Corporate procurement departments have
a significant and, not surprisingly, none-too-welcome impact on
incentive programs, according to an online survey of incentive
professionals conducted by the New York City-based Incentive
Research Foundation. In agreement were the attendees of a
roundtable discussion on the topic conducted during IRF’s 2008
Invitational, held May 27 to June 1 at the Atlantis resort in the
Bahamas.
The survey took a look at procurement
and purchasing departments’ effect on the planning, supplier
selection and implementation of programs.
Three-quarters of the 75 incentive
professionals who responded to the poll said procurement’s level of
involvement has increased over the past two years. Nearly the same
number (67 percent) expect that involvement to grow through
2010.
Fifty-nine percent of those queried
feel procurement has had a negative impact on incentives. Among
reasons: They emphasize the cost of programs at the expense of
results; they lack an understanding of the incentive business;
their involvement dampens the creativity of events, and it has a
negative impact on incentive professionals’ ability to plan and
implement programs.
The 12 percent of those polled who said
procurement had a positive effect felt the involvement forced
programs to be different and standardized practices and
procedures.
Dallyce E. Macas, vice president,
meetings and events, North America, at Paris-based Carlson
Wagonlit, one of the 100 IRF roundtable attendees, told
M&C, “Procurement is a black-and-white business, and
we are in a business that is everything but.” However, she added,
“Procurement is still new to this business, and they are trying to
fit it into the mold in place for meetings and corporate travel.
They are not trained and educated on how to look at the ROI of
incentives; they are purely about hard-dollar cost savings.”