The economic slump obliged many governments and companies to undertake cut-outs and seek efficiency through outsourcing their non-core activities.

As Anna Williams points out in Supply Management, the outsourcing of some back house activities such as pricing, invoicing and communication processes, is a good place to start tackling the hidden costs. Using technology at the heart of these processes is key to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of these back house activities, she adds.

The Rainham Group, a refrigeration and air conditioning services company, has been successfully working with Bellrock for the last eight years. This partnership resulted in savings of £22,500 a year, after outsourcing their full time invoice administrator, the postage and the stationary services.

Moreover, a micro-site has been created to guide and facilitate the implementation of this procurement processes – the result of which can be complex for many of the suppliers that aim to outsource their services.

In addition, case studies such as the Raihnam Group partnership with Bellrock, disclose the huge opportunities for both parts that arise from this kind of procurement processes. Hence, as Anna insists, “the nature of procurement is working with different businesses so we have to learn how we can lead this change and to create value for our suppliers and in turn for our stakeholders and clients”.

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