UK Spending Cuts Put Spotlight on Procurement Policies
The UK’s public sector organisations must make radical changes to procurement processes, supplier contract management and spend analysis to meet new efficiency savings targets, says business applications and services provider Advanced Business Solutions.
The British government’s latest round of spending cuts, announced in Chancellor George Osborne’s recent autumn statement, confirmed plans to reduce public spending by a further £30bn if the current administration retains office after the May 2015 general election.
“For many organisations, further costs cuts will only be possible if they transform existing procurement policies,” said Dean Dickinson, managing director of Advanced’s public sector and enterprise division. “Closer collaboration between multiple departments, eliminating manual-based processes and the consolidation of purchasing data is key to identifying where savings can be made.
“Spend analysis solutions provide a cohesive view of all procurement costs and improve financial transparency to assist with driving greater value from suppliers.
“Spend analysis must be a continuous process and not a one-off exercise. Many public sector organizations, which have already reduced their spending, are now tasked with making further cuts. By investing in technologies that enable them to initiate and refine their plans on an ongoing basis, they are better placed to achieve the significant savings that are needed.”
Systems such as Advanced’s own Spend Analytics consolidate data from an organisation’s finance and procurement systems to offer a unified and accurate view of all spending. The system allows staff to rapidly identify price variances, non-compliant ordering, invoice processing issues and common purchasing anomalies, such as one department paying more than another for the same product.