ANSR Hackett Grp., Inc.(The) (MM)

The Staffing Model that World-Class Procurement Organizations Rely on Yields 20% Lower Costs, 133% Greater Spend Savings, and Helps Elevate Procurement to a Strategic Function World-class procurement executives build organizations that have a much more strategic staffing mix than typical companies, with 63% fewer clerical staff and 31% more professionals, according to Book of Numbers(TM) research from The Hackett Group, a strategic advisory firm (NASDAQ:ANSR). As a result, these world-class procurement organizations have fully-loaded wage rates that are 41% higher than typical companies. Higher wage rates enable world-class procurement organizations to attract the professional skills required to operate the function as a strategic investment rather than a cost center. In addition to attracting talent, world-class procurement further develops necessary skills by dedicating 74% more hours/year to training of procurement staff than typical companies, and commit far fewer staff hours to transactional activities. The staffing model plays a key role in enabling world-class procurement organizations to perform very differently than typical companies. World-class procurement organizations spend 20% less on operations than peers and have about half of the overall staff. World-class procurement organizations also drive much higher return on investment within procurement operations than typical companies and are more closely aligned with their companies' business goals. For example, leading procurement organizations are more involved in strategic activities such as enterprise-level planning, enterprise-level budgeting, new product development, service-level agreement negotiations, and using cross-functional teams for key procurement activities. "World-class procurement leaders establish their organization as a strategic function, one that is fully integrated with other relevant parts of the business," states Hackett Procurement Practice Leader Chris Sawchuk. "They take a wider view, understanding the implications of procurement policy for suppliers, internal and external customers, and shareholders. Their staffs lead cross-functional teams to establish which goods and services are most beneficial to the company, taking a broad array of factors into account, not just purchase price." "To do this, world-class procurement executives need more skilled and qualified employees," according to Hackett Senior Business Advisor Pierre Mitchell. "This is why they pay higher wage rates and invest aggressively in talent-management strategies designed to retain and develop their staff. The training pays off as well, because employees at world-class procurement organizations have higher degrees of competence in the key skills required to undertake processes such as pricing and cost analysis, sourcing and supplier management. The superior performance metrics of world-class procurement organizations directly correlate to these investments." To see the full version of this research, please click on the following link for the Hackett Research Insight Center: http://www.signup4.net/Public/ap.aspx?EID=PRCA18E More information on The Hackett Group is available: by phone at 770-225-7300; by e-mail at info@thehackettgroup.com; or on the Web at http://www.thehackettgroup.com. The Hackett Group The Hackett Group, a strategic advisory firm, is a world leader in best practice research, benchmarking, and business transformation services that empirically define and enables world-class enterprise performance. From the 2005 acquisition of REL, a global leader in generating cash improvement from working capital, Hackett also offers Total Working Capital Management services to liberate cash flow from operations through improved working capital, reduced costs and increased service quality. Hackett uniquely backs up its research and advice across sales, general and administrative (SG&A) and supply chain activities with performance metrics gathered through 3,500 benchmark studies over 14 years at 2,000 of the world's leading companies, including 96% of the Dow Jones Industrials. Book of Numbers is a trademark of The Hackett Group.