Tension and mutual frustration often characterise the relationship between network engineering and procurement. Imagine a situation when the network slows down or experiences downtime because a vital part has not been ordered. It causes business disruption, financial loss, annoyance and blame. If you’ve ever been in this scenario, you’ll know what this feels like.
The network engineers’ guide to speeding up the procurement process shares our perspective on a few simple ways to bridge the gap between the two departments and streamline your internal purchase order process. By understanding why procurement can sometimes push back against purchase requests and by dealing with their concerns, we’re willing to bet that you will face far less resistance and your purchase order procedure could move a bit faster.
1. Understand the role of the procurement manager
Procurement managers act as the primary point of contact between suppliers and a business. They are responsible for acquiring products or services needed by the business to carry out its operations. They do this by identifying potential suppliers, screening them and negotiating favorable rates and payment terms to keep costs in check. Other duties include monitoring supplier performance and ensuring contractual obligations are met.
2. Understand procurement’s priorities
The overall objectives of the procurement department are to meet the procurement needs of the business, maintain supplier relationships and reduce the overall price of products and services. Any procurement department will have to consider the influence different suppliers and product quality may have on their organisation. For example, a product that is low-cost and of low quality may be detrimental to the organisation’s position within the marketplace.
Your procurement team may have a slightly different set of goals and pressures that guide its day-to-day work. Ask what these are, and then reflect on the ways in which you can help to deliver on procurement’s priorities. For example working with procurement to identify hot spots of climate risk in your supply chain can also help the team manage risks, and in the longer term can mitigate price volatility or costly disruptions in supply linked to physical impacts of climate change.
3. Find out your company’s procurement process
This means developing a clear picture of your procurement team’s process, from establishing sourcing and/or category strategies, to supplier selection and onboarding, to ongoing supplier management, development and performance tracking.
The easiest way to understand your company’s procurement process is to ask them directly. The process will vary for each company, but here are some basic stages that are typical.
- End user submits a requisition
- Procurement looks at preferred suppliers
- They negotiate price
- Look at availability
- Is it within budget?
- Raises a PO (purchase order)
- It goes through an approval process
4. Find out what information the procurement department needs
Again, simply ask them the question. Once you understand what information procurement needs and how you can help them, they will help you.
For example there may be certain business rules within the procurement process which govern how many supplier offers are required (see table below). Once you are equipped with this knowledge, you can tailor your requisition accordingly. In the same line, you can save the procurement team a lot of hassle if you have specialist market knowledge about sources of hard to find legacy equipment.
5. Speak their language
Refer to a glossary of procurement terminology, like this one from the chartered institute of procurement & supply (CIPS), to have better understanding of the supply process and adopt language you can use to communicate more effectively.
6. Know what to do when the procurement process slows down
When you understand the procurement process and how long each stage typically takes, you can identify and prioritise the bottlenecks if there is a delay. Are approvers dragging their feet? Is availability an issue? Check in with your procurement team to learn where the major problems lie and consider ways you can help speed up procurement processes to drive faster operations. But be mindful, gaining traction and influencing change within the procurement function requires an approach that builds on and integrates with existing procurement systems and processes.
7. How to become the priority for your procurement department
Procurement is not just about purchasing goods and services. At its heart, the role of a procurement professional is about making sure operations continue as smoothly as possible all year round. As a network engineer, you’re responsible for ensuring 100% uptime of the network, and if that doesn’t happen then the consequences can be significant. Don’t underestimate the importance of your role, particularly if you are managing critical spares. Once you have followed the steps above and have begun to deliver real value to procurement, you can help shape procurement’s priorities, align your wishes with the other person’s, and assert your needs.