Combine expressive bidding, optimisation analytics and game theory to uncover sourcing opportunities that conventional approaches cannot reach – and turn complex supplier proposals into decisions you can act on.

When conventional sourcing reaches its limits

Complex sourcing decisions involve much more than comparing prices. Multiple suppliers, thousands of line items, alternative proposals, volume and bundle discounts, capacity constraints and competing business objectives can create more possible award combinations than conventional tender methods or spreadsheets can reliably evaluate.

The usual response is to simplify. Supplier proposals are reduced to comparable bids. Potentially valuable alternatives are excluded. Only a limited number of award scenarios are considered.

That makes the decision easier to manage – but it can also mean leaving significant value unexplored.

Many organisations have invested in advanced sourcing platforms that can handle greater complexity. Yet even then, powerful optimisation capabilities often remain underused and final decisions move back into spreadsheets.

The challenge is therefore not simply having the right technology. It is designing the sourcing process so that you can use it to make better decisions.

What is smart Collaborative Optimisation?

smart Collaborative Optimisation (sCO) is TWS Partners’ approach to designing and executing complex sourcing decisions – and building the capabilities to repeat them successfully.
sCO combines expressive bidding, advanced optimisation analytics, smart data management and process design grounded in game theory.
Instead of simplifying supplier proposals until they fit a conventional tender, sCO allows suppliers to express how they can create the most value: through alternative solutions, bundles, volume offers or different capacity commitments.
These possibilities can then be evaluated against your commercial and strategic priorities – from cost and resilience to service, sustainability and operational requirements.
The result is not simply a mathematically optimal answer. It is a sourcing decision that reflects the realities of your business and can be understood, agreed and implemented.

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How smart Collaborative Optimisation works

1) CAPTURE SUPPLIERS’ REAL ECONOMICS
    Design sourcing events that allow suppliers to submit meaningful alternatives, bundles and volume offers, innovative solutions and relevant capacity or operational constraints. This creates a richer basis for collaboration, competition and better decisions.
2) CREATE CREDIBLE COMPETITION AND COLLABORATION
    Use game theory and behavioural insights to design bidding rounds, supplier feedback and negotiations. A clear and credible process gives suppliers the right incentives to put forward competitive, realistic and implementable proposals.
3) OPTIMISE COMPLEX AWARD SCENARIOS
    Model and compare thousands of potential supplier allocations while considering commercial, operational and strategic constraints. Quantify the impact of different choices before the award is made – rather than discovering the trade-offs afterwards.
4) CREATE CLARITY FOR BUSINESS STAKEHOLDERS
    Turn complex analysis into clear business choices. Make trade-offs between cost, resilience, service, sustainability and other priorities visible so that procurement and business stakeholders can decide from a shared set of facts.
5) TURN THE ANALYSIS INTO AN IMPLEMENTABLE DECISION
    Combine optimisation with sourcing experience, supplier knowledge and operational judgement. The goal is not the most sophisticated model. It is a robust award decision that creates value in the real world.
What clients gain
  • Better decisions when sourcing gets complex
    Evaluate supplier combinations and award options that conventional bid comparisons or spreadsheets cannot reliably assess.
  • More value from suppliers – and your existing technology
    Use expressive bids, supplier alternatives and optimisation capabilities that might otherwise remain unexplored.
  • Clarity on the trade-offs that matter
    Understand the impact of different award scenarios on cost, risk, service, sustainability, resilience and supplier dependency before committing to a decision.
  • Stronger stakeholder alignment
    Give procurement and business stakeholders a transparent view of the choices, constraints and financial implications – creating greater certainty around complex decisions.
  • Measurable value that can actually be implemented
    Identify commercially attractive solutions without losing sight of supplier capacity, operational requirements or implementation risks.
  • The right support at the right time
    Sourcing optimisation is not simply a software capability. Getting it right requires sourcing expertise, analytics, supplier and stakeholder management, high-quality data, tool knowledge and sound strategic judgement.
Not every organisation needs the same level of support. TWS can provide:
  • Full delivery
    of complex sourcing events
  • Joint execution
    alongside your procurement team
  • Expert coaching
    at critical stages of an event
  • Ongoing Centre of Excellence support
  • Training and capability building

This allows organisations to start where they are today and build towards something more valuable: using sourcing optimisation repeatedly across categories and teams, rather than reserving it for isolated flagship projects.

Why smart Collaborative Optimisation is different

Most sourcing optimisation approaches focus on the model. sCO looks at the decision as a whole.

It brings together strategic sourcing and category expertise, expressive bidding and optimisation, game theory and behavioural science, scenario analytics and smart data management.

    And because sCO is tool-agnostic, the focus is not on pushing a particular sourcing platform. It is on getting more from the technology and capabilities you already have – and identifying what is needed to make better sourcing decisions.

    We do more than configure an optimisation model.
    We challenge the sourcing design, identify alternatives that might otherwise be missed and help your teams turn complexity into clear, robust business decisions.

Where does smart Collaborative Optimisation create the most value?

sCO is particularly valuable when sourcing decisions involve multiple suppliers, large numbers of items, complex allocation rules or competing business requirements. Typical applications include:

  • Direct materials and packaging
  • Logistics, transportation and supply-chain networks
  • IT, engineering and other complex services
  • Capital expenditure and complex indirect categories
  • Interdependent categories and cross-functional decisions
  • High-value, multi-supplier awards

The common denominator is a sourcing decision where the number of possibilities and trade-offs has become too great to manage effectively with conventional methods.

Turn sourcing complexity into an advantage

Complexity does not have to make sourcing decisions less certain. Used well, it can reveal alternatives and sources of value that simpler approaches miss.

Talk to our experts about how smart Collaborative Optimisation can support your next sourcing event – and help you build an optimisation capability that delivers value repeatedly.

Is your organisation getting enough from sourcing optimisation?

Our Sourcing Optimisation Adoption Survey reveals where organisations stand today – and where untapped potential remains. Request the report to benchmark your approach and identify opportunities to get more from sourcing optimisation.

Request the full report

Talk to our experts

ARMIN SCHARLACH

ARMIN SCHARLACH

General Manager Switzerland
 ARMIN SCHARLACH

ARMIN SCHARLACH

General Manager Switzerland
 HENNING WACHTENDORF

HENNING WACHTENDORF

Procurement Transformation Leader
 HENNING WACHTENDORF

HENNING WACHTENDORF

Procurement Transformation Leader