Assessing key suppliers

The issue

A leading financial services organisation wanted to improve its key supplier assessment and meet increasingly stringent regulatory FSA obligations.  Already well versed in procurement disciplines and with an assessment process mapped out, the procurement team needed to develop the broad-based financial insights that would turn number-crunching into a valuable supplier analysis, improve its overall financial acumen, and implement and maintain the new assessment process.

The action

Working with the team’s senior executive and using examples gathered from a panel of suppliers, we designed, developed and delivered a two-day workshop for senior and supporting managers.  This explored the assessment process, relating each stage to real life examples and allowing participants to undertake a further assessment of their selected supplier.  We also developed a flexible analysis template, enabling the team to apply the assessment process to a wide range of panel suppliers.

The outcome

The senior executive was delighted by the procurement team’s favourable response, its ability to demonstrate new-found expertise and capacity to apply the process effectively.