GfK
contracts , which are now readily available to the team ; an e-sourcing tool to move away from email exchanges with suppliers ; and a supplier-management tool , where they could send questionnaires to the suppliers and collect data relevant to their onboarding onto their system .
“ The utmost goal was having the right tools at the right cost for GfK .”
People and processes over tech is true transformation Becker says that , presently , there are a number of procurement people that concentrate on systems integration , thinking that procurement can be sped up if they just have the right system in place .
“ I think that before jumping to a system solution a company needs to have the right processes in place first .
“ One of the transformations that I brought about at GfK was to look at our procurement processes and deliverables , regardless of the system that was being used .
“ Standardising and stabilising processes is far more important than the actual systems that are used . I would recommend doing this first and then introducing tools to support .”
The GfK supplier ecosystem and methods of differentiation Like many other companies , GfK differentiates between their suppliers by segmenting them into the categories of ‘ strategic ’, ‘ preferred ’ and ‘ everyone else ’.
“ We have some strategic partners that we could not operate without ; partners that we have regular business reviews with to ensure that we are working in tandem , as well as joint continuous improvement plans , with actions for both sides .
138 February 2023