According to the Oxford Dictionary website the origin of a word “maverick” dates back from the 1860’s and stems from the name of a Texas lawyer and land baron, Samuel A. Maverick, who refused to brand his cattle. Today, a maverick is generally someone who does not go along with the group and is viewed in a negative light.
Jump ahead now to the year 2015 where you will find consistent definitions of maverick buying, such as:
1. purchasing outside formally defined processes and authorized vendors
2. buying outside agreements or buying from suppliers not optimized as far as value for money is concerned
3. the part of the company spend not covered by formal rules and processes
4. off contract purchasing despite the presence of an established procurement process based on pre-negotiated supply agreements with approved suppliers
So how can you reduce negative implications of maverick buying?
One solution is using e-procurement as it greatly improves purchasing transparency. ‘Requisitioners’ generate electronic purchase requisitions in a way which is similar to e-shopping. They select what they need, add to their basket with the only difference that such requisitions have to be signed off by other ‘approvers’ in line with company’s internal procedures. Purchasing policies, and levels of approvals can be as simple or complex as necessary. Every organization is different, and each have their own set of rules and procedures. You’ll want to implement a solution which can handle from the simplest, to the most robust set of rules.
Purchase orders issued in this way are being sent automatically to suppliers and ‘requisitioners’ receive the products they ordered. All purchase transactions are recorded and auditable. Removal of paper-based systems, means you can control your spend easily as any inconsistencies and price variances becomes quickly identifiable. Additionally, as the system is administrated by purchasing professionals, it puts better controls on the procurement processes, and the company’s procurement policies can be implemented more easily.
The Aberdeen Group recently reported that when e-procurement systems are implemented, requisition-to-order costs alone typically improve by 49 percent.
ISS Group implements Business Process Improvement (BPI) solutions, such as our iPurchase™ e-procurement solution that enable organizations to achieve these types of results. Visit our website at www.issgroup.com for more information on all of our BPI solutions®.
