Sourcing and Procurement in Supply Chain Management

We are committed to helping clients achieve high performance through supply chain mastery.

Rapidly evolving technologies and the emergence of new business models have contributed to the sudden expansion in cost-reduction and growth opportunities associated with procurement. Most businesses, however, are unsure about how to transform their procurement organizations to constantly reduce procurement costs while maximizing value from supplier relationships.

As one of the world's leading providers of procurement consulting and outsourcing services, Accenture helps our clients reduce costs, enhance shareholder value and achieve high performance by cutting operating expenses, improving capital allocations and generating new revenue streams. We leverage our relationships with companies like Ariba, Emptoris, Oracle and SAP to provide clients with an important technology-based edge. These capabilities, combined with our world-class methodologies and tools, frequently produce savings of 5 percent to 15 percent of the addressed spend. And savings generally happen quickly, freeing capital to make additional procurement initiatives self-financing.

Accenture helps clients overcome technology and business model challenges with sourcing and procurement capabilities that are technology-savvy, global and relationship-focused.

We apply a unique blend of skills—in product design, materials management, fulfillment, human performance, business transformation and business process outsourcing—to reduce our clients' total procurement cost. Our experience and willingness to enter innovative gain-sharing relationships help clients transform their operations beyond cost reduction—turning procurement into a viable competitive advantage.

Accenture is committed to finding the right solution for each client. We help some clients transform their operations by developing a procurement strategy, reshaping their organization, defining a strategic sourcing plan and enhancing the skills of their people. For others, we help improve direct procurement through tighter integration with product life cycle management. We also help clients drive and sustain value in the post-contract phase though effective supplier relationship management.

In some cases, we help establish an optimal global supply base to lower the total cost of ownership of procured goods and services. In fact, Accenture research reveals that the amount of parts, products and materials procured from low-cost countries will double within five years . Our integrated approach further differentiates Accenture: We help clients address a range of issues to enable successful global sourcing, including how to mitigate associated risks, qualify and select suppliers, integrate suppliers into the supply chain and manage global inbound fulfillment.

Since indirect purchasing is not a core competency for most companies, sometimes the right solution is to outsource the procurement of nonstrategic category spend to Accenture. Accenture Procurement BPO Services, our highly specialized procurement BPO offering, provides the expertise to capture savings in this area—often 10 percent to 15 percent of spend.

Client Successes

Glaverbel was seeking to cut costs, reduce overhead and limit capital expenditures. To help Glaverbel improve its performance, Accenture implemented a rigorous strategic sourcing program.

British Airways turned to Accenture to help with the need for greater purchasing efficiencies and tighter control of its procurement processes.

Procurement Transformation: To optimize the procurement organization, Accenture helps companies to address all sources of value creation: people, sourcing, processes and technology.

• Strategic Sourcing—Indirect Materials: Procurement and geography are hurdles—and opportunities—facing companies striving toward high performance.
• Strategic Sourcing—Direct Materials: The upstream supply chain is an increasingly critical contributor to better business performance.
• Supplier Relationship Management: Accenture defines this as the systematic management of supplier relationships to optimize the value delivered through the relationship over their life cycle.
• Global Sourcing and Logistics: Accenture can help your company to leverage sourcing strategies, methods and so on, when sourcing products from low cost countries.
• Accenture Procurement BPO Services: A complete source-to-pay offer focused on driving real business outcomes by leveraging the outsourcing concept to reduce costs and improve performance.