Why Customers Really Don't Know Better
There are some professions within the typical organization where the internal customers feel that they know better and can do a better job than those that are truly responsible. HR and Marketing are a couple of examples. But I think the purchasing function is the best example, where customers routinely try to circumvent purchasing. I don't blame them--they purchase goods and services in their personal lives all of the time, so I can see why customers think they're qualified to purchase goods and services in the workplace.
As a purchasing professional, one of your responsibilities is to educate your customers on the value of the services that you provide. To that end, here's a list as to why purchasing should be left to the professionals.
Many thanks to Mark Dolecki, Acquisitions Specialist, Exxon Mobil Global Services Company for this list--and my apologies for my adaptation.
As a purchasing professional, one of your responsibilities is to educate your customers on the value of the services that you provide. To that end, here's a list as to why purchasing should be left to the professionals.
- Purchasing professionals have specialized training that customers don't have, such as competitive bidding, price and terms negotiations, and dispute resolution.
- Purchasing professionals develop, train on, and maintain a reasoned purchasing process that protects their employers from risk and liability--at the same time ensuring that vendors are treated fairly and ethically.
- Purchasing professionals have specialized knowledge related to contracting and contract terms such as representations and warranties, indemnification, limitations of liability, and governing law.
- Purchasing professionals maintain a network of functional specialists to assist in the purchasing role (e.g, audit, tax, law, controllers, treasurers), that the customer doesn't have or doesn't use often enough to maintain.
- Separation of duties provides control over collusion between customer and vendor (the typical "triad of separation" is to segregate requisitioner/receiver, from buyer, from payment.)
- Purchasing professionals can wear the "black hat" and be the "bad guy" during negotiations to keep the customer's relationship with the vendor "clean."
- Purchasing professionals aren't "too close to the purchase" such that they can remain impartiality and objectiveness to ensure the process isn't compromised by emotion, subjectivity, or unnecessary urgency.
- The purchasing department maintains a centralized contract repository to manage contracts, including terminations and expirations--and is also responsible for procurement-related record retention.
- The purchasing department develops and maintains centralized vendor processes, such as vendor categorization and rationalization.
- The purchasing department develops, maintains, and enforces an organization-wide purchasing policy.
- The purchasing department has greater visibility to vendor relationships (e.g., the volume of spend) and manages those relationships to better advantage the business as a whole.
- The purchasing department maintains and operates purchasing-related systems, such as a vendor master file and PO generation.
Many thanks to Mark Dolecki, Acquisitions Specialist, Exxon Mobil Global Services Company for this list--and my apologies for my adaptation.
Comments