What we do in Sourcing
As Sourcing consultants, our purpose is to help organizations spend their money wisely and well. It’s a role that gets right to the heart of a business, how it operates, and what it seeks to achieve. Why? Because for all the money a business makes, revenue, around 70%, is then spent with external suppliers .
So vastly more than on internal staff, which, by definition, means that a lot of the responsibility for cost, quality, innovation, growth, and purpose sits within current and future supplier relationships, but so to risk. Our role is to ensure that an organization gets as much value as possible for the money spent.
But what do organizations value?
Long gone are the days when sourcing was measured solely on cost or price savings, although cost is still the primary value measure for most functions today, just not the only one. Today most organizations link cost to other organizational value drivers such as;
How fast a process runs, product comes to market, or item arrives
Creating a positive economic, environmental and social impact
Giving the organization the ability to pivot where needed quickly
Factoring the organization’s risk appetite into partnerships
Ensuring that products and services are of the appropriate quality
Pivoting to margin, revenue, or growth-orientated measures where needed
In truth, value is always in the eye of the beholder, and so we configure our approach to deliver the optimal configuration of value as defined by the organization itself. It just so happens that our difference is being able to do this quickly, with certainty, and at a market-leading cost point; improving value and saving on cost.
Where do we focus?
In broad terms, we help organizations to either do procurement or to build great procurement functions and, of course, to deliver more purposeful change through our sustainability service lines. We deliver specialist procurement through our “practitioner consultants” – our clients value that we’ve been there and bring knowledge, insights, and experience with us. There are other ways of looking at the scope of what we do;
We focus on all areas of spend, carrying the majority of specialisms in-house, with the ability to reach into our ecosystem partners for niche specialisms
We’re active across most sectors and have worked with many large organizations.
We have a comprehensive set of services and solutions that are designed to make a big impact across cost, capability and sustainability
But what is sourcing really?
That’s all the technical information, and of course, we pride ourselves in our technical skills, but what is it really like to be a modern-day procurement professional or work alongside AQM BD? We think modern procurement is also about;
Building relationships
That enable constructive challenge and create the trust and courage to do something bold and different.
Innovation
Being curious and plugged into stakeholders and the supply market, thinking differently about new and traditional challenges.
driving change
Being the people who turn bold ideas into big results, having a relentless focus on and taking pride in the results delivered.
Embedding purpose
Thinking beyond price and more about value, helping businesses to achieve more than they thought was conventionally possible.
Being adaptive
And open to change, for example adopting digital innovation or taking challenges as a positive to reach the best solutions.