To Benefit the Enterprise, Find Forward-Looking Suppliers

Many organizations see the potential for having the procurement function align its efforts with the strategies and goals of other business units as well as the enterprise as a whole. This can take the form of selecting suppliers that can best meet the strategic needs of the organization.

APQC's data indicates that organizations tracking supplier innovation and those tracking suppliers' ability to introduce collaborative technology achieve procurement benefits over their counterparts that do not. These organizations spend less on procurement and have more suppliers that have adopted mature practices such as vendor-managed inventory programs.