Problem Statement
- Organisations that embark on a procurement transformation journey spend a significant amount of time and money to achieve their strategic objectives. These transformations build new “capabilities” in the form of Software, People, Processes and Policies that are delivered by seasonal specialist consultants
- These new capabilities demand a change in organisation’s operating model and require additional skills and resources to support the newly developed capabilities
- These include resources for content and supplier enablement, supporting end users and suppliers, and enabling new product innovation through continuous improvement. The investment in these areas is often underestimated by organisations, leading to a skills and capability gap when a program transitions into Business As-Usual (BAU) state.
- A focus on ongoing adoption and continuous improvement of the solution is required to protect business benefits and ensure the sustained success of the program.
Impacts
A lack of proper planning on the target state BAU support framework could lead to:
- Inability to deliver and sustain business case benefits
- Poor internal customer service and experience
- Low adoption of the solution
- Dissatisfied suppliers due to lack of support or late payments
- Inability deliver product enhancements and continuous improvement
Solution Options
In our experience working with customers on Procurement Transformation projects for over 15 years, we have observed 3 core BAU support models adopted by customers with each having distinct advantages and challenges:
BAU Support Model | Description | Advantages | Challenges |
| Internal Capability | Build full internal capability to maintain and continuously improve the new capability.
This typically involves:
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| Out-Source | Engage a third party to take on all support and service management responsibilities for the solution. This typically involves:
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| Blended Support Model | Build limited internal capability to support the solution, supplemented by partnering with a specialist firm to drive product innovation and best practices. This typically involves:
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Which BAU Support Model should my organisation choose?
There is no right or wrong answer. The BAU Support model that an organisation chooses to adopt is dependent on a variety of factors including:
- Existing functional / technical capability
- Desired level of service delivery and innovation
- Alignment to corporate strategy
- Industry
- Internal contract management capability
- Budget
- Solution complexity
- Risk Appetite
Our Recommendation
We recommend defining and agreeing a clear vision for your capability early in the project lifecycle. To achieve this:
- Involve key stakeholders including ICT, Product Owners, Internal Customers and Procurement SME’s
- Clearly define support activities including activity complexity, inputs and outputs, volumes and responsibility
- Conduct skills gap assessment of the BAU team
- Carefully assess alignment to corporate strategy
- Establish clear criteria for the transition of product ownership from Project to BAU
We are here to help
Regardless of where you are in your Procurement Transformation journey, we are here to help you:
- Define the vision for BAU support that aligns with your corporate strategy
- Conducting skills gap assessment
- Define BAU operating model
- Support with transition from Project to BAU state
- Supplement your team with specialist resources
- Implement agreed operating model and see it through to BAU
- Ongoing benefits realisation assessment throughout the lifecycle of the product
Let’s talk
Send us an email info@bloomit.com.au with your feedback, comments and question. We are here to help.
