When to hire an interim buyer?
You hire a temporary or interim buyer when one of the following situations occurs:
- The incumbent procurement officer is temporarily unavailable, e.g. due to illness, pregnancy or because of a major project (e.g. an ERP implementation).
In this case a temporary buyer is needed with the same level as the temporary unavailable permanent employee. - To bridge a period of growth which is not certain to continue
The temporary buyer has the experience and knowledge needed to staff this growth - In case of a project for which e.g. a subject matter expert buyer (with in-depth knowledge) is desired
- If there is a desire to start with a structured, improved procurement, e.g. of a certain category of products or services. Once this is in place, the interim can be replaced by a permanent employee.
The interim procurement professional is a professional who has extensive experience with similar improvement projects.
Given the above, it will be clear that an interim buyer is solving a temporary problem. His/her knowledge and experience depend on “the gap” that (the assignment description that) he/she fills.
The assignment description also indicates the duration of the assignment, however, it may change as a result of the environment in which he/she operates and by the quality of the interim buyer. In practice it is difficult to say goodbye to a really good interim buyer.
At the bottom line, it is by definition a more expensive solution that must be compensated by the temporary specific input and added value provided by the interim buyer.
Why hire an interim NPR procurement professional?
Indirect purchasing, also called: NPR (Non-Product Related) or indirect procurement, refers to all indirect goods and services that an organization needs to support its core business. Thus, these categories are not directly involved in the production or delivery of services.
This includes the following categories (each with many subcategories): facility/soft services (cleaning, etc.), facility/hard services (building maintenance related), professional services, financial services, HR services, procurement for Marketing, idem for IT and depending on the organization and the business in which it operates, the following categories can be classified as either indirect or direct procurement: MRO, Capex , packaging, logistics services.
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Stuur een berichtBenefits of hiring an interim NPR buyer
There are several key benefits to hiring an interim NPR buyer, including:
1. Access to expertise and experience.
One of the biggest benefits of hiring an interim NPR buyer is that organizations have quick and easy access to the expertise and experience of an experienced NPR professional. An interim NPR buyer will need to have extensive experience in the area for which they are being hired, plus a strategic procurement approach, and thus also deliver tangible results quickly.
An example is a subject matter expert facilities buyer whose job is to procure mobility or office cleaning, for example. This sounds fairly straightforward, but in practice it will be seen that both subcategories require specific knowledge and extensive experience.
Mobility first requires a company policy in that area; if this does not yet exist, it will have to be developed first. In larger organizations, the Works Council has an important role in this, in short it requires the necessary preparation time. Only after that can you start approaching suppliers of e.g. car leasing, shared cars, rental cars, public transport services, employee bicycle plan, etc. Each of these suppliers and sub-sub-categories has its own characteristics. A similar story applies to cleaning: when do we want it cleaned, how do we arrange this with security, how clean do we want it (and how do we measure this), how do we get comparable quotes, how do we manage the relationship with the cleaning service once the contract is in place, etc.?
In short, the hiring of an NPR buyer will have to lead to solid framework contracts that the organization will enjoy for a long time to come, but that certainly does not happen automatically (well).
2. Flexibility and scalability
Another benefit of hiring an interim NPR procurement officer is that it allows organizations flexibility and scalability in their procurement activities. With an interim NPR procurement professional, organizations can easily increase or decrease their NPR procurement capacity as needed, without having to commit for an extended period of time. This can be particularly useful in situations where there is a sudden change in supply or demand.
3. Cost savings
Hiring an interim NPR buyer can also result in cost savings for the organization. Because interim NPR buyers are hired only on a temporary basis, organizations can avoid the costs associated with hiring a full-time NPR buyer, such as salary, benefits and training. In addition, an experienced interim NPR buyer can often identify cost-saving opportunities and reduce cost levels through his expertise, in short, negotiate a better deal for the organization.
Conclusion
By using the expertise and experience of an experienced NPR professional, organizations can quickly take their procurement processes to the next level and create value for their business.
