What you need to know to enjoy effective supplier relationship management

How do your suppliers support your business success?

The link between your suppliers and your success

Your suppliers play a critical role in the internal operations of your business despite being an external force. 

Ensuring that the relationship between your business and its key suppliers is managed smoothly is paramount to procurement success. 

We understand the vulnerability of procurement operations and supply chains. That said, businesses tend to overcomplicate the processes that mitigate procurement risks.

This is often as easy as developing strong relationships with the various stakeholders in your business. Whether this is between an organisation and its customers or an organisation and its suppliers, the value of personal relationships is often underestimated. 

Supplier relationship management, in particular, helps you build long-lasting relationships with your suppliers. These relationships support your operations, help you achieve greater efficiency, and formulate strategic crisis management and recovery plans. 

Supplier relationship management makes these critical interactions an integral part of your operations. It helps you plan your interactions with your suppliers and identify the strengths and weaknesses of your network. In short, it helps you gain higher value from what your suppliers are offering you. 

Discover how our procurement expertise helps you foster industry-leading supplier relationship management.

Discover how our procurement expertise helps you foster industry-leading supplier relationship management.

A more straightforward path to powerful supplier relationship management

Our specialised procurement services help you maintain supply chain operations that sustain business efficiency throughout a crisis.

Our services include:

Procurement maturity assessments

Procurement
excellence

Procurement
training

Spend management platforms

Procurement outsourcing services

Spend
optimisation

Targeted procurement expertise

Browse our expert insights on the procurement, finance, and project management fields.

FAQs

Why is supplier relationship management important?

Supplier relationship management approaches your supplier network as an integral and strategic part of your business activity.

By taking this approach, you develop a better understanding of how each of your suppliers supports your organisation and how these relationships can be leveraged and enhanced to deliver greater value.

This is an important step for all businesses to take in order to improve their resilience, responsiveness in a volatile market, and strengthen their presence and future in the industry.

What are the important things a company should do to establish an effective SRM programme?

The approach you take to SRM will depend on your business, your goals, and your current supplier network. The general process you follow to make this investment, however, could be as follows:

  • Assess your suppliers and network and identify strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and areas that can be optimised for greater value.
  • Set goals and objectives for your SRM that align with your overall business goals.
  • Leverage digital solutions that improve your supplier communication and overview of your operations.
  • Commit to engaging your suppliers and improving, adapting, and developing your SRM programme over time.