Procurement Category Management

Category Management: Engaging Stakeholders, Delivering Results

As procurement departments strive to provide more value outside of traditional spend categories, category management has become more important to procurement’s duties as departments find themselves heavily involved in leveraging their skills to manage suppliers and further develop markets.

A strong category management program allows procurement and strategic sourcing departments to get involved in the development of new products, technologies, services and strategies. An effective category management plan enables the company to work with suppliers to speed up the time between initiative adoption and full implementation while also providing a layer of continual strategy adjustment once a new supplier or contract has been initiated.

As part of the proactive category management duties, procurement and sourcing groups must come to understand every organizational department’s needs and concerns. It is only then that procurement and sourcing will earn its seat at the planning table, which is where it needs to be in order to effectively manage, source, and develop category strategies.

Corcentric procurement category management experts have delivered detailed market analyses to scores of clients worldwide, identifying needs, successes, and future opportunities. We’ll help you define industry best practices and work with your team to isolate and capitalize on your most important components. Our backgrounds are in strategic sourcing and spend management, but we speak the same language as finance, IT, marketing, and most departments within your organization. We know what each department holds important across each category, and can help you build credibility by working with stakeholders to develop each and every category, with a focus on the optimal business outcomes.