Another interesting take-away from Chris Sawchuk’s presentation at the Boston Spend Management Day earlier this week was his insight into what’s in store for most companies in 2010. According to Chris, the Hackett Group’s interviews with procurement pros have revealed that the vast majority of companies (I believe he said around 80%) reported they’ll have larger savings goals in 2010 than they had this year. Unfortunately, Chris also said few companies had concrete plans on how they would actually reach those goals.

This on its surface would be a troubling situation in any market. But when we consider the buyer’s market conditions that have given buyers tremendous leverage to reach their lofty savings goals this year, and the possibility that the tide may turn back towards the suppliers and inflation at some point in 2010, the lack of strategies may very well have some CPOs losing sleep as we inch closer to the new year.

So, I thought we should get input from Supply Excellence readers (and of course you can comment anonymously on an issue this sensitive):

• Are your savings goals going up in 2010?
• If so, do you have a plan for how to reach those goals?

Leave your answers, insights and/or questions in the Comments.

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.