Dealing with this deluge of work to constantly update rates, renegotiate, and re-award is taking up all of sourcing teams’ time and resources, but how can they break the cycle? The concept of re-running an RFP that took months seems daunting and would be infeasible to some on anything but an annual (and for some, three year) cadence.
Here are two ways to break the tactical cycle, and get ahead of the game:
Automate multi-round, rolling RFPs with Keelvar’s Sourcing Optimizer.
Our Sourcing Optimizer can be configured to automatically notify suppliers, open, close, and award rounds on a set schedule.
As an example, let’s say ocean carriers have requested monthly pricing and capacity updates, and the Category Manager needs to re-allocate among suppliers. This process of constantly setting up, running, and awarding sourcing events frequently enough and fast enough to keep up with the market is incredibly workload intensive.
Here’s an alternative way to do this, using technology:
- Category Manager runs an RFP through Sourcing Optimizer and awards carriers.
- In the same RFP, the Category Manager blocks non-awarded carriers and sets an additional round to open two weeks before the end of each month through autopilot (or manual configuration).
- Category Manager can decide whether they allow the participating carriers to update only lanes they have been awarded in the past, certain subsets of lanes, or all lanes, using Keelvar’s lot visibility configuration.
- Carriers update their bids with new pricing and capacity when the round automatically opens by Keelvar. The Category Manager can choose to include target pricing or feedback to bidders as an added feature.
- The Category Manager, or autopilot, can refresh their award scenarios, run new scenarios, or leverage custom awards to reach ideal allocations.
- Once the award has been made, the new rate is automatically stored in Keelvar Rate Manager – from there, a new sourcing event is triggered when the rate expires.
This will significantly reduce the burden of running an RFP – Category Managers can now save time in event setup, data preparation, and supplier management & notifications to name a few. They can quickly and easily update pricing and allocate changes while still managing their strategic supplier pool.
Automate tail spend or spot buys, with Keelvar’s Autonomous Sourcing.
Keelvar’s Autonomous Sourcing can go a step further to help take on workloads in spot bidding and sourcing new lanes by interacting directly with requestors.
This solution makes sure Category Managers can choose to keep the governance and control they are responsible for managing while empowering end-users to initiate and launch requests. If ‘touchless’ automation is preferred, 100% of the tactical workload can be shifted to an automated workflow, from intake to award (and beyond).
Here’s another use case example: a transportation coordinator has a new ocean freight lane from Shanghai, CN to Atlanta, GA USA. With a typical set up using manual processes or legacy technology, this would create a lot of ‘noise’ between the requester, Procurement, and suppliers. Time wasted on exchanging emails, manually analyzing scenarios, updating rates, etc.
Here’s how Keelvar Autonomous Sourcing removes all the noise, while ensuring that even low value spend is optimized:
- Through a simple form, the Transportation Coordinator inputs lane details, equipment size, volumes.
- An Autonomous Sourcing workflow sends the request along with its recommended supplier/carrier list to the Category Manager /Approver for review, updates, and approval.
- Once approved, the workflow places the lane(s) out to bid, invites the right carriers, monitors the bid, validates data, and recommends an award based on lowest price or any non-price criteria.
- The Category Manager approves or adjusts the awards and pricing is published to Keelvar Rate Manager for the Transportation Coordinators to continue using.
This prevents all the back and forth of emails/spreadsheets/calls to collect data and inquire about status, as well as the workload on the Transportation Coordinator or Category Manager to directly solicit rates, analyze scenarios, make awards, and update rate cards to a minimal amount.
It’s no secret to any procurement profession dealing with complex supply chains that disruptions can be short-lived or extended for longer periods and create major change to resource demands. But by using Keelvar’s Sourcing Optimization, Autonomous Sourcing, and Rate Manager solutions, Keelvar’s global customers can navigate the complex and volatile logistics market and get back to strategically managing their categories. This means higher cost savings, less time wasted on low-value tasks, and better decisions that mitigate risks.
Talk to us today to learn how you can turn these solutions on for your team to save time, money, and headaches.
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