Rita Gunther Mcgrath | Blog | The Discipline of Strategic Growth

The Buying Triangle

Just learned about an extremely interesting idea for helping customers' improve their key metrics. It turns out that many large companies are actually unable to manage their procurement supply chains very effectively because there is a lot of information loss from the signing of a contract to the payment of a check. The dilemma is that as the payment system increases in complexity, it gets easier for vendors to charge more than they are entitled to. Often, these payments can slip through the cracks.

Enter The Buying Triangle, http://www.thebuyingtriangle.com/a new company founded on the concept that helping companies manage their payment streams better will have value. A typical overpayment occurs because the supplier puts in a bill for a more expensive offering than was actually delivered. For instance, a letter carrier might charge for a heavier package than was sent, or a service provider might charge for a higher class of service. It looks at first glance as though the bill is for items that are covered by the contract. But it isnt until you go line-by-line to see what was actually sent that you can pick up the discrepancies. So one of the things this company does is monitor the actual goods and services delivered and map these against contracts and payments. They estimate that a product offering they call PtoPSmart can save a typical large corporate customers 10% to 15% of their purchasing bill.

Check out their web site. Who knew there were so many exciting things going on in the world of purchasing and procurement?

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