Procurement

During my corporate career I have had the relatively unique experience of operating as a Buyer, User, Approver and Supplier of consultancy services – so I have acquired quite a good insight into the buying decision process. Over the years I have seen many different scenarios play out and there are a number of factors which impact the decision to award or not award business to a particular firm. Here are 10 of the more common ways a consultancy firm can come unstuck when bidding into a large organisation;

I often hear my procurement friends and colleagues bemoan the fact that ‘consultancy projects suddenly appear out of nowhere and require them to perform superhuman acts to finalise/formalise the associated contract before the work begins the next morning’. Whilst I appreciate that many organisations have a tendency to engage their procurement function late in the day, this does not mean that the ‘need’ to engage a consultant has been made on the spur of the moment.

Paul Vincent lead the transformation of BT's consultancy procurement and has since left to start his own venture, Insight Sourcing Solutions. In this blog he looks back on his experiences at BT.

During my career I have had the relatively unique experience of operating as a Buyer, User and Approver of professional business services, and this was invaluable to me when I was asked to lead the transformation of BT’s approach to managing and engaging consultants.