MetaSight: controlling expenditure

Managing Suppliers

Getting what you need to know in order to get what you need

Financial uncertainty can mediate against strategies for growth and development – especially in a climate where business margins are being shaved to the max. In tough-market times, escalating costs can undermine stability and expose corporate vulnerability, creating more than its fair share of headaches – which is why ‘managing suppliers’ in a powerful and pro-active way is one of the key targets for any maxi-business model. Control purchasing costs and you are already well on the way to winning the financial planning battle.

So… how can MetaSight possibly make a difference in this area when your organisation already has a crack team of professionals working this day to day?

Follow our simple example to see how…

You are the procurement manager in a multi-national corporation. A supplier is coming to see you next week in order to talk contract renewal – with a value well over 5 Million Pounds. You’ve never met them before and you need to get clued up fast so that you don’t end up looking like a complete fool when it comes down to negotiating the bottom line.

Your office has detailed financial records of business transactions with this supplier and also key managers in your organisation have given you their recommendations prior to the meeting. But is this enough?

Fortunately your organisation has MetaSight – a powerful tool that tracks 1000's of e-mail communications every day within your organisation, building advanced network profiles around topics that define your business culture. MetaSight is fully searchable allowing you to customise a cyber search into who is talking to your supplier (Company X) and what they are talking about. Now you are no longer limited to the expertise of your team, your office or your department, now you can see a true global picture of the ‘living’ reality of interfacing with Company X and you learn some interesting facts.

By profiling and clustering users with the highest volume of communication with Company X (creating an expert network) you generate your own mini-e-survey and find that Company X charge different rates for the same products and services depending on who they are dealing with.

E-topic interrogation lets you see that on the whole your employees are happy with the product from Company X, but there are recurring issues with reliability in a few components that are affecting your overall productivity.

There is also a fear within your corporation that over-dependency on Company X could destabilise productivity in a worst-case scenario.

Using this data you create a MetaSight SWOT that details strengths, weaknesses, opportunities for improving the relationship and strategies for mitigating against the threat of dependency.

Now you have a clear negotiating position and the meeting goes well – you get what you want – price parity, guarantees of improved reliability and Company X get their contract renewed.

Everyone’s happy.

Using your imagination it’s not difficult to see a host of other ways in which MetaSight can bring a new perspective to common business scenarios – capturing the knowledge that already exists within your company and recycling it for the benefit of the whole – it’s simple and radical at the same time. Simple to install and easy to maintain, MetaSight has been trusted by over 100,000 users worldwide, giving them a unique insight into the knowledge they need to be more productive, more enlightened and more powerful in business every day.

Suppliers: Managing suppliers who you've never met can be a nightmare unless you have the right support.

Communication Pathways: MetaSight allows you to cyber-snoop exactly who in your organisation is talking to Company X and what they are talking about.

Expert Network: Building an Expert Network supports your understanding of Company X with a reach far beyond your own office.

"MetaSight gives us the power to capture data and connect with expertise fast..."