Library Services Category Procurement Intelligence Report

Subscriptions and Admissions market around the world is undergoing rapid transitions that have a massive potential to influence the way companies strategize for Library Services procurement and the cost they have to incur. People analytics has emerged as a rather new branch of HR function with an aim to gain deeper insights into an employee's behavior, motivators, risk of attrition and general wellbeing. There is a high demand for suppliers who can integrated technology in traditional processes to generate insights on the buyers' talent pool.

Suppliers are increasingly offering a 'bundle' of services which is marketed as a cost saving option. The bundled offering often includes services that are not required by the buyer or are charged at a much higher rate than an A la carte option with another supplier.

Changing workforce demographics are creating challenges in identifying the right talent mix and processes that can keep the talent pool motivated and satisfied with their work.

As market conditions become more dynamic and procurement practices get more sophisticated, category managers need to be cognizant of the best practices that work for their Library Services category procurement. The report offers a succinct analysis of Library Services procurement best practices.

For example, Buyers can achieve cost savings by bundling procurement of various personnel-related services (e.g. benefits administration, payroll, time and attendance, and HR management functions). The integration of different HR functions leads to the automation of employee data across various verticals. The integration also reduces the burden of manually entering and updating necessary information and offers consistency and accurate tracking across multiple systems.

Besides shortlisting potential suppliers based on services offered and cost, they also need to be evaluated against several other critical parameters. Some examples of these parameters are compliance with laws and regulations, capability to protect personally identifiable information and technical standards adopted (e.g. user interface, user exchange standards, data exchange standards). RFPs soliciting the above information ensures competition among suppliers and facilitates efficient evaluation.

Buyers should engage with suppliers that automate the process of handling any claims or requests through cloud-based software. Once initiated by an employee of buyer organization, suppliers' staff or the system itself can provide guidance for next steps. All necessary stakeholders can check the real-time status through web-based platform and take actions accordingly.

Library Services procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Library Services procurement. Some examples include: