Linus Malmberg in the sourcing blog for Computer Sweden (in Swedish) is writing about Service Oriented Business Architecture and letting “somebody else do the job for you”. He argues that if your company’s processes/services are not world class, then you should considering stop doing them yourself and buy them as a service from somebody else. Malmberg also writes, if your processes/services really are world class you can even sell them and make some money out of it, with an example on how Amazon.com is selling back-up as a service.
This translated into how to operate purchasing within your organization; I recommend you to start evaluating your performance per process/service and decide if you really are at a world class performance level. Look into sourcing, procurement, pay, follow-up, and support. For these areas, evaluate processes, systems, services and competence. If you realize that you are not world class within one or several area, you should start thinking about having someone else do the job for you.
