Challenge
Like many higher education institutions, a leading Australian university was significantly impacted by COVID-19. Restrictions on international travel reduced the ability to attract foreign students, placing financial strain on the university’s operating model.
The university needed to find new ways to unlock value and optimize spend. A corporate cost review program was launched to challenge current norms and deliver savings, with procurement identified as a key enabler.
At the time, procurement operated in a reactive, transactional manner, with limited ability to influence spend strategically. The university recognized the need to move to a strategic category management model, creating a centralized, value-driven procurement function that could deliver efficiency, savings, and better supplier outcomes.
The client engaged with a partner to support this transformation and deliver a more structured, category-led approach to procurement.
Approach
Several key workstreams were undertaken in collaboration with the university to establish the foundations of strategic category management:
Key activities included:
- Policy and governance review – Assessed existing procurement policies and procedures, ensuring they were fit-for-purpose and provided the right controls. Developed recommendations to underpin a new procurement framework.
- Category schema and opportunity assessment – Created a category taxonomy and spend dashboard to enable clear visibility of spend. Conducted category-by-category opportunity assessments to identify potential savings and develop tailored category strategies.
- Spend analytics and reporting – Replaced ad-hoc manual reporting, hosted through a proprietary portal, enabling regular updates and visibility of spend, including local and social procurement, to support the university’s corporate objectives.
- Technology and buying channels – Provided advice and direction on the optimal technology roadmap and procurement channels, enabling easier access to preferred suppliers and more efficient buying processes.
- Software spend review – Conducted a detailed analysis of software spend, identifying leakage from existing agreements and opportunities to optimize license renewals.
- IT hardware strategy – Delivered a targeted sourcing strategy for IT hardware, developing a business case to shift from a fragmented, decentralized model to a controlled, customer-focused approach.
Results
The initiative delivered a step change in procurement capability and outcomes:
- Category strategies developed across multiple spend areas, identifying savings opportunities and strategic supplier partnerships.
- Live spend cube deployed, providing transparency of spend across the university and tracking progress against social and local procurement targets.
- Procurement policy and governance strengthened, ensuring better compliance and alignment to corporate priorities.
- Software spend optimized, reducing leakage and improving license management.
- Business case developed for IT hardware strategy, creating a more controlled and value-focused approach to technology sourcing.
Through this program, the university transitioned from a reactive procurement function to a strategic category management model, unlocking savings while building a more resilient, efficient, and transparent procurement capability.
The transformation enabled procurement to:
- Deliver greater value from suppliers.
- Support university-wide cost reduction and efficiency objectives.
- Align procurement with broader organizational goals, including local and social procurement.
- Build the foundation for a central-led procurement model that supports growth, research, and innovation.
By embedding category management discipline and leveraging advanced spend analytics, the university was enabled to move from transactional procurement to strategic value creation, strengthening its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and support long-term sustainability.
This project was delivered by Proxima’s APAC team, under the former brand name, ArcBlue.
