UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
UMass
: Unifying Procurement to Drive Change
“ We ' re capturing this low hanging fruit , but once we realise those recurring savings , we need to continue to optimise and extract costs and inefficiencies out of the system so that it ' s something that we can confidently harvest year over year ”
DAVID CHO CHIEF PROCUREMENT OFFICER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR , UMASS
The results of Cho ’ s and the USPT ’ s efforts have been immediate . An initial target of achieving $ 16.5m in annual cost reduction was eclipsed within the first 18 months of operation . The UPST delivered $ 33.9m in savings through 100 + initiatives , within those 18 months , across each of the five UMass campuses .
“ The key to that is data , and we are now much closer to being a data-first organisation ,” Cho says . “ We are utilising techniques that private equity firms might use for optimising their portfolio companies . We ' re factoring in methods that you would use for mergers and divestitures , and all these different tools and approaches .”
Cho expects to see twice the amount of financial benefits in the next year , but the ultimate goal of his initial five-year plan will not necessarily follow a linear path . “ It doesn ' t mean we have to continue to double the output that we ' re getting from
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