A provincial government finance department spent R500-million on its ‘copier project’ in 2010, its deputy director said at a recent conference hosted by the Logistics Graduates of South Africa. Such a level of expenditure ranked this commodity in the department’s top 10 expenditure groups, along with general goods and services at R11-billion, consultants at R867-million […]
Print management – a deceptively large expenditure Read More »
Most travel procurement managers are well versed in the various systems available to them in their quest to bring efficient management and reporting to their travel programmes. However, efficiently using various different systems to complete a booking is still inefficient, Jim Weighell, Corporate Manager at Sure Travel, tells SmartProcurement.
Travel management system integration is true efficiency Read More »
The second quarter of 2011 shows that business travel volumes are in a recovery and growth phase. After the tight discipline evident during the last two years’ downturn, this recovery can present procurement managers with a challenge equal to or greater than that presented during the bottom of the economic downturn, Jim Weighell, Corporate Manager
Travel Management in a recovery year – more challenging than during a downturn? Read More »
A commodity is “equivalent no matter who produces it”. The challenge though is that travel exhibits non-commodity behavior that makes it trickier to deal with than conventional procurement commodities, Dr. Roderick Ross, CEO of online travel management platform TravelLinck tells SmartProcurement. Market research by an international publication, Business Travel Online, revealed that as early as
Is travel a commodity? Read More »
As with all procurement operations, the requisition stage in the travel category is vital to the process, Dr. Roderick Ross, CEO of online travel management platform TravelLinck, tells SmartProcurement. This is the second article in a series of seven discussing the fundamentals of the corporate travel commodity. Corporate travel is about face-to-face interactions that further
Effective requistioning in a managed travel commodity Read More »
Managed print service (MPS) is the new buzz phrase in the print, copy, fax and scan (collectively referred to as output) industry, and many organisations in South Africa have adopted these new outsourced business relationships. However, Billy Bell of WD Bell Consulting, a veteran of over 20 years in the desktop and office print environment,
Do managed print services (MPS) really add value? Read More »
A corporate travel manager has to understand a travel market place that involves travel suppliers, agencies and technology providers. This all the while managing a controllable expenditure that ranks the 2nd largest for organisations globally. In a bid to assist travel managers, whether new to the commodity or with experience under their belts, Dr. Roderick
The fundamentals of the corporate travel commodity Read More »
Most organisations agree that there are savings to be had in domestic travel. The big questions are: how significant are these savings? and how do we realise these prospects? Does a saving of up to 40% on air ticket prices or a 100% additional discount on your ticket price versus your corporate fare discount sound
Procuring domestic air travel: strategies offer savings Read More »
The expenditure associated with document output devices is usually hidden and the dispersed nature of the various responsibilities and their expense allocations makes it difficult to calculate overall costs. “However, once the costs are determined the commodity certainly sits above the radar,” Billy Bell of WD Bell Consulting tells SmartProcurement.
20 to 35% savings lost due to poor output devices strategies Read More »
The distance your bed linen treks to be laundered is part and parcel of bushveld logistics. Glynn O’Leary, CEO of Transfrontier Parks Destinations (TFPD), tells SmartProcurement about the peculiarities of a bushveld supply chain. My heart sinks every time I have to fill in a form. Physical address? Area? Surely these are simple questions for
The economies of distance Read More »
