Office Supplies

Office supplies may appear simple and straightforward. Once you dig below the surface it is a lot more complex.

A simple approach is to contract a defined basket of products you commonly use. You look at your usage, define the list of products, lock in the pricing and job done. There are savings on a spreadsheet for everyone to see – right?

More often than not those savings never seem to translate to the P&L (ask your CFO). Getting your arms around Office Supplies can be a challenge.

One way of solving this issue could be to contract everything your company might buy. Sounds simple. To manage such a large contract is complex and time consuming. You may still not achieve the ROI you are seeking. Further, there will always be products that you need to buy that aren’t in the contracted list.

Far too often we see companies which do not realise benefits after an RFP. That is why many come to us to manage the whole process. From analysis through to implementation. We handle hundreds of these a year and we can do the same for you.

Transparency Creates Accountability.

Supply Clusters provides transparent reporting through our Standing Offer arrangement. You can count the cost of pens and pencils as well as receive more detail through our customised reporting services

• • Category level breakdown
  • View transactions by cost centre
  • Consolidate multiple entities (where applicable)
  • Ability to export data to productivity tools
  • Benefit tracking (fees apply)
  • Ongoing recommendations for saving

What is the best way of realising value and achieving ROI in this category?

The reality is going to market through a tender or other method with a price focus no longer cuts it if you want to realise an acceptable ROI that is reflected in the P&L.

To extract value in this space it is critical to take a multi-dimensional approach in conjunction with a considered pricing strategy.

In addition to price here are some of the things you should be considering:

• Authorisation controls for ordering outside of the defined contracted items
• Substitution controls to achieve company goals e.g. any photocopy paper item ordered substituted to a carbon-neutral product
• Ordering controls limiting the items that may be ordered
• Minimum order size controls to avoid delivery charges or penalties