Procurement people working in travel and events must understand the way the industry operates, Valerie Stevens, head of procurement for ATS Euromasters Limited, told a panel debate at the Confex show in London.
Ms Stevens, also a director of the UK Institute of Travel Management (ITM), said many procurement people did not understand the industry which made it difficult to achieve “win-win situations.”
She said that when she came to the industry she had no interest in the creativity side or felt that buying an event was any different from ordering stationery but now understood the importance of relationships.
She stressed there was a difference between the “bean counters” who watched every penny and the procurement people whose interest was the end to end process and making a reasonable profit.
Mr Richard Waddington, ceo of events agency First Protocol, warned that “procurement is here to stay so let's deal with them.”
He said organisers could not go and spend large sums on events without any transparency. “Procurement people can help us develop proper business models. There is such disparity of where we are and where we want to be. We need an ongoing relationship,” he said.
Ms Stevens said ITM was now working with the UK Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and it had also worked with suppliers to draw up an RFP which was available on its website.
“We are trying to professionalise the process,” she said. “Organisations which originally had a travel manager are finding it easier for them but a lot of small and medium sized companies are using the RFP.”