Capex Thought Leadership
Reflection.
Contribution.
Reward.
Capex Procurement Limited has drawn on the experience of our core experts and associates in providing regular thought contribution on key procurement topics. Rest assured it's based on real experiences and certified knowledge that will help elevate your organisations procurement function or just provide helpful tips when considering topics such as savings, negotiations or spend.
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We hope you enjoy our though contribution and we encourage you to open the discussion, comment and share!
26.10.2023
AI is in the news a lot.
AI should not be feared, is a statement hear the most, so what do we have to do to keep our businesses risk free while we embraced AI and use it for the benefit of the business.
03.08.2021
When looking to improve your organisations bottom line one must be aware that not all savings necessarily equate to a scenario in which financial performance is better off. Bottom line savings can only occur within an enterprise when the budgeted cost (the cost allocated within the last full budget year) has been reduced.
So, the question about, is a cost avoidance a saving, in truth the answer is no, it does not equate to a saving on the business bottom line.
17.06.2021
Listening and communicating when negotiating.
The art of hearing, listening, and responding at the right time.
We are only human and when we listen to a conversation, we tend to try to make sense of what is being said by relating it to our own experiences and what we understand of the subject. This means we often guess what someone is going to say next. The result in our minds is, we have already countered the point being made, if someone says something that does not match our own understanding it can be tempting to ignore it. Many times, that nugget of information can spur a new line of inquiry to help the outcome of the negotiations, which could be lost. We need to be mindful of this possibility and to be able to listen fully.
02.06.2021
If you exhausted all saving strategies and realise that things are getting ridiculously hard to save more on the business bottom line, because all the previous successful strategic sourcing initiatives have dried up all cost savings. Where do you go next?
28.04.2021
Supplier Segmentation is complex and requires substantial business involvement to be successful and needs the key supplier metrics and spend information to be able to answer all business risks and supply chain issues that may arise.
It is imperative to have senior stakeholder involvement when planning such an exercise, the Enterprise should understand its business lifecycle and future roadmap for a meaningful outcome.
In this post we will look at an initial approach that will help the Enterprise gather essential information and data, to inform senior stakeholders and a further deep dive exercise to improve the business Strategic Segmentation & SRM model.
10.03.2021
Software Negotiations & Savings and the key steps to consider for sustainable software savings. Many organisations are now getting themselves ready to move away from the pandemic scenario and need to reduce software costs for their businesses.
03.02.2021
As part of the Capex Procurement Savings Strategy posts we are looking at project Scope and Scope Creep, of which can cost more if not defined correctly.
Within this process project managers should work with project sponsors and procurement to clearly define a project scope early on.
In this article we define scope and how to avoid scope creep to drive best practice for procurement and IT functions.
27.01.2021
As part of the Capex Procurement Savings Strategy posts we are looking at why benchmarking does not always work for the Enterprise. Why is it important to understand what you are buying / paying for in your agreements and contracts as part of your savings strategy, long before you consider an exercise to benchmark your costs and services. It is always better to have a clear understanding of your bought in services first and what those cost can be prior to benchmarking.
21.01.2021
Supplier Tiering is a particularly good option to follow as part of a Savings Strategy. Tiering is a form of supplier management in which suppliers are segmented and organised by categories such that the higher tier deal directly with the Enterprise. This is a mid to long term process to and can yield substantial cost benefit.
14.01.2021
It is especially important to keep in control of the Enterprise’s CAPEX spending and avoid it becoming a Maverick event. In the post we provide some basic points.
11.01.2021
Creating a Supplier Relationship Plan, As mentioned in our previous post, is one of the core components to help build a Strategic long-term savings initiative for an Enterprise. The Supply Chain / Ecosystem is a vital component to achieve your savings goal. Investing the time needed upfront and creating a clear communication structure makes it easier for senior stakeholders to pick the phone and deal with any challenge they may have delivery or savings related.
06.01.2021
The importance for Enterprises to build a long term savings Strategy is vital, if the Supply Chain / Ecosystem is part of the process the benefit will have a more sustained outcome. More transparent approaches provide best results and in the main with majority Supply Chain acceptance.
22.12.2020
We note that procurement is shifting to focus more on agile delivery through category managers. Within this article we provide some key questions to ask when considering governance within the business through this period of transition.
16.12.2020
Prior to any negotiation it is important to consider the following actions included in the article, this should help de-risk and organise the team heading into all types of negotiations.
01.12.2020
Santa uses Procurement Best Practice to ensure he meets the big 25th December goal – on time and in budget during the time of the year when spending rather than saving seems to be the focus!
27.11.2020
It is hoped that this series of articles can be used like a toolkit by accountable management, business leaders and budget holders to increase awareness of their cost base and take steps to mitigate costs where appropriate.
25.11.2020
Achieving cost optimisation doesn't just need to be a task dependent on outputs from Spend Analysis (although it helps). In our last issue of the Enterprise Spend & Savings Series we look at some additional ways that accountable management can explore to optimise the bottom line.
18.11.2020
In our Penultimate issue within the Enterprise Spend & Savings Series, we review some of the expected outcomes from Spend Analysis exercises to help target procurement strategy to further alleviate pressures on the bottom line.
12.11.2020
In Part 7 of our Enterprise Spend and Savings Series we comprehensively discuss Spend Analysis and the different approaches in conducting this be it; automated or manual. We help to set out the rationale for why businesses should conduct these types of activities to increase organisational maturity, improve the bottom line and of course, mitigate risk.
10.11.2020
What are the benefits to business from performing types of Spend Analysis and why should this be done?
To understand this question the latest article within our Enterprise Spend & Savings Series looks at the benefits of profiling vendor spend and other costs within your enterprise.
03.11.2020
Without taking a mature stance on proper spend documentation and taking steps to document costs both known and unknown (through discovery), business will find costs will eat away at profit margins negatively affecting the bottom line.
29.10.2022
Enterprises looking to achieve bottom line savings through cost mitigation must be vigilant that the cost of change doesnt end up costing them more than the current operating model.
27.10.2020
Businesses should strike the right balance between focusing on Opex and Capex initiatives. Ensuring that Operating Expenses don't scale out of control for your business and that Capex investments continue to drive value and efficiency over the longer term are the keys to success for balancing these two categorisations.
22.10.2020
The key takeaway from this post is that whatever approach or strategy your business adopts in cost mitigation, there is an associated cost to action. It is vital that enterprises and businesses perform full cost-benefit analysis to ensure that cost mitigation will actually help improve the bottom line - not worsen it.
20.10.2020
It has never been more important for businesses to fully understand what their costs are. Ensuring visibility of cost throughout the organisation can be vital in fostering mature and focused strategic objectives for cost reduction and value enhancement.
24.09.2020
By maintaining a healthy and mutually beneficial relationship with strategic vendors, enterprises can yield many benefits in both monetary and organisational efficiency that will all culminate in a healthier bottom line (for both organisations - win-win!).
04.09.2020
A brief overview of 4 quick and easy steps businesses of any size and service offering can follow to realise savings in the pandemic environment.
