total cost of ownership

Procurement
Strategic Sourcing vs Tactical Procurement: The Difference That Saves Millions
ByAnubhav Nagpal August 26, 2026June 25, 2026
Most mid-market procurement functions are built to process transactions efficiently, not to architect supplier relationships strategically — and that distinction is worth millions in recoverable cost. This post defines the operational difference between tactical procurement and strategic sourcing, covers category segmentation using the Kraljic Matrix, and provides a practical 12-month sequencing for teams ready to make the transition.
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Business Transformation
ERP Selection Framework: The Questions to Ask Before Signing Any Contract
ByAnubhav Nagpal August 10, 2026June 25, 2026
ERP selection processes are typically structured backwards — organizations spend months evaluating features and days reviewing contracts, which is precisely backwards from what determines project success. This post provides a structured framework for evaluating vendors on the dimensions that actually predict outcomes: total cost of ownership, implementation partner accountability, customization governance, integration architecture, and reference quality at comparable scale, including a scoring template for making vendor responses comparable.
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AI Automation
RPA Maintenance: The Total Cost of Ownership Your Vendor Won’t Quote
ByAnubhav Nagpal July 25, 2026June 25, 2026
RPA vendors quote licenses. They don’t quote the bot maintenance, exception handling overhead, Center of Excellence staffing, and technical debt from bot sprawl that typically add up to two to three times the license cost. This post breaks down the full total cost of ownership for mid-market RPA programs — with a worksheet you can use to build a defensible TCO model before you commit.
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Business Transformation
Insource, Outsource, or Automate: How to Make the Decision Deliberately in Finance Operations
ByAnubhav Nagpal May 23, 2026May 25, 2026
Key takeaways The insource/outsource/automate decision is almost never made deliberately — it accumulates through mergers, cost-cutting cycles, and ad hoc automation builds. Unpicking it requires a structured framework, not a cost comparison. Total cost of ownership calculations systematically understate outsourcing costs. In one UK energy retailer engagement, a BPO contract priced at 35% cheaper than…
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