Services procurement

Misclassification of spend within the services category is a common and costly challenge faced by many organisations. At Reed Talent Solutions, we offer a tailored approach designed to address the root causes of misclassification and improve governance across your services procurement. Our comprehensive suite of tools and expert support ensures accurate classification from the outset. 

Our initial triage tool is deployed within your existing technology environment and mirrors your classification matrix to guide early-stage decision-making. This is followed by our detailed scoping tool, which rigorously tests and validates the requirement post-triage to ensure clarity and alignment. 

Reed Talent Solutions' team of specialists bring deep technical expertise, reviewing the scope of work to confirm correct classification and ensure it aligns with your business needs. Additionally, we provide contractual flow through, ensuring that consultancy engagements carry the appropriate service liabilities through to the terms of engagement. 

By combining intelligent tools with expert insight, we help organisations reduce risk, control costs, and gain greater visibility and accountability in their services procurement. 

Scoping specialist, one-off projects is a major challenge in services procurement. End users often lack the technical detail needed to define requirements, relying on suppliers to shape the scope. This creates misalignment, limits control over change and increases the risk of overspend or project failure.

At Reed Talent Solutions, we’ve developed a set of tools and processes to mitigate these risks and bring structure, clarity, and accountability to the scoping process.

Our AI-powered scoping tool uses basic technical inputs to generate a draft scope of work, drawing on patterns and insights from similar projects delivered across other organisations. This accelerates the scoping process and provides a strong foundation for further refinement.

We also provide access to technical category leads, who bring real-world experience and sector-specific knowledge. They work directly with your stakeholders to guide scope creation, offering practical examples and expert advice to ensure the scope is both realistic and robust.

Finally, our experts ensure that the scope of work is seamlessly integrated into the procurement phase. Any changes made during supplier engagement are tracked and updated, maintaining a consistent flow of approvals and ensuring accountability throughout the project lifecycle.

By combining intelligent tools with expert support, we help organisations overcome the inherent challenges of scoping specialist services - reducing risk, improving value, and setting projects up for success from the start.

If you're managing services procurement, you know how hard it can be to get best value and reduce risk - especially when it comes to smaller, specialist projects. With limited time and resources, it's not always feasible to get deeply involved in every engagement. And as emerging technologies and AI-based solutions continue to evolve, you're under pressure to bring in new suppliers and niche expertise, often fast.

All of this is happening while you're still expected to maintain control over tax, cyber, and compliance risks.

That’s where Reed Talent Solutions comes in. Our enterprise services procurement solution is built to support you - ensuring your governance rules are followed, the right suppliers are engaged for the right outcomes, and you're fully compliant with procurement and tax legislation.

Our approach combines automation, expertise, and governance:

• Automated, user-friendly processes guide stakeholders through an end-to-end journey that’s intuitive and beneficial - encouraging adoption not through obligation, but through value

• Dedicated category management functions, powered by rich data insights, identify trends, risks, and opportunities. This enables targeted action on high-priority areas of tail spend, delivering savings and reducing exposure

• Flexible workflows accommodate varying procurement rules, supplier types, and contract terms - ensuring governance is maintained without sacrificing agility

• Our in-house screening and compliance team ensures all vetting and contractual checks are completed before any work begins, safeguarding your organisation from risk and ensuring full accountability

With our solution, you can confidently manage even the most complex services spend, streamline procurement processes, and unlock greater value across your organisation.

With more specialist and niche suppliers entering the market - offering innovative IP and cost-effective solutions - it’s becoming harder to select, onboard, and manage the right partners across every category. If you're feeling the pressure to keep up, you're not alone.

Our service is designed to take that weight off your shoulders.

We provide in-system supplier scoring based on real performance data, so you can make informed decisions quickly. Our dedicated supplier management teams work on your behalf to build strong relationships, consolidate spend, and identify gaps ahead of upcoming requirements.

You’ll also benefit from access to an open supply chain spanning over 150 customers, giving you immediate reach into a pool of pre-vetted, compliant suppliers who are ready to deliver.

And with our project and milestone management tools, you can track supplier performance against contract terms - ensuring delivery stays on course and expectations are met.

Reporting savings at the point of purchase is one thing, realising them at project completion is another. As demand for external service providers and consultancy support grows, and procurement teams face increasing cost pressures, contract management often falls to end users or delivery teams who may not have the tools or capacity to manage it effectively.

That’s where our flexible contract management service comes in.

We ensure full flow through from scope to bid to contract, so what’s promised by the supplier is clearly captured in the contract - and any changes are properly managed and documented.

Our in-house legal and change management teams protect your interests, making sure you get what you pay for. If suppliers underperform or make assumptions, we hold them accountable - ensuring the cost of failure doesn’t fall on you.

We also provide dedicated project management office (PMO) and delivery teams to manage projects against agreed scope and outcomes, giving you confidence that delivery stays on track.

And with transparent supplier scoring based on on-time, on-budget performance, you’ll have the insight you need to make better decisions on future engagements - rewarding high performers and flagging repeat offenders.