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If your procurement team took steps to reduce the total cost of ownership for a piece of equipment, they’d probably deserve a pat on the back (at least!).

But what if they took a further step and looked at the function of that piece of equipment and determined a better way?

Procurement teams are generally assessed on their ability to meet budgets.  But if they hit their target every time, does that mean they are really good at their job, or that the spend target is too easy to achieve?

Should you be asking your procurement team to cut costs even more, or should their success be more closely aligned with company goals and driving shareholder value?

Clearly, when margins have been cut back several times there comes a point where simple cost cutting cannot be achieved.  As a consequence, the more astute procurement teams focus instead on ways to impact total cost of ownership, overall profitability, business competitiveness and other elements that drive shareholder value.

To test whether your team has made that leap and moved away from the traditional procurement role into the more dynamic, mission-critical role that your business needs, try this simple checklist:

"Best practice" is a phrase that can be over-used, but nonetheless sought-after by all concerned.  This list combines suggestions from the top industry gurus - including our modest selves!

Today's procurement teams are being challenged to reduce costs, but in many cases are finding that suppliers have no further room for negotiation.

As procurement consultants, we are always looking for great examples of disruptive procurement in action.

The $3.7bn Tesco Booker takeover was a great example of disruption in the food distribution marketplace.

We worked with a national builder and cut £millions off their cost base, moving their business from being uncompetitive to one of the most profitable in the industry.

Procurement consultants aren't usually challenged with driving business innovation.

More likely, they are charged with reducing the bottom line financial figures.

Procurement has traditionally been seen as a back office department. But there is an increasing desire for procurement professionals to make a big impact within a business.

While in-roads have been made, there is still a lot of work to do to make procurement a driver of strategic change.

In this webinar it was discussed how 'Disruptive Procurement' can be used by procurement professionals to deliver that change.

We worked with a retailer who was struggling to enter new markets and deliver sales growth to meet their targets.

Procurement has, for a long time, acknowledged the need to look at reducing the total cost of ownership. We found this reference from 1995, but I am sure this is a topic that has been raging for decades.