Rising cost pressure, fragmented data, and manual tendering processes are holding many procurement organizations back. At the same time, savings potential is often right in front of them—hidden within items, suppliers, and prices. In our webinar, "Finding Hidden Levers – Reducing Costs with Intelligent Category Management," Hans Boot (Partner, Durch Denken Vorne Consult) and Lucas Trümpler (Customer Development, Tacto) demonstrate how companies can create transparency and systematically realize savings through structured category strategies.

The Starting Point – Tackling Procurement Complexity Systematically

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Many procurement departments struggle with the same challenges:

• Fragmented data sources: Tendering and supplier analyses are often manual and time-consuming.
• Unclear cost drivers: Prices and volumes are difficult to compare, and benchmarks are missing.
• Reactive negotiations: Discussions are held without a reliable data foundation, leaving savings potential on the table.

A well-thought-out category strategy provides the framework to create transparency, set priorities, and target savings effectively.

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The Three Levers – An Overview

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We show how companies can address their biggest cost drivers across three levels:

• Supplier level: Standardized RFQs accelerate the tendering process, simplify award decisions, and reduce prices.
• Item level: Cost modeling makes cost drivers visible, while cost engineering helps to structurally optimize products and services.
• Price level: Thorough preparation, targeted item selection, and structured argumentation make negotiations more effective—tools like Tacto provide the necessary data and benchmarks.
  
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Supplier level

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We start at the supplier level to realize savings quickly and effectively:

• Standardization: Uniform tender formats make bids more comparable and decisions more transparent.
• Data-driven selection: Transparent supplier classifications enable well-founded awards – based not only on price, but also on quality, risk, and delivery reliability.
• Scalability: A structured RFQ process allows for larger volumes to be tendered simultaneously, which can lead to better terms.

This creates a solid foundation for strategic supplier relationships and a more resilient supplier base.

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Item level

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At the item level, we create cost transparency and derive optimization measures:

• Cost modeling: Prices are broken down into their components – material, manufacturing, and logistics. Deviations become visible and target costs can be derived.
• Cost engineering: Building on this transparency, design and specification optimizations are identified to sustainably improve cost structures.
• Data integration: Cost models can be adjusted dynamically, for example in response to raw material price fluctuations, giving companies greater planning security.

The item level is the lever for structural, long-term savings.

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Price level

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Negotiations are the moment when strategic groundwork pays off. We show how procurement organizations can structure their negotiation preparation to optimally capture potential:

• Targeted item selection: Analytics help prioritize the right items for negotiations – systematically considering not just A-parts, but B- and C-parts as well.
• Comprehensive preparation: Volume trends, price developments, and alternatives are consolidated to proactively shape negotiations rather than simply reacting to price increases.
• Efficiency & Speed: Digital tools like Tacto create comprehensive negotiation dossiers in minutes, bundling all relevant data – ideal for both annual reviews and last-minute meetings.

This ensures that even smaller items are not overlooked and that procurement can fully leverage its bargaining power.

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Key insights for procurement

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• Standardization saves time – and creates capacity for strategic work.
• Transparency is key – if you know your costs, you can actively manage them.
• Data-driven preparation makes negotiations more effective – and increases your leverage.
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Conclusion

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In this webinar, we show how consistently applying a category strategy can turn daily cost pressure into real room for maneuver. Standardized tenders, cost models, and structured negotiation strategies work together as a trio for sustainable savings – and make procurement measurably more effective.

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Hans Boot from Durch Denken Vorne Consult and Lukas Trümpler from Tacto demonstrate in this webinar how companies can use a clear category strategy to create transparency across suppliers, items, and prices, systematically identify savings levers, and prioritize measures based on data. Standardized tenders, cost modeling, and cost engineering provide the foundation for specifically optimizing B and C parts, conducting supplier discussions based on facts, and preparing for negotiations with clear benchmarks.