How GPOs Can Help Procurement Achieve Greater ROI

⏰ Total Read Time: 7.5 minutes

Ara Arslanian was named a 2020 Pro to Know by Supply and Demand Chain Executive for the sixth time overall. Arslanian was chosen for his thought leadership in supply chain management and dedication to expanding the scope of the group purchasing organization (GPO) model to deliver more effective solutions to direct and indirect procurement groups.

Procurement leaders have little to no time to tackle achieving greater spend under management, especially today, in the ever-evolving marketplace. Many procurement teams are being tasked with an overabundance of responsibilities while trying to achieve greater Return on Investment (ROI).

Some of the largest companies in the world don’t have the procurement or supply chain resources to do it themselves. They rely on [a GPO like] OMNIA Partners to be an extension of their team to help them identify ways to provide savings, find new categories, deliver functional relevance across their organization and ultimately have a better experience with their supply partner.

When it comes to achieving greater ROI, using a GPO can multiply the success of a purchasing department in more ways than one.

4 Ways to Achieve Greater Procurement ROI by Leveraging a GPO

1. Valuable Insights for Navigating Fragmented Buying Environments  

The way in which buyers utilize technology in areas like travel and general supplies has made it more difficult for procurement leaders to create centralized programs. This has resulted in a much more fragmented buying environment. 

OMNIA Partners helps procurement leaders navigate fragmented buying environments by giving their members full visibility into their purchasing: so, procurement leaders know what they’re spending, month over month, year after year and it gives the ability to forecast for the future. This higher-touch, higher visibility model results in more informed purchasing practices.  

Through continuous category lifecycle management, OMNIA Partners produces personalized demand management reports to improve buying patterns, arming members with the visibility into buying trends needed to achieve greater procurement ROI. Helping procurement teams move towards a more centralized, or coordinated, environment will in theory allow for company-wide spend to be largely under control, maverick spending reduced, comprehensive spend analysis at the ready and supplier management improved. 

2. Enhanced Data Integrity and Business Intelligence

The right GPO partner will offer tools to transform a company’s disparate data and turn it into actionable information allowing members to more effectively manage spend. In turn, this will save procurement leaders money by reducing supply expenses and uncovering cost savings opportunities.

As markets fluctuate and global pressures force procurement teams to be proactive in their strategies. There is a critical need for concise and meaningful sources of information. By working with a reliable source, like a GPO, procurement can be proactive in their strategy to transform data into action.

The OMNIA Partners team helps procurement with data integrity and business intelligence by acting as an extension of your purchasing department through consistent management of critical program data. This in turn delivers meaningful savings for purchasers and helps prevents the undetected “price creep” commonly associated with unmanaged programs. We research and distribute many category related pieces regularly to keep members educated and on the path of achieving greater spend under management.

3. Establish Credibility with Your Stakeholders

GPOs ensure credibility by having potential suppliers undergo a thorough vetting process to ensure best prices and value for members are met. Members experience a peace of mind when purchasing from a GPO’s suppliers, since they know they will get consistent and best-value pricing from a reliable source. In turn, this will ensure on-time deliveries and increased efficiencies in your supply chain, building your reputation as credible with external, and internal, stakeholders.

OMNIA Partners cultivates external relationships with category experts across more complex categories – including complex categories like energy management, contingent staffing, and telecommunications management. This collaboration builds a strategic alliance and trust with stakeholders, which helps procurement leaders to be viewed as an equal partner in the eyes of their stakeholder, while also advancing the visibility of procurement across internal business units.

One of the key value points of OMNIA Partners is our ability to bring a community of members, prospective members, and supply partners together to really foster innovation, share new ideas and best practices and look to advance the cause of our continued partnership. Ultimately, our members and our supplier partners look to us to be a catalyst for innovative strategies and ideas.

4. Uncover Meaningful Savings — More than Cost Alone

When procurement leaders join a GPO, they can realize immediate savings by leveraging the buying power of collective spend. An agreement should achieve a meaningful level of savings at its inception, particularly if a sourcing event was executed or in the event of a GPO, if significant leverage was applied. This can translate into big savings for a company’s bottom line that might be otherwise unattainable for most single companies. Additionally, GPOs have appeal far beyond just the savings they offer. Agreements offered through a GPO can provide procurement leaders with more suppliers, more flexibility, and more support in every facet of their business.

OMNIA Partners provides procurement professionals with a unique approach to gain greater savings across the board through a custom program that is tailored to fit the needs of any business. This means that our members capitalize on initiatives that are of strategic and financial interest to them.

Hear More From Our Pro,  Ara  Arslanian:

For businesses of all sizes and specializations, there is endless opportunity to achieve and accelerate ROI through the power of OMNIA Partners.

Learn from our expert, Ara Arslanian, on more ways you can achieve greater ROI and other valuable benefits of joining a GPO:

Get  to  Know Our Pro:

Arslanian is the Senior Vice President of Private Sector for OMNIA Partners. In his role, he is responsible for the strategic oversight of the company's Private Business Segment and driving greater market penetration of the GPO. Arslanian regularly engages with both procurement leaders and supplier executives across a variety of industries and his efforts have helped shape the concept of the modern GPO.