eSourcing Adoption Success Story

Last week I offered some suggestions to evaluate and implement an eSourcing solution.

Today I will give you the details of an eSourcing adoption success story.

Regardless of where you are today, your company or organization can make significant efficiency and effectiveness gains with the right tools and training.

Background

  • The organization is a school system in a large city.
  • There are 12 people in purchasing.
  • The system they were using was straight out of the 1990s.
  • A significant manual effort was required to issue even small events.
  • They had one large event to award approximately 400 bus routes. It was a sealed bid.
  • This had previously been managed by another group in the city.
  • The city had recently decided that a better approach was needed, and purchasing would now oversee the bus route award.
  • They also had dozens of smaller events each quarter.
  • There were so many shortcomings that the leadership in the department decided that they could no longer use the antiquated system they currently had.

Selection and Implementation

A competitive RFP was issued and after a thorough review a new eSourcing tool was selected in July, to use for the bus route bid

One of the key criteria in the selection was the hands-on training approach that would be utilized during implementation.

The large bus route award was the first event launched utilizing the new tool.

All bidders had previously submitted their sealed bids manually. Most of the companies had never used an automated system to submit responses to an RFP.

A live in-person training was conducted for all bidders and training videos were provided online.

The purchasing group worked with the account manager to set up and launch the bus route bid.

The sealed bid was successfully completed less than 30 days after the new tool was selected.

In late September the purchasing group began working on other bids.

Four members of the purchasing group were selected to begin using the system for ongoing bids.

They were each trained one-on-one on a live RFP. This included loading the vendors, creating the bid, loading the items, launching the bid and creating post bid custom reports.

The purchasing group was so happy with the results of the new tool that they added two additional users and they were also trained on live events.

In the first 45 days the team:

  • Loaded 283 vendors – this was after culling almost 200 duplicate vendors from internal records
  • Bid 1140 items
  • Successfully completed 9 RFPs
  • 6 users received a total of 16 hours of hands on training plus continuous project support

The department is so happy that they just added a seventh user.

In the words of the director “the account manager is a rock star”.

In last week’s post I wrote:

  • There are many solutions available in the market.
  • Understanding how each solution will help you solve your issues now and how quickly you can get up and running should be at or near the top of your list.
  • You may not need the solution with the most features. Most organizations don’t.
  • If your implementation is taking a lot longer than expected, choosing a nimbler eSourcing solution that can be quickly integrated may be something to consider.
  • Your team should be able to launch events in weeks not months or years.

If you manage or work for a municipality that is using tools created in the last century, you can quickly get moving with an eSourcing tool that will dramatically increase your efficiency and effectiveness.

Why wait?

Ask better questions, make changes and 2019 will be your best year ever.

Action Step: If you are uncertain where to start the process of change, a procurement professional like myself can provide guidance and expertise to help your organization achieve the results you want.

If you want to go explore this topic in greater detail, please contact me. I invite you to request 30-minute discovery conversation. In my experience the next step will be apparent at the end of the call. I never assume that what I have to offer will be right for everyone, so don’t expect a sales pitch. You can reach me at 973-936-9672.

If you would like to know more ways to reduce costs without changing the way you do business, simply give me a call or send me an email with your contact information and the best time to reach you.

You Won’t Drift to Success©

Commit to taking the next step.

Until Next Time, I Wish You Great Success in Your Business and in Your Life

Mike Jeffries