This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us Procurement organizations prioritize reducing costs, managing risks, and creating business value. Category management helps achieve these goals by optimizing category spend, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and improving operational efficiency. In this report, we offer a comprehensive, ready-to-use toolkit for category managers, procurement and sourcing professionals, and CPOs. The report provides structured frameworks for internal category assessments and effective category strategy development. With these editable frameworks and category-specific market intelligence reports, category managers can align category strategies with internal priorities and external market trends. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we: Suggest editable frameworks for internal state assessment of the category Recommend a structured approach to develop a robust category strategy

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for Banking and Financial Services (BFS) Information Technology Services (ITS). BFS IT services include consulting, implementation, and maintenance services that cover IT infrastructure, IT platform, IT applications, and data and analytics. Companies commonly outsource offerings such as application development and maintenance, system integration, quality assurance, data center and cloud services, network and security services, and workplace services within BFS ITS. These services encompass a range of next-generation technology capabilities such as AI, RPA, IoT, and machine-to-machine, along with cyber security services. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: BFS ITS Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for Supply Chain Management (SCM) services. SCM encompasses various functions such as planning, manufacturing, delivery, after-sales services, reporting and compliance support, and data management and analytics. Enterprises are developing strategies to leverage advanced technologies, such as predictive tracking, mechanized warehouses, inventory optimization, accurate forecasting, and automated after-sales support, to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of their supply chain. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: SCM Contents In this report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for Banking and Financial Services (BFS) Business Process Services (BPS). BFS comprises retail and commercial banking, lending and leasing, payments and cards, and risk and compliance services across all lines of business. It also includes horizontal services such as data and analytics and commonly outsourced services such as document processing, collections, customer acquisition, servicing, transaction processing, KYC, and other compliance functions. Enterprises are focusing on Financial Crime and Compliance (FCC) operations to detect fraud by leveraging AI/ML based solutions that minimize manual intervention. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: BFS BPS Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for marketing services. Marketing services encompass marketing support, customer experience, content creation, campaign orchestration, media channels management, data analytics, and reporting. Enterprises are building a global marketing strategy by assessing capabilities to execute universal content creation and standardize campaign management that is assisted by digital transformation. Customer experience focused strategy for marketing has received high traction in the marketing services space across regions and industries. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: marketing services Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for procurement services. Procurement is a back-office function focused on coordinating with suppliers and cost effectively securing materials/services for the business. It encompasses the entire Source-to-Pay (S2P) value chain, which can be further split into two process groups – Source-to-Contract (S2C) and Procure-to-Pay (P2P). Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: procurement Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for Trust & Safety (T&S) services. T&S services encompass content moderation, content curation, ad support, content services, such as translation and localization, and platform safety. The repercussions of not incorporating robust T&S measures are many and can lead to customer churn, revenue loss, negative reputation impact / preference among advertisers, and diminished platform credibility. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: T&S services Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for Data and Analytics (D&A) services. D&A services encompass data management, BI & visualization, advanced analytics, and data governance, privacy, and security. Enterprises are building a holistic data strategy by assessing current data maturity, defining the future state data maturity required to achieve business goals, and delivering a multi-phase, multi-year roadmap to transform the enterprise into a data-driven organization. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: D&A services Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for cybersecurity services. Cybersecurity services encompass cloud security, endpoint security, data security, IoT/OT security, application security, network security, Identity and Access Management (IAM), and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) in a commercial enterprise model. The goal of cybersecurity services is to defend the enterprise technology landscape, including devices, servers, connected systems, and user data and privacy, from both outside and inside threats. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: cybersecurity services Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution

This report is available only to Outsourcing Excellence members. For information on membership, please contact us This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for Cloud and Infrastructure Services (CIS). CIS comprises the cloud (public/private/hybrid/multi-cloud), data center, security, digital workplace, and network services. These services are commonly outsourced, including public cloud, colocation, network security, threat operations, endpoint management, service desks, end-user device support, SD-WAN, and network automation services. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. This ready-to-use category strategy template offers editable frameworks for internal assessment and detailed industry and market category overviews to assist category managers, procurement professionals, and CPOs in creating an informed category strategy for Engineering Services (ES). ES includes all activities across the software, embedded, mechanical, and process engineering functions that support the design, development, testing, and management of products, both hardware and software. Category managers can customize this template with internal category information, such as spend, suppliers, and subcategory overview. They can also use the industry and market insights provided in this template to build a strong supply base understanding. A category strategy’s goal is to create an action plan for effective category management, and this template provides the requisite tools, frameworks, and information to create a robust strategy. Best-in-class procurement organizations effectively leverage such tools and techniques to drive continuous improvements in their categories. Scope All industries and geographies Category in focus: ES Contents In this category strategy report, we offer comprehensive templates based on a four-step process to create a category strategy: Define internal needs: define category maturity and objectives, create a buyer profile to gauge the current supply base state and predict future demand, and conduct total cost modeling Understand the market: build industry and supply base understanding by evaluating aspects such as market trends, key suppliers, major delivery locations, pricing trends, performance benchmarks, and category risks Determine the sourcing strategy: decide between an in-house versus outsourced model for the category and identify best practices and value levers to drive category efficiency Create an action plan: identify and prioritize projects and drive them toward execution