Happy Holidays from CAPS Research!

Tactical buying remains the biggest focus for supply management headcount, claiming 31% of resources. Strategic sourcing has the potential to produce greater value, but these resources are a smaller portion of the team mix. 

As companies identify priorities and fill gaps, strategic hires of supply management professionals shift to reflect organizational needs. 

When the business involves the supply management group in purchasing and sourcing, it can increase savings, better leverage organizational spend, and negotiate stronger contracts. Managed spend, as a percentage of sourceable spend, is a primary indicator of a company’s ability to capture value from the supply management process.

Across industries, only 1.4% of the total headcount is supply management employees.

Cost savings is a powerful KPI for demonstrating the value of supply management (SM) to the business. On average, 22.3% of SM employees are in a strategic sourcing role, each delivering $6.5 million in total savings. How does your company compare?

Companies that undergo organization structure changes as part of an enterprise-wide initiative or market-driven decision face a huge endeavor, but data indicates these changes don’t happen frequently. For the last three years, an average of 74% of companies say they’ve operated under their current org structure for five or more years (Metrics of Supply Management, 2020 - 2022).

Across industries, category management employees comprise an average 13.3% of the total supply management headcount, but each SCM employee manages hundreds of millions of dollars.

Cost savings is a cornerstone KPI for most supply management groups, measured here as reduction and avoidance in managed spend. In 2022, Financial Services led with 6.4% total cost savings.

The most effective marketing tools used for the disposal of surplus assets are email, auctions, and eAuctions.