Transforming Spend Control Processes

Peter Davis

Transform your spend control processes with these 6 simple steps

Step 1: Reduce Costs

With Spend Control you can get the tools you need to reduce costs significantly. Spend Control can be applied enterprise-wide or on a departmental level.

It’s not simply about buying cheaper stationery (although that’s possible too). Spend Control can help an IT department supplying tech to the business; a marketing team that’s purchasing services; or a facilities management unit that’s sourcing supplies.

Step 2: Increase Responsiveness

Your employees time is just as important as money. When your organisation becomes more responsive, your audience notices, whether that’s employees, customers, suppliers, citizens, patients or other stakeholders and service users. Responsiveness raises satisfaction levels, boosts loyalty and drives repeat business.

Spend Control solutions can play a big part in speeding up everyday processes, making your organisation more responsive to the needs of your employees and customers.

Step 3: Improve Throughput

Achieve more with the same amount of resources. As organisations grow, they often struggle to handle rising volumes of paperwork within their Procurement and Finance departments.

Greater numbers of transactions, invoices, supplier communications and administration can create major ‘traffic jams’ – stifling performance and even souring relationships.

Teams may be working flat out, using manual processes, but the workload continues to build. Something has to give: Either organisations hire more staff or they find a better way to do more with what they have.

Fortunately, Spend Control provides the answer, allowing you to scale up with ease.

Step 4: Increase Agility

How quickly can your organisation react when circumstances change? Does it feel like you’re steering a speedboat or trying to turn around an oil tanker?

A good Spend Control framework can give you all the tools you need to adjust your procurement processes, the way you pay for items, and every step in between.

When outside circumstances change, you can respond accordingly, without missing a beat.

Step 5: Reduce Risk

Every transaction you carry out with a supplier represents a risk. You can ensure that checks and safeguards are operating automatically.

Fraud, mistakes and poor oversight can cost your organisation heavily – in cash terms and through serious damage to your reputation. But how can you keep an eye on every transaction without weighing down your business with endless checks and deadening bureaucracy?

With Spend Control, you’ve suddenly got a framework where all transactions are brought into the light, checked, measured and presented for everyone to see. You can also set rules in many instances, so it’s impossible for anyone to overstep the line without being blocked or red flags appearing.

Step 6: Improve Compliance

Don’t leave any room for processes to spin out of control. If your business process transformation agenda includes compliance, then a review of current Spend Control processes is absolutely essential.

When it comes to expenditure on goods and services, compliance with regulatory requirements is not optional; it’s critical to avoiding substantial fines and damage to your reputation.

So it’s vital for all of your business units and business processes to be compliant with your own corporate policies — and a Spend Control platform is the perfect way to deliver this.

www.touchstoneenergy.co.uk | www.touchstoneenergyusa.com

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Peter Davis

Written by:

Peter Davis

Business Unit Head

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