Five Types of Procurement Expertise

  • By Charles Dominick
  • 09/01/14

Do You Have These Types of Procurement Expertise?
The scope of procurement work has grown to include much more than it did 10, or even five, years ago. There are five areas of expertise that employers seek in their procurement team members.

1. Classic procurement expertise. Classic procurement expertise means being able to negotiate fantastic deals from suppliers. To analyze spend to identify exactly where savings opportunities are. To collaborate with suppliers to take out cost, improve performance and gain a competitive advantage.

2. Category expertise. Category expertise refers to thoroughly understanding the nuances of the products and services you are responsible for buying. Knowing what drives cost. Knowing what may constrain supplier capacity. Knowing the technical details necessary to ensure the optimum quality of delivered goods and performed services.

3. Interpersonal expertise. Today’s true procurement professionals are not the type of people that sit at a desk and stare at a computer screen the entire day. They inspire internal customers to comply with procurement initiatives. They persuade senior management to give support to procurement strategies and investments. They motivate cross-functional teams to succeed at their projects.

4. Industry expertise. Industry expertise means knowing how other similar organizations operate. What the business cycle is in that industry. What differentiates one competitor from another. And what possibilities there are beyond doing things the way the organization has always done them.

5. Organization expertise. To achieve maximum success in the team environment in business today, procurement professionals need to be familiar with the intricacies of their own organizations. Who are the people whose approval needs to be won? What processes must be followed to avoid bureaucratic delays? And what cultural constraints must be observed so that others don’t try to block the path to success?

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Charles Dominick, SPSM, SPSM2, SPSM3, is the president and chief procurement officer of the Next Level Purchasing Association (www.NextLevelPuchasing.com), a leading provider of procurement training and certification. He is also the lead author of The Procurement Game Plan: Strategies & Techniques for Supply Management Professionals. Prior to founding the Next Level Purchasing Association, Charles managed procurement for three leading organizations, including the University of Pittsburgh.

Featured

  • Quadient Achieves 25,000 Locker Installations Worldwide

    Global automation platform Quadient recently announced that it has acquired Package Concierge, a U.S.-based parcel management solutions provider, according to a news release. The acquisition pushes Quadient over the 25,000-unit milestone of global installations.

  • College of the Desert Starts Construction on New Campus Location

    College of the Desert recently announced that it has broken ground on its new Palm Springs campus in Palm Springs, Calif., according to a news release. The multiple-building campus consists of 175,000 square feet of new construction and will cost an estimated $268 million.

  • UTEP Celebrates Construction Milestone for New Academic Building

    The University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas, recently held a “topping out” ceremony for its new learning complex, Texas Western Hall, according to university news. The construction milestone marks the placement of the last beam of a structure in progress.

  • Kimball International Debuts Health & Education Experience Center

    Kimball International recently opened a new facility at its corporate headquarters in Jasper, Ind., that will act as a hands-on showroom for a variety of its furniture products and solutions, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot Health & Education Experience Center was originally designed by Gensler as the headquarters for Kimball International’s National brand.