According to a recent article on CNNmoney.com, the Aberdeen Group has released a new study titled "The CFO's View of Procurement: Work in Progress," which demonstrates how economic turmoil has brought strategic sourcing to the attention of many C-level executives who may have previously considered purchasing a tactical function during easier times. Included in this group is the CFO, who can be a very powerful sponsor for any sourcing initiative.
In most organizations, the CFO’s primary function is to develop financing strategies, and oversea/track the inflow and outflow of cash. While intuition would suggest that the individual responsible for tracking cash flows would have their goals aligned with the CPO, this has rarely been the case over the past decade. While this lack of integration could be attributed to a number of reasons from sloth, indifference, a lack of understanding, or the curse of the “status quo”, one thing is for certain. The worldwide economic downturn, and the shockwaves it has sent through nearly every industry, have caused CFO’s cast a focused eye on the development of strategic procurement initiatives. According to the report, the majority of these CFO’s are beginning to realize that they are only scratching the surface of potential savings that can be realized by optimizing the procurement function.
So what does this mean to the average procurement professional? This white paper is the perfect “light reading” suggestion for C-level executives within your organization to obtain some of the political pull and top-level sponsorship you will need to develop and effectively integrate strategic sourcing programs. In the past CFO’s would rally behind their beliefs about the financial pros or cons of making a capital purchase or plant acquisition, however day-to-day purchasing seems to have slipped off many CFO’s radar. You can use the information in this paper to educate and motivate managers throughout the organization to align their goals cross-functionally with procurement processes.
In most organizations, the CFO’s primary function is to develop financing strategies, and oversea/track the inflow and outflow of cash. While intuition would suggest that the individual responsible for tracking cash flows would have their goals aligned with the CPO, this has rarely been the case over the past decade. While this lack of integration could be attributed to a number of reasons from sloth, indifference, a lack of understanding, or the curse of the “status quo”, one thing is for certain. The worldwide economic downturn, and the shockwaves it has sent through nearly every industry, have caused CFO’s cast a focused eye on the development of strategic procurement initiatives. According to the report, the majority of these CFO’s are beginning to realize that they are only scratching the surface of potential savings that can be realized by optimizing the procurement function.
So what does this mean to the average procurement professional? This white paper is the perfect “light reading” suggestion for C-level executives within your organization to obtain some of the political pull and top-level sponsorship you will need to develop and effectively integrate strategic sourcing programs. In the past CFO’s would rally behind their beliefs about the financial pros or cons of making a capital purchase or plant acquisition, however day-to-day purchasing seems to have slipped off many CFO’s radar. You can use the information in this paper to educate and motivate managers throughout the organization to align their goals cross-functionally with procurement processes.
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