A View Towards the Future of Sourcing & Procurement – The Increasing Role of Vendor Management

An article by Wojciech Marchwicki, Center of Expertise Procurement Lead, Chief Procurement Officer – Wholesale Banking ENC at ING.

A dozen or so years ago, no one thought about what procurement is apart from its transactional dimension. Optimising the total cost of ownership, revising prices or optimising specification are strategic demands that have accompanied the procurement activity in many organisations on a daily basis.

While, it has now turned out, the true long-term benefit for each entity should be built on the basis of partner relationships with suppliers and a formally implemented process that expresses this. In addition to the ongoing benefits that an organisation obtains as part of individual supplier selection processes, it should focus on building a long-term relationship with the outside world for good and bad times.

The overall image of the supplier through the prism of all commitments made to a given organisation, assessment of the level of services provided in every aspect of the supplier’s functioning in a given entity, joint work on process optimisation and dialogue are the basic elements of an effective vendors’ management process.

In fact, procurement cannot be limited to the role of a unit dealing only with decisions regarding the supplier selection process and, as a result, signing a contract. On the contrary, procurement, in addition to the supplier selection process, should be the owner of the vendors’ management process so as to create a specific organisational culture within the dialogue between the organisation and the world of suppliers.

Mutual dialogue, optimisation of activities commissioned by suppliers, work on innovation, implementation of new solutions, transparent assessment of the level of services provided, strategic meetings, consultations with suppliers, and finally joint work and discussion on the future are inherent features of the procurement ecosystem. Within this ecosystem, the most important thing is the supplier and the partner relationships that accompany the cooperation and which are always based on the win-win principle.

Wojciech Marchwicki is a Center of Expertise Procurement Lead, Chief Procurement Officer – Wholesale Banking ENC at ING with 11 years of professional experience, responsible for 9 countries across Europe comprising: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Switzerland, UK and IBSS. Proxy and also Member of the Management Team of the Global Procurement Bank in ING N.V. He is the creator of ING’s procurement organisation in Singapore for all of Southeast Asia. Experienced in creating organisations by centralising purchasing processes and implementing procedures from scratch, both in Poland, European and Asian countries. Chief Negotiator in many procurement processes, both within IT and non-IT procurement categories, for local and international transactions. Previously Executive Director with over 10 years of experience in various industries, responsible for direct and non-direct purchasing, international trade, sales and marketing. He is also an active mentor and lecturer at numerous purchasing conferences.