Results-Producing Sourcing and Procurement Services by Corcentric

Tail Spend Solutions to Deliver Savings and Generate Value

Neglecting your Tail Spend? You could be missing out on untapped savings.

Don’t dismiss any spend area as inessential. Partner with Corcentric’s tail spend management specialists to uncover hidden savings and make this afterthought into an asset for Procurement.

What is Tail Spend?

Definitions for tail spend will vary from organization to organization:

• Some businesses draw a clear line in the sand. Applying the classic Pareto Rule, they identify their tail spend as the 20% of spend that comes from 80% of their suppliers.
• Other businesses use tail spend as a label for any purchases that aren’t covered by a contract.
• Others might lump any purchases from ‘non-core’ suppliers into their tail spend.
• Still other businesses consider all of their indirect spend to be part of their tail spend.
• Other organizations – without mature spend management processes – might think of their entire spend profile as tail spend.

Each of these definitions have one thing in common. They encourage organizations to ignore a potentially huge chunk of their spend and an equally huge opportunity for Procurement. In addition to quick-win cost savings, organizations that take a more strategic approach to managing tail spend realize benefits including:

• Significant cost savings.
• Improved spend visibility.
• Increased spend under management.
• Reduced maverick purchasing.
• Accelerated sourcing processes.
• Streamlined invoicing and inventory management.
• A consolidated, compliant supply base.

That’s just the beginning of what better Tail Spend Management can bring your business. Unfortunately, the circumstances that make tail spend so easy to ignore also make it challenging to tackle with traditional spend management methods. Poor visibility, low purchase volumes, rampant non-compliance, and unique specifications can make getting a handle on Procurement’s tail look like a losing battle. To make matters worse, tail spend that’s viewed as ‘low value’ rarely looks like a compelling target for leadership. That’s where Corcentric’s tail spend managers come in.

Tail Spend Management with Corcentric

Whether your tail spend includes purchases from just a few categories like MRO and Packaging, or constitutes the bulk of your indirect spend, Corcentric is here to help you take back control. Since 1992, we’ve empowered leading organizations with our wealth of category expertise, unparalleled library of market intelligence, and arsenal of proprietary sourcing tools. We’ll build a compelling business case for going after tail spend and assist your internal team in carrying out a comprehensive initiative.

Here’s a preview of how we’ll support you in taking a more strategic approach to even your most neglected tail spend:

• First, we’ll conduct a thorough spend analysis to cleanse and categorize your organization’s historical purchases.
• Next, we’ll leverage the results of this analysis to re-classify Procurement’s tail spend and devise strategies for tackling it.
• Then, we’ll execute on any opportunities to bring tail spend purchases under existing contracts and streamline purchasing wherever possible.
• Last, we’ll provide ongoing monitoring and support to ensure newly optimized tail spend doesn’t slide back into obscurity.

Leverage Corcentric’s tail spend support as a one-off engagement or part of an end-to-end Spend Management solution. Together, we’ll ensure your tail spend is no longer an afterthought, but a dependable source of hard dollar value. Click the button below to contact our experts and learn why we’re Procurement’s leaders.