Category Management Strategy | Category Management Services

Category Management Drives a Step Change in Business Value

Leadership’s expectations of procurement have increased, but getting closer to the business means developing required levels of capability, process and sustainability. Category management is a strategic approach that aligns procurement with the overall vision and objectives of the organization. By making the transition from a traditional to a strategic model, companies that have a category management-driven approach achieve new levels of stakeholder alignment. As a result, our clients gain increased spend under management, long-term and more impactful vision for sourcing opportunities, and a coveted higher profile within the organization.

While transformation has huge benefits, there are also major challenges. We work closely with our clients to guide them through their category management journey. WNS Denali enables organizations with the capabilities, tools and services that they need. We develop the governance, communication and change management strategies needed for our clients to build a sustainable category management organization. In doing this, our clients make the fundamental change that moves them from piece-price reduction to total business value generation.

Why it’s important

Reach

Strong, collaborative stakeholder planning increases the relevance of procurement
Category management increases the strategic focus of procurement, which drives significant benefits for the business and aligns business objectives directly to procurement objectives

Effectiveness

Strategic planning across the entire procurement life cycle of a category drives prioritized options and increases overall procurement results
Commitment to category expertise and intelligence increases the procurement function’s ability to influence supplier and category decisions, using accurate insights and recommendations
A more structured category management-driven approach helps increase value capture, minimize implementation risks and achieve higher compliance

Efficiency

A consistent category management methodology and toolset establish alignment with stakeholders, and drive timely collaboration and anticipation of business needs
Improved planning results in clearer, rolling forecasting and a continual flow of prioritized procurement projects

How we are unique

Expertise

We have more than 150 global category experts ready to contribute expertise and accelerate maturity for our clients
Our team has deep experience in developing category management enablement programs that address specific client capability objectives

Enablement

WNS Denali’s category management solutions are focused on understanding existing client strengths and challenges. We partner with clients to embed sustainable capabilities and drive measurable category management maturity progress
Our philosophy is that strategic category management should remain within our clients’ organization because it is so tightly linked to the business and stakeholders
Our multi-faceted approach to enablement includes e-learning, classroom training, gaming, coaching and artifacts

Flexibility

WNS Denali works with organizations to adapt category management services. We map the solution to the unique needs and maturity level of our clients’ categories and category managers
Category management maturity and needs will vary and evolve over time. WNS Denali will work collaboratively with organizations to identify and continually apply the optimal level of support

Innovation

WNS Denali drives innovation through the application of category-specific solutions throughout the entire procurement value chain
Our emphasis on enabling an organization’s strategic procurement thinking provides a focused agenda on seeking innovative ideas and long-term vision within categories

Services

Category Management Governance
Category Management Methodology & Tools
Category Manager Training & Competency Development
Category Strategy/Plan Development

Stakeholder Management
Market Intelligence & Spend Analytics
Category Knowledge

The Client: Leading global manufacturer

The Challenge:

After having made good progress on strategic sourcing, the client wanted to further optimize its procurement function to drive cost savings and tap better sourcing opportunities. Previous attempts to establish a category management approach in purchasing had failed, mainly due to the lack of subject matter expertise and strategic planning.

WNS Denali Solution:

WNS Denali trained the client’s global staff on category management processes and tools through customized learning sessions. This was followed by hands-on training sessions and workshops for select individuals and small groups, covering more than 75 category managers. WNS Denali also developed an enterprise-wide category management methodology and tool kit tailored to the client’s specific business requirements. A multi-year vision for the company’s procurement organization, along with governance, change management and category councils, was also established.

The Outcome:

The category management approach for purchasing helped the client significantly improve the efficiency of its procurement function. Sourcing processes were standardized across the organization, and the client was able to make superior purchasing decisions for all categories. The category management approach enabled the organization to develop a three-year project portfolio and 90+ category strategies in two years, while helping deliver more than 200 percent of baseline savings in the same time frame.

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