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Key Takeaways
Managing multiple suppliers creates a significant administrative burden, turning basic ordering into an accidental part-time job for small business leaders.
A simple supplier audit can identify unnecessary complexity, streamline operations and reclaim valuable time to focus on what matters: Customers, employees and growth.
Every business owner knows the feeling of being buried in work that keeps the business running but doesn’t necessarily move it forward.
Procurement rarely gets a strategic discussion. It doesn’t get a line item in the annual plan or a slide in the all-hands deck. Most business leaders simply handle it. Time spent comparing prices, placing orders, tracking shipments, reconciling invoices and managing multiple supplier accounts may seem like small tasks on their own, but the time adds up quickly and often at the expense of more valuable work.
A recent Walmart Business survey of more than 500 decision-makers at businesses with 10 to 500 employees found that 37% spend four to seven hours a week on routine ordering tasks alone. That’s nearly a full workday spent on tasks that don’t grow the business. That’s not allocating a little spare time to ordering. That’s a part-time job.
For busy leaders, reclaiming that time should be a strategic priority.
The slow build of supplier sprawl
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