Buying Professional Services : How to Get Value for Money from Consultants and Other Professional Service Providers

by Czerniawska, Fiona; Smith, Peter

• ISBN13: 9781846683251
• ISBN10: 1846683254
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-26
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

This book is based on four premises:+Public and private sector organisations are spending huge amounts of money buying professional services, and most are doing it badly, without strong procurement processes or an adequate understanding of the marketplace, resulting in wasted money and disappointing outcomes.+Even among those organisations that do use formal procurement processes and techniques, many are applying them inappropriately and therefore achieve similarly poor results.+Many professional services firms don’t understand how the increasing application of professional procurement processes could affect their business model, client engagement and ultimately their profitability.+While they are working together, both professional services providers and their clients too often behave in ways that reduce the potential benefits to both parties.Using real examples from a range of private sector firms, government departments and from the professional services firms themselves, this book explores the world of professional services procurement. Aimed at a broad audience which includes all those who both use and provide professional services, it sets out to show how they can work together much more effectively to their mutual benefit.

Author Biography

Fiona Czerniawska is the founder and managing director of Arkimeda, a firm that specializes in researching and consulting on strategic issues. She lectures at many business schools, including London Business School.

Peter Smith is a leading expert on purchasing and supply chain issues. His is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and was the Institute’s president in 2003.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Why is buying professional services different?	p. 5
The professional services sector	p. 7
Why organisations buy professional services	p. 18
The challenges of buying professional services	p. 26
The supplier perspective	p. 35
The role of the purchasing department	p. 45
Aligning the purchasing approach with the business strategy, structure and culture	p. 47
Requirements and specifications	p. 54
Acting as an intermediary	p. 65
Purchasing approaches	p. 75
Governance, influence and demand management	p. 77
Category management	p. 86
Frameworks and approved suppliers	p. 99
Choosing the right supplier	p. 113
The selection process	p. 115
Selection criteria	p. 121
Scoring bids and tenders	p. 134
Negotiating and contracting	p. 143
Negotiation	p. 145
Understanding structures and costs	p. 156
Payment and commercial models	p. 165
The contract	p. 175
Managing the service provider	p. 183
Contract and performance management	p. 185
Supplier relationship management	p. 194
Sustainability and corporate social responsibility	p. 204
Conclusions	p. 209
What makes a successful assignment?	p. 211
What could possibly go wrong?	p. 218
The future of professional services	p. 225
Index	p. 233
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