In Flux – Supporting Higher Education Business Leaders

Procurement leaders share insight on how to adapt

As the procurement process is in flux, it demands high-end thoughtfulness more than ever. Questions abound as to how to maximize efficiency and adapt to the buying environment overall. So, who better to ask than an expert panel who serve on the Canon Solutions Advisory Board?

Jim Dwyer, Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Business Services at Arizona State University; Lenora Sevillian, Director of Procurement from Nova Southeastern University; and Don Buffum, retired Director of Procurement and Contracts at Mississippi State University bring a wealth of experience and insight into the evolving procurement landscape. Their discussion covered strategies for enhancing supplier relationships, leveraging data analytics for informed decision-making, and adopting sustainable procurement practices to ensure cost efficiency while maintaining high standards of education and student support. Their diverse perspectives provide valuable guidance for institutions seeking to navigate and optimize their procurement processes amid changing demands and challenges.

How can institutions optimize their procurement processes to improve cost efficiency while maintaining high standards of education and student support?

Don Buffum: It depends. While higher education institutions have many similarities, there are also huge differences. Some may be very small and very paper based in their operations while others may be using state-of-the-art e-procurement tools. Some may have a large staff and others may have a couple of people in the procurement office. Regardless of size, self assessments need to made based on global best practices and their respective culture towards change. Then they can consider the changes with the greatest ROI. When embracing new technology to improve efficiencies, schools will need to adapt their processes and break free from the “doing what we have always done” paradigm.

“Regardless of size, self assessments need to made based on global best practices and their respective culture towards change.”
– Don Buffum, Retired Director of Procurement and Contracts at Mississippi State University

Lenora Sevillian: I believe that they can enhance their procurement processes in the right way by focusing on five areas:

Strategic Sourcing requires that you conduct a spend analysis to identify high-cost areas and savings opportunities. It also demands that you build strong supplier relationships for better pricing and terms.
Procurement Process Enhancement: We like to focus on automating processes with e-procurement systems to reduce manual labor and errors. If you map and re-engineer workflows, you can detect and eliminate inefficiencies. It is always a KPI for us to monitor efficiency and savings.
Collaboration and Communication: You can form cross-functional teams for alignment. We regularly engage stakeholders to understand their needs and gather support. And that involves suppliers early for better decision-making.
Technology Adoption: Implementing cloud-based solutions for scalability and flexibility is critical.
Sustainability and Social Responsibility: We work feverishly to integrate sustainability into supplier selection and evaluation.

Of course, continuous improvement and adaptation are essential for long-term success in all areas.

Jim Dwyer: This is a time to rethink contract term lengths, overall sourcing strategies and how stakeholder engagement in the procurement process across the institution is approached and managed.

“Of course, continuous improvement and adaptation are essential for long-term success in all areas.”
– Lenora Sevillian, Director of Procurement from Nova Southeastern University

What strategies can be implemented to enhance the resilience of procurement operations in the face of unforeseen crises?

Buffum: Continuing education for the procurement staff will help them be aware of current and changing practices and techniques that can assist them in difficult times. The creation of policy and statutes with greater flexibility, while maintaining appropriate levels of accountability, will allow for a greater opportunity to make quick responses and adapt as needed in a rapidly changing world.

Sevillian: It is good practice to adopt strategies such as supplier and source diversification by relying on multiple suppliers, geographic diversification, and identifying alternative suppliers. You have to strengthen supplier relationships through transparent communication, joint risk assessments, and performance monitoring. Effective inventory management and buffer stock strategies, such as strategic stockpiling, precise demand forecasting, and flexible just-in-time principles, can ensure continuity. And utilizing technology and data analytics for real-time visibility, predictive analytics, and scenario planning aids in swift decision-making.

Dwyer: Procurement operations can always work with stakeholders on strategies related to developing scope of works in sourcing initiatives. Resilience and adaptability can be built into the scope of work, but this requires foresight and relationship building to ensure all parties are on the same page and can mutually achieve success.

How can higher education institutions improve their relationships with suppliers and industry partners to ensure the best value and quality in procurement?

Buffum: By inviting suppliers to meet with purchasing staff and utilizing your departments to discuss overall needs and learn more about other industries’ best practices. If you commute to learning what problems the suppliers have in other sectors, it might lead to new ideas. Open communication is the key. In turn, we must be open to all suppliers and not favor, or give the perception of favoring one over the other. It might make sense to consider more long-term agreements where the awarded supplier has incentive to work with you on new and innovative ideas rather than just focusing on seeking a low bid and making money off a short-term contract. Finding ways to allow the supplier to share in savings is a thoughtful path to solutions.

Sevillian: First, I would foster strategic partnerships by moving beyond transactional relationships, aligning objectives, sharing information, and collaborating on innovation. Like Don said, go ahead and establish long-term contracts with preferred suppliers, and engage in joint planning and forecasting. Secondly, we like to promote open communication and collaboration by maintaining regular feedback and involving suppliers early in the procurement process. Next, you should implement joint performance management metrics and support supplier development through specific training programs. And finally, get involved with associations, and collaborate with other institutions to leverage collective buying power.

Dwyer: To achieve best value in supplier relationships, it is critical to identify, and in most cases define, the level of engagement between the institution and supplier. It is not bad for institutions to engage in transactional relationships with suppliers and define what improvement looks like based on that categorization versus engaging in strategically transactional or truly strategic partnership with different criteria for what improvement looks like.

“To achieve best value in supplier relationships it is critical to identify, and in most cases define, the level of engagement between the institution and supplier.”
– Jim Dwyer, Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Business Services at Arizona State University

What role does data analytics play in procurement within higher education?

Buffum: More information/data is available today than ever before. The key is to have someone with skill sets to maximize the use of that data. Determining which products or services would lend themselves to a term contract, monitoring costs to determine appropriate timing for purchases, monitoring purchase order amounts to ensure excessive effort (paper pushing) is not being spent on low-dollar purchases and instead is focused on truly adding value to the process and the institution, are just a few potential applications.

Sevillian: Data analytics can really transform procurement by providing insights for informed decisions, streamlined processes, and our continuous improvement. We use it to identify spending patterns, evaluate supplier performance, predict demand accurately, and optimize our budgets. Analytics helps us monitor contract compliance, manage supply chain risks, and inform our decisions. Schools should invest in data infrastructure, develop their analytical capabilities, and foster a data-driven culture.

Dwyer: Data analytics now play a critical role in storytelling, which is essential to managing change, acquiring executive buy-in and customer adoption. As we look to leverage data more and more, it will be very important to distinguish between the role all staff have in using data and the dedication of specialized resources to manage how we can most efficiently deploy information to make decisions and drive improvement.