Greater speed, less red tape – a future-proof procurement model for a leading media group

Procurement processes in large organisations are often complex. Lengthy approval processes, recurring price negotiations and a high level of coordination can delay projects, increase administrative effort and make budget planning more difficult.

A leading German media group faced a similar challenge. The organisation wanted to accelerate procurement processes, improve budget predictability and simplify collaboration between IT, procurement teams and manufacturers. 

The requirements

 The focus was not on introducing another tool, but on creating a practical solution that would simplify day-to-day procurement activities: 

• Acceleration:  Reducing procurement and quotation lead times. 
• Creating transparency:  Establishing traceable pricing structures instead of recurring renegotiations.
• Increasing efficiency:  Reducing coordination effort between all stakeholders.
• Ensuring predictability:  Enabling more reliable budget and project planning. 
• Enabling scalability:  Providing standardised terms and conditions across multiple group companies. 

The solution

 To address these challenges, Xantaro worked closely with the client and manufacturer to develop a framework agreement model that standardises procurement while maintaining the flexibility required for ongoing business needs. 

The key components:

• A multi-year contract structure instead of individual negotiations
• Binding discount models
• Standardised price lists
• Clear rules for USD-based prices
• Group-wide standard terms and conditions

Implementation

Implementing the new model required the alignment of different discount structures, management of currency risks and adaptation of internal approval processes.

Through close collaboration between all parties involved, these challenges were successfully addressed, creating a procurement structure that was both efficient and scalable.

The result

The new framework agreement delivered tangible improvements across daily operations:

• Faster project launches thanks to significantly shorter quotation times
• Smoother processes with less coordination effort
• Greater planning certainty regarding budgets and currencies
• Fewer escalations in day-to-day procurement

Conclusion

This project demonstrates that efficient procurement does not come from adding complexity, but from creating clear, reliable and scalable structures.

The jointly developed framework agreement provides greater transparency, accelerates processes and enables long-term, predictable collaboration across the entire organisation.