2024 GLOBAL SRM RESEARCH REPORT
CASE STUDY: DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES CASE STUDY: CANCER RESEARCH UK - GEARING UP TO BENEFIT
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Gearing up to benefit
All of the charity’s around 4,000 employees and 25,000 volunteers are united, however, by the same ultimate goal: “We’re all here to continue our life-saving work and make progress for those affected by cancer,” says Morrison. Third party services at Cancer Research UK cover annual expenditure in excess of £100m, and supplier management is managed locally. The organisation has some significant, long-standing supplier relationships, particularly in the marketing, technology, property and energy categories. These are managed directly by budget holders, supported by a central procurement team. “We are yet to establish consistent supplier management, we’re not at a level of strategic relationship management across the organisation at this point,” says Morrison. “This is what we are working on.” State of Flux is currently reviewing the as-is function and making best practice recommendations for change, as well as assisting with tools and templates to support the transformation. Here, Morrison tells us about the opportunities that lie ahead. Supplier management 101 Morrison joined the charity three years ago following executive retail posts held at Debenhams, Direct Line Group insurance, Sainsburys and Asda. Technology
Our aim is to see a level of consistency and access to performance data, and do it collectively so everyone across our diverse organisation gets the benefit.” ESG value-add As a charity, the organisation is typically offered discounted third-sector rates, and while Morrison says these are a fantastic benefit, what she’s really keen to do is boost the value-add too. Another part of her role is to oversee the charity’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda. The aim is, through strategic supplier management, to better enable organisations to add value as part of their own ESG agenda, in particular the social element. “We’re an organisation that has ‘social’ in its core purpose,” she says. “Our vision is to bring about a world where everybody can lead longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer. We exist to beat cancer, and beating cancer means beating it for everyone.” While there are some long-standing relationships and engagements which deliver on the value-add successfully, there is no formal process with which to explore and identify these opportunities with suppliers. “The bit beyond paid value is potentially very large for us and our suppliers - but it’s not easy to execute,” says Morrison.
Cancer Research UK’s COO on how the charity is trying to find a way to capitalise on supplier relationships
As with all organisations, budget holders have a responsibility to spend money wisely - but when it is a charity, and the funding has come from donations, it is imperative. Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity, dedicated to saving and improving lives with its research, influence and information. Across its centres and institutes more than 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses work together on lab studies
and clinical trials to discover more about cancer, and unlock new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat it. In the past 50 years, the charity’s pioneering work has helped double cancer survival in the UK. At its centre sits the charity’s operational core headed by COO Angela Morrison. Her remit spans finance, including procurement, technology, HR and transformation.
Photos supplied by Cancer Research UK
and change is her background and this is her point of reference, alongside the charity’s new CTO, to enable more consistent supplier management. “I’ve delivered big system changes in the past and it’s always about the relationships. There will always be downtimes where you have to dig deep and work through things together. Between myself and our CTO, we know what works for us and where we want to get to within technology.” By which she means developing a hierarchy of management to ensure the charity has the right relationships in place; a regular cadence of meetings with suppliers; the joint alignment of goals with supplier partners that are designed to achieve the outcomes both want; and the ability to jointly track progress. “Our supplier management is inconsistent - some parts of the organisation are doing it, but it’s not across the whole - and we currently provide limited central support. “Our maturity needs to improve so we can hold people to account - in terms of how we manage and monitor suppliers.
“We’re an organisation that has ‘social’ in its core purpose. Our vision is to bring about a world where everybody can lead longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer. We exist to
beat cancer, and beating cancer means beating it for everyone.”
Angela Morrison , Cancer Research UK’s Chief Operating Officer
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