Procurement is an important field and it comes with several challenges. It is a process of acquiring goods, raw material, and other services by way of contracts and long-term commitments. The products must be of the highest quality and should be procured at the lowest possible price. Organisations struggle in the process and fail to achieve their goals of growth and success. This is where the procurement consultants step in.

There are many reasons to hire a consultant. They can be an extension of your in-house team responsible for your procurement and supply chain management or you could hire them for a specific project.

Who is a consultant?

The procurement consultants are an individual or an agency who offer their expertise and resources at a fixed cost. They can solve many of the issues that an organization faces due to lack of proper infrastructure, resources or time.  The consultants usher in innovation and technology which otherwise can become a huge investment for your organization.

What they do

The consultants identify the problem areas, the cause for the problem, determine a solution, advice the client, and implement the solution. They analyze your requirements, the spend, study the market, review the supplier contract, eliminate areas where there is double spend, do fresh negotiations, implement the new and best practices to make sure you find significant cost savings in your procurement. 

They build strong relationships

The procurement consultants have the knack and skill to build relationships. They exhibit great communication and negotiation skills, maintain contact with the influential decision makers of an organisation and the manufacturers as well.

They have good foresight

The consultants understand the client business, its requirements, and anticipate future needs. They study the market, consumer behavior, the periodic changes, and analyze the trends. With their insight, a good consultant will collect all information and make an appraisal of what stocks your business will require. They accordingly will call for tenders, negotiate with vendors preparing for scalable solutions.

Considerable operational savings

Organizations are always in a dilemma whether to build a full-fledged procurement department. This will require experienced staff, space, infrastructure which will be a recurring expense. Professional procurement consultants know the market, negotiate for bulk supplies since they attend to several businesses like yours. Having the bargaining power, they are more than likely to get a better deal than what your in-house team will manage.

Minimize the supply chain risks

Organisation procurement process earlier was haphazardly managed. Individual teams were making their purchases without coordination that could sometimes lead to waste or double spend. The procurement consultants in Bangalore keep a watch on the supplier chain. They monitor the supplier performance, their reputation, ability to deliver, ensure they have the capability to deliver scalable resources during peak business times. They create a risk plan keeping in consideration the impact if the supplier fails in quality or performance.

Choosing the right consultant is the key factor that can tilt the success story of your procurement efforts.