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13 Procurement Tips To Advance Your Career in 2023
Key take-aways
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Embrace automation and digital tools for efficient and error-free procurement operations in 2023.
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Prioritize collaboration with third-party suppliers and in-house teams to streamline procurement processes.
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Continuously learn and adapt to the ever-changing procurement landscape for career advancement in 2023.
t When it comes to procurement tips, Procurement Tactics has plenty to share. Therefore, it is only right for you to know the only important tips that you can follow if you truly want to become a procurement master.
And that is to check out our Negotiation For Procurement Professionals. The end.
Just kidding.
When it comes to best procurement tips, there is a lot of advice out there from procurement experts, books, and negotiation masters. The only way to filter out the correct advice from the wrong ones is through experience. And with research too, of course.
But that would take time, you say. And time might be something that you do not have, especially if you are looking to advance your career during this time of economic anxiety. Maybe you are looking to advance your career in procurement for a better salary rate.
So without further ado, here are 13 of the best procurement tips that you can use to advance your career.
1. TakeOwnership
From the simple procurement manager to the Chief Procurement Officer, they are expected to take ownership of their respective budget. It is pretty much one of their core responsibilities.
By taking accountability, you can ensure that all strategic principles in the procurement process are followed and that each team member in the procurement department is given the right tasks.
2. Be Analyticalwith your Cost Structure
Some procurement managers need to look at all possibilities in the procurement process. Expert procurement managers, however, make sure that they analyze the fine details of the procurement process to reach the best possible outcome for the procurement. Having an analytical eye is key to developing and implementing the best KPIs and metrics for your next procurement process.
3. Focus on the Bigger Picture
Expert procurement managers always look at the bigger picture of all things. From the sourcing of suppliers until the procurement process itself, they do not stop analyzing for any outcomes that come right after the procurement process.
By looking at the better picture, you can work with budget holders toward getting the global outcome that you want for your company.
4. Understanding the real impact of Procurement success
Being able to understand how procurement impacts success is crucial to becoming a professional procurement manager. If you have this skill, you can answer critical questions that will most likely affect the outcome of the procurement process.
You have to realize that every day, procurement managers have to think about how each procurement process is going to affect their company as a whole.
5: Stop Doing it on Your Own
For expert procurement managers, teamwork is the key. Stop doing everything on your own and focus your energy on assigning your procurement team tasks that fit their role. Just barging in on your own during the procurement process is not just going to be detrimental to your performance, but it can cause a lot of problems for the company as well.
Nowadays, companies with the best procurement teams are outsourcing most of the non-strategic and more traditional work to give themselves free time to focus on high-value strategic decisions.
6. Learnfrom the Masters
It is also a good idea to check the works of procurement experts in your company. If you know someone who did a very good job with the procurement process, you can check out how he or she did it and maybe even collaborate on one procurement process so you can learn new techniques in the procurement process. From there, you can start creating your ideas on how to make the procurement process more efficient.
7. Engage Yourself With Lots of Training and Seminars
If you do not know anyone better than you when it comes to procurement, then it is time to seek outside help. You can approach a procurement expert and ask for tips or you can also join seminars and workshops on how to become a better procurement manager.
Our Negotiation Course For Procurement Professionals is one such program where we bring out your best potential as a procurement manager.
8. Develop a Digital Vision
Since 2023 is fast approaching, it is about time for you to start developing a digital vision of your procurement process. It is also time for you to stop relying on paper-based and traditional procurement tactics and consider using automated programs to help you in refining purchase orders, check suppliers and vendors, and even renew and cancel contracts.
There is a lot of automated procurement software out there and it is no longer efficient for businesses to keep pushing traditional ways of procuring supplies.
9. Understanding Ecosystem Management
A true procurement manager can build and understand a strong procurement ecosystem. This ecosystem can serve every branch that is involved in the procurement; from the third-party suppliers who are part of the outsourcing teams that work on the non-essential workflow together to the in-house team that will work on critical data and workload.
Thus, it is essential for you to know how to build and understand the procurement system of your company. You should not let yourself just go with what is already in front of you but innovate ways to ensure that you can have a streamlined procurement ecosystem in your company.
10. Creatingbenchmark
Each procurement process will not be the same. There will always come a time when each process will raise its standards and it is your duty to ensure that your standards for each procurement job process have a benchmark.
Once the benchmark is set, it is also your responsibility to keep that benchmark in check and that everyone is following it to the letter. Conduct outgoing benchmarking to understand where you, the procurement manager, rank and maximize the potential of your procurement department.
11. Robots are your Friends
Are we talking about real robots here? No, not really. We are talking about AI; the software that is in charge of making sure that your automated procurement software is working properly and that it carries out its functions without problems.
You should not believe in the notion that automating processes is bad for business; what is bad for business are delayed invoices, poorly made contracts, and suppliers that are not worth investing in.
12. Adapting to Change
You should always remind yourself that change is not something to be feared but to be adopted. The procurement process will keep changing and evolving, so it is only natural to adapt your procurement processes to any changes that may happen with your suppliers or the data you collect. Besides, true procurement mastery requires you to fundamentally adapt your procurement activity and mix that successfully with your company’s growth goals.
13. Do your research
Lastly, do not forget to do your research as well. These tips are very helpful but there are a lot of other tips and tricks that you can do to improve how you can handle the procurement process.
Never let yourself just stick to the conventional ways. Know that you can always innovate your procurement process. Successful procurement managers make a difference and do not just follow what is in front of them.
For example, a professional procurement manager must know how to negotiate properly. Knowing the right ways to negotiate will ensure that you can have big discounts while ensuring that the other party is also satisfied with your negotiation.
If you want to master negotiation, then our Negotiation Course For Procurement Professionals is the right fit for you. In our lesson, we will uncover ways that will truly help you to improve and become a master negotiator!
Frequentlyasked questions
What are procurement tips?
Procurement tips are necessary to become better at creating and managing the procurement process. Also, you cannot be promoted unless you become better.
What are the best procurement tips?
Embrace digital transformation and automation to enhance efficiency and accuracy in procurement processes and decisions.
About the author
My name is Marijn Overvest, I’m the founder of Procurement Tactics. I have a deep passion for procurement, and I’ve upskilled over 200 procurement teams from all over the world. When I’m not working, I love running and cycling.
