Sourcing executives are investigating multisourcing as a way to drive down costs and improve agility. The picture is not all green though: multisourcing's success is dependent on the effectiveness of service integration between suppliers, which shows a number of challenges.

• Multisourcing's value is founded on the concept of managing your suppliers simultaneously, which is why a skillful sourcing team is needed. Scoping and establishing a multisourcing deal will take more time and investment, but this is the first crucial step in getting it right.

• Once a multisourcing deal is established, keeping it running strategically and efficiency requires irreproachable collaboration between internal and external teams. Just don't count on vendors for spontaneous collaborations - although one vendor is usually predominant, it is up to the sourcing teams to facilitate this through governance, pre-established rules, and round tables.