The Vanishing Tail: Getting a Grip on the Long Tail Spend by Following the Three C’s

Tail spend is time-consuming and complex to manage and it is full of stakeholder satisfaction landmines. One wrong move and your attempts to make tail spend vanish are disrupted. Most companies rely on automation or full outsourcing to tame their tail, but Merck took a unique approach that included a more expansive and value-oriented path leading to tangible business results and a positive ROI.

In this AOP podcast, Thomas Cicale shares Merck’s tail spend story. Joined by Sameer Sharma, Procurement Strategy and Services at WNS Denali, the pair discuss how they collaborated on a program that met and surpassed Merck’s tail spend objectives, including the 3 C’s that ensure the success of your strategic tail spend management efforts.

Thomas Cicale and Sameer Sharma share:

• How to build a business case and accurately forecast your ROI for a tail spend program (especially if you have to overcome the “bad taste” of a failed previous program)

• How to manage tail spend while balancing competing priorities

• How to engage internal stakeholders and build relationships with the right people to ensure success

• The tangible business results you can gain by making your tail spend vanish

• The benefits of running a pilot project to broaden the scale of your effort