Jonny Dunning

Interesting survey out today from Zivio on the evolving services procurement market. Some key takeaways: - Misclassification risk tops the list of customers challenges - A lack of business recognition of the challenges presented by SoWs, plus technology constraints prevent businesses from implementing dedicated services procurement management - 70% of respondents identify the need for improvements in the entire SoW management business cycle Time for change then... Full survey via the link below: https://lnkd.in/eFD2Bkfp

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Services procurement often struggles not because of a lack of effort, but because it’s managed in fragments. Decisions are made in isolation, ownership is split, and data sits across disconnected systems, making it difficult to see how services are really performing. Patti Vora and Jonny Dunning, explore why services procurement maturity comes from taking a holistic view through connecting people, processes, data and governance, so organisations can reduce blind spots, manage risk more effectively and make better decisions across the full services lifecycle. https://lnkd.in/enwG_e5C #ServicesProcurement #Procurement #StatementofWork #SOW #ServicesProcurementSystem

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3 Comments

Spreadsheets, emails and antiquated tools are not a services procurement strategy. Managing SOW-based services with tools built for goods or contingent labour creates risk, not control (especially as services spend grows year on year). Without clear visibility, governance and data, cost overruns go unnoticed, contract terms are poorly enforced, supplier performance is unclear, risks go unmanaged, timelines slip, and the value procurement delivers is hard to prove. Perhaps it's a change in perception of what procurement's involvement should be. Goods procurement stops at the PO. But the real value in services procurement starts there. If services spend is growing, shouldn’t the way we manage it evolve too? #servicesprocurement #SOW #servicesspend Zivio

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1 Comment

A purchase order confirms money was committed. It tells you almost nothing about what that money actually bought. In services, that gap carries real financial risk. The PO doesn't reflect what was agreed in the SOW, doesn't move when the scope moves, and says nothing about whether the work was delivered. A project approved at one number can quietly settle at a very different one, with nothing in between to explain how. Across a whole category of spend, that exposure adds up. You can't forecast with confidence, you can't show a clean line from approval to payment, and you're short of answers when someone senior asks the obvious question. Ben Laker, and I discuss why this matters, and why seeing past the PO is how a material area of spend becomes something you can stand behind. #ServicesProcurement #Procurement #StatementofWork #SOW #ServicesProcurementSystem Zivio

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7 Comments

Self-service doesn’t remove procurement expertise, it changes where it’s applied. When teams are supported to scope work properly and engage suppliers transparently, projects run cleaner and the disputes that usually surface too late disappear. That’s how procurement stops being reactive and becomes a strategic enabler. #ServicesProcurement #Procurement #StatementofWork #SOW Nicola Everett #ServicesProcurementSystem Zivio #ContingentWorkforce

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3 Comments

Is your organisation managing services procurement spend with tools built for headcount? This piece from Zivio makes a clear distinction: Contingent labour = buying capacity. Services procurement = buying outcomes. They look similar on the surface, but the complexity, accountability, and measurement challenges are fundamentally different. Good reading for anyone who feels the VMS isn't quite doing the job. https://lnkd.in/e8Gih3Wk #ServicesProcurement #SOW #StatementofWork

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1 Comment

When millions in external services spend cannot be linked back to the outcomes they were meant to deliver, that is more than an operational nuisance. It is a serious blind spot, leaving an organisation unable to demonstrate what it actually received for the money it spent. And the problem often stays hidden until someone asks for the evidence. If an auditor asked you to evidence what your services spend delivered, would you be reaching for a report or searching through an inbox? #ServicesProcurement #Procurement #StatementofWork #SOW #ServicesProcurementSystem Zivio

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1 Comment

Procurement continues to hold overall responsibility for services spend in most organisations, but the picture is less clear when you look beyond the headline. In 2026, 38% of survey respondents said their third-party services spend isnt centrally managed at all. That raises a bigger question about how much visibility Finance really has over what the organisation is committing to across different teams and projects. When responsibility is fragmented across the business, supplier selection, budget alignment, changes to scope and additional commitments can all happen in different places, making it harder to build a complete picture of the financial position. How confident are you that you can see the full picture of your organisations third-party services commitments? #ServicesProcurement #Procurement #StatementofWork #SOW #ServicesProcurementSystem Zivio

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1 Comment

“In order to see these pieces together and look at total talent, you need different lenses, right? Like, because if you only have a TA lens, you're only looking at one channel of where your workforce can come in.” A significant amount of work sits outside traditional TA, delivered through services and contingent models. When these channels aren’t viewed together under one lens, it makes it harder to see true capacity, cost, or risk. Until businesses look across the full workforce mix, decisions will continue to optimise headcount rather than outcomes. #ServicesProcurement #Procurement #StatementofWork #SOW #ServicesProcurementSystem Zivio

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5 Comments