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Chris: Traditional cost optimization always starts on that tactical side of the spectrum, of course, the buy better. But in today’s market, that requires a little bit more discipline and a bit more structure than ever before.

So better planning, enhanced planning, broader degrees of negotiations.

Andy: I think now in procurement on that buy better side, we’re just seeing less and less kind of just quick wins – rock into the room, get your discounts and job done.

Chris: So I think it really emphasizes that you’ve got to put that planning in place.  And I think it encourages procurement to work wider across the business, you know, to really unlock value through enabling relationships with stakeholders.

So whilst we can focus on those quick wins, as you rightly say, they’re diminishing in their returns. Absolutely, absolutely. And the focus is shifting more of course, to that spend better side.

Andy: Yeah, and like with all of our clients, we’re probably still seeing that there’s value on the buy better side, but really what we’re seeing is probably 60 – 70% of the value is coming through that spend better side.

Sort of understanding the underlying drivers of demand, optimizing your specs, understanding total cost of ownership, they’re all really important considerations.

And as we said, that’s more where procurement are delivering the value. Looking at those buy better and spend better levers that we’re really seeing that in the markets that we’ve operated in, is as you sort of touched on, that we are sort of seeing more single supply or very limited supply options, almost monopolistic behavior, and we’re making sourcing much more challenging.

So I think it’s just really important to understand what you can do to, you know, untrap yourself from those environments and deliver ongoing value for the business.

And probably also we see is just creating very dedicated specifications that no one else other than that supplier can meet. And I think that’s a real danger zone that we’re seeing more and more of with our clients as they’re trying to drive a unique outcome for their customers.

Chris: And I think for me, that’s a really key point, is not getting locked into that specification,

not backing the business into a corner, because there’s a perception that a single source dynamic in a changing market is going to deliver that value.

Now, of course there are market dynamics where that’s absolutely the right thing to do, but procurement has a role to play to understand the environment they’re operating on and have that agility to flex during, during a process, during a cycle, and therefore, not locking in longer term, not locking into a bespoke specification.

Creating and encouraging that competition in the marketplace is key. Of course, it’s not just about driving cost out of the business, it’s about driving value in. Creating a procurement function that’s really future proof and ready for whatever that comes next.