Data Insights — Business & Supply Chain
Stop maverick buying
Plug the procurement money leak with data analytics and Power BI
- In many SMEs, 30–40% of indirect purchases happen outside established contracts — at prices that are on average 20% higher as a result.
- On a purchasing volume of €500,000, that represents €100,000 in avoidable extra costs per year.
- A Spend Analysis dashboard in Power BI makes it visible daily: who is buying off-contract, from how many suppliers, and at what price.
- Three concrete KPIs drive the solution: supplier concentration (Pareto), contract compliance rate, and PO coverage ratio.
- Procurement is one of the most direct levers for margin improvement — every euro saved flows straight to the bottom line.
You know the scenario: after some tough negotiations, you finally land that competitive contract with a preferred supplier for office supplies, laptops, or packaging materials. The discounts are locked in, the terms are on paper. But when the annual figures come in, the savings fall short.
A quick tour of the departments reveals the answer. Marketing ordered pens from Amazon because it was "easier." IT bought laptops from a different retailer because they spotted a "good deal." Facilities gets cleaning supplies from the local wholesaler. This is called maverick buying.
The problem: well-intentioned, but expensive
Maverick buying costs more than most business owners realise. Not because a single off-contract purchase is so expensive, but because it happens structurally and invisibly.
Why is this such a persistent problem? The cause is almost never bad intent. Employees often don't know a contract exists, or the official ordering process is perceived as too cumbersome. The result: fragmented purchasing across dozens of suppliers, hundreds of loose invoices, and volume discounts that are never reached.
An invoice without a Purchase Order (PO) is almost always an indicator of maverick buying. Every loose invoice that needs manual processing costs €25–€50 in administrative time — on top of the higher purchase price itself.
The solution: from gut feeling to a Spend Analysis dashboard
To stop maverick buying, you first need to see it. Spreadsheets are structurally too slow and error-prone for this — they show yesterday's picture, not today's live leak.
Microsoft Power BI connects directly to your financial administration — Exact Online, AFAS, Twinfield — and automatically categorises all purchase invoices. This makes it visible daily, not annually, exactly where spending is going and where contract compliance is falling short.
An effective Spend Analysis dashboard answers three key questions:
Supplier analysis — who are the "odd ones out"?
A Pareto analysis of the supplier base visualises the distribution of purchasing spend. In a healthy organisation, 80% of purchases go to 20% of suppliers. The hundreds of suppliers used only occasionally form what is known as the Long Tail.
The insight: You immediately see whether, for example, 15 different printers are being used — the signal to consolidate to a single partner and capture volume discounts.
Contract Compliance Monitor — is everyone paying the contracted price?
Where price agreements exist, Power BI automatically compares invoiced amounts against the contracted rates from the ERP system or a contract register.
The insight: "Supplier X is charging €800 for 50 laptops, while the contract states €750." Without data, these deviations are consistently missed. With a dashboard they are visible in one click — and reclaiming the difference becomes straightforward.
PO coverage ratio — how many invoices arrive without a purchase order?
The dashboard shows what percentage of incoming invoices are linked to a pre-approved Purchase Order (PO).
The insight: An invoice without a PO is almost always a sign of maverick buying — someone placed the order first and the paperwork followed. Driving the PO coverage ratio up enforces the official procurement process and eliminates surprises after the fact.
Wholesaler uncovers €100,000 in procurement savings
A mid-sized wholesaler suspected that "some" purchasing was happening outside contracts, but had no visibility into the scale. A Spend Analysis in Power BI — connected to Exact Online — revealed within two weeks that 38% of purchase invoices came from suppliers not on the approved contract list. For the packaging materials category alone, eight different suppliers were active, while the contract designated one preferred partner. Consolidating to the contract supplier unlocked a 12% volume discount — visible immediately as a margin improvement in the dashboard.
What does it deliver?
Tackling maverick buying is not a theoretical exercise. The impact is directly measurable on the bottom line:
- 1
Direct margin improvement
Procurement is one of the most powerful levers for immediate profit. Contract compliance and volume bundling structurally reduce purchasing costs by 10–20%. Every euro saved flows directly to the bottom line — without needing to generate additional revenue.
- 2
Administrative relief
The volume of loose invoices, expense claims, and ad-hoc payments drops significantly. This saves the finance team hours per week in manual processing — and reduces the risk of errors in the accounts.
- 3
Stronger negotiating position
Supplier negotiations often run on gut feel. With a Spend Analysis dashboard, the facts are on the table: exact volumes, ordering patterns, and price deviations by category. This turns procurement from an order desk into a genuine negotiating partner with mandate.
- 4
Control and predictability
No more surprises in the quarterly figures. Real-time visibility into who orders what, from whom, and at what price — budget overruns are flagged before the money is spent.
First steps without a major project
You don't need to wait for a full ERP implementation to get started. Three concrete actions will quickly reveal the scale of maverick buying in your organisation:
Step 1 — Count your active suppliers per product category
Export all suppliers from your accounting system for the past year and count how many unique suppliers are active per category. More than two or three suppliers per category is almost always an indication of fragmented purchasing.
Step 2 — Compare invoice prices against contract rates
Pull the ten largest purchase invoices from last month and compare the invoiced price against what the contract specifies. There is a good chance you'll find deviations immediately — without a dashboard, just Excel and your contract file.
Step 3 — Measure your PO coverage ratio this week
Count how many invoices arrived this week without a corresponding PO. That number — expressed as a percentage of total invoices — is your baseline. Anything below 80% is a concrete improvement opportunity with a direct financial value.
You can't manage what you can't see
Maverick buying is rarely a culture problem — it is an information problem. Employees buy off-contract because they don't know better, or because the official process feels like a hurdle. Both causes are solvable once you make the data visible.
As long as you procure on gut feel and control with Excel, you are structurally overpaying: higher unit prices, hundreds of loose invoices, and volume discounts that are never captured. A Spend Analysis dashboard in Power BI makes the problem visible — and the solution obvious.
Den Otter Solutions helps Dutch SMEs plug this procurement leak through Power BI dashboards built by Rob den Otter — an Analytics Translator with 25+ years of executive experience in supply chain, operations, and financial management.
Frequently asked questions
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off-contract — and what is it costing you?
Last updated: April 2026
