Times have changed and businesses no longer operate in the same manner as they used to even a decade ago. There is an increased intent among senior management executives to avoid maverick spend. Maverick spend had been an inevitable aspect of purchasing across various industry verticals. With changing economical scenarios, it is only wise to have a procurement strategy in place that cuts out maverick spend.
For some time now, companies used to place orders and go about any procurement cycle without much intervention of company management and without any adherence to specific financial details. It was common for anyone to contact a vendor and requisition the supplies. There were hardly any pre-assessments of any requisition or purchasing. In most cases, it was the junior or mid level staff who would go about carrying out any procurement. Consequentially, businesses used to end up spending a lot more than what it ideally should have. This difference of what has been spent and what should have been spent was and still is widely termed as maverick spend.
With changing times, companies realized the benefits of having a centralized purchasing department who would oversee every procurement, company budget, contracts, best practices, obvious requisites and then decide on the exact nature and quantum of any procurement. Furthermore, companies needed to have a single point of purchasing, raising a purchase order, bringing together various invoices into one and also have stringent approval procedures at various levels to ensure adherence to company policies.
Latest procurement trends suggest that businesses today prefer using purchasing software that brings together all vendors, supplies, procurement orders and invoices into one platform. This allows company executives to closely monitor all procurement requisitioned, tally the present stock in the warehouse, bring interdepartmental consensus and eventually approve if the purchasing items and the prices adhere to the budget and company policies that have been laid out right from the onset.
Cutting out maverick spend is not only economically beneficial for companies but using purchasing software also ensures that the right vendors have been appointed for any procurement and the seamless juxtaposition of all invoices allow companies the leverage that no paper-based system can offer. While there are those companies that rely heavily on ordering large quantities of supplies on a regular basis that seem to be the obvious fit for looking at how to cut out maverick spend, the benefits are equally lucrative for any business.
