In the ever-evolving landscape of business, where objectives, financial pressures and national and international pricing pressures are constant factors of change, the journey from prospect to client using Ebit’s Virtual Procurement service can be quite a transformation. Defining how your business engages and collaborates internally with procurement partners and with external suppliers may seem daunting. It doesn’t have to be scary or difficult though with the right partner.
We spoke with Chris Britton, our Business Growth Partner who works with our Virtual Procurement team to develop client partnerships. Over the past few months, we have seen a significant increase in new customers partnering with Ebit using our Virtual Procurement model and we wanted to understand the journey these companies go on. Virtual Procurement provides access to fully integrated procurement team (including Generalists, Subject Matter Experts, Analysts, Project managers and a fully loaded account management team) for a fixed monthly fee – identifying and delivering a variety of procurement opportunities for our clients.
As companies face into the challenges of the current market they are seeing spending increase and the understanding the need for efficiencies. Virtual Procurement offers many ways to improve processes, cut costs, and strengthen supplier relationships. In this blog we look at the key stages of this journey. It will highlight the strategic approaches and innovative tools that are proven to turn potential partnerships into successful, long-term client relationships.
So Chris, how does it all start?
Typically you would have a call from Justin or Jaiden, our hard-working BDR’s, who support our wider Business Growth team. This would be a brief introduction to Ebit and an initial opportunity to understand what the initial challenges might be that your business is facing. These challenges vary and no two clients are exactly alike. In the the last few weeks conversations have focussed on a mix of capacity within the Procurement team, lack of spend visibility, and a need to hold operational buyers ‘feet to the fire’ among others.
Assuming this goes well and there is an interest in knowing more, you would then be introduced to the wider Growth team. We will take the time to understand your specific challenges and any areas of immediate concern as well as share information about Ebit, specific case studies and start to introduce you to the process of working together. The outcome from this is often for us to exchange NDA’s and start the process to conduct a free high-level spend analysis.
What’s in the spend analysis?
Under NDA, we take a data dump from your Accounts Payable Ledger. We categorise your suppliers and the spend with them. We then look at this data in the context of our years of benchmark data and collective knowledge to understand the areas and suppliers you are using and identify potential areas of interest. For example;
Your supplier has recently readjusted their rates – have they passed this saving on to you?
Are you using fewer items and holding stock levels unnecessarily?
Are the products supplied still fit for purpose?
Are you using multiple suppliers across the same categories, is there an opportunity to consolidate?
How have we gained this knowledge?
We are really lucky to be working in indirect spend, but understand that every company has their own definition (but still need to buy toilet rolls!). This means we are flexible in our approach with a focus on building really solid relationships with our clients and their teams. We understand the supplier landscape across the categories we specialise in – don’t be mistaken though we are completely supplier agnostic.
With nearing 150 clients, we have extensive benchmark data and are continually going out to market for indirect goods and services. All of our consultants are ex-industry, meaning they have lived and breathed these categories for years.
What’s next?
Once we have agreed the categories to focus on, the strategic objectives and you are happy with our proposal we move to a kick-off. The kick off is really a ‘getting to know you session’ with key stakeholders, it might be the procurement team, it might be operational buyers.
Following the kick-off is where the real fun begins, we embark on a number of ‘wishlist meetings’ with stakeholders, to understand what they want to get out of the relationship. Biggest suppliers, top performing suppliers, lowest performing suppliers and importantly the impact it is having on their KPI’s are often the subjects raised and investigated.
A detailed project plan and category plan follows. From this point we are now working as part of your procurement team, driving savings to your bottom line and supporting better buying decisions.
With the flexibility to bring Subject Matter Experts into the programme when required, we start the process to deliver on the agreed projects. Supporting your business through the whole process from identification of need, supplier selection and integration through to ongoing Supplier Relationship Management
The journey from initial discussions to a fully integrated procurement strategy doesn’t have to be complex or overwhelming. With Ebit’s Virtual Procurement model, businesses gain access to an expert team that delivers cost savings, process efficiencies, and enhanced supplier management—all for a predictable monthly fee.
If your organization is facing procurement challenges, whether it’s spend visibility, supplier consolidation, or optimizing operational buying, now is the time to take action. Let’s start the conversation. Connect with our team today for a no-obligation discussion and discover how Virtual Procurement can drive measurable value for your business.
Get in touch with us now and take the first step toward transforming your procurement expectations.
Are you looking to drive value to your business? It may be to offset increasing costs elsewhere or to free up time and budget to focus on your strategic goals. If you recognise that improved procurement practices and performance can be a driver to this, we would love to talk with you, understand the challenges you face and the opportunities these bring to drive your business. Our average client ROI remains 5:1
We’re proud of the clients we work with and the projects we have completed. The savings and service improvements we have delivered have helped many companies add value to their bottom line. Our average ROI remains 5:1 across our client engagements. If you want to find out how we can make a difference to your business start the conversation.
