Buyer Spend Activity, Procurement Behaviors and Strategies in the Global Construction Industry 2012-2013: Survey Intelligence Source: PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1cELE)

Buyer Spend Activity, Procurement Behaviors and Strategies in the Global Construction Industry 2012–2013: Survey Intelligence

Synopsis

• This report is the result of an extensive survey drawn from Timetric's exclusive panel of leading construction industry executives. The opinions and forward looking statements of 218 industry executives have been captured in our in-depth survey, of which 54% represent director and C-level respondents.

• The geographical scope of the research is global - drawing on the activity and expectations of leading industry players across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East.

• The report covers data and analysis on construction industry buyer spend activity, procurement behaviors and strategies.

• Key topics covered include annual procurement budgets, planned change in procurement expenditure, procurement expenditure by products and services, expected changes in regional supplier prices, critical success factors for supplier selection, future procurement objectives and e-procurement

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Enhancing and redefining the role of indirect procurement - research findings and results.

Part 1: Current perceptions of the indirect procurement function.

Since the economic downturn, procurement’s profile has been raised within many global businesses.

Stronger executive support for major initiatives has increased mandates for tackling non-compliance and we are now witnessing business units,  such as marketing which, in some, instances, have never let procurement cross their door before, proactively seeking procurement support.

However, through a series of interactions with Senior Executives over the last few years, a consistent message has arisen – one of frustration that procurement, and indirect procurement in particular, is underappreciated by the wider organisation. Furthermore, a vast majority of the members of

the C-Suite feel that indirect procurement is under-invested across UK, Europe, US and further afield.

Proxima, in conjunction with NelsonHall, therefore ran a research study to investigate the perceptions, attitudes and desired outcomes of Indirect Procurement to catalyse this common sense that procurement could and should play a greater role in most businesses. Some of the responses in our study do indicate that indirect procurement in some organisations is perceived to have a role that is somewhat tactical and administrative. Some respondents advised that it can create process blocks and can, on occasion, even be antagonistic to specialist suppliers of the business, particularly specialist service providers.

This whitepaper, which is the first in a series of three, explores what procurement can do to redefine how it’s seen by the organisation.

Download the full whitepaper at http://info.proximagroup.com/current-perceptions-indirect-procurement

The Marketing Maturity Matrix: Marketing procurement comes of age

The Double Bind

The conventional wisdom, according to almost every business and marketing textbook, is that when recession hits, companies need to market their way out of trouble.

Despite the cost-cutting instinct that takes over in a tough climate, slashing marketing is the very last thing the business gurus recommend. As customers become more discerning about what they spend, the need to sell your brand in order to stay top of mind becomes more crucial than ever.   The reality, however, is invariably different. Marketing budgets are usually the first to feel the squeeze, and are often among the hardest hit. This time around is no different. As the post-crisis economic uncertainty bites well into a third year, Charterhouse took stock of the impact on marketing funding and the implications for procurement departments among Europe’s top brands. We interviewed procurement leaders in 200 of Europe’s 500 largest companies by turnover.We found buyers struggling in a double bind: under pressure from senior management to reduce marketing spend, but lacking influence over an expenditure that is subject to little or no central control. At the heart of the problem lies an inconsistent approach to marketing purchasing across European businesses. This report examines these inconsistencies, and sets out a new approach to driving cost efficiencies when buying marketing products and services: the Marketing Maturity Matrix.

Downward Pressure

As markets shrink, inevitably, so do marketing budgets. The current economic slowdown is no exception. And the axe is falling on procurement as well as marketing as both are tasked with reducing the cost of promoting their company’s offerings.

Charterhouse found that almost half (42%) of procurement professionals at Europe’s largest businesses are experiencing pressure from senior management to bring down the cost of the marketing products and services their firm buys. Those experiencing this have seen marketing budgets cut by some 16%

on average. This downward pressure is not without good reason, in the eyes of the buyers themselves. Over four fifths (81%) claim their organisations could be leaner. And they are refocusing on marketing spend, as savings in other purchasing areas dry up. Last Bastion  Traditional procurement categories are yielding fewer savings than ever before, according to two thirds (65%) of procurement professionals. At the same
time, four fifths (79%) believe that marketing spend could be managed more efficiently by their company.
As a result, almost two fifths (39%) see marketing as a significant opportunity to drive procurement savings. A quarter (21%) characterise the opportunity as ‘very large’. Significantly, more than a third (35%)
describe marketing as the last real opportunity for procurement to drive significant new cost reductions.

To Download this white paper in full please visit www.procurecon-indirect.com

IAOP Expands Outsourcing Professional Certification Training Globally

Increased need and demand leads to more educational offerings by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals in its Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP) program

Poughkeepsie, NY (I-Newswire) April 20, 2012 - POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – With the outsourcing industry continuing to experience 10 percent growth, the need for outsourcing professionals to stay up to date on the latest trends and standards is more pertinent than ever, fueling an increase in professional certification training programs. In response to the increased need and demand from individuals and companies employing outsourcing professionals globally, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®) has continued to expand its educational offerings in its Certified Outsourcing Professional® (COP) program. New offerings include the Service Provider Business Development Workshop, a one-day live or online program that earns 15 points towards the COP certification and qualifies candidates for the new Certified Outsourcing Professional - Business Development (COP-BD) certification.

Summit Energy Enhances DashboarDView Online Sustainability And Energy Management Software

SOFTWARE PROVIDES USERS WITH ROBUST, CUSTOMIZABLE CAPABILITIES TO MONITOR, FORECAST AND MANAGE THEIR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAMS

Summit Energy, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric, is pleased to announce the newest release of its proprietary, online sustainability and energy management platform, dashboarDView (DV). DV provides Summit clients with secure access to the energy and environmental data, reports, and summaries that drive their enterprise energy and sustainability programs.

“Our continuous commitment to our clients led to the development of the latest DV enhancements,” said Steve Wilhite, CEO of Summit Energy. “We’ve been collecting feedback throughout the development process so that we not only meet, but exceed our clients’ needs and expectations. We are extremely pleased with the initial response.”

Among DV’s most exciting new features is its ability to respond to individual users’ preferences with increased configuration options. DV offers each user a completely customizable homepage, the option to view DV in one of more than 10 different languages, and dozens of currency and unit-of-measure options to meet the diverse needs of Summit Energy’s global client base.

Procurement announces another contract win

Xchanging plc ('Xchanging') (LSE:XCH), the business process and technology services provider and integrator, today announces that it has been awarded a three year procurement services contract by a leading investment and insurance institution in the UK.

Under the contract, Xchanging will provide a range of procurement services, including the provision of technology, helpdesk and expert sourcing services.

In addition, Xchanging will provide ‘Tail Spend Management’, looking for opportunities to create savings by rationalising spend with the 80% of suppliers that account for only 20% of this customer’s overall spend profile.

Ed Cross, Head of Procurement Services - Europe, commented: “I am delighted by this deal as it demonstrates that our new go-to-market approach for procurement services is paying dividends. It continues to build on the momentum in the global market place that we’ve gained with the two contracts announced in August 2011, one with L’Oréal in Europe and the second with BAE Systems in North America”.

For further information, please contact: 
Xchanging

Ed Cross
Head of Procurement Services                        Tel: +44 (0)7748 761994
Ed.Cross@Xchanging.com

Graham Copeland                                              Tel: +44(0) 7825 273060
Head of Sales- Procurement
Graham.Copeland@Xchanging.com

About Xchanging
Xchanging is a business process and technology service provider and integrator specialising in Financial Services, Insurance Services, Technology and Procurement, with processing skills and capabilities applicable to other vertical industry and market sectors.

Perfect Commerce and Verizon Wireless partner to help utility service companies reduce operational expenses:

With a tough economy constantly hovering overhead, businesses are looking for solutions that help improve overall operational expenses. Perfect Commerce, an eprocurement and esourcing solution expert, and Verizon Wireless are working together to help businesses with their cost-cutting initiatives.  Using a strategic Group Purchasing Organization (GPO), Perfect Commerce can offer companies in the gas utility, water utility, electric utility, oil and gas refinery or coal industries a substantial cost savings on Verizon Wireless voice and data services as well as select accessories.  Non-Verizon clients may also be eligible for these special incentives, provided they switch services to Verizon Wireless.

Perfect Commerce is launching monthly e-communication campaigns to educate its members on these special savings, as well as wireless technology solutions that can help address a number of business challenges.   Over 135 new clients have taken advantage of these custom offerings since the new campaign launch this past July.  Clients are catching on to the scent of savings and some have started to see significant cost reductions.