Sound familiar?

As the steward of supply, you are more than aware that supply chains are intricate, value networks made up of layers of complexity, risk and diverse players - players which are typically specialists in their respective markets. And can run into the thousands right across your business.

How can you effectively align this complex web of supply with your business' objectives, particularly when procurement is frequently discredited as a contributor to business success?

Not because procurement teams are doing a bad job, but because many business leaders are limited to conventional thinking about their supplier relationships, failing to engage with suppliers on any level other than price.

Procurement leaders typically struggle to change this conventional thinking (not for want or trying) simply because the problem is too vast to solve internally for all but the very biggest companies.

At its heart, the challenge for procurement leaders is a lack of resources, most notably (wo)man power to attain all the skills, knowledge, expertise, insights needed to engage suppliers beyond cost.