When we talk about Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), there’s a part of the puzzle that often doesn’t get the attention it deserves, "supplier governance".

Governance isn’t just about process and compliance. It’s about creating the conditions for suppliers to thrive, while also ensuring your organisation can rely on them to deliver against expectations, ethically and consistently. In theory, it’s straightforward. In practice, especially within large corporate environments, it can be anything but.

I remember vividly one of the first times I was tasked with getting to grips with our supplier base in a large organisation. This is was while working on an interim contract. On the surface, the request seemed simple enough:

"Can you pull together the latest supplier performance data so we can review our top partners?" 

But as I started to look under the bonnet, things became murky.

The supplier ecosystem was vast, hundreds of suppliers across different regions, business units, and service categories. We did have some good segmentation. Therefore, I knew, albeit manually, who to target.

Some were strategic, others transactional. Some had some governance processes in place, others reported occasionally, some had not in years!

But what really surprised me was how fragmented the data was. Performance reviews were stored in a patchwork of systems. SLAs, KPIs, quarterly reviews, if they existed at all and were inconsistently documented, scattered across emails, SharePoint folders, and disconnected tools.

And the formats? A mixed bag. Some suppliers provided glossy dashboards full of colour-coded metrics. Others sent through PDFs with narrative summaries. Some didn’t submit anything unless asked. The worst example was a screenshot of an Excel sheet! How can I use that!

Comparing performance across suppliers became like comparing apples to bicycles, entirely different baselines, assumptions, and standards.

That’s when it hit me: governance doesn’t work by accident. It must be designed, agreed, and embedded into how we work with suppliers from the outset. At a portfolio level.

And in large corporates, where decentralised teams often engage suppliers in very different ways, this becomes both a challenge and an opportunity.

Therefore, over the next few weeks I am going to be creating guides, tools & templates to help ensure you have standardised "good" supplier governance.

Watch this space!

Matt

If your organisation is grappling with the challenges of inconsistent Supplier Governance, you're not alone. It’s a common struggle in complex environments, but also a powerful opportunity. By putting the right structures in place and investing in the people who manage supplier relationships every day, you can turn governance into a strength, not a stumbling block.

At SRM Tribe, we specialise in helping teams build the skills, systems, and confidence needed to manage supplier relationships strategically. Whether you're just starting to formalise your governance model or looking to elevate what you already have, we're here to support you.

Join the SRM Tribe — and let's turn supplier complexity into supplier clarity, together.