The Procurement Glossary » Category Council
Category Council
Strategy & Operations
Definition
A cross-functional group that governs strategy and decisions for a spend category.
Explanation
A category council brings procurement together with the internal stakeholders who use a category to agree strategy, suppliers and demand. It builds alignment, surfaces requirements early and prevents the maverick buying that follows when procurement acts alone.
Example
The IT category council aligns procurement and technology leaders on a three-supplier hardware strategy.
Related terms
- Category Management — Managing related groups of spend as strategic business units, each with a tailored strategy and dedicated ownership.
- Category Strategy — A plan for how a business will source and manage a specific spend category to maximise value and manage risk.
- Stakeholder Management — Identifying, engaging and aligning the people affected by or influencing a procurement decision.
- Demand Management — Influencing what and how much the business buys — challenging need, standardising specs and curbing over-consumption — to reduce spend at the source.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Category Council?
A cross-functional group that governs strategy and decisions for a spend category. A category council brings procurement together with the internal stakeholders who use a category to agree strategy, suppliers and demand. It builds alignment, surfaces requirements early and prevents the maverick buying that follows when procurement acts alone.
Can you give an example of Category Council?
The IT category council aligns procurement and technology leaders on a three-supplier hardware strategy.
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