Supply Excellence — Live from LIVE: Looking past commodities

Live from LIVE: Looking past commodities

June 11th, 2008 · by Justin Fogarty · No Comments · AribaLIVE, Services Procurement, best practices

The glass half full side of me was hoping that the weak US dollar is blunting the impact of high commodity prices for EMEA businesses. But that optimism was squashed pretty quickly here. Everyone is hurting. And although there are some options for companies looking to trim spend on things like transport and metals, savvy procurement departments are looking elsewhere to drive down spend.

For example, Marie White, the eSourcing Program Sponsor at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said RBS was the first company in the UK to put their legal services business up for bid in an online auction. Considering how challenging it can be to broach any subject with the legal department in most companies, that’s certainly saying something about the acceptance and results the eSourcing group must have shown.

Yesterday’s keynote speaker, Telefonica’s Juan Carlos Montejano Dominguez, also had some impressive results for services procurement. Of the €25.2 billion in spend his department managed in 2007, €1.6 billion was advertising and marketing spend. That’s not a category many organizations typically think of when identifying spend management opportunities. But given the challenging market conditions in commodities, it seems to be an effective way to drive savings.

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence and will be covering Ariba LIVE 2008 Europe this week. Feedback or questions about the event or blog can be sent to Justin at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.

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