“ Only when you understand the business of the client , can you start to understand their needs , their wants , and why they ask for certain things ,” she adds . “ Our category management methodology really helped us with this but , more importantly , I think in procurement you have to be curious . You have to ask a lot of questions , understand what the product or service does , and you have to know if it provides value to the clients or not .”
Data analytics Like many organisations , Service New Brunswick tapped into the potential of data analytics to help with its cost-saving measures . The shared services group creatively used Microsoft Excel , its Access database , and its current financial systems , to extract and analyse data about its procurement strategy .
To this end , Service New Brunswick could then clearly see what its clients were buying , which regions had the best contracts , and whether it
“ SOMETIMES IT CAN BE HARD BUT ONE OF THE
MAIN THINGS THAT KEEP US MOTIVATED IS THAT
WE KNOW THAT FOR EVERYTHING THAT WE DO , THERE ’ S A PATIENT AT THE
END OF THAT TRANSACTION ”
– Ann Dolan , Executive Director of Strategic
could get
Procurement for Service New Brunswick Health Services
products at the same price province-wide . “ When you have the data , the story tells itself ,” notes Dolan . “ You don ’ t have to be the persuader . Then we essentially looked at the low hanging fruit and asked ourselves ‘ can we extend this cost-effective contract ? Can we commit a certain volume to get a better deal from our suppliers ?’
“ Then we brought in a consultant to help us make further savings ,” she says . “ This helped us move towards a competitive procurement process that we hoped would show not only savings , but efficiencies , changes
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