Jeremy Ferrer
Webinar :
Cross-border Purchases and VAT: Optimization Strategies
Tuesday Sept. 10, 2024 at 11 am (France)
In each of our global locations, BME Consulting strives to develop and continuously improve its service according to customer needs in order to guarantee a constant quality of service. We apply a continuous quality program to continuously assess the performance of our candidates and compliance with the requirements of our customers. Performance programs are created to ensure that we measure satisfaction against criteria that the customer considers essential to their business performance.
Measuring customer satisfaction is an integral part of this process and allows for 360-degree feedback on performance.
We assess the satisfaction of our customers during evaluation meetings. The local BME Consulting consultants responsible for the contract will undertake scheduled meetings with your local end user. The purpose of these meetings is to review daily work, changes in requirements, planned/unscheduled absences, operational issues requiring immediate attention, and any other information to ensure the smooth running of the contract.
A formal monthly contract review meeting is also organized to take stock of the previous month and focus on key priorities for the coming months. The development of a strong, open and honest working relationship between BME Consulting and your contract team will be crucial for the success of the contract. This meeting structure is also supported by the regular reporting of a comprehensive set of service levels, mutually agreed upon by your company and BME Consulting.
BME Consulting uses the principles of total quality management and continuous improvement.
BME Consulting's policy is to provide a level of service to both customers and staff that represents a reference for the procurement services industry. This objective is achieved through the consistent application of all of our proprietary systems and procedures, collectively known as the Quality Management System.
As part of our partnership approach, we want to align our quality system so that it best meets your requirements and your current quality accreditation.
We are continuously working to achieve ISO 9001/9002 status in countries that are not yet accredited in order to ensure that our high quality standards are maintained globally.
Our quality assurance systems are based on five key procedures that ensure that customers and staff receive a comprehensive service of the highest quality. Quality systems are under constant review in order to identify opportunities for improvement at all levels.
The purpose of this procedure is to define how the BME Consulting Quality System is regularly and systematically reviewed. Our quality manager and our operational managers carry out reviews every six months. The following elements are examined and result in a series of action points:
— The results of the internal audit.
— The effectiveness of any corrective action
— The effectiveness of quality systems
— Opportunities to improve quality systems and service levels in accordance with customer requirements.
Internal quality audit
The objective of this procedure is to define the methods for regular internal audits of all elements of the BME Consulting Quality System. All areas covered by the quality management system are audited on an annual basis. Any non-conformances are reported to quality and operations managers for the supervision of corrective actions.
Control of documents and manuals
The purpose of this procedure is to ensure the maintenance and control of documentation within BME Consulting. This systematic process ensures the maintenance and control of all documentation, which affects the quality of service. All electronic documents, templates, and manuals are updated, controlled, and disposed of according to strict guidelines, with particular attention paid to confidential documents.
Solving problems and preventing them from happening again
The objective of this procedure is to define responsibilities and activities relating to corrective actions within BME Consulting. BME Consulting managers are responsible for implementing any corrective and preventive actions, which are reviewed and signed by a BME Consulting manager. All of these actions are implemented within 20 days of the audit or problem identification.
Customer/employee complaint procedure
The objective of this procedure is to define the system for handling and analyzing customer complaints within BME Consulting. The process includes the registration, analysis, and satisfactory resolution of any complaint received locally or at the corporate center. Complaints are reported to the quality manager and are discussed during quality and operations review meetings.
We apply an ongoing quality performance program to continuously assess the performance of our staff and compliance with the requirements of our customers. Customized performance programs are created for our on-site operations to ensure that we measure satisfaction against service attributes that the customer considers essential.
Benefits of the BME Consulting quality approach
By implementing a quality program that promotes best practices, the benefits for your business are numerous.
— Increased customer satisfaction
— Reduction in costly mistakes
— Focus of attention on the culture of continuous improvement
— Encourages staff participation
The BME Consulting quality cycle
Continuous improvement is essential to add value to any business. Based on this, we are seeking the ideas and opinions of our staff, customers, and partners to facilitate the ongoing change management process.
By organizing procurement forums, reviewing satisfaction and dissatisfaction letters, and performance statistics, we would be in a position to be responsive and proactive in our approach to implementing change, and ultimately add value to your business.
Our quality feedback system, the “Quality Performance Program,” focuses on three main areas that provide a forum for three-way communication. In this way, we guarantee the satisfaction of our customers and our field staff.
It consists of three main components:
The evaluation of our staff: All procurement staff have their professional performance formally evaluated at regular intervals. On the first day of the mission, BME Consulting will contact the user manager by telephone to ensure that our employee has integrated well. Then, we will periodically invite our customers to assess the performance of our procurement staff, throughout their mission.
Tail Expense Management Satisfaction Review: Just as we assess the performance of our employees, we look at the satisfaction and well-being of customer applicants, as the two are intrinsically linked. We regularly ask the requester of each customer to evaluate our service and our ability to respond effectively to their needs.
Evaluation of our customer service: Regular meetings to review daily work, any changes in requirements, planned/unplanned absences, and operational issues. These meetings are structured around the regular reporting of a comprehensive set of service level criteria.
By getting continuous feedback and reviewing performance, we'll be in a position to be both responsive and proactive in our approach to implementing change and ultimately add value to your business.
The delivery model we offer would support your business through a local approach to your sites. The infrastructure of BME Consulting's branch network in each country is designed to offer our clients the range of support services you need to maximize the benefit you can get from the effective use of outsourcing tail expenses, regardless of the suppliers required or location.
As part of a multi-site or global agreement, we structure our delivery teams at the local level to ensure that your local needs are met. Our local teams are supported at the corporate level by directors and account managers who are responsible for the overall customer relationship and for communicating agreement terms/customer information across our network.
Regular internal communications and meetings ensure that our branch network is aware of customer requirements and service levels, mutually agreed upon with customers, and that local teams are working toward clear service delivery goals.
BME Consulting's business hours are 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. However, it may be necessary to adapt them to the local culture, for example in terms of opening hours. Some services, such as 24/7 services, are available in some countries but are not included in our standard pricing. We would like to have further discussions about this service.
We assume that the needs will be different in the different business units of your business, and we will find solutions to meet local needs. An exclusive agreement can be negotiated to provide a level of service 7 days a week.
Globally, BME Consulting has put in place procedures to measure its quality performance. The aim of this measure is to
Develop/improve our service continuously according to customer needs.
Ensuring a constant quality of service on all sites
Motivate staff to reach new levels of excellence by recognizing and rewarding exceptional service standard performance.
We have implemented a universal policy to ensure the efficiency and productivity of BME Consulting across all the services we provide. These cover:
Quality assurance procedure 1 — to define how the BME Consulting quality system is regularly reviewed.
Quality Assurance Procedure 2 — to define the methods for regular internal audits of all elements of the BME Consulting Quality System.
Quality Assurance Procedure 3 — to ensure the maintenance and control of all documentation within BME Consulting.
Quality Assurance Procedure 4 — define responsibilities and activities for corrective actions within BME Consulting.
Quality assurance procedure 5 — to define the system for handling and analyzing customer complaints within BME Consulting.
Throughout these procedures, internal auditors will review these areas and continuously highlight areas for improvement.
BME Consulting harnesses the same energy and importance that we use to train our valued procurement and administration employees. Our commitment to training our own staff means better service for your business.
Our training offerings address a number of workplace issues including safety, customer relationships, workforce diversity, error management, sourcing, people management, sexual harassment, as well as various technical applications.
BME Consulting also offers a large number of online courses and directed training courses to train and develop our staff.
BME Consulting is very proud to have a defined process to ensure that supplier payments are made on time and without anomalies. This entire process is available for consultation upon request. Here is the operating model:
1. Order description
2. Delivery dates
3. Customer confirmation
4. Calculation and verification of invoices
5. Verification, control and archiving of payments
Historically, we have had to increase and decrease the size and scope of our procurement models based on customer demand.
1/ In the event of renewed customer demand, we implement the following measures:
Manage the process:
Assigning additional staff from other entities in the group (short or long term) — our extended service means that we have experienced staff who can be seconded at short notice.
Recruiting new external staff
All new account hires would receive comprehensive process training (we would have a process manual in place to facilitate this).
Increase supply capacity:
Engaging new sources of supply where necessary and implementing trade agreements.
2/ In the event of a drop in customer demand, we are in a position to resize our team appropriately:
To manage the process:
Working with your business, we will agree on minimum levels of coverage to ensure that business needs are supported.
Key staff will be retained to ensure that all ongoing programs are maintained and managed effectively.
Any staff member leaving the account (short term or long term) will be subject to a thorough transfer process to ensure business knowledge is maintained within the account team.
Control supply capacity:
It is critical that all suppliers are well-informed during downturns, so they are aware of developments within your business, stay motivated, and keep potential delivery routes open.
If your business needs to reduce the number of orders, we are in a position to use our market position to send our employees to other customers.
Delivery times depend largely on the market situation at the regional level. Our order fulfillment times depend on the merchandise required. We would be happy to discuss your expectations regarding our turnaround times and for the agreed timeframe to be included in our service level agreement.
A number of elements allowed us to respond more quickly to customer requests:
Supplier pools — allow us to provide qualified suppliers.
Technology — thanks to our order management system based on the web or on a software called Sourcing Force, we are in a position to receive requests 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This significantly reduces our response times. We can forward requests to other industries, to specialized providers, and send information back to customers via the Internet.
We are always looking for new and innovative ways to speed up supplier sourcing processes and we try to adopt new technologies as much as possible.
We suggest the following turnaround times:
We consider a short-term request to be one that needs to be processed within 12 hours or less. By using our supplier database, we can identify suppliers who have the skills required for the mission and who are in a position to respond to last-minute requests.
As part of the implementation phase, each BME Consulting office can work with their local site to define a list of potential products that are likely to have requests on the same day or ASAP. Each office can explore and implement the best possible option to provide suppliers for these demanding requests.
These are standard topics that we include in all of our SLAs. We would be happy to tailor a custom SLA to your business needs and discuss how they can be integrated. We suggest that you set up a French SLA, containing 5 to 7 key measures that may be common to all of your company's operations and therefore subject to reviews by country. Our experience shows that each site will want to have a specific SLA depending on the type of activity carried out. BME Consulting would like to discuss this further with your company.
Kraljic matrix: Map your purchases
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