SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Zach Green discusses solutions for formally documenting a RACI around governance in the current IRA survey and developing training for governance and vendor management.
I will focus on Week two material, specifically Module 7 – Lesson 1 – Internal-Support. An area that requires improvement in our current Vendor Management Program is awareness, roles, and responsibilities. Program awareness is defined as knowing that a Vendor Management program exists and what the roles and responsibilities are for each stakeholder.
This essay aims to offer a solution or solutions to bring Vendor Management to the forefront of stakeholders' minds when they are considering procuring a new supplier and revise our current process to raise a clear understanding by implementing our RACI Matrix in a new way.
The first step is to ensure Executive Sponsorship. This step is critical to our governance program as this shows the rest of the company (Legal & General America, Inc.) that senior leaders are aware of our initiative and support our efforts. Second, executive leadership buy-in will give added weight and authority to the program. Lastly, by obtaining Executive Sponsorship, Vendor Management will align with our corporate objectives.
Once Executive Sponsorship is complete, Vendor Management will establish a RACI Matrix. This process is listed within our Vendor Management policies. However, the approach is located on our company intranet site. Given the location of our course, employees may need help finding this information. My recommendation is to begin incorporating the RACI matrix into our Internal Risk.
Zach Green, Vendor Management Analyst,Legal & General America, Inc.
SIG University Certified Third-Party Risk Management Professional (C3PRMP) program graduate Jai Chinnakonda shares why every organization should adopt integrated third-party risk governance and management into their team structure.
Organizations increasingly depend on third-party service providers of varying sizes, including start-ups, to meet the digital age challenges of technological innovation and heightened competition. In a quest to succeed, organizations involved in digital transformation initiatives partner with more innovative start-ups, thereby increasing third-party risk. There is a progressive shift from a traditional 'cost' focus to a 'shared risk' and 'value-driven partnership.
This is also a growing reflection of organizational recognition that third parties can create strategic win-win opportunities. These new-age partnerships require a different approach to managing third-party risks. Organizations that can continuously monitor and take on calculated risks with their engagement with third parties are the ones that will be able to Stay Ahead. This article reflects on how technology can help support a new Integrated third-party governance and risk management approach.
Traditional Third-Party Risk Management Approach – the challenges
Traditionally, organizations had relied on total upfront due diligence for risk mitigation. This approach attempts to identify potential third-party risks upfront before contracting, resulting in longer onboarding time. Typically, this involves sharing due-diligence questionnaires and collating responses from third parties. This only provides a point-in-time assessment – a highly ineffective approach prone to failures.
Jai Chinnakonda, Co-founder of ENGAIZ, ENGAIZ Inc.
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Cathy Rutherford describes how curcial Governance is in a procurement organization and how it can transform your team for the better.
Cathy Rutherford, Director of Procurement, CoStar Group Inc.
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Grzegorz A. Pioruński shares a different perspective on how to implement modern governance into a supplier-vendor relationship.
Some years ago, I heard someone who had not been exposed to significant processes and had no chance to consider all industry connections of a business event say: “Why must present-day everything be a project? This is just a task to do.” These words are the opposite of how I see modern governance in business and risk management.
If you take a closer look, anything we do is a kind of project, smaller or larger, but on nearly every occasion, we plan action, steps, workflow, risk, and expected outcome. Whether or not we are aware of this, this is a fact. Even such a simple task as going to a store to purchase a loaf of bread can be described as a project.
We do plan when to go (the store must be open), what to wear outdoors (depending on weather conditions), we do plan to have some money in our pocket (enough to pay, and not too much “just in case”), we do try crossing roads safely, we do expect to return home with the said bread. The deeper you consider it, the more details and sub-tasks you can recognize. Sometimes you do this on your own; on other occasions, you may like involving other stakeholders, whomever it may mean.
The same strategy we shall apply in business. The more critical the process or, the more significant business it is, the more risky your operation may be, and the more carefully you should prepare, perform and govern the project.
Grzegorz A. Pioruński, Vice President Financial Services, BNY Mellon
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Gicela Isla-Richter breaks down the importance of the selecting the correct sourcing business model and the levels of supplier management.
The CSMP course has provided me with the tools and methodologies to help my company ensure that the supplier provides value and complies with applicable internal and external business rules. Equally important, we can better mitigate risks and work more effectively by providing the right amount of effort to manage and build a collaborative relationship with its key suppliers.
Not all suppliers should be managed the same way: each supplier requires a “right-sized” level of governance!
What is Supplier governance?
It is a framework mutually agreed upon by the buyer and supplier. It establishes and enforces rules, distributes authority, defines working environments and identifies risks.
Depending on the importance of the service or product, supplier governance can span through multiple levels of company governance: i.e., corporate, business unit, and contract governance.
Gicela Isla-Richter, Enterprise Risk Manager, Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Adrienne Westerfield outlines how supplier governance programs and relationships are extremely beneficial to all stakeholders involved and can help drive business success.
What is a governance program? During the SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program, while learning unfamiliar governance terminology, I realized I had been involved with creating and establishing various types of governance throughout my career. Supplier governance is a relationship or framework that is mutually agreed upon. Both the company and the supplier benefit from this relationship. The framework can be at a corporate, business unit or contract level depending on the needs and value sought by both parties.
If it is an established relationship that has never been formalized, adding governance will ensure contract compliance. It will mitigate risks for both parties while making sure the objectives of the relationship are met. Over time, the goals for each company may change so that the structure can be re-evaluated accordingly and adjustments made to align with a new direction or specific initiatives. A more structured governance framework will also define the roles and responsibilities for teams, departments and individuals at each company, which will mitigate the risk of any tasks remaining incomplete or done incorrectly.
Adrienne Westerfield, Contract Administrator, Louisville Gas & Electric Company (LG&E)
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Indre Ciuberke breaks down the importance of the Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Framework and the four quadrants of SRM communication that adjust the ways of working with suppliers.
When you think about the Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Framework, it’s not just walking and talking with your Organization partners and having a relationship with them. From my perspective, SRM is based on relationships, however, stressing the communication and information sharing process in the particular relationship. Usually, SRM has corporate attributes such as ensuring the governance, agenda tracking and managing risks associated with the services or products that the supplier provides to the organization.
Every team is focused on bringing value to the organization. SRM can contribute to this is to push the streamlined service delivery by becoming a core internal team in the organization's structure for outsourced service management.
Supplier Relationship Management Team Framework
I have tried to describe the basic SRM as an internal core team framework in the picture above. The idea is based on communication and information flows:
Procurement is a business function that offers so much in the way of value. However, its not always easy to showcase the full spectrum of what procurement provides to other teams or get the necessary buy-in from sponsors or stakeholders to support procurement activities. In fact, one of the common pain points for procurement practitioners is the ability to align finance.
Finance is a critical business function. So much of what guides operations is based on the bottom line and therefore it is absolutely essential that procurement align with finance. Without this collaboration, procurement teams will struggle to gain credibility within an organization and will be less able to contribute to the overall success of the business. In order for procurement to truly be successful, it needs to align with finance. Here are some tips for helping achieve alignment between finance and procurement.
Develop a reporting structure that promotes collaboration
Reporting is essential for keeping different departments aligned. It’s only logical that the department in charge of managing money and the team that handles buying should coordinate. To really make the most of your collaborative efforts, try syncing on reporting structure to increase adoption. Ideally, procurement would actually fall under the purview of finance wherein the CPO reports directly to the CFO to increase that alignment. Benefits include:
Strategic relationship management and governance (SRMG) in the absence of a strong operational framework can be challenging in the best of times. As we are all too aware, these are not the best of times. Over the past six months, we have faced enormous challenges; the speed of change and the need for quick decision-making is unprecedented.
As the world struggles to recover and our workplaces, global supply chains, manufacturing and logistics cautiously rebound from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are grappling with what the future holds. Our strategic relationships will require flexibility and scenario planning that incorporates significant uncertainty as we face challenging times ahead.
Partnerships between clients and service providers are being tested like never before. These partnerships require an SRMG framework that adapts quickly to change. You should identify pain points as well as processes or services that must be added or changed to accommodate shifting priorities and workplace requirements.
The pandemic raises many critical questions that must be addressed as we consider what the workplace of the future will look like, and strong SRMG will be essential.
Here are a few critical questions to consider:
Does your contract with your strategic partner have the flexibility you need in the current environment?
Every business has had to adjust during the pandemic. Is your contract holding you to an agreement that doesn’t make sense in the current environment, or requiring your partner to perform in a way that doesn’t suit your current needs? It may be time to renegotiate a new contract that has the flexibility that you and your strategic partner require.
In previous blogs, SIG has covered the basic concept of sustainability, including an overview of its various dimensions. In this post, I will touch on the role that sourcing professionals can have in meeting corporate sustainability goals.
Why should sourcing have a role?
Sourcing is uniquely positioned to contribute to meeting a corporation's sustainability goals because sourcing typically has expertise in:
Creating alignment to corporate goals
Building frameworks to measure success
Researching market conditions and supplier capabilities
Conducting strategic negotiations
Designing innovative methods for value creation
Ranking the priorities of stakeholders with supplier offerings
Identifying risk and mitigating responsibly
The reduction in costs after implementing a sustainability program can exceed the costs of implementation – in other words, you’re spending money up front but in the long run, you save more than you spend. For example, if an organization were to target the spend category of corporate services and facilities management (FM), capital may be invested in working with a supplier to install a new system that reduces energy consumption at the company's North American headquarters, but in the long run, the reduction in energy costs saves the company money – which of course, can then be reinvested.
In this example, procurement and sourcing are uniquely positioned to make this happen. Most likely Sourcing negotiated the original FM contract, understands the innovative capabilities of suppliers, has heard many recent pitches on new products, and is adept at performing the analysis that proves an investment can have a significant return in hard costs, and even soft costs.
Mary Zampino, Vice President – Content, Research & Analytics
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Creating Vendor Management Awareness
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Zach Green discusses solutions for formally documenting a RACI around governance in the current IRA survey and developing training for governance and vendor management.
I will focus on Week two material, specifically Module 7 – Lesson 1 – Internal-Support. An area that requires improvement in our current Vendor Management Program is awareness, roles, and responsibilities. Program awareness is defined as knowing that a Vendor Management program exists and what the roles and responsibilities are for each stakeholder.
This essay aims to offer a solution or solutions to bring Vendor Management to the forefront of stakeholders' minds when they are considering procuring a new supplier and revise our current process to raise a clear understanding by implementing our RACI Matrix in a new way.
The first step is to ensure Executive Sponsorship. This step is critical to our governance program as this shows the rest of the company (Legal & General America, Inc.) that senior leaders are aware of our initiative and support our efforts. Second, executive leadership buy-in will give added weight and authority to the program. Lastly, by obtaining Executive Sponsorship, Vendor Management will align with our corporate objectives.
Once Executive Sponsorship is complete, Vendor Management will establish a RACI Matrix. This process is listed within our Vendor Management policies. However, the approach is located on our company intranet site. Given the location of our course, employees may need help finding this information. My recommendation is to begin incorporating the RACI matrix into our Internal Risk.