Last week we hosted ProcureForce customers for User Conference, bringing together users, procurement leaders, and our team to exchange ideas and share practical ways to get more value from the platform. The sessions surfaced new features, future plans, and—most importantly—real stories from users applying ProcureForce in their daily work. Hidden Gems and New Features APD…
If you’re relying on software alone to solve your cost control challenges, you’re not alone—but you may be misplacing your trust. Many procurement and finance leaders have invested in tools that promise visibility, automation, and control, only to find their teams still quoting blind, scrambling in spreadsheets, and under pressure to hit savings targets without…
I’ve spent most of my career thinking about one question: How can we make purchasing not just better—but transformational—for the businesses that depend on it? It’s a question I asked myself during my years at Ford Motor Company, where I led the team tasked with developing Ford’s global purchasing system. It’s a question I asked…
Last week we blogged about the reasons why buyers should use should-be cost models. In summary, effective should-be deployment needs to be designed with the following objectives to maximize success: Reduce buyer workload Make cost negotiations easier Help achieve lower cost designs Improve career prospects for buyers Even when the application of should-be cost models…
In a recent round table we conducted with Chief Purchasing Officers, CPO’s were lamenting about the difficulty they encounter in getting buyers to develop and use should-be cost models. They were looking for the magic dust that would make buyers as enthusiastic about should-be models as they were.
For the past few years I have participated in career development academies for a couple of industry associations by doing a short negotiation primer. The facilitator for the sessions always leads off with an exercise he likes. The exercise assigns the trainees into groups A, B and C and gives Group A the most negotiation…
Buyers rely on cost breakdown analysis to reduce material costs and ensure competitive pricing on purchased components. However, the ability to impact costs is directly correlated with the usefulness of the data collected from suppliers. A well-designed detailed cost breakdown is the foundation of highly effective cost breakdown analysis. Well-designed detailed cost breakdowns reflect the…