COPC Inc. Announces Indirect Procurement Standard And Certification Services

Winter Park, Fla.—(March 14, 2017)—COPC Inc., a global consulting firm that helps companies improve operations to transform the customer experience, announces the publication of the COPC Indirect Procurement Standard, a set of best practices and key metrics for any company seeking to strategically manage its indirect spend. The COPC Indirect Procurement Standard was developed as a collaborative effort by Microsoft Corporation, procurement executives from other leading companies, Western Michigan University, and COPC Inc. The Standard can be downloaded for free. COPC Inc. also announces the availability of certification to the Standard, which verifies a company is using best practices and meeting benchmark performance levels with its indirect procurement operations.

Download the Standard »

Indirect procurement refers to the purchase of goods and services used internally at a company for effective operations. Examples of indirect procurement purchases include computer hardware and software, travel management, recruiting or training agencies, facilities management, utilities, and fleet management.

The COPC Indirect Procurement Standard is a comprehensive and integrated system for the consistent management of procurement operations and covers five areas:  leadership and planning; business processes; support processes; people processes; and performance. By following the guidelines in the Standard, companies can create an efficient and high-performing procurement operation providing indirect goods and services at an optimal value–balancing cost, quality and risk.

“Companies are only now starting to look at their indirect procurement from a strategic perspective. The COPC Indirect Procurement Standard gives these companies a way to manage information and data to enable strategic decisions. The Standard not only meets academic rigor but satisfies real-life business needs for today’s procurement professionals,” said Dr. Sime Curkovic, professor of supply chain management, Western Michigan University.

Microsoft Corporation, academic leaders from the Center for Supply Chain Management at Western Michigan University, and industry executives responsible for large indirect procurement organizations recognized a gap in the industry and came together to develop the Standard. These companies include Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intuit, Magna International, Perrigo, and Stryker. These business and academic leaders make up the Standard’s Steering Committee, which is chaired by Microsoft’s chief procurement officer. This group is responsible for reviewing, managing, and updating the Standard to ensure it continually addresses a changing marketplace.

“COPC is honored to have collaborated with this group of leaders to develop these guidelines for indirect spend. The Standard focuses on managing relationships with both internal customers and suppliers, leading to improved supplier performance and higher customer satisfaction. It is an invaluable guide for any procurement organization,” said Cliff Moore, chairman, COPC Inc.

Certification to the Standard is available to any indirect procurement organization and is recommended for all organizations with substantial amounts of indirect spend. Certifying a purchasing organization to the Standard verifies and validates that the organization is meeting or exceeding high-performance operational targets. Microsoft’s indirect procurement organization is among the first companies to have already started working towards certification.

“Working closely with COPC and other leading companies to establish an indirect procurement standard aligns with our efforts to continuously improve our procurement processes,” said Mike Simms, chief procurement officer, Microsoft Corporation. “Sharing best practices while also establishing a framework to evaluate performance, measure improvement, and, ultimately increase business impact is a win-win for us and other companies who are participating in the development and governance of this new industry standard.”

COPC Inc. also plans to offer best practices training for indirect procurement professionals starting in the second half of 2017. More details about this training will be available at a later date.

Go to the COPC Indirect Procurement Standard page to download the Standard and to learn more about the certification process.

About COPC Inc.

COPC Inc. provides consulting, training and certification for operations that support the customer experience. The company created the COPC Standards, a collection of performance management systems for call center operations, customer experience management, vendor management, and procurement. Founded in 1996, COPC Inc. began by helping call centers improve their performance.  Today, the company is an innovative global leader that empowers organizations to optimize operations to deliver a superior customer experience across all channels. COPC Inc. is privately held with headquarters in Winter Park, FL, U.S. and with operations in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, India and Japan. www.copc.com.

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