Supplier Management

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As supply chains grow more complex, businesses need reliable ways of evaluating how their suppliers contribute to overall business success. Supplier management is the process that facilitates cost-effective and sustainable relationships with product vendors and service providers.

Focused on identifying and nurturing high value relationships between companies in the supply chain, supplier management plays a crucial role in successful supply chain management.

Keep reading to learn what supplier management is, the processes that go into it, and how you can optimise your supplier relationships to squeeze the most value out of every contract.

What is supplier management?

Supplier management, also called supplier performance management (SPM), is the task of ensuring your suppliers meet the expectations of their contract. It involves monitoring supplier performance, identifying areas that need improvement, and setting goals and objectives that suppliers must meet.

The purpose of the supplier management process is to minimise supplier risk while reducing the costs of doing business. It benefits both the supplier and the client, as effective supplier management can lead to healthier business relationships and a positive brand reputation.

Supplier performance management is sometimes confused with supplier relationship management (SRM). However, SPM deals with how well a supplier is meeting the terms of your contract whereas SRM focuses on effective collaboration and communication between you and your supplier.

supplier management

Understanding the supplier management process

The supplier management process covers all the activities and workflows involved in dealing with your suppliers. It begins with procurement – identifying and comparing different vendors – and includes the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of supplier performance, along with the management of your supplier contracts and relationships.

Here are some common supplier management processes:

  • Identification and selection of relevant suppliers

  • Establishing a system for monitoring supplier performance

  • Regular evaluation of supplier performance

  • Supplier relationship management and supplier communications

  • Identifying and mitigating supply chain risks

  • Using data-driven insights to optimise supplier collaboration

Supplier management looks different for every business model, so there may be additional steps depending on your industry, company size, and unique requirements.

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What is supplier relationship management?

Supplier relationship management (SRM) is the process of monitoring, analysing, and improving the quality of business partnerships between your company and the organisations that supply your goods, materials, and services.

As an essential part of supplier management, SRM aims to enhance the collaboration and communication between two companies for the purpose of maximising the value and reducing the risk of working together.

On the surface, SRM deals with how well you’re able to work with your suppliers.

On a deeper level, it’s about rigorously improving your methods of collaboration so that both parties get the most out of the relationship.

Supply chains today are globally integrated and have outgrown traditional cost reduction tactics. That’s why businesses need to look at supplier relationship management as a way to capitalise on hidden opportunities.

Benefits of supplier relationship management

Spending time and resources on your supplier relationships should always be done with measurable benefits in mind.

Here are the main benefits of supplier relationship management:

  • Reduce your costs

  • Attain stable prices

  • Support business growth

  • Minimise supply chain risk

  • Encourage innovation

  • Stay compliant

  • Boost business efficiency

Let’s break these down.

1. Reducing costs

Looking for new suppliers and negotiating contracts is costly and time-consuming. By identifying existing valuable suppliers, you’ll be able to continually optimise operations for both you and your partners. This can also help to improve supply chain visibility, which helps you minimise the cost-risk of supply chain disruptions.

2. Securing stable prices

Analysing supplier relationships and fostering a relationship with the most reliable suppliers gives your business leverage to negotiate longer contract terms, more suitable minimum order levels, and better pricing.

3. Driving growth

Good supplier relationship management has transparency at its core. This encourages both parties to monitor their performance with a view to improving the relationship – and growing each of the businesses.

4. Minimising supply chain risk

When businesses have more transparent relationships with their suppliers, they are better placed to identify and manage supply chain risks. They’re also less likely to be compromised by unethical or irresponsible activity by other firms in their supply chain coming to light.

5. Encouraging innovation

Great supplier relationship management creates opportunities for both your business and your suppliers that create long-term value. Clearer communication of possible advancements in product development and product quality leads to better products and happier customers.

6. Staying compliant

A strong relationship with your suppliers and better transparency within the supply chain allows your business to stay on top of its regulatory commitments. This means less stress around meeting legal obligations and a reduced risk of being fined by a governing body.

7. Increasing efficiency

As your suppliers gain a better understanding of your business needs, they can actively minimise supply chain delays. And if any problems arise, your established relationship will make problem resolution less difficult.

The supplier relationship management process

To get more value out of supplier relationships, SRM is generally broken down into a set of complementary processes, namely: supplier segmentation, SRM governance, supplier performance management, and supplier development.

Supplier segmentation

Suppliers should be separated into different tiers according to their needs, characteristics, or behaviour.

They can also be classified based on:

  • Money spent

  • Volume of supplied goods or services

  • Complexity of the goods or services

  • The breadth of the supply base

This segmentation process is an essential first step in effective SRM.

Suppliers who are more important to your business need a higher level of engagement. Grouping suppliers based on different criteria allows you to devote limited resources to the right supplier groups. Suppliers are typically split into three tiers, with the most important being tier one.

This is where most of the supplier relationship management effort will lie.

SRM governance

The next step is to agree who owns the relationship with the supplier internally – this can be a single person or several stakeholders.

The relationship owner/s define and drive the strategic roadmap. At the top level, this is where both your business and each tier one supplier set mutually agreed objectives and operational measures and metrics as part of the supplier performance management process.

Supplier performance management

This stage involves setting up and continuously tracking the operational measures established by the relationship owner/s. These few critical measures are recorded in a supplier scorecard. The scorecard is shared across both the business and its suppliers at all levels. This allows the business and its suppliers to have a global shared view of supplier performance.

Both parties should monitor and review supplier scorecards regularly, identify any deviations from minimum performance requirements, and address the root cause.

Supplier development

Suppliers are often an untapped resource for innovation, continuous improvement and cost reduction.

Once supplier segmentation, SRM governance and performance management are established, it may become possible to leverage additional value-added activities. This typically involves activities that create long-term value for both organisations, such as:

  • New market penetration

  • Product development

  • Mergers, acquisitions or joint ventures

Supplier management best practices and strategy

For many companies the best-practice supplier management approaches taught in business schools and used by top firms can seem out of reach. However, rather than taking an all-or-nothing approach, it’s often better to apply some of the elements of the SCM process based on the resources currently available.

Here are some of the main personnel and practices involved in day-to-day supplier management that can be used in a typical small-to-medium enterprise.

Supplier relationship management metrics

Improving supplier performance starts with measurement.

Track these key SRM metrics to begin improving your supplier performance:

The supplier relationship manager

In large organisations the supplier relationship manager is a full time role, while for smaller companies the role is usually fulfilled by the procurement manager, purchasing manager, or operations manager.

Whatever the case, a supplier relationship manager’s role is to develop and improve supplier management processes to enhance relationships. They understand their suppliers’ business and goals. They are also able to see issues from the suppliers’ perspective while balancing their own business’ priorities.

A supplier relationship manager’s responsibilities can include:

  • Developing a supplier scorecard

  • Coordinating supply chain activities between partners

  • Providing technical guidance to stakeholders in the supply chain

Organisational structures for supplier relationship management

There are a few ways to set up SRM at an organisational level. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach as it depends on how big your business is, what goods or services you provide, and the complexity of your supply chain.

The following are some of the typical roles in an SRM hierarchy.

A formal SRM team

At a corporate level, this group facilitates SRM activities across functions and business units. Since SRM is inherently cross-functional, this team needs a combination of commercial, technical and interpersonal skills. Their soft skills will be crucial to managing change, and developing strong and trusting relationships.

A formal SRM manager

This role can be a full-time dedicated position, as described above, or responsibilities can be included within a broader role — for instance a procurement manager. Again, this depends on the complexity and importance of the supplier relationships in question, and the size of the business.

A cross-functional steering committee

This team forms a link between supplier relationship management strategies and overall business strategies. If a dispute arises between a relationship manager and the supplier these may be escalated to the committee.

7 tips for improving supplier relationships

Effective supplier management requires strong relationships and open communication lines. Here are some tips to help your strengthen supplier relationships and gain a competitive advantage.

1. Align your business strategy and supplier management strategy

Ensure all business stakeholders are committed to supplier relationship management and understand the requirements and activities — both inside and outside the organisation. Your focus should be on the extended supply chain so you can monitor the entire network of suppliers.

2. Manage change

Entering into a strategic supplier relationship will change each partner organisation. Develop a clear communication plan to make sure all business units are aware of their roles and responsibilities when it comes to managing suppliers.

3. Encourage collaboration

Train your employees in conflict management, problem solving, networking skills, and other so-called soft skills. These will all help any staff who are in contact with suppliers (and indeed, customers) to form and nurture constructive relationships.

4. Choose meaningful metrics

Supplier performance metrics and KPIs should be based on mutually defined goals. Make sure performance on KPIs is communicated openly and frequently. Developing a supplier scorecard will make managing suppliers and resolving issues quick and easy.

5. Use a service level agreement

Incorporate appropriate service levels and metrics into agreements so that when unexpected problems arise, you can refer to established and agreed-upon standards. This may require a bit of back and forth between you and your suppliers, but you should see this as another opportunity to enhance those relationships.

6. Pay attention to supplier information management

Successful supplier management starts with having accurate and detailed supplier information stored on a centralised platform. Information can include contact details, contracts, office locations, quotes, performance ratings, and risk scores. This helps your business create a more holistic assessment of suppliers and interact with individual suppliers more consistently.

7. Use technology to simplify the process

Supplier relationship management can be admin-heavy and time consuming. Use technology to minimise non-value-adding activity and get the best results from your SRM efforts.

Inventory management software such as Unleashed can help centralise all your key supplier information and compare supplier performance over time. Get started today with a free 14-day trial.

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Supplier management software solutions

A supplier management solution – or supplier management software – is any platform that helps manage your supplier relationships. Depending on the package it may also help you control business processes across the supply chain, plan and forecast demand, and more.

Common features of supplier management solutions include:

Specific supplier relationship management solutions include apps such as SourceDay and SupplyHive. These focus on digitising the SRM process itself. Other solutions include SRM within a larger supply chain management ERP. Examples of these larger, more complex programs include solutions like Access Financials.

Meanwhile a third group includes ‘best of breed’ apps that create an end-to-end supply chain solution by combining a suite of integrated cloud-based apps. Unleashed is an example of this approach.

Often combined with cloud accounting tools such as Xero or QuickBooks, Unleashed includes supplier performance reporting and supplier management amongst a host of other functions such as inventory management, purchasing, sales order management, and manufacturing.

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Oliver Munro
Article by Oliver Munro in collaboration with our team of specialists. Oliver's background is in inventory management and content marketing. He's visited over 50 countries, lived aboard a circus ship, and once completed a Sudoku in under 3 minutes (allegedly).

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