Procurement intelligence, plain language.
Practitioner-level analysis from the Proculr team. No marketing, no fluff — just methodology.
How We Built a Tail Spend Benchmark Dataset Without Asking Anyone to Share Sensitive Data
The obvious problem with procurement benchmarks: companies won't share what they're paying. Here's our approach to building a useful anonymized dataset.
What Actually Counts as Tail Spend — and Why the Definition Matters for Your Savings Target
Most companies include too much or too little in their tail spend definition. Getting this wrong means your savings target is either unrealistic or undersized.
From Invoice Data to Savings Signal: What Happens Between ERP Export and Negotiation Brief
A look under the hood at how we classify, benchmark, and prioritize supplier spend to generate the briefs our customers actually use.
How Many Procurement FTEs Does a $100M Spend Organization Actually Need?
Benchmarking procurement team size against spend under management. Most mid-market companies are overbuilt on strategic sourcing and underbuilt on category coverage.
The SaaS Renewal Playbook: How to Negotiate When You're Not a Fortune 500 Company
SaaS vendors have pricing books. Most mid-market companies don't know the market rates and negotiate from a weak position. Here's how to fix that.
UNSPSC vs. Custom: Which Spend Taxonomy Is Right for Your Procurement Team
Standard spend taxonomies like UNSPSC are comprehensive but brittle. Here's when to use them, when to deviate, and how to maintain consistency across your team.
Supplier Consolidation Isn't Always the Answer — When Fewer Vendors Creates More Risk
Every benchmarking project surfaces consolidation opportunities. But concentrating spend carries its own risks. A framework for deciding when to consolidate and when not to.
Garbage In, Garbage Savings: Why Procurement Data Quality Matters More Than Procurement Software
The limiting factor in most procurement analytics projects isn't the tool — it's the underlying data. A practical guide to assessing and improving your spend data before automation.
What CPOs Should Be Reporting to the Board — and Why 'Cost Savings' Isn't Enough
Finance boards increasingly want procurement to show contribution beyond cost savings: supplier risk, spend compliance, and working capital impact. Here's how to build that narrative.
Professional Services Spend Is the Hardest Category to Benchmark — Here's Why and What to Do
Unlike SaaS or office supplies, professional services pricing is opaque, variable, and relationship-driven. Our approach to extracting usable benchmarks from a messy market.
Facilities Spend Is Everyone's Blind Spot — 4 Categories Where Mid-Market Companies Overpay Most
Janitorial, waste management, security, and HVAC maintenance. These categories sit at the bottom of every spend report and the top of every savings opportunity.
What Procurement AI Can and Can't Do — and the Difference Actually Matters
Honest take on where automation adds value in procurement (classification, benchmarking, brief generation) and where it doesn't (strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management).