{"id":1934,"date":"2025-01-17T19:09:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/thought-leaders\/?p=1934"},"modified":"2025-01-17T19:09:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T19:09:56","slug":"what-is-supplier-normalization-why-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/thought-leaders\/what-is-supplier-normalization-why-does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Supplier Normalization & Why Does it Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Supplier Normalisation & Why Does it Matter?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Supplier normalization (or, if you\u2019re from the States, supplier normalization) is the process of giving your existing suppliers\/companies a common name or grouping. It\u2019s also known as supplier standardization and supplier harmonization. Supplier normalization is widely used in procurement for spending analytics to show how much your organization is spending with one supplier throughout the business. It\u2019s also beneficial to normalize your suppliers if you work in the supply chain, finance, sales, or marketing.<\/p>\n

Hang on a minute…<\/strong><\/p>\n

It sounds silly, right? Surely, companies must know how much they are spending, selling, or using with their suppliers. And while most do, the problem is that many organizations will have multiple versions of the same supplier in a database, CRM, or ERP. It is THIS that causes the lack of visibility that\u2019s so important when it comes to decision making.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Why Do Organizations Have Multiple Supplier Descriptions?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

There are several reasons why you might find multiple supplier descriptions in the same business. Here, my friends, are five of the most common ways that duplicate accounts are created:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A global presence. Each country has their own system and have named their suppliers using local conventions or different legal entities. This makes global reporting and analytics amazingly complex.<\/li>\n
  2. Inconsistent suffix usage. Inc, Ltd, Limited… I won\u2019t go on. The result is the same – multiple versions of the same supplier.<\/li>\n
  3. Independent divisions within a company. Each division has its own naming conventions. Each division has its own nomenclature. Guess what this means? Yep \u2013 duplicate accounts.<\/li>\n
  4. Human error. The human factor causes all sorts of duplications. I\u2019ve seen typos, incorrect spellings and old company names, for example \u2018International Business Machines\u2019 for IBM, or \u2018Twitter\u2019 instead of \u2018X\u2019.<\/li>\n
  5. Mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Inheriting another company\u2019s data can cause a whole new world of pain when it comes to reporting and analytics.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Why Does Supplier Normalization Matter?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Supplier normalization matters because, ultimately, you could make bad business decisions if you don\u2019t have the correct information.<\/p>\n

    Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s say, you work in procurement. You might have local arrangements with a supplier, which means you pay a different price for the same item depending on your region. Normalizing your data would give you a clear view of what you\u2019re paying, allowing you to negotiate a better global pricing agreement.<\/p>\n

    Perhaps you\u2019re in sales and are analyzing global customer sales. You\u2019ll want to make sure you have the right information. You might think you are selling X amount to Customer A, but once you\u2019ve normalized your data, you could find it\u2019s a lot more than that. This could affect rebates, commissions, sales forecasts, marketing plans, and production planning\u2026<\/p>\n

    Knowing all this helps you understand if you\u2019re treating that customer fairly with the appropriate discounts and customer service. Can you afford to lose this customer, or is there the opportunity to upsell to them? You can\u2019t make any of these decisions without the right information.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s Another Way Supplier Normalization Can Make Your Job Easier<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    If you work in procurement, you may be targeted by rationalizing the number of suppliers you have agreements with. Supplier normalization is an exceptionally efficient way of doing this. It\u2019s like eating chocolate without the calories. Yum!<\/p>\n

    Normalize Your Suppliers to Save Money in the Long Run<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Data accuracy is an investment, not a cost. Although addressing issues at the beginning may seem costly, you\u2019ll undoubtedly spend less than if you have to resolve an issue further down the line with a time-consuming and costly data clean-up operation.<\/p>\n

    Spend data classification shows you the whole picture as long as it\u2019s accurate. You can get a true view of your spend, allowing improved cost savings, better contract compliance and possibly the most important \u2013 preventing costly mistakes before they happen.<\/p>\n

    The Problem with Supplier Normalization<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Perhaps the biggest problem with supplier normalization is how long it takes to do it properly. It can take anything from days to months to get your team to do this. Until now that is…<\/p>\n

    Introducing Samification<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Samification is the first self-service, on-demand supplier normalisation tool, and is backed by a team of experts curating and refining the data. It\u2019s so easy to use that a kid could do it.<\/p>\n

    Curious to give it a go? Then sign up for a risk-free, no-obligation trial at Samification.com to normalize up to 250 suppliers completely free of charge, or book a demo to find out more.<\/p>\n

    Visit Samification.com<\/u><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is Supplier Normalisation & Why Does it Matter? Supplier normalization (or, if you\u2019re from the States, supplier normalization) is the process of giving your existing suppliers\/companies a common name or grouping. It\u2019s also known as supplier standardization and supplier harmonization. Supplier normalization is widely used in procurement for spending analytics to show how much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Supplier Normalization & Why Does it Matter?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Supplier Normalization & Why Does it Matter?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is Supplier Normalisation & Why Does it Matter? 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