Dedicated space, however small provides for much better work environment that allow to focus, and get the job done.
Ensure that your technology infrastructure supports your needs – Zoom and the likes have become very important tools in connecting with others. There is nothing worse than cutting in/out of video calls, etc. If needed, buy additional bandwidth, and invest in better wi-fi equipment – small price to pay for much higher level of productivity and better engagement.
Be professional and take the job seriously from the first minute – I know this goes without saying, but I also know that it will be harder on you than being able to walk into the client’s office and be successful, so again, the first impression is very important!

I know that many of these are obvious, yet important. I hope you find them helpful!

Recovering Today and Preparing For Tomorrow – Top 4 Things To Do For Your Supply Chain and Operational Readiness

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 04:53:31 GMT

There is no need to explain the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on the lives of individuals, families, communities and companies around the world. It is, in many ways, unprecedented, and certainly represents a once-in-a-generation challenge to us all.

The outbreak has caught companies and some entire industries by surprise with sudden dramatic drops in demand, changes in customer behavior and general uncertainty. Normal demand signals have disappeared, and the effect has rippled through the whole supply chain. While remote work is possible for many, critical manufacturing and service jobs can’t be done “from home”, and even if they could, how would you know what to produce, or order and for how long?

As we all look to follow the public health guidelines to protect our families, friends and colleagues, business leaders can and must look to not only recover from this crisis, but to be ready for the next one. We cannot predict the future, but we can learn from every experience and put ourselves in a better position next time. Doing that is the hallmark of a “learning organization”, and the essence of proactive leadership. So, how can businesses position their supply chains to be more flexible and resilient – more ready, if you will?

There are several concrete actions businesses can take right now to prepare even as they recover:

1. Conduct a thorough assessment of all aspects of the supply chain – sunlight is the best disinfectant

If recent events have taught us anything, it’s that speed + flexibility = resiliency. In planning your assessment, consider all aspects of the supply chain. If there are obvious weak spots look there first. But be prepared to look everywhere.

Use current disruptions to guide you – are your gaps in procurement, supply/supplier certainty, transportation, inventory planning, production capacity or logistics?
Decide what success looks like – what are the essential elements of a short, mid and long-term strategy to navigate current challenges while being better situated for disruptions? Engage with partners and suppliers to get the best ideas and plan with them to promote everyone’s shared interests.
Develop an actionable plan – the assessment is useless unless it leads to a plan. Put the plan on paper, engage the right resources to execute the plan. Make sure the plan is rigorous enough to make a difference and flexible enough to be practical.

2. Diversify the supplier network to de-risk your supply chain

Define critical-to-value and critical-to-mission factors for serving customers and managing operations, and source accordingly. Ask the hard questions about risk and total cost, and engage the marketplace to build resiliency.

3. Make sourcing a strategic focus and a competitive advantage

Immediately review your category strategies. Are they working? Were they ready for the crisis? Engage in a new and more collaborative way with suppliers. Invest in the right tools, techniques and training to empower procurement teams to be value drivers. You don’t necessarily need a new system or a new org structure – just make sure you’ve positioned your people to make best use of what they have. Be ready to be agile and responsive

4. Continually focus on operational improvement in manufacturing and operations

Better run operations are inherently more efficient and more resilient. By taking an honest look at your operations, you can determine:

a. Are the right KPI’s in place?

b. Do we have a robust performance management system?

c. Do we have standardized policies and processes?

Operational Excellence enables organizations to recognize problems sooner, respond to changing conditions more smoothly, and adapt more effectively.

Five Reasons To Engage Independent Professional Talent

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 05:05:08 GMT

The fast paced, complex nature of today’s global marketplace coupled with an increasingly tight labor market, presents numerous challenges for executives tasked with driving sustainable results. Corporations are often forced to move at a rapid pace despite a shortage of in-house staff, funds, time, and/or expertise. Fortunately, a cost-effective, reliable, resource solution leveraging highly capable independent talent has emerged that enables corporations to effectively address critical business opportunities and challenges for an immediate impact and quality results.

Through specialized firms such as OnDemand Resources, executives can easily identify and deploy high quality interim independent talent matched to their particular requirements at a moment’s notice with no strings attached. Companies retain seasoned, high-caliber professionals with the exact functional experience they require on a short, long, or part-time basis so that they can increase efficiencies, manage organizational risk, and accomplish the goals of their strategic agenda.

So why are companies leveraging independent professionals to deal with today’s business complexities? We’ve outlined five key strategies to accomplish a variety of business objectives. These strategies enable executives to make significant progress despite a lack of in-house resources or time constraints and are significantly more budget friendly when compared to traditional consulting alternatives.

1. Targeted Project Expertise:

Scenario: You have a defined project that goes beyond your current organizational knowledge and/or staffing levels, An independent consultant with a deep background in the specific subject matter has the ability to move very quickly to help your organization “move the needle” and deliver better results a lot faster than you would be able to do it on your own. They are also a lot more cost effective than traditional consulting alternatives. An experienced, independent consultant is very well suited to work effectively with your team since he/she typically does not require an elaborate project management structure typical of traditional consulting projects. They come with a significant amount of experience from a similar environment and typically do not require any substantial time commitment.

Benefits: You are able to get more substantial results faster than with in-house resources. variable cost nature of this approach gives you the flexibility to manage your organization’s budget and allocate resources against the highest return on investment areas.

2. Managing Change

Scenario: Your organization faces a dramatic change such as an acquisition or divestiture and needs interim senior leadership with a demonstrated track record of making change happen. You secure a senior independent professional with proven change management experience to lead the organization through the change at hand. In addition to bringing specific experience that helps your organization, the independent change manager has the ability to move decisively and quickly without putting his/her career in jeopardy.

Benefits: One of the key benefits of an interim change manager is his/her independence relative to the organization. They have the ability to make tough decisions without the worries of their political impact on their corporate career. You are able to leverage substantial functional and industry experience on a temporary basis with an emphasis on making a significant and quick strategic impact.

3. Interim Professional Staff

Scenario: A key member of your team just resigned from your organization and it will likely take a substantial amount of time to find a replacement. Whether you are considering backfilling the same exact position or a redesign of your organization chart, the work still needs to get done. Rather than leave the position open and put additional strain on your already overtaxed team, you retain an interim replacement professional with specific background and experience.

Benefits: You are able to temporarily fill the position and get the results you’re looking for so that you can keep operations running on schedule while you search for the perfect replacement. Also, the open position becomes more attractive to prospective candidates because they aren’t walking into an organization that’s been neglected. Often interim candidates are more highly qualified and able to streamline processes and clean things up wherever needed.

4. Independent Expert Assessment

Scenario: You need a credible external resource who can come in and work “outside in” to provide an expert perspective on a particular aspect of your business. This individual will work independently to achieve a reality-based set of recommendations. You secure an independent subject-matter expert to conduct a comprehensive assessment, present you with his/her findings and recommend the best way forward.

Benefits: You get expert advice that’s unbiased and reality-based without significantly distracting any of your in-house staff. You don’t have to hire full-time help for an isolated, one-time project and you are able to leverage broader best practices expertise.

5. Strategic Concept Development and Testing

Scenario: Executive leadership of your company is considering a major strategic initiative such as launching a new channel to market or exploring new global sources. Before putting a significant amount of resources behind these new initiatives and building full time teams, you decide to test the concept to ensure that this is the right strategic direction. Leveraging independent subject matter experts with deep domain experience and backgrounds from companies that have successfully implemented these initiatives will be a great help in shaping the initial strategy and testing the concept. It’s a lot less complex and more cost effective to bring in a team of independent professionals than to build a brand new organization while you determine if this is the correct strategic direction to take.

Benefits: You are able to make an important decision based on real world experience/results before you put a lot of internal resources at risk. Additionally, you are likely able to bring in more senior and experienced talent to help you get the strategic initiative off the ground faster than with the use of in-house talent. The variable nature of the arrangement enables you to change direction quickly in case your strategy changes.

OnDemand Resources Named to Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s SDCE 100 Top Supply Chain Projects for 2016

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 05:09:07 GMT

Supply & Demand Chain Executive, the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, has selected OnDemand Resources as a recipient of an SDCE 100 Award for 2016.

The SDCE 100 is an annual list of 100 great supply chain projects. These projects can serve as a guide for supply chain executives who are looking for new opportunities to drive improvement in their own operations. These projects show how supply chain solution and service providers help their customers and clients achieve supply chain excellence and prepare their supply chains for success.

“We are exceptionally pleased to be recognized by our industry’s leading voice for the work we do for our clients. Since our inception in 2003, we have relentlessly focused on delivering exceptional value to our clients by providing them with highly capable subject matter experts to support their critical initiatives and this recognition is yet another example of the power and capabilities of our network of highly capable independent talent”, per Jan Malasek, CEO of OnDemand Resources.

“Our goal with 2016’s SDCE 100 is to shine the spotlight on successful and innovative transformation projects that deliver bottom-line value to small, medium and large enterprises across the supply chain,” says Ronnie Garrett, editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “The selected projects can serve as a roadmap for supply chain executives looking for new opportunities to drive improvement in their own operations. We congratulate all of our winners for a job well done!”

About Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints, and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage. Visit us on the web at www.SDCExec.com.

Mission Accomplished. Premiere Consulting Expertise at Exceptional Value.

Fri, 08 Jul 2016 05:13:32 GMT

Client: Private Equity Portfolio Company
Objective: Recommend Warehousing and Logistics Solution
Timing: 4 Weeks
OnDemand Independent Expert: Manuel G., Member of the OnDemand Independent Talent Network since 2015

A portfolio company of a major private equity firm needed to quickly evaluate their logistics and warehousing operations to determine if significant opportunities could be achieved across several of their Midwestern plants. The portfolio company wanted to evaluate moving from a decentralized to a centralized warehousing solution – as long as the strategic shift would produce sufficient opportunities to offset any incremental investments or expense flows.

OnDemand helped our client engage partner Manuel, an independent consultant whose background was an ideal combination of premier consulting and very relevant industry experience. Manuel’s deep subject matter expertise in all aspects of supply chain made him the ideal candidate to help our client determine the size of the opportunity. Manuel quickly initiated a data request, visited plants, interviewed key stakeholders, and created a cost baseline model. Subsequently, he developed key hypotheses and alternative approaches to generating improvements in the client’s warehousing and logistics operations. Based on his analysis, he recommended a solution supported by a strong business case that highlighted a substantial savings opportunity, which he presented to the executive committee at the end of his 4-week engagement.

Our client appreciated Manuel’s expertise, work ethic and his terrific cultural fit. In addition, the client recognized OnDemand’s ability to quickly match them with an expert who could understand their business, effectively assess the situation and recommend a substantive solution – without the expense and overhead of engaging a traditional consulting firm.

To learn how OnDemand can help you execute critical initiatives in procurement, supply chain and operations at exceptional value, click here .

Are Your Consulting Fees Keeping You Up at Night?

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 19 May 2016 05:16:10 GMT

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article stating that Alaska Airlines will be “keeping a very tight lid on” consulting fees as they begin their integration of Virgin America Inc. In the piece, Dr. Mitchell Marks, a strategy consultant and professor of leadership at San Francisco State University College of Business, states that leaving critical decisions to an outside party can sometimes result in poor outcomes and disenfranchisement from the staff. Since 2003, OnDemand Resources has held firmly to its belief that integrating top-tier independent experts with your existing staff, not only achieves more effective, sustainable outcomes, but is significantly more cost effective than traditional consulting. Click here to see how we helped a leading pharmaceutical company transform their procurement operations doing just that. To learn how OnDemand can help you sleep better, contact us .

2016 Hiring Trends: CIO Magazine Highlights the “Gig Economy”

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 05:18:35 GMT

Our team at OnDemand Resources was excited to come across this recent article from CIO magazine about the emerging “gig economy.” Citing the changing needs of today’s workers, the war for talent and other factors, CIO states “the number of workers hired as freelance or contract workers has risen in the past two years, and it’s expected to increase.” Since our inception in 2003, OnDemand and our many clients have long realized the value of an “on-demand” talent model: it’s the power and flexibility of having consistent access to just the right expert – when you need it. Finding the right independent talent on your own isn’t as easy as it may seem. Even with the advantages of social media and on-line job boards, locating the ideal resources can require a partner who has a keen understanding the industry and established relationships with the best independents. OnDemand can quickly and effectively help you source top project and interim talent at a highly attractive value while mitigating the engagement risks that come with traditional consulting or the limits of going it alone. Contact us to get started.

IT Sourcing Trends and Emerging Resource Needs for 2015 and Beyond.

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 05:21:57 GMT

Along with the rest of the economy, the IT industry plodded through the Great Recession bringing with it tight corporate IT budgets. A ray of sunshine was Gartner’s July 2014 prediction that total IT spending would “rebound and grow until it reaches a new equilibrium.” One year later Gartner has adjusted their 2015 IT spend growth in constant currency to 2.5% – down somewhat from the 3.7% – 3.9% 2015 projections made in the last two quarters of 2014.

A closer look shows us that the changes are not organizational belt tightening, but more a result of where budget is being allocated. There is a spending shift underway from hardware to software and services, and from infrastructure to the cloud. Rather than buying six new servers and an application to upgrade an existing HR system, organizations are investing in SaaS and cloud solutions.

“As business solutions age, organizations are interested in the cloud and services for their updates,” says Larry Velez, CTO and founder of Sinu, a New York-based IT Managed Service Provider. “Just a few years ago, no one even considered SaaS solutions for things like hedge fund and portfolio management, but they do now.”

The growth of cloud computing in 2015 has been significant. IDC recently reported that total cloud IT infrastructure spending has grown by 40 percent in 2015. This growth accounts for one-third of all IT infrastructure spending with that percentage expected to grow to nearly 50 percent by 2017.

Hand-in-hand with cloud computing’s 2015 growth is an impressive 46 percent growth in IT security spending. Robert Westervelt, IDC Security Products Research Manager confirmed that “the continued double-digit growth of SaaS Web security solutions demonstrates that organizations are increasingly embracing SaaS security offerings to complement their existing on-premises capabilities.” He stated, “Web security products play a key role defending the battlefront where most of the attack activity is taking place.”

How does this translate into resource expertise needs? IT operational budgets are rising at the fastest pace since the Great Recession. The 2015 Computer Economics IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks study shows 50 percent of the executives surveyed plan on increasing their IT headcount, with healthcare, manufacturing, retail and financial services leading the way.

OnDemand, with over a dozen years spent helping clients deliver results in strategic sourcing is seeing an overall increase in IT sourcing activities as a result of the pent up demand from a sluggish great recession economy. The adoption of the cloud has revolutionized middleware and increased the importance of integration. The changing supply market, with pure cloud suppliers and on-premise players with both cloud and traditional on-premise options competing for share has opened windows of opportunity for clients to address longer term IT strategies and to negotiate actively with incumbent suppliers. OnDemand clients are increasingly looking for experienced IT professionals with an expertise in cloud, middleware and integration solutions, and they are expecting IT procurement resources to bring deep category expertise, supply market insights, and a strategic orientation, not just RFP execution experience.

How is the shift from hardware to software and services, and from infrastructure to the cloud affecting your organization? Are you seeing the same trends? Experiencing similar resource needs? Please take a moment to share your experiences.

OnDemand Named to Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 05:31:04 GMT

OnDemand Named to the Inc. 5000 List for the Fourth Time in the Firm’s 12 Year History

We are pleased and proud to report that for the fourth time in our 12 year firm history, OnDemand Resources has been named to Inc. Magazine’s prestigious list of the 5000 fastest-growing private companies in America. This honor is a testimony to the OnDemand business model of providing client’s flexible talent to help them achieve exceptional results, our strong focus on what we know best, and the commitment our team has to our client’s needs. It emphasizes how companies are changing the way they engage expertise to achieve their objectives. A link to the full press release can be found below.

Inc 5000 Press Release Final – 2015

9 Essential Articles on Procurement, Supply-Chain and Operations

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 05:39:41 GMT

OnDemand Resources presents Information OnDemand , our monthly update on the world of Supply Chain, Procurement and Operations.

Read. Learn. Share.

Baby Boomers are Retiring. Enter the Independent.

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 05:33:27 GMT

For the past 90 years a 40 hour work week has been the centerpiece of American life. This structure was necessary because it was the only way to bring people together to collaborate or produce. It was the norm and we all subscribed. But lately, that’s all been changing – and changing fast. Technology, a retiring work force, a changing economy are all playing a role. According to a recent study, Freelancing in America: A National Survey of the New Workforce, there are currently 53 million workers that consider themselves “freelancers”. These independent consultants make up 34% of the American workforce.

That number will grow. Over the next 15 years 40% of the current workforce, the Baby Boomers will retire. Replacing them will be a challenge. Generation X is small and Generation Y, the group most familiar with the concept of independent consulting, has a different concept of how they want to work. By 2020 it is estimated that over 49% of the American workforce will be independent consultants. In fact, this exodus has already begun and employers are feeling the pinch. A recent Corporate Leadership Council report states that nearly 60% of organizations surveyed revealed that they are currently experiencing a leadership shortage. 76% of these companies are not confident they will be able to adequately fill these positions. This talent drain is inevitable and without planning, organizations will struggle to maintain a bench with enough depth and skill to ensure their firm’s success.

In 2014, more than $1Trillion (with a “T”) dollars were contributed to the economy by independent consultants. This change in the way Americans work is, according to Sara Horowitz, Executive Director, Freelancers Union “an economic shift on par with the industrial revolution.” The corporate landscape is changing and as an independent consultant, you should be planning. Securing a steady stream of desirable contract work requires a different skill set and mind set from landing full-time employment. To help guide your efforts towards securing projects and position yourself with employers as high-caliber talent review the OnDemand Resource Your Resume: Best Practices infographic. This common sense resource will reinforce the steps necessary to stand out with hiring managers giving them the positive experience they need to feel comfortable hand you their business.

Five Effective Ways To Leverage Independent Professional Talent

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 05:53:19 GMT

The fast pace and complex nature of today’s global marketplace presents numerous challenges for executives tasked with driving sustainable results. Corporations are often forced to move at a rapid pace despite a shortage of in-house staff, funds, time, and/or expertise. Fortunately, a cost-effective, reliable resource solution has emerged that enables corporations to effectively address critical business opportunities and challenges for an immediate impact and quality results.

Through specialized firms such as OnDemand Resources, executives can easily identify and deploy high quality interim independent project talent matched to their particular requirements at a moment’s notice without having strings attached. Companies retain seasoned, high-caliber professionals with the exact functional experience they require on a short, long, or part-time basis so that they can increase efficiencies, manage organizational risk, and accomplish the goals on their strategic agenda.

So how are companies leveraging independent professionals to deal with today’s business complexities? We’ve outlined five proven approaches to accomplish a variety of business objectives. These strategies enable executives to make significant progress in spite of a lack of in-house resources or time constraints and are significantly budget friendlier compared to traditional consulting alternatives.

1) Targeted Project Expertise:

Scenario: You have a defined project that goes beyond your current organizational knowledge and/or staffing levels, An independent consultant with deep background in the specific subject matter has the ability to move very quickly to help your organization “move the needle” and deliver better results a lot faster than you would be able to do it on your own. They are also a lot more cost effective than traditional consulting alternatives. An experienced independent consultant is very well suited to work effective with your team since he/she typically does not require an elaborate project management structure typical of traditional consulting projects, comes with a significant amount of experience from a similar environment and typically does not require any substantial time commitment .

Benefits: You are able to get more substantial results faster than with in-house resources. Variable cost nature of this approach gives you the flexibility to manage your organization’s budget and allocate resources against the highest return on investment areas.

2) Managing Change

3) Interim Professional Staff

Scenario: A key member of your team just resigned from your organization and it will likely take a substantial time to find a replacement. You may not be even sure that you will be backfilling the same exact position and may consider re-designing your organization chart. But the work still needs to get done. Rather than leave the position open and put additional strain on your already overtaxed team, you retain an interim replacement professional with specific background and experience.

Benefits: You are able to temporarily fill the position and get the results you’re looking for so that you can keep operations running on schedule while you search for the perfect replacement. Also, the open position becomes more attractive to prospective candidates because they aren’t walking into an organization that’s been neglected. You may even get a candidate that’s more qualified to come in and clean things up, if needed.

4) Independent Expert Assessment

Scenario: You need an external resource who can come in and work “outside in” to provide an expert perspective with credibility on a particular aspect of your business. This individual will work independently to achieve a reality-based set of recommendations. You secure an independent subject-matter expert to conduct a comprehensive assessment, present you with his/her finding and recommend the best way to go forward.

5) Strategic Concept Development and Testing

Scenario: Executive leadership of your company is considering a major strategic initiative such as launching a new channel to market or exploring new global sources. But before putting a significant amount of resources behind these new initiatives and building full time teams, you decide to test the concept to ensure that this is the right strategic direction. Leveraging independent subject matter experts with deep domain experience and background from companies that have successfully implemented these initiatives will be a great help in shaping the initial strategy and testing it. It’s a lot easier and cost effective to bring in a team of independent professionals than to build a brand new organization in order to decide that this is the right think to do.

Benefits: You are able to make an important decision based on real world experience/results before you put a lot of internal resources at risk. Additionally, you are likely able to bring in more senior and experienced talent to help you get the strategic initiative off the ground faster than you would be able to do with in-house talent. The variable nature of the arrangement enables you to change direction quickly in case your strategy changes.

Marketing Yourself As Independent Consultant

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 05:45:33 GMT

Independent consultants are finding an increasing number of project opportunities that offer interesting assignments, sought-after flexibility, and highly competitive pay. In fact, many consultants and executives believe that being an independent consultant is a terrific way to catapult their career by gaining a greater degree of exposure to specific functional domains and industries, leading to a more satisfying and varied work experience. Additionally, specialized companies such as OnDemand Resources, have made finding the “ideal consulting assignment” easier and more accessible than ever.

However, securing a steady stream of desirable contract work requires a different skill set and mindset from landing full-time employment at a corporation. To help guide your efforts, we’ve collected “best practice” advice from some of our most successful network partners, members of the OnDemand Talent Network. Their practical wisdom will help guide your efforts to- wards securing phenomenal consulting projects.

The Resume

As an independent consultant your resume is the most important document that a potential hiring manager will review. It’s therefore critical that you take the extra time to really understand the engagement and tailor your resume to satisfy the exact profile the client is seeking. When selecting specific examples to illustrate relevant work experience, describe five or six specific skills that directly relate to what the hiring manager requires to successfully complete the project assignment. Further, don’t just list what you did for a particular firm; instead speak to your accomplishments and the results that you produced for them. For example, rather than saying that you managed seven people and led a $20 million sourcing initiative, identify that your efforts generated over $15 million in cost reductions.

It’s also helpful to list the areas that you’ve worked in. If you’re applying for a sourcing position list the categories and verticals that are relevant. A key selling point of independent consultants is the fact that they’re able to bring deeper “hands-on” experience to the table than can be found with a full-time employee.

The basic tenants of resume writing are also applicable in the independent space. The resume should have a good format with content that is complete and easy to follow, it should be grammatically correct, and it should be concise. Ideally, it should contain a summary of skills at the top and an objective line that speaks to the position that you’re applying for, along with a short summary of core competencies underneath. It’s very helpful to dedicate the top part of the resume to “on-point” experience as it relates to a particular opportunity.

The Interview

While major corporations typically hold a string of interviews with numerous people for candidates to sell themselves, contracting positions generally offer one 30 minute meeting. First impressions are often the only impression independent consultants get to sell themselves and simultaneously address concerns. Therefore, when you’re interviewing for a contract position there are some critical components that you need to consider and proactively address.

First, put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes and anticipate what they want to hear about. Use specific examples to demonstrate that you’re able to match their particular project requirements and be as detailed as possible. Educate clients that they could never hire somebody with your vast background as a full-time employee because you bring timely experience from a wide breadth of companies and assignments. A hiring manager wants to be reassured that you will successfully deliver the project. One way to accomplish this during the interview is to make comments that reveal your expertise about what’s happening in a particular category or space, that you are aware of trends, threats, and opportunities. For ex- ample, over the last 12 months I’ve worked with three companies and have seen X, Y, and Z.

Let the hiring manager know that you’ll “jump in,” get the work done strategically, and tactically hit the ground running. Communicate the immediate impact that you can make based on the breadth of service and experience that you have to offer. Talk about the variety of assignments you’ve successfully completed to demonstrate that you already possess the knowledge, education, and skills to accomplish what your potential manager requires without coaching or on-site training. Hiring managers often choose to retain consultants because they don’t want to waste their time managing somebody – people hiring consultants typically lack time! It’s therefore critical that the hiring manager thinks that you’ll be easy to manage and will deliver results autonomously.

A “can do” attitude will help you secure a consulting position. Conversely, a negative demeanor will ruin your chances of securing a job. Never bad mouth former clients or exude a negative attitude. This will make people wonder what you might say about them. Potential employers don’t want to hear that a former client or project was a “mess.” They don’t want a troublemaker or a complainer, and they certainly don’t want to deal with any problems. Further, don’t complain about doing any grunt work. All consulting projects have some mundane tasks that you’ll need to deal with.

Establish a rapport, but be as professional as possible. The right cultural fit is a determining factor for hiring managers selecting a candidate. Remember that you’re being hired on an interim basis and that these people will not be a co-worker for long. The hiring manager isn’t interested in whether their team can “hang out” with you during lunch, rather that you have the influencing skills to immediately earn the respect of those around you and that you can negotiate the bureaucracy of the organization. The hiring manager also wants to know that you can work across enterprise with little authority or credibility and have the influencing skills to immediately earn respect.

Finally, focus on getting the job at a strategic level. Don’t bring up the tactical logistics or exact terms of your potential contract up front. Wait until they want to hire you first. It’s OK to set expectations early, but it’s more important to win-over the hiring manager, get the job, and then discuss the details of your work requirements. Remember that unlike interviews for full-time employment, your time to sell the hiring manager on your capabilities is extremely limited and it’s therefore not a good idea to spend that time talking about the details of your future flight arrangements! If you’re working with a specialized firm such as OnDemand Resources, you don’t have to worry about the tactical aspects of your contract because they will take care of this for you.

Setting Your Own Expectations

Realize that every time you walk into a new consulting assignment with a new client you’ll need to prove yourself. A hiring manager isn’t going to hand over their business and trust you until they feel comfortable with you and have a positive experience with you first. Also, keep in mind that that you’re not being hired to come in and manage a big team. Unlike being a full-time employee, you’re being hired for the short-term to come in with an ultimate focus, to deliver what the client needs, and then leave. This is a different mindset than a full-time employee.

Networking

Social networking is important as an independent consultant. Given that you are always working on an interim basis, it’s critical that you make maintaining your rolodex a top-priority. Those who are really successful in this business are always reaching out to those they’ve worked with and have numerous contacts regardless of role. Somebody who’s an analyst now may move on to a director of sourcing or could be a key influencer at a future job. Cultivating your network can be as easy as sending an occasional email, a phone call, or meeting somebody for a cup of coffee.

Joining specialized talent networks such as OnDemand Resources, are another way to expand your network to identify new assignments and opportunities. These specialized match makers are able to match your experience and skill set with appropriate opportunities and then place you on relevant assignments. These firms save independent consultants time, money, and more importantly are able to secure top consulting positions that individuals may not be able to identify on their own.

Set aside time in between jobs to attend key industry conferences to maintain and expand relationships with peers. Conferences also provide important education and training so that you can stay on the forefront of your specialty. It’s important to make sure you know what potential employers know – many of those people are taking the same training. Speaking at key industry events is another fabulous way to get your name out as a “subject matter expert.” Publishing articles in major trade publications, newsletters, and consulting magazines also opens up doors. You could even start a blog about a particular topic for peers.

Selecting a Project

Independent consultants should approach consulting opportunities with an open mind. The more rigid you are by fixating on a per day basis for salary, the less opportunities you will have. The wider your breadth and depth of experience, the more you might be able to command financially down the road as a “subject matter” expert. The fees can vary tremendously from job to job depending on the client. Matchmaking firms take a cut, but they also find you work and keep you busy. Some projects are worth taking just for the experience even if they pay less or aren’t your ideal choice because as a consultant your experience also serves as your education and you can be learning while earning.

Landing the Job – Readiness Checklist

Take the time to thoroughly understand the specific requirements
Research the organization to understand their market, staff, structure, and culture so you can speak intelligently about a particular assignment
Check your rolodex and leverage any “inside” connections who are able to attest to your work ethic and capabilities
Tailor your resume for a specific skills match and position your experience in light of the requirements of the engagement
Prepare for the interview ahead of time by outlining the key points you need to communicate along with relevant examples of successful results
Maintain a positive attitude during the interview, demonstrate through your professional demeanor that you can work autonomously, are easy to manage, and will fit seamlessly into their culture
Keep discussions at a strategic level and avoid discussing tactical logistics until you land the job
Send a thank you note reiterating why you’re an ideal match for the assignment

Is Traditional Consulting Dead?

jmalasek@ondemandresources.com (Jan Malasek) — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 06:50:53 GMT

There is a spotlight focused on the traditional consulting model. Increasing economic pressure and the need for faster sustainable results are profoundly changing the way companies choose to leverage and engage traditional consulting services. The days of partners selling the work and junior consultants delivering the projects while learning the subject matter may be gone. Globalization and advances in technology have accelerated the speed and flow of information, requiring companies to adapt quickly and prudently to dynamic market conditions. The supply chain is no exception. The fact is that today’s projects are getting more targeted, are shorter in duration and require deep domain expertise to generate the type of results for which companies are looking. Since the end of the last major consulting downturn in the early 2000s, and with the advent of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity that has displaced some very accomplished talent, a new breed of consulting talent is emerging to address today’s pressing business opportunities and challenges – the independent supply chain consulting professional. Independent consultants are highly equipped to deliver the type of results companies desire by virtue of the fact that they have “been there, done that” for other organizations, are typically more seasoned, can quickly orient in the particular business situation and can speak the business language aligned with senior executives of client companies. The rise of the independent supply chain consulting market is driven by several key factors. They include the following:

Need for Specific Expertise – The complexity of today’s supply chain challenges requires deep domain expertise. From sourcing in new low-cost countries to evaluating complex supply chain technology, it is not enough to bring in junior resources with excellent analytical and team facilitation skills. It is critical to engage consultants with direct subject-matter expertise who can “jump in” and immediately make an impact.

Smaller, Focused Projects – Gone are the days when a supply chain-consulting project lasted many months, if not years, and the winning consulting firm was able to entrench itself and its paradigms deeply into the client organization. Market pressures are such that firms are forced to deal with very specific issues on a short-term basis, often without advanced planning or notice.

Speed and Flexibility – Large, traditional consulting services are usually not economically structured to dispense senior-level talent for isolated projects at the drop of a hat. Independent consulting professionals enable companies to quickly retain the exact skill set and experience they desire, when and where they need it, without a long-term commitment.

Cost and Value – Independent consulting professionals are often trained by top-tier consulting firms, and they usually have the experience necessary to produce better results for less money – a winning proposition for any client. For many of these professionals, the entrepreneurial nature, compensation and variety included in the independent consulting model are very appealing, providing a greater degree of autonomy regarding the development of their careers and work experiences than can be found within large consulting organizations.

So, will companies stop buying from traditional consulting firms? Of course not. There are plenty of reasons why companies will continue to utilize traditional consulting models. First and foremost, the relationships between top-tier consulting firm partners and company executives run quite deep. In addition, some client situations may call for the specific thought-leadership developed by a consulting firm and rolled out by its teams.

However, companies should think about how they can leverage the independent consulting market to expand particular aspects of their business that require expert support. Smart companies are discovering that the independent consulting market is filled with high-caliber talent that can deliver faster, better results for targeted projects at a significant cost savings over traditional consulting alternatives. In the changing corporate landscape of today, such an addition to a company’s pool of options is very welcome.