Rethinking the Digital E-Procurement Organization
March 19, 2019
What should your procurement organization look like after platform deployment?
One of the principle advantages of e-procurement platforms is that they take an all-encompassing approach to software design and functionality, incorporating best practices on an ongoing basis from a large user base. This is sometimes labeled as a “one-size-fits-all” approach by detractors in defense of legacy systems that are more expensive to maintain and support.
One-size-fits-all isn’t bad: A one-size-fits-all baseball cap expands or contracts to accommodate most head sizes. Likewise, e-procurement platforms can accommodate a wide variety of organization sizes and types. The challenge for many, however, is how to configure the procurement organization in support of using the platform to achieve objectives that are unique to each enterprise.
Key questions: What should the procurement organization look and act like after you go live with your new platform? Where will you need additional resources? How will procurement automation influence your overall role within the enterprise?
The answers to these questions depend on your company’s business goals, culture, financial objectives and tolerance for supply chain risk. Our eBook, Rethinking the Digital E-Procurement Organization, provides a role-based framework, based on personas, for thinking about how to structure and staff your procurement department to optimize the value your company receives from its investment in procurement automation.
This publication presents four different role-based personas to consider in rethinking the structure and purpose of your digital procurement organization. The roles range from the highly tactical Concierge persona, where procurement touches every transaction, to the much more strategic Architect persona, where procurement provides structure and strategic direction while relying on the business to execute at the transactional level.
Because your organization is unique, there is no such thing as an off-the-shelf blueprint for structuring and staffing your platform-enabled procurement department. This eBook provides a framework for thinking about procurement organization design that is based on hundreds of e-procurement platform implementation and consulting engagements undertaken by The Shelby Group.
Looking for help in thinking through organizational design issues? Contact us at info@theshelbygroup.com.