4C Associates boosts procurement services with Scanmarket partnership
London-based procurement consultancy 4C Associates has announced a partnership with Scanmarket, one of the world’s premier providers of software solutions for sourcing. As part of the alliance, 4C Associates, which becomes Scanmarket’s tenth major consultancy partner, consultants of 4C Associates can leverage the technology in engagements to the benefit of the firm’s clients.
Founded in 2000, 4C Associates today has over 100 consultants working from offices in the UK and the Netherlands. The consultancy helps blue chip organisations optimise their procurement and sourcing organisation, and deliver bottom line savings across spend areas. 4C Associates works for medium sized enterprises and large corporations, including AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, Boosts, GlaxoSmithKline, Hunkemöller and WorldPay.
In a bid to enhance its cost reduction offerings, 4C Associates has agreed with Scanmarket that it can incorporate the latter’s eSourcing platform – a solution is trusted by 300+ customers across more than 50 countries – into its service portfolio. “Through this partnership we can give our clients privileged access to a best-in-class eSourcing solution. It makes our consultants even more effective and allows the client to get used to the new ways of working,” said Steve Harrison, Chief Technology Officer at the procurement consulting firm.
According to Henrik Balslev, Senior Vice President of Operations at Scanmarket, being able to apply the eSourcing solution will augment the services 4C consultants can deliver, across a number of areas. The eAuction solution for instance, which facilitates dynamic bidding processes and contracting with suppliers, can help companies receive more competitive prices. As one of Scanmarket’s customer put it, “Five global suppliers participated in the eAuction and it lasted almost 2 hours – longer than expected. The auction was extended 36 times and the suppliers submitted as many as 50-70 bids each. Substantial price reductions were achieved.” Another client summed it up as “First e-auction result: 18% savings on last year! That might be the most exciting thing I’ve ever watched.”
Scanmarket’s eRFx module will allow 4C’s consultants to more easily analyse procurement processes and identify cost savings, while also supporting compliance in the value chain. The platform further has modules for, among others, spend analysis (one of 4Cs core benchmarking offerings), supply base management and contract management.
The partnership sees 4C Associates join an elite group of consulting firms which have been admitted into Scanmarket’s partner ranks. “We establish partnerships with leading consulting companies and solution providers in order to provide our customers with the best possible support and solution,” explained Balslev. In the UK, the Scandinavian-origin software company already worked with three boutique consultancies: Arish Consulting, Positive Purchasing and SpringTide Consulting. Globally, the likes of KPMG (international), NegoSmart (Turkey), Paladin Associates (US) and PrECA (Russia) can call themselves trusted partner of eSourcing.
On top of consultancy services, 4C Associates has also been mandated to provide implementation support for eSourcing, in the case one of their clients wishes to adopt Scanmarket. Balslev: “Our eSourcing platform is flexible and easy to master, and businesses are able to continue using them to optimise spend post-consultation. We believe that once clients have experienced these benefits they will want to adopt the use of Scanmarket and they can pay for it with the savings that they have already made.”
Clients that 4C Associates advises include BP, Barclays, Disney, Kraft, Lloyds TSB, Sainsbury, Royal Mail and Prudential.
Related: Procurement functions needs to evolve to match changing needs.
