Izak, I come from the corporate environment. If someone had to come to me then and proposed an outsourced procurement solution - I would have guided him to the door as I knew what the company board would have said if such a proposal was tabled.

I have subsequintly worked around this by actually "out tasking" - as Gregg said - various element of procurement activities.

By the way Gegg - fancy meeting you here !

__________________
Jacques Fourie
Director Operations
Wanama Solutions
+27836450618
www.wanama.co.za
jacques.fourie@wanama.co.za

Procurement BPO not widely used in Australia
The adoption of procurement business outsourcing is
not widespread in Australia but rather is still discrete
in nature and will remain so over the next couple of
years, according to surveys by IDC.
"Although IDC has observed a strong interest in
outsourcing procurement activities, especially within
the sourcing sub-segment, it is primarily within the
500-plus employee companies. Even within this
market segment, there are still small-scale
engagements and the overriding driver remains cost
management," said Aprajita Sharma, IDC's research
manager for outsourcing and BPO services
IDC estimates that the Australian procurement
business services market will increase at a four-year
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 per cent
to approximately $A534 million by 2011.
"The market is not ready for comprehensive
procurement BPO. However, it is still important to
consider the smaller scale engagements — as BPO
deals increase over time in scope and complexity,
these smaller engagements allow firms to gain a
foothold within the marketplace," Sharma said.
"It is also critical to identify relevant trigger events
for procurement BPO adoption, for example F&A
outsourcing could be a lead-in for procurement BPO
as some large customers look at cross-functional
integration of the accounts payables and accounts
receivables," she added.

Procurement Outsourcing

In a thoughtful article, former IACCM Chairman Bill Huber reflects on the question of Procurement outsourcing. Too strategic? Insufficient ROI? A waste of past investments? Or is it simply that organizations lack the vision and leadership to unleash the benefits that outsourcing could bring?

Read

I agree with the theory as well as the benefits - but reality check says at least another 5-8 years for SA to come around. However, as procurement becomes more strategic the lesser chance it has of being outsourced.

__________________
Jacques Fourie
Director Operations
Wanama Solutions
+27836450618
www.wanama.co.za
jacques.fourie@wanama.co.za