Procurement research is a critical element of the procurement procedure, which helps the business achieve greater transparency in the sourcing process, making the business cost-efficient and reducing supply risks. Procurement research provides data and insights to support decision-makers across the procurement lifecycle, from opportunity identification, strategy development, to continuous monitoring and evaluation.

There are various benefits of procurement research. Some of the reasons for its increasing significance are mentioned below.

1. Operational Agility – Real-time and accurate intelligence gathered through procurement research can help channelize organizational resources on key strategic priority areas, and minimize the time and effort required in order to react to changing supply market dynamics. Procurement research can also help identify in-house versus outsourcing requirements (make or buy analysis) via in-depth analysis of associated cost and value drivers.
2. Sourcing Efficiency – Companies want to ensure they are engaging with high-quality suppliers while also being able to minimize the cost of procurement. Comprehensive procurement research can provide stakeholders a detailed supply landscape, targeted list of potential suppliers, and thorough evaluation of their capabilities and prices. It can also suggest feasible sourcing options in low-cost regions.
3. Technological Transformation – Procurement research can uncover technological innovations and disruptions in the supply market. It can provide stakeholders an in-depth understanding of the potential benefits of new technology. Companies can evaluate the integration of such technology/innovation with their offering to gain a significant competitive advantage.
4. Risk Management – Procurement research is a valuable tool that helps in maintaining a robust supply chain and mitigating any risk of operational disruption. It can provide early warning signs on events that may negatively affect material availability and supplier performance. Effective procurement research enables organizations to develop proactive strategies for dealing with such events and minimize the impact on their business.

Procurement research allows organizations to leverage internal spend data and external market intelligence for effective category management. Since information gathering and analysis are carried out by experts, the procurement team can focus on strategic objectives, and instead of just cost-cutting, work toward value addition.

Accurate and timely intelligence gathered through procurement research helps stakeholders make informed decisions, enabling them to achieve greater cost savings, reduce supply risk, effectively manage the supply base, and add strategic value to the organization.

Aranca offers procurement research and advisory services through its dedicated category-specific teams and credentialed analysts. We have access to the best data sources and do not just provide facts but also intelligence and insights that are not available from published sources alone. We leverage our expertise in both primary and secondary research and create a unique analytical perspective. Procurement research is a crucial requirement for an organization, and its many benefits are making it a much-needed service for businesses today.

Ceteris paribus must be the most used term in the field of economics; at the same time, the same term creates the biggest disconnect between real-world and academia. In the real world, all the variable are constantly changing and are interlinked. Furthermore, businesses have grown far bigger and more complex. In today’s world, businesses source capital from different markets, sell their products globally and exploit cost-saving opportunities worldwide. As the globalized world is creating more opportunities, it is also adding many variables in business decision making. In such a scenario, financial modelling has become a necessary tool for managers and entrepreneurs.

Financial models help in assessing the financial impact of business decisions. Before embarking on any change in the business or starting a new initiative, economic impact analysis in a simulated environment can save businesses from financial blunders. Concurrently, the business managers can deploy capital in the projects, which are likely to create more value for their shareholders.

Financial models can be used for multiple purposes like financial budgeting, investment evaluation, business valuation, business stress testing. Depending on the nature of the business, some of these uses of the financial model may attract more attention. Infrastructure companies are heavy users of financial models for assessing financial feasibility of their projects. Due to very thin margins in the infrastructure development business, a small error in cost estimation can seriously jeopardize the profitability of the project. As infrastructure projects have very little flexibility in changing execution path or cost structure, wrong cost estimation or cash flow timing discrepancy may leave the developer with a loss-making project, which it cannot abandon midway. Thus, checking the financial feasibility of the projects and running all possible scenarios through a robust financial model is the most critical part of the decision making for Infrastructure development companies.

On the other hand, the new age technology start-ups use the financial model to assess funding requirement, predict hiring requirements, set development targets and rationalize the use of the monetary resources, which are very scars at the stage. New ventures can take many development paths and each path has its own challenges and benefits; a detailed simulation in the financial model can provide valuable insights to entrepreneurs for choosing the right development path for them.

Apart from financial analysis, financial modelling can be very helpful in standardizing financial decision-making processes across the business; standard pricing sheets and cost sheets are very good examples for the same.