Getting the Vendors You Need, Without the Procurement Hurdles

Field Operations Teams and Supply Chain Managers Often Have Conflicting Priorities – Workrise Enables Quicker Vendor Sourcing While Keeping Costs in Check

Field operations teams use many vendors on oil and gas projects to install, maintain, and repair equipment, systems and assets promptly to minimize downtime and keep projects on time and on budget. But managing those vendors is challenging, partly because oil and gas companies generally use more vendors than businesses in other sectors^[1] - a single oil and gas project may require 50+ vendors.^[2]

One of the challenges is that it can be difficult to decide who should manage particular vendor relationships, the corporate team or the field team. This issue can be exacerbated by field teams and supply chain teams having different priorities. While the field team is trying to ensure high quality work and maximum revenue, the supply chain team is focussed on achieving cost savings. Sometimes field ops may be pressured by the supply chain team to use vendors on an approved list rather than using new vendors due to the costs incurred. But field ops may not believe the vendor proposed by supply chain will provide a satisfactory service to the specific region or location. The quantity and quality of vendors usually differs based on location, which impacts on the effort needed to choose a suitable vendor. 

A Lack of Automated Up-to-Date Vendor Lists

Field ops want to find vendors quickly to maximize uptime because the vast majority (more than 80%) of oil and gas projects around the world experience delays, which can have massive financial implications.^[3] In contrast, supply chain teams want to take the time to ensure vendors are compliant, and also keep the vendor list as small as possible – this is because consolidating vendors enables the ability to negotiate bulk discounts; lower shipping-related costs; and less time spent managing vendors.^[4] Conflicting priorities can lead to tensions between supply chain and field ops teams. 

It is often supply chain teams that keep approved vendor lists up to date, a task that is frequently too challenging for fields ops teams because there is often not a current, automated list available. Field ops teams often do not see a necessity to have an up-to-date vendor list because the focus is always on critical work – involving big contracts – and the relevant vendors are always retained. But the lack of an approved vendor list means that the company will not be getting the best value, won’t be maximizing cost savings, will be working less efficiently, and potentially exposing themselves to a range of operational risks.^[5]   

Using Workrise to Minimize Downtime

Partnering with Workrise means supply chain leaders can enable field operations teams to quickly and easily identify vendors that have already been approved and put them to work immediately to minimize downtime.  

Workrise also ensures that field teams can see the vendors have the necessary qualifications and certifications. Vendors are vetted against each organization's unique criteria to ensure each supplier is compliant when they start and remains compliant throughout the project. Field operations teams can easily see all the vendors that have been approved by every department in their organization, meaning that time-consuming onboarding processes can be eliminated.

Real-Time Spend Data

Workrise also gives visibility into spend data in real time.The volume of invoices received means the verification and approval of invoices are pain points for ops teams. Workrise provides real-time data on what has been invoiced by a vendor at the region, category, vendor and project level to ease the administrative burden.

Using Workrise means field ops teams are able to source suitable vendors more quickly and minimize downtime.

Let’s Talk

At Workrise, we take the burden out of vendor management. For best-in-class supply chain solutions, lets chat.

‍