Name: Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Selection
Uploaded: 2026-05-21T16:16:14.868Z
Duration: 1 h 8 s
Description: Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Selection

Transcript for "Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Selection": Before Amazon Business, buying for work was chaotic. Now it's easy to find products from thousands of suppliers in one place. Save on every type of purchase from individual items to bulk orders. At any time you can view your spending on pre built easy to use dashboards. Plus you can free up cash flow if you choose to extend payment deadlines and view and approve your team's purchases easily. With Amazon Business things just got a lot more manageable. Hello, everyone, and welcome. Thank you for joining us today. This session is brought to you by Procurement Magazine and Amazon Business, and we are delighted to have you with us for our webinar on strategic sourcing and supplier selection. In today's environment, procurement is no longer just about cost control. It's become a strategic function at the heart of business performance, resilience, and long term value creation. Organizations are being challenged to rethink how they source, evaluate, and collaborate with suppliers, balancing not only cost, but also innovation, sustainability, and risk. At the same time, the growing availability of data and digital tools is transforming how sourcing decisions are being made, enabling more informed, transparent, and agile approaches. But with that comes complexity. How do you prioritize the right criteria? How do you build supplier relationships that drive value beyond price? And how do you embed data led decision making into sourcing strategies practically? That's exactly what we'll be looking at today. And joining me to do that are two experts in procurement and supplier strategy, Meera Cahonen Lowe, CPO of Fournam, and Shannon McCall, director of Optus. So thank you both for being here with me. I've given you a very, very quick introduction there. But if I could go to you and get you to tell me who you are and why you're with us today, if I start with you, Shannon. Oh, great. So hello. Shannon McCall. I'm with Optus Consulting as you mentioned. I'm a director there, and I have worked over twenty years in the web based SaaS procurement arena doing anything from focusing on business strategies to, technical administrative and change management activities, really related to helping organizations transform, their procurement, industries and their projects that they have internally. So really advising people and being a partner through that change. Brilliant. It's amazing to have you as well, Shannon. We're bringing that wealth of knowledge with you. And Meera. Thank you. So currently, so I'm, head of procurement with, Fornome. I've been in procurement and supply chain for fifteen years. So I, during that time, I've worked you might say, I worked my way up. So I started from logistics, customer logistics, and then worked my way up to vendor management, sourcing, category management, and then have had different types of roles within procurement in in larger organizations around the world, including being, chief procurement officer. So, yeah, very keen to discuss different topics around sourcing because, of course, that's that's really the bread and butter of what we do. Again, amazing to have you with us. I I feel like we've got two really, really solid experts here, so this is gonna be a great discussion. So our first our first point that we're gonna look at today is the evolution of procurement and supply chain. So how has strategic sourcing evolved in recent years, and what do you really think is driving that shift? Yeah. So I can jump in, Mara. I think what we have seen is that strategic sourcing was very focused on cost. So lowest cost base for suppliers, and I think that that's where we're really changing from that cost focused, transact transitional functional to more of a value driven enterprise wide capability. So a few years ago, I would say procurement was largely measured on savings and compliance. But today, we're kinda seeing that businesses are being asked to influence those business outcomes, from supply continuity to innovation, and really, like, the ESG goals. So I think that that's kind of a big switch that we're seeing today. Mara, from your perspective, any any any different any different trends here? Well, I think Shannon really nailed it. To be honest, if I think about historically ten years ago, I would say sourcing was considered to being, you know, a structured RFP and a hard negotiation and a three year contract. And, you know, when we were thinking about what was what's strategic, it just meant that there's more rigor and more process. But then fast forward today, sourcing has had to develop to deal with different types of, environments where we operate now. So we've got geopolitical, you know, trade tensions. We've got sanctions, country dependencies. There's regulatory pressures, which Shannon mentioned, you know, impacting a lot of the ESG requirements that we need to put into contracts. Technology has really advanced in the types of tools we have, so the type of data we can get. And, also, I think, especially in terms of resilience, I think strategic sourcing because there has been this major disruption of supply chains globally, we really have to think about these things a lot more in in in doing this kind of work, today. So that I I've definitely seen that, you know, evolution happen. But then obviously that huge trend in building building resilience, which then comes at a cost. So, obviously, we can no longer be a cost function because because we have all these other hats to wear. But how do you see the most successful organizations balancing all of those different priorities? I I think cost still matters. So, CFOs are not stopping, asking about, you know, where where are the savings and both still need to look at margin contribution. But I think sort of the framing is just different. It's we're expected to understand a lot more of these different elements related to sustainability, resilience, innovation, and so forth. So I think that's sort that's sort of where where I see that, there's a lot of competing factors that we still need to take into consideration and sourcing leadership. You know, it's expected that we make those trade offs deliberately, not by default. Yeah. I agree. So I think cost is still very foundational. That's not going away, but it's just one piece of the overall broader decision of the framework. So I think people are more going to be looking at kind of what we've been talking about is the risk and the resilience around, the supplier's stability, the geographic diversification, the continued eplanning, the sustainability in the ESG, so the carbon footprint. Like, all these different aspects start coming into play, and it's not just about cost. Although that is going to still be, I think, a foundation that's still there. So then in in today's environment, what what does a truly strategic sourcing function look like? So I think if we talk about what strategic functions look like now, I think that there's that trade off from just going with cost. And there's going to be more look at those weighted, like, sourcing models, how we are assessing the value to the cost. So not just the lowest price, but what's the overall value. What are we getting from the different suppliers that we're working with? The innovation, the ESG risk, within our sourcing events. So not every category is going to be looking the same. So there's gonna be different types of category and how they're valued, whether it's strategic versus the transactional spend that we are seeing today. But also, I think there's gonna be a big cross functional alignment between procurement working more closely with finance, legal, IT. So more of the collaboration there to really sustain those teams and work together, in planning those strategic, sourcing events. I I could I think I really agree with with all those comments. And the one thing that I would sort of add is that also, you know, spending a bit more time maybe on category strategy and upstream work, you know, supply mapping road maps, things like that rather than transactional work. That's probably something that, you know, the the value will come from where we manage sort of portfolio of of relationships, not not contracts. Yeah. So that was just one thing to add because I think Shannon's response was really good. So what then are those those new metrics then that you measure value on? So if we're measuring value differently, how are we doing that? Well, if I can jump, I would say how I would measure them? Well, I would look at, like, different types of scorecards that we we create today in terms of what we look at. There's resilience, like, we've mentioned a lot of resilience, sustainability, how innovative the the vendors are or the suppliers are. Where's the risk? Is there a you know, what's the stakeholder engagement, are the stakeholders satisfied, and savings. So I think these are still sort of the critical things that we're that we'd be looking at as as a sourcing function. Yep. And I think adding in performance, the tracking the performance, the quality, the deliverable reliability, service level. So that's also something that you wanna look at as well. Yeah. So this brings us perfectly then to our next section, which is supplier selection. So how do we define the right criteria for what what a good supplier is? So, you know, what are those most important criteria the organization should be looking at today when they actually evaluate suppliers? Yeah. So I think, supplier evaluation has really expanded, like we said, beyond the price and basic capability. And the strongest organizations are really using a balance of forward looking set criteria. And so I think it's a lot of the things that we've kinda just discussed in the last question, which is, the total value. So the cost of ownership, the life cycle value, the expected ROI return, those risk profiles. So the financial health of the supplier's organization, the geographic exposure, their operational resilience, their track record. So kind of all those things that we just touched on in the last question, those are great ways to evaluate and define the criteria around your suppliers. And that checklist is probably getting longer and longer every time, every year, every disaster. Yeah. So let's let's go to how it's how how data is actually helping us make those decisions. Because, obviously, data now is is the is the bread and butter along with, you know, keeping costs low and and sourcing. But how is data changing the way that human teams assess and compare their suppliers? I would say that we have access. I I think the access to data has really, been revolutionary over the last ten years. So we've had, an increase of really good procurement tools that are able to digest a lot of the accounts payable data that we have and then turn it into meaningful reports where we can then do, you know, category strategy and sourcing sourcing planning. And then on top of that, you then have, you know, the evolve, evolving landscape of AI, which then gives you different types of tools you've we now have access to sort of, agentic tools to create, for example, market review, you know, processes where that, you know, for it it used to take a long time to do market review when you're preparing for a sourcing event. But with AI, you can you can complete that task and probably get a better overview of what's out there, through the through the tool and, that you could get by yourself. So I I I just think it's, yeah. It it's really brought us, miles ahead in the last, I'd say, five years. It's just really it's been transformational. Yep. And I'll add in kinda what you're saying, Mara. We have real time performance data. So AI's allowing you to access real time data. And so I think that's why procurement is moving from that experience based decision making to more of the evidence data based strategy strategy decision making, because we have all this great information right at the tip of our fingers now that's easy to grab. So when we're looking then at that strategy, and and risk and resilience, when is it, like, acceptable for us to kind of override the robot, override the AI, and make a make a decision that that wouldn't necessarily be logical on paper, but it works for us. Yeah. Yeah. I I think I would still say that supply selection always has to be done by the human. So the AI can get us very far in terms of, scorecards and evaluation of performance in a particular process, but then there has to be a review of the sort of the what the future performance might be like, the cultural fit, you know, the relationship trajectory, risks that don't show up on historical data. All of the sort of decision making algorithm rhythms, don't look into that. So you have to you have to think about, you know, this is where the the experts is still still needed in my view to make the call. So we don't make a bad call based on looking just, models and data. Mhmm. Yeah. I agree. You still need that human aspect for that strategic decision making, which is what Meera is talking about is that still takes a human aspect to make that decision making, plus those relationships that you have with those suppliers built on the foundation and the innovation of their organizations. Those are all things that I think, take a human aspect to, make those decisions on top of the great data and the tools that you can use with AI and other, procurement sourcing tools out there. Another thing that probably still needs that human touch then is is ESG when you're looking at sustainability of companies. Because in Europe, our sustainability, regulations are much stricter than in The US. Mhmm. So Yeah. So how how does a European company, you know, sum up what supplies to work with in a sustainability space? Yeah. I think there's a lot of great tools out there for, performance tracking, risk tracking that are built for these specific areas and countries based off of those processes, procedures that we're talking about around sustainability and ESG. But I think, like, what we're seeing as a shift as a whole is it's not really a nice to have anymore. It's a core pillar of what an integrated practice looks like. And so wherever you're coming from, those built in RFP criterias, can be built alongside your cost and your technical capabilities or scope. Your supplier assessments can be very unique and standardized framework from wherever you're coming from. And then we have these good third party rating solutions out there now that you can integrate with and pull from, based off of your area. So while it may be stricter in other countries, I think that it's still a pillar that you wanna utilize internally to really make best strategic decisions when it comes down to your vendor selection and your strategic sourcing. Mara, we're nodding away. Do we have anything else to add on? I don't have a lot to add. Absolutely. So, you know, we've we've got that was a really good answer. So the CSRD and the CSDDD, I think, is the name of the the other one. Yeah. The compliance window is closing really fast. And I think suppliers, when we do sourcing, like Shannon said, then, you know, these are this is just a must have. It's a mandatory. So we have to we have to treat this also, I think, as a sort of a critical data point. And, it's not a sustainability team problem. It's a selection problem now. So we have to then make sure that that one of the key criteria of proceeding is that we we have that so that vendors must have that capability now to report on that. You know, it can't be an aspiration anymore, because the cost of being laid on that, of course, is then significant significant for the buying company. So my final question in this section is what differenti differentiates organizations that successfully build strategic supplier partnerships from those that just remain transactional? Mhmm. Yeah. I Mary, I can jump in. The difference, I think, comes really down to the mindset, investment, and structure of that organization. So organizations that are building that strategic partnership, they're really looking at how to segment their suppliers. They know which relationships truly matter and how to prioritize them. They invest in the collaboration with their vendors or suppliers. So they're doing regular business reviews with them. They're doing joint planning. They have that open communication. They're also sharing goals and the data, so they're aligning on those performance metrics. They're forecasting, the innovation and the opportunities where I think the transactional organizations, on the other hand, like, they're only engaging at the point of need. So they're not building that strategic relationship. They're focusing heavy on the price and not and that short term goal instead of those long term goals. And then, I think there's the lack of consistency with the supplier engagement and, again, that long term strategy. Just to give it, you know, longevity, I guess. So building building a resilience for the future as well as building building a solid bottom line. Building that strategic relationship, and it's intentional. So it's not just happening accidentally. They're really intentionally building and continually, managing that relationship with their strategic vendors. So let's look ahead to the future then. We'll look to what's next for strategic sourcing. How do you see it evolving over the next, you know, three to five years? I think what we'll definitely see is we'll we'll definitely see more of, the requirement of data, you know, being more literate around the around data sources, how to use the right data, also how to use it more, you know, in in how to use public data that's available to us, like trade body benchmark, sustainability disclosures, monitoring the news. So I I see a lot of that sort of that's previously might have been not reviewed as part of the sourcing process. But now because we have more access to this, through AI, then, I guess, adding that discipline to the research, will deliver a lot more information about the vendors going forward. And then, of course, picking the right tools. The tools are really developing fast, as mentioned. So, you know, making sure that we have the right type of spend analytics tools, the supplier risk monitoring, contract monitoring, especially and then sustainability monitoring because, ESG is is not going away. It's only going to become stricter, I think, as frameworks, especially within Europe as we operate. So that that that is going to be a mandatory part of of, a sourcing activity. Mhmm. Yeah. So I think the strategic sourcing and what you're saying, Marya, is it's moving towards being predictive, deeply integrated into those business strategies. And, it won't just be a periodic activity. I think it becomes a real time strategic, continue continuously, guided decision. So then what role will digital tools, you know, AI and analytics play in in shaping the future of what supplier selection looks like? Yeah. I think technology is becoming the backbone of modern procurement, and AI is accelerating kind of that shift. So I think what we'll see is AI driven results and insights, kind of what we've been speaking about, where we're identifying the best suppliers based off of that multidimensional data. So cost, risk, ESG performance, all those things become, AI driven. You have that predictive risk monitoring, so flagging potential disrupt disruptions before they occur. So kind of predicting the future, automation of routine and work that there is there, and then kind of what we've already said is really that advanced analytics, and having access to all that great data that AI is just able to grab and generate for us. So, I think it's gonna be more about efficiency, with better, faster, and more confident decision making using those AIs and technologies that are out there today. Yeah. It would be an impossible task to collect all of the data on all of those different regulations, all of those different suppliers with, you know, with with the procurement teams of today. Mhmm. But, obviously, we spoke earlier about how AI is a fantastic tool, but it is not the end line. We still need the people there. So Mhmm. The skills and capabilities of the procurement teams of the future, you know, they're evolving with the technology. So what what what do you see as, like, something that is is critical for a procurement professional today that, you know, wasn't wasn't needed a couple years ago? Well, we've talked a lot about data, but I think, you know, being able to interrogate data a lot better is is a must have. In my you know, during the last fifteen years, there was a time when procurement analytics was a team itself. So, effectively, you you had different people doing procurement analytics, and then they would feed into the sourcing teams. I think in the future, sourcing and procurement teams will need to have this sort of analytics ability already built into their their set of tools. And, you know, AI is going to help, and these data tools will help, you know, produce that output themselves, which, of course, will make everything quicker as well. Another part that I would mention probably is is just sort of commercial acumen. It's always spoken about in our industry that you have to have commercial acumen. You need to be able to, you know, talk about the p and l, talk about the business impact, talking about just the sourcing event, you know, the the gates and the processes. It it helps us. We understand what's going on. But then if you really want to translate that to a business, you know, language that they understand you need to talk about, you know, protecting cash, p and l, all of that, how it matters to them, how many percentage points you can get off, you know, what the savings are, what the impact of the p and l is, you know, what's the impact of the liquidity. So those are the things that I think you just have to get really comfortable with. Mhmm. Understanding them for for one and then being able to communicate them well. Yeah. So I agree. The skill set is it needs to evolve and evolve quickly just as the function itself of strategic sourcing. So, I agree, like, procurement is having to become more analytical, strategic, and collaborative, and really have those skills to be able to take the data, interpret it, and then act on it. And then also creating those relationships and managing those relationships with the supplier, so building the trust and driving that joint value. But I agree, like, the skills that of procurement functionalities are now changing. So, essentially, the entire job description has changed. I've spoken to a lot of procurement leaders who, you know, started, you know, in the mundane analytical tasks that have now been taken from people. So Mhmm. So that entry level point, if you were interviewing someone tomorrow, what what what would sell you sell them to you? Yeah. I I think it's the ability for me, I would say, to, be able to come in and quickly change and not be so stuck in their old ways. So, being able to come in and be innovative and moving as fast as the industry is moving and to be able to pick things up and learn. But I'm also a big advocate for making sure that you're training your employees and you're giving them the training and the skills and the knowledge that they need to be able to adjust and move faster. So really looking for somebody that, has an analytical mindset. But if they don't, they can at least take that data that they're getting, and they know how to strategically use that data. But also a great collaborate collaborator. So somebody that is willing to work with a team, come in and really utilize the whole organization, to make those strategic decisions. I think those are key skills that I think is great for somebody to have coming into procurement and strategic sourcing role. Yeah. I would also add to that. That's I I couldn't agree more. I think that absolutely. That's what I'd be looking to as well. Another one is sort of the learning velocity. So because everything changes so quickly now. So, you know, it's it's important to be able to learn new things and absorb new things, technologies, ways of working. That's really, you know, a skill that that people can hopefully learn or they they they come equipped with it. Another one is, you have to be able to deal with uncertainty and able to deal with disruption really well. So I would say to anyone that's sort of trying to come in as a a junior person to working in supply chain or procurement is that we are experiencing we are at the sort of forefront of seeing disruption. Supply chains gets they get disrupted all the time these days, and you need to be able to work and operate in an environment that might change overnight from things like, tariffs, you know, coming in and so forth. So everything changes overnight, so you just need to have that resilience and and to be able to go into this environment and succeed and thrive, in that environment rather than feeling that it's it's, you know, too stressful because it's changing too fast. Yeah. To be very open to change then, to also, you know, be open to all the tech, accept the new things that are coming in, and also accept that, you know, every single day is gonna be completely different because you never know what's gonna happen. So let's move on then to a piece of advice. So this is probably to yourself, Mara. But if you're giving advice to your CPO friends or to yourself, what are you looking at over the next twelve to eighteen months? What is that one key thing that they need to prioritize? So interestingly, CPOs are always asked to transform. So that's the one thing. Management is always looking to find ways to optimize. And when they say we want to optimize, they usually use the word, we want you to transform the function. And the one advice that I would give to myself as well historically and now and then to my colleagues is we are always asked to transform, but we then have to, you know, review what is what is it that needs to be transformed? What's working well? You know? Quite often, you can go too hard and you try to transform the entire function, and you try and transform every single way of working. And then you try and do the platforms as well, and you then you bring the ERP, and you do that. And then your resources are tied up in just transformation, and there there's a lack of this sort of ability to operate on a strategic level, to perform the the important work that still needs to happen on top of the transformation. So I would always say, pick your battles in terms of what needs to be transformed, find the right thing. So this is where this is where the acumen of of finding what what is not working right now to to drive value and add value to my organization, and I will make sure that my transformation agenda covers that. And and sort of the rest that doesn't need it, then, you know, we leave it as is, and we just make sure that we sharpen sharpen our tools where needed. Mhmm. Yep. I agree with Mara. What I see a lot is organizations think they have to change everything. So then that becomes stressful. It it disrupts the day to day business. So I would say the priority isn't to do everything just like Mara is saying. It's to focus on those areas that will create the most long term impact. And so that's either looking at what's gonna strengthen your data foundations to make sure that you have clean connected data. That's critical. So maybe just focus on that. Or you're focusing on your tip your, team. You're investing in the skills that they need to be better, or you're looking at risk and how you can better, manage risk or use different third party tools to give you the information that you need. Maybe there's some digital capabilities or tools that you need. So I think it's really looking at the organization and finding out what's gonna be most critical. Start there. And then as you do that, then grow and add things in so that you're not coming in and just being this huge, disruptor of the organization and what the people are trying to do. Yeah. Transformation literally cannot happen overnight. So just take it step by step, basically. Put the brakes on where they're necessary. So that will bring us that brings us to end of our discussion today, but we have time for some q and a questions. So I've got some questions here that have been presubmitted. So I'll post them to both of you. And the first one we have is, what is the biggest mistake that organizations make in supplier selection? I think one of them is kind of what we touched on already is just it's easy to default to the lowest bidder. So lowest cost, let's just award to them. But what you don't realize is that often leads to higher cost later on because maybe they have poor performance or there's risk exposure there or there's the lack of flexibility from the supplier. So in those cases, I would say it's not just about lowest cost. So that's where what we're all talking about today really comes in. So really evaluate the supplier, look at the total cost of the ownership and goods. Is the supplier a good long term fit? So that would be my advice. Just don't go off of that lowest cost. Absolutely. Could absolutely. And we're we're really pushed on that as well as a procurement team. So you you normally have to fight for you know, to make sure that we look at the other parts as well. Another aspect is, often, you know, if you select the supplier based on the dream that they sell you rather than what they can actually deliver. So quite often, you know, when there's a big there's a big process and a tender and pitch teams come to meet you, they're not the they're generally not the people that will then actually interact with the business. Quite often, you're sell you're sold something, and then the team the sales team that was responsible of doing that particular tender process, they disappear, and you're left with working with, a whole different group of people. And you might not know if if the the culture fit is the right one. So I would always say that we have to meet the people that do the work. So that's always a mandatory that you must have the, you know, the resources from the supplier side that will be involved in the day to day. And what they might not realize as well during that process that we are avail we are evaluating them as well on how they operate, how they how they fit with us. So often, if there's a supplier that is behaving quite aggressively or difficulty in the tender thinking that it's, you know, it's just the tender process, but it's not just the tender process. It's actually we are we're assessing them also from a relationship, aspect. Do we do we work well with them? And if they fail on that part, then, of course, regardless of everything else, it's not gonna be a good fit. Brilliant. So our next question here then is how can those smaller procurement teams adopt data led sourcing approaches? Maria, if I throw to you first. Well, if you're a smaller team, then you have to, of course, choose wisely. So if you talk about data, what do you have access to? Smaller teams might also indicate it's a smaller company, meaning that they don't have really good data, tools potentially. They might not have categorization of data. That's where you have to just decide that if you want good data, you have to then, invest in some particular data tool or a data cube or, you know, how do you get access to enriching your accounts payable data to then have category based data, which then will allow you to make smarter choices. So I would I would just, I would focus on that part rather than trying to build massive frameworks or, you know, get get, get to a best in class kind of practice. You know, you have to start small, make sure you have good categorization of your data. And once you have that, then you will develop as a function, because they will then start using that categorized data a lot smarter. And you will make data driven decisions, and you can then do, you know, work on your pipeline based on based on having access to categorized data. Mhmm. Yeah. I agree. I think this also goes back, Mara, what we were talking about earlier where people come in and they think they have to make all these changes at once, or they need all these tools. So you don't need a massive team or complex tools to start being data driven. You just need to be intentional about where your focus is at, and that's what Mara is saying, where it utilize the data that you already have in place. So look at your performance, your supplier performance, your contract data, past source and events. That's often over or underutilized. And so look at the data that you already have and start making decisions off of that. But it can even come down to just, simply standardizing your evaluation criteria and start using a simpler score, card model to help bring in structure and consistency around it. So, agree 100%. Start small. Use what you have and then grow from there. Brilliant. And our final question here will perfectly round us off for the day. And it is, what is the most overlooked factor in building strong supplier relationships? So, Shannon, I'm gonna throw it to you first on this one. Yeah. Great. So I would say the most overlooked factor is consistent structured engagement. I think a lot of organizations say they want strategic supplier relationships, but in practice, they're only gauging with the suppliers when there's an issue or a contract renewal. So they need to start building strong relationships through those regular check ins, clear performance metrics reviews with them, that open communication. So not just those transactional updates, but really that open communication and then early involvement. So in that planning and problem solving. So, it's about showing up consistently and treating suppliers like they're a partner, not just a vendor that you're doing a transactional data with. So Brilliant. And the same question to you, Mira. Yeah. Absolutely. Adding to Shannon's point, I think that consistency is really important. I was thinking about the same thing. So quite often, a supplier might have to deal with several people in the organization. And, if there's not a good control of that relationship and the communication to them, then it might, you know, it it it it might be difficult for the supplier to know, you know, where the wind is blowing. So be, you know, be a good be a good customer to them as well. They're, you know, they're a supplier to us, but it's also important that we are a good customer to them, you know, because they're a bit they're a business themselves, so they have the same types of concerns and, you know, risks operating that we do. So, you know, it's just based on mutual respect. You know? And, of course, you know, simple things like pay your invoices on time. Make sure that if there's commitments that you honor them, that, if you say something, you stand behind what you say that you don't you don't mislead them in in anything simply thinking that you're doing this constant renegotiation of terms. No. What's been agreed has been agreed, and and you have to, you know, you have to stick to your word. That's how you build trust over a lifetime of the contract, and I think that's how you also get the best value out of the relationship because it is a relationship. It it it shouldn't be just a transaction. It should be a relationship. Absolutely. And the strongest deals will come out of good relationships. Mhmm. So thank you both so much. That unfortunately brings us to the end of today's discussion. A big thank you to you both again for sharing your in insights and expertise. If there is one key takeaway from today, it's this. Strategic sourcing is no longer just about selecting suppliers. It's about building resilient value driven partnerships that support long term business outcomes. As procurement continues to evolve, organizations that successfully balance cost, innovation, sustainability, and risk will be the leaders in the space. This recording will be available online shortly, so you can revisit the conversation and share it with your teams. Thank you all for joining us today, and another thank you to Amazon Business. We look forward to seeing you at the next session, and bye bye for now. Before Amazon Business, buying for work was chaotic. Now it's easy to find products from thousands of suppliers in one place. Save on every type of purchase, from individual items to bulk orders. At any time, you can view your spending on pre built, easy to use dashboards. Plus, you can free up cash flow if you choose to extend payment deadlines and view and approve your team's purchases easily. With Amazon Business, things just got a lot more manageable.