Differentiators

Our Differentiators

There are over 200 firms in the UK that offer procurement products & services. Most of them promise savings - and thus increased profits in the private sector or budget surpluses/increased operational flexibility in the public sector. Most of them talk about the leverage of procurement where an x% cost reduction results in a several times increase in profit/budget surplus.

What makes SureStock® different from the others is that we:

• Offer the widest range of procurement solutions available in the UK
• Are willing to outsource the whole or part of the procurement function
• Are the lowest cost provider of functionally rich procurement software
• Act as our own systems integrator, reducing installation time & cost
• Are able to deliver both long-term transformation and short-term savings projects
• Can tailor our solutions for any size and type of organisation - private or public
• Are one of the few firms with deep experience across the entire UK public sector
• Can deliver widely respected UK best practices to clients in other countries
• Can contractually guarantee a minimum level of savings

Our Scale

At SureStock®, we believe that Procurement is largely about the four "S's": Scale, Skill, Software & Savings. In terms of Scale, our numbers make us one of the top ten procurement service providers in the UK:

• 300 man-years of managed/outsourced procurement delivered
• 2,500 tender exercises performed
• 20,000 systems users supported
• 10,000 suppliers connected
• 4 million requisitions processed
• 150 staff transfers completed
• Over 100 million pounds of spend handled annually
• Approaching half a billion pounds of spend handled cumulatively

Our Skills

We place a high value on Skill by thoughtful hiring, a deep commitment to both academic and further education, internal & external training courses, on-the-job mentoring, and rotation of roles & business units. Most of our staff are members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS). Our Procurement Training Modules have been accredited by CIPS. We build & maintain strategic alliances and exchange intellectual property with leading procurement players in the UK, United States, European Union & elsewhere. In 2001 we won the Kelly's Award for Excellence in Purchasing and Supply across all sectors. This is the highest award in the procurement industry in the UK.

Our Software

We use our Software in two ways: to sell to systems clients in its own right - and to help deliver our Managed Services and Projects. In the first, we aim to be a low cost provider, but with functional richness similar to leading ERPs. In the second, our ability to deploy systems quickly and at exceptionally low marginal cost is a key differentiator when selling Managed Services & Project contracts - and a key generator of savings when delivering.

The Savings We Generate

Finally, Savings come from the rigorous application of over 40 methods we use to achieve best value. While there are often some "quick wins" to be made, most of the savings come after many months of effort, but are then usually sustainable for several years. For private sector clients, we expect to achieve average savings to be in the 10-20% range, depending on the solution adopted. For UK public sector clients who must operate under the European Union Consolidated Procurement Directive, we expect to achieve average savings in the 5-10% range, depending on the solution adopted. We are one of the few firms willing to provide a contractual guarantee of minimum savings achieved.