Supply Excellence — Rock-Tenn Rocks their Spend Management

Rock-Tenn Rocks their Spend Management

September 22nd, 2008 · by Paul Tong · No Comments · On Demand/SaaS, best practices, mid-market/growing enterprise, supply management

Few would deny that spend management has taken hold and earned it’s place at the table in the C-Suite of large companies. But in the mid-market (<$2 billion in annual revenues), adoption of the principals and tools of the “big companies” has been slower to take hold. In fact, we recently conducted a survey of mid-market companies’ spend management process that found companies of all sizes recognize the power of spend management and are actively trying to evolve their procurement organizations to drive the bottom line impact (more on the survey results in a future post).

Like many mid-market organizations, packaging company Rock-Tenn, faced challenges controlling spend and implementing spend management initiatives. But rather than succumbing to financial pressures and inertia, they actively challenged their previous procurement processes and turned them from a negative-neutral operation into a competitive advantage.

Ben Cubitt, Rock-Tenn’s VP of Supply Chain, will be featured in a webinar we’re hosting this Wednesday at 2pm (EDT) (info and sign-up here). Ben’s experience selling key decision makers in the company on the needs and opportunities around their sourcing and procurement practices could provide some great insights for others hoping to convince the powers that be. After all in many organizations - particularly in the mid-market - it’s not a forgone conclusion that spend management is understood or excepted. So, the advice of a man who’s been there and done that could certainly help.

But beyond just making the case to get started, Ben and his team have actually proven through their efforts that the right mix of process and technology can drive results. In the midst of a national (soon to be global?) financial crisis, cutting spend strategically can be a strong message that even the C-Suite of a small organization will understand.

Paul Tong is a Senior Marketing Manager in Ariba’s Growing Enterprise group.

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