We build, transform and lead procurement and supply chain functions for insurance and financial services organisations, delivering sustainable cost reduction, commercial rigour and supplier relationships that hold their value over time.
Third-party spend is one of the largest and most controllable cost lines in a financial services organisation. Yet in many insurers, procurement exists as a transactional function, processing purchase orders, managing contracts and running RFPs without the category intelligence, commercial authority or supplier relationships to negotiate and hold outcomes that actually matter.
The result is a function that looks active but is not strategic. Category plans exist on paper but are not executed. Supplier relationships drift from original contract terms. Savings are reported at signature but erode in year two. The organisation pays for a procurement function without capturing its value.
IDG has built procurement and supply chain functions from the ground up, led complex supplier negotiations at scale, and managed over £2bn of third-party spend across insurance and financial services. We know the difference between a function that generates activity and one that generates value, and how to close the gap, working alongside your teams to build capability that endures beyond the engagement.
From function design to category execution, we can engage at any stage of the procurement maturity journey.
We design and build procurement functions that are fit for purpose, establishing operating models, governance frameworks, category structures and team capability. For organisations transforming an existing function, we diagnose current state, define the target operating model and programme manage the change. We bring the commercial credibility to take the leadership team with us.
We develop and execute category plans that create sustained value, not one-time savings. Our practitioners have led procurement across IT, professional services, property, marketing, operations and claims supply chains in insurance and financial services. We run RFPs, lead negotiations and construct commercial frameworks that hold over the life of the contract rather than eroding within twelve months of signature.
We provide the governance and commercial oversight to ensure supplier relationships perform against their contracted commitments. For organisations whose third-party expenditure has outpaced their supplier management capability, we establish the frameworks, KPIs and escalation structures needed to hold suppliers to account, identifying where renegotiation or retendering is warranted.
The supplier base has grown significantly but the function has not kept pace. Spend is fragmented, category coverage is inconsistent and commercial outcomes are being left on the table. The function needs redesigning around its current scale.
You have a P2P process and a contracts team, but not a procurement function. The board has mandated cost reduction and commercial discipline. You need a design that is credible at the centre and executable across the business, built by people who have done it before.
Year-one savings look good on paper but supplier costs drift back within eighteen months. The commercial terms are in the contract, but not in practice. You need an independent assessment of where value is leaking and a plan to recover and sustain it.
A leadership vacancy, a major sourcing initiative, or a period of structural change has created a gap the permanent team cannot cover. You need senior procurement expertise that can step in, hold commercial authority, and build internal capability alongside delivery.
We designed and delivered a fully operational Procurement and Supply Chain capability for a major UK retail insurer, delivering sustained cost reduction and commercial rigour at scale.
A large UK retail insurer was managing £1.6bn of annual third-party expenditure with no dedicated procurement function. Spend was fragmented, supplier relationships inconsistent, and there was no category strategy. The board set a material cost-reduction target and mandated a central P&SC capability.
Building a procurement function in a live organisation, without disrupting existing supplier relationships, required a carefully sequenced approach. Developing over 30 category plans across a spend base of this scale while delivering material savings needed senior commercial resource, not generalist programme management.
We designed the operating model, governance and category structure, then led its implementation. We developed over 30 category plans and executed sourcing across IT, professional services, property, claims and operations, delivering £56m in cost reduction.
The team did an outstanding job building a robust P&SC function, delivering an efficient capability to drive cost savings.— Group CFO, UK Retail Insurer
A specialist travel and pet insurer engaged IDG to stand up a centralised procurement function, redesign its P2P processes and deliver material cost savings across a fragmented, commercially under-managed supplier base.
The insurer had grown rapidly but its procurement capability had not kept pace. Spend was managed by business unit leads without commercial oversight, P2P processes were inconsistent, and value was being left on the table through poor supplier terms.
Creating a credible central function in an organisation accustomed to business unit autonomy required careful stakeholder management alongside commercial delivery, managed through early wins, clear governance and visible benefit from centralisation.
We designed and implemented the centralised function, establishing the operating model, governance and P2P processes, and led sourcing across priority categories to deliver £7m in savings, leaving the team, tools and processes to operate independently.
Talk to us about your procurement challenge, whether you are building a function, transforming one, or recovering value from a supplier base that has drifted.
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