Using supplier insight tools to assess market trends
As part of our #IntegrationMatters theme for May, we are looking at how we have integrated various services, products and ways of working into NOE CPC to improve the way we work.
As part of our evolving service offering, we are developing ways in which we can better monitor opportunities for our suppliers and ultimately deliver best value to the NHS and the public sector.
Here, Ruth Burns, one of our Supplier Relationship Managers, explains how she uses market intelligence services to achieve this.
“A key part of my role is to build partnerships and collaboration with our suppliers, and as part of that, I am always scanning the horizon for upcoming tender opportunities for our suppliers to bid on through our frameworks, should they wish to.
“There are several ways in which we can keep up to date with the opportunities that are out there. We were one of the early adopters of the Health Family eCommercial System (Atamis), a commercial system that enables organisations to manage their commercial pipeline.
“We also utilise third party spend systems which provide us with an overview of which organisations our suppliers are spending their money with, and allows us to quickly assess market trends and opportunities.
“For our suppliers, submitting a bid for a tender is quite time-consuming, particularly for small or medium enterprises (SMEs), but even for larger companies who often have smaller teams.
“We have a duty of care to our suppliers, who put a lot of resources into getting onto a framework. We know they put a lot of time into reporting and opportunity tracking, so we have set out to do what can to support them with that. I meet regularly with suppliers, and I ensure that I am equipped with the latest information about market spend and upcoming opportunities. All suppliers on each framework are informed of these same opportunities, to ensure fairness. We are aiming to identify, early on, who is potentially getting ready to come out to tender.
“All of this allows us to stay on top of the rapidly evolving procurement landscape and make informed decisions about upcoming opportunities.”
Ruth has been working with Adam Taylor and Holly Arthurs, from NOE CPC’s data team to gather further insight applying their data expertise. “This entails a large mapping exercise, working with customers and suppliers to gather intelligence to identify tender opportunities and potential areas of interest.
“Further work to maximise accuracy across both framework type and timescales is required before we can accurately forecast the opportunities. However, successfully developing this process will facilitate further collaboration and efficiencies for both our suppliers and our customers, ensuring we have the most suitable portfolio available at exactly the time our customers need it.”
To find out more about how we support suppliers to inform them of upcoming tender opportunities, or for any further information about our products and services, please contact our Support Desk.