Spend Visibility: Actioning a Spend Analysis for Optimization

Analysis is great, action is better. Analyzing spend can help your organization save money, align cross-departmentally, and reduce potential risks. You’re able to take that information and strengthen your procurement process allowing your team to become more strategic.  

Achieving spend visibility can greatly impact decision-making for business leaders. It's crucial to understand what is important to your stakeholders. This knowledge can provide valuable insights and help align financial priorities with key objectives. Ultimately, a comprehensive understanding of spending can lead to more informed and strategic decision-making within the organization. 

Understanding what your organization values can guide your team in prioritizing tasks after analyzing spending results. This helps determine which areas to focus on first.   

Join us as we outline best practices for prioritizing and executing your spend visibility initiatives so you can action your analysis more quickly.  

7 Steps to Spend Optimization  

Each of your stakeholders will have different ideas of what is most important to them. It’s important for you to understand where they see value and deliver on it.  

Figure out the outcomes for each category and match them with the goals your stakeholders want to achieve. For example, if you want to see cost savings, are they hard or soft? Do you expect lower or higher average costs when you look at the future of the market?  

Talk with your stakeholders and make sure you fully understand the critical elements of their needs. Bringing stakeholders in early allows you to gain insight into their thoughts before you enter the decision-making process.  

Don’t forget that it’s not all about cost savings. Your organization may have other larger initiatives such as diversity spend or sustainability.  

Now it’s time to create an action plan. Make sure you have involved all stakeholders to promote adoption and compliance of your plan. Create a plan that truly drives home your main objectives and aligns with the strategic goals of your organization.  

Don’t be afraid to utilize external help. Adding more work to your internal teams won't solve your problems. This is the time to invest in building the perfect process with the best resources that will result in the ideal outcome your organization is looking for.  

Conflicts and priorities will always exist, but having a plan in place will help you ensure your project is on the right track. Having a clear plan can help you handle conflicts and respond promptly to either stay on track or adjust your goals. 

Avoiding Pitfalls & Optimizing Outcomes  

There may come a time where you have to re-evaluate your plan and realign your priorities. Stay flexible and use technology to respond quickly and stay focused on your organization's goals.   

Working with a group purchasing organization can help you make sure you are getting the most out of your spend analysis. Being a member opens the door to time and cost savings allowing you to focus on your overall objectives.  

OMNIA Partners Spend Visibility Solution  

OMNIA Partners provides a data and spend analytics solution that empowers organizations to make informed decisions about their procurement strategy. The solution enables CPOs and CFOs to align their decisions with company objectives by offering a complete view of an organization's spend. This comprehensive perspective uncovers opportunities to leverage collective spending power and identify areas for cost savings. Through actions such as consolidating suppliers or utilizing contracts with leading national suppliers, organizations can maximize their savings potential.