FAQ

Frequently asked Questions

Q: I can always get a better price at the expense of quality. How do I know that the selected supplier will deliver what I need?

A: The primary objective of sourcing is to get the product or service you want at the best price possible. Triton helps make this happen by:

Firstly, involving all key Client stakeholders (R&D, marketing, internal users…) throughout the tender and negotiation process – you have full visibility all along the vendor selection process; we are there to facilitate and optimise the process.
Secondly, working with you to develop specifications and criteria that suppliers or products must have, making sure your needs are met without over-specifying.
And, thirdly, ensuring that you retain full control over the final supplier selection and award decision. We simply will not, and cannot, enter into any form of supplier agreement on our Clients’ behalf.

Q: I already have a procurement group that manages supplier tenders and negotiations. How will you be able to help me?

A: We provide value even to best-in-breed Procurement organisations in several ways:

We are able to tackle the increasingly-complex families of expense, where, in most instances, Procurement departments have not yet been able to add value. Amongst such expenses, we can mention: Advertising and Marketing, Clinical Trials (for Pharmaceutical companies), Outsourcing contracts, and highly-complex IT and Telecommunications expenses – not to mention numerous categories of “cost of goods” expense, such as Specialty Chemicals, MRO categories, Mining Equipment, and sub-components.
We help organisations that have experienced significant change (Merger, new owner, etc) to “turbocharge” their purchasing capacity and capability and hence to swiftly bring savings identified by strategy advisors and staff from their calculations down to the bottom line, where they belong.

Q: What happens if one of your Supplier deals isn’t working out? Most Consultants I’ve seen are not reactive to these situations.

A: We can provide, as a module of all our sourcing engagements, an offer of “after sales” service where we would come back in an agreed period to ensure that the deal is running as it should. In the event that a supplier is in breach of its obligations (within an agreed-to timeframe) and the projected savings are in jeopardy, we would work with you to rectify the situation and bring the supplier back into line, or identify an alternative supply solution.

Q: I don’t have a procurement function. Can you help me set one up or give me another solution?

A: Yes, there are a number of options. We have helped some clients to design and implement effective procurement processes and helped set-up their procurement department “from scratch”. Another option is for us to manage some categories on your behalf with incentives on us to maintain cost savings as we go.

Q: Why Triton? You sound like other companies I’ve heard about.

A: Our Clients repeatedly emphasise to us their perception that Triton's offer is unique:

We draw on our experience with some leading consulting firms for proven, well-tested sourcing frameworks and apply the same analytical rigour as the large firms.
But, because of our size and incentive model, we can afford to work on a results-based formula, and guarantee minimum performance. Also, our staff mix, with its bias to seniority and experience as well as smarts, ensures a bias to results, as opposed to analysis for its own sake.
Finally, our agenda is 100% in our Client’s favour. We are not out to sell you an outsourcing contract, or our proprietary software.

Q: Do you know anything about sourcing software?

A: While we are technology agnostic, we have worked with a number of technology partners to, for example,

Run reverse auctions and swiftly produce and implement tenders;
Implement SAP Purchasing modules;
Integrate and institutionalise category-specific cost management tools into the organisation.

Q: What are the main risks of a sourcing engagement and how do you manage them?

A: The largest risks in a sourcing engagement are that that the organisation rejects the process or the supplier choice, or a supplier is selected who can’t deliver. We rely on an inclusive, intensive, and rigorous process to avoid these risks. All key stakeholders are involved in specifying the exact product requirements of suppliers. The tender processes we run are transparent and Supplier site visits are carried where necessary. Risk analysis is also part of the process. Finally, by understanding supplier economics through a robust tender process, and rigorous screening of the suppliers, we ensure that our deals are a “win” for the suppliers, as well.

Q: I am pretty comfortable with my suppliers. Is the potential disruption worth it?

A: In our experience, incumbent suppliers retain our Client’s business in about 80% of cases, but with a better price and service offer. In those cases, no disruption occurs. In the remaining 20% of cases, clients invariably find that the savings are worth the move and given the rigorous process we’ve gone through, all key service elements are well understood by all parties.

Q: My suppliers are also my clients. Do I risk losing them as clients if we start a sourcing project in their category?

A: Professional services firms often ask this question. While this is a genuine concern, most large suppliers are used to being sourced, and expect this from professional suppliers. In fact, the suppliers have often sourced the very people who have asked the question. We find that if the process is sensitively and sensibly managed, a successful outcome can usually be achieved.

Q: I assume you don’t source just any category. How do you choose what you’ll do?

A: Our interests are very much aligned with yours. If a category can’t yield enough savings to justify your investing in our services, we advise you and recommend alternatives. Our first work step in any engagement is to sit down and work with our Clients to determine what categories make sense to tackle. We base our advice on the size of the category spend, our experience of savings achievable in that category and the ease with which savings can be achieved.