PURPOSEFUL AND PROFITABLE CHANGE WITH PROXIMA
PURPOSEFUL AND PROFITABLE CHANGE WITH PROXIMA
Proxima COO , Dan Collings discusses how suppliers are now finally being see as the “ external enterprise ” and why it is now or never for procurement
Whilst the current economic environment is challenging , even today there is enormous value to be had in spending wisely and well . “ Around seventy percent of company spend is on supply ,’’ says Dan Collings , COO of Procurement and Supply Chain Consultancy Proxima . ‘ Getting that spending right is a valuable differentiator for businesses in the good but especially in the not so good times . It is more critical than ever to ensure that suppliers are perfectly aligned to the rhythm of a business , and that every cent is working in pursuit of objectives ”.
“ And objectives evolve ”, adds Collings . “ Early in my career , nearly every client was asking us to focus on driving savings , something that we still excel at . Today , the definition of value can be much broader , aligned to the realization that suppliers are the ‘ external enterprise ’. Whether it ’ s a question of cost , risk , resilience , ESG or innovation , invariably supplier networks are part of the answer ”.
Walgreens is a perfect example of how Proxima partners with businesses , and ambitious CPOs . “ We want to help CPOs to put procurement at the heart of driving profitable and purposeful change . With Walgreens this means helping them to achieve ambitious financial targets while at the same time supporting the transformation of procurement ”.
“ We were originally involved in assessing Walgreen ’ s property portfolio - everything from signage to snow clearing to the dayto-day operations of a Walgreens store . We are now into year seven of our partnership , and it ’ s one that we deeply value , based on trust and results delivery . What started in property now extends across a significant breadth of procurement and supply chain topics including sourcing , complex transformation and the deployment of deep subject matter expertise ”.
And what of savings , are these a thing of the past ? “ Absolutely not , although perhaps today the job of procurement is more ‘ Commercial Architects ’ than savings chaser . There is still enormous financial value to be had in most organizations , if you know where to look ”.
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