Recommended Webinars Oct 14-18: Risk, Visual Contracting and the 2020 Digital Procurement Mandate
Buyers Meeting Point
October 14, 2019
Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian friends: Stephany Lapierre and the team at Tealbook, Rod Sherkin at the ProPurchaser team, Negotiations Ninja’s Mark Raffan and Procurement Insights' Jon Hansen!
If you are looking for a longer term recommendation, the next AOP Live session has just been scheduled: The Current State of Digital Readiness: Mastering the Supply Chain Data Challenge on October 29th at 11am ET. This 45-Minute Live Q&A with Philip Ideson and Joseph Yacura will interpret and comment on the results of the 3rd annual Data Quality and Governance Study.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Management
The September ISM-New York Report on Business: Proceed with Caution
Buyers Meeting Point
October 02, 2019
The September ISM-New York Report on Business was released on October 2nd at 9:45am Eastern.
In September, New York City purchasing managers expressed milestone pessimism about the long term indicators, the Six-Month Outlook and Expected Revenues. Current Business Conditions fell to a 40-month low of 42.8 in September (referencing 37.2 in May 2016), down from August's 4-month high of 50.3. The Six-Month Outlook dropped 26.2 points to reach 45.2 in September, from 71.4 in August. This marks the lowest outlook level in 10.5 years, referencing 33.0 in February of 2009. The six-month outlook has been a reliable short-run guide for current business conditions over time.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Managing Risk with Stronger Relationships
Buyers Meeting Point
September 25, 2019
Procurement and supply chain professionals understand the importance of establishing and maintaining strategic supplier relationships. These critical partnerships form the basis for innovation, competitive advantage and customer retention, but they may also play a role in supply chain risk management.
A company’s ability to effectively manage risk has always been affected by how they perceive it. Seeing risk as all bad - as something to be feared - will lead to higher costs and lost opportunities. Too much tolerance of risk, on the other hand, can prevent growth, jeopardize customer/shareholder value and lead to brand damage. Striking the right balance requires procurement to combine the unique advantages of human intellect and technology.
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Tags: Procurement, Risk Management, Supply Chain
Recommended Webinars September 23-27: World Class Procurement, Quantum Computing and 2020 Trends
BMP
September 23, 2019
As long as the summer seemed, September is now racing to a close. In fact, this week’s long term recommendation looks out to the end of October! On Oct. 24th, Zycus and Jon Hansen (Procurement Insights) are running a webinar titled “Procurement Stalwarts Discuss An AI-Powered Transformation of P2P” with panelists David Loseby, Norman Katz and Richard Pennington.
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Tags: Procurement
The Aftermath of a Capsized Cargo Ship
ATSC Blog
September 16, 2019
On September 8th, the cargo ship Golden Ray capsized off the coast of the state of Georgia. At the time, the ship was carrying 24 people and 4,000 vehicles. Shortly after the ship capsized, a fire broke out on board, jeopardizing the U.S. Coast Guard’s ability to rescue the crew safely and raising questions about whether the vehicles aboard the ship might have come unsecured in such a way that they threatened the vessel’s stability.The image of the bottom of the cargo ship, fully visible after capsizing, was enough to give any supply chain professional pause. The implications of this unexpected disruption, just one of over two dozen similar events to take place globally so far this year, are far reaching and wide ranging.
I’ll admit that after learning the crew had been safely extracted from the ship, my first thoughts were: what was the ship carrying and whose was it? It was impossible to escape the reality that the image most people were looking at with vague curiosity translated to a very bad day for many people and organizations.
Regardless of where and when a cargo ship accident happens or why, there are significant impacts in terms of cargo, passage and environment.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
NESCON 2019: From “How to” to “How to Imagine” the Future of Supply Chain
BMP
September 11, 2019
As I mentioned on the BMP blog a few weeks ago, I’ll be providing media coverage of the New England Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition (NESCON) on October 7th. I’ve been more of a ‘virtual player’ in the industry for the last few years, so I’m looking forward to this opportunity to network and learn in person.
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Tags: Supply Chain
Using Technology to Resolve – Not Locate – Unnecessary Spend Fragmentation
Buyers Meeting Point
September 05, 2019
Enterprise-level spend management is a big task; there is so much data created as a result of so many types of business activity. Companies gather data from sales and production, facilities and finance, customers and suppliers. Add to that the information footprint from social media, text messages and audio/video content, and the scale of what’s available quickly becomes more blinding than illuminating.
Our technology platforms have no need for fragmentation, even in the face of so much data. They are designed to manage and analyze huge pools of spend and large numbers of transactions in a fraction of a second. Much of the fragmentation we’ve dealt with to date has been put in place by procurement (sometimes through technology) because we were more comfortable dealing with one cut or slice at a time. As a result, we sometimes made progress in confined areas of the business at the cost of larger, more impactful opportunities.
Rather than relying upon technology to show us where fragmentation exists (such as in tail spend), and then ‘fixing’ one fragment at a time, we must look to technology as the solution to fragmentation itself. If we can use technology to consolidate and contextualize all of our data together rather than artificially segmenting it for own comfort, we can power intelligent decisions in real time, seizing greater opportunities and avoiding previously unforeseeable risks.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
The August ISM-New York Report on Business: More Up Than Down
Buyers Meeting Point
September 04, 2019
In August, New York City purchasing managers expressed optimism across a number of indices, most notably in employment and those that are forward-looking.
Current Business Conditions recovered from the 3+ year low of 43.5 reported in July to reach a 4-month high of 50.3 in August. Despite the drop seen last month, August's finding is nearly the same as the 50.0 reported in June.
The Six-Month Outlook continued the upward movement started last month to reach a 4-month high of 71.4 in August, up from 63.2 in July.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
With Implementations, it is Location, Location, Location.
Determine
August 13, 2019
I’ve participated in many procurement technology implementations – and not always in the same role. Like most people, my experience began on the receiving end of new technology for which I had no say in the selection or configuration. From there I moved to a leadership role on a team tasked with selecting and implementing a sourcing suite for the first time. A few years later, I was part of a consulting team at a solution provider where I regularly assisted in or led implementations as part of procurement program (re)design projects.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Management
The Amazing Back-to-School Supply Chain
ATSC blog
August 05, 2019
The minute we’ve all finally settled into the slower pace of the summer months, the signs go up: Back to School! Whether you have children who are getting ready to go back or whether you are thinking wistfully of your own school days, the back-to-school supply chain is an amazing feat that affects most of the retail industry. It is actually the second biggest shopping season of the year – second only to the holidays, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) releases an annual report highlighting the figures and trends associated with back to school shopping. According to the 2019 NRF report, this year’s back-to-school spending levels will be the highest ever per household, $696.70, but not the highest overall as less families are expected to participate. Total projected spending for 2019 is $80.7B, down 2.5% from $82.8B in 2018. The major categories of spending they define include school supplies, clothing and accessories, shoes and electronics.
While we can all appreciate the magic of new pencils and notebooks, looking at this shopping season as a supply chain professional requires a different perspective – and offers a few surprises about buyer preferences and retail industry impact.
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Tags: Procurement, Retail, Supply Chain
Zoinks! Why do Cloud myths persist?
Determine
July 11, 2019
I recently completed a thorough study of myths by examining one of the most scientifically significant examples available — Scooby-Doo and the gang: Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy. You may laugh, but studying the adventures of Mystery, Inc. sheds a great deal of light on all kinds of myths, cloud procure-to-pay (P2P) included.
Myths and mysteries usually play on some combination of the following:
- Deep-seated, preexisting anxieties
- Lack of understanding or clarity
- A desire on the part of believers to accept the myth
- A touch of theatrics
In the Scooby-Doo TV series, the above factors typically drove the plot through the protagonist’s dark backstory or lingering guilt, the gang being stuck in the dark, and ridiculous costumes and special effects. Details are scarce, someone is chasing you, and your imagination takes over. Next thing you know, no one questions the reality that Uncle Jesse’s wonderful old theatre can’t be saved because it is haunted by a headless phantom stagehand.
P2P myths may be less dramatic, but they are no less dangerous because they prevent procurement from getting an accurate view of the situation at hand and selecting the best, most logical, path forward.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Answer: Sometimes people are just jerks
Buyers Meeting Point
July 09, 2019
We’ve all dealt with jerks. They’re everywhere. In my case, however, I used to feel like I was being treated poorly because I am a woman. In one specific instance, I shared my frustration with my husband. “He wouldn’t treat me like this if I were a man!” I said, completely exasperated. He looked at me for a minute, cautiously, and then said, “You know, some people are just jerks. He’s probably a jerk to everybody.”
I’ll admit it took me a while to warm up to this explanation. I started repeating it to myself as necessary. One day it hit me; it doesn’t matter if someone is being a jerk because I am a woman or because they are a jerk. Either way, the problem is theirs, not mine. Trying to understand their motivations is a waste of my time and energy – something I shouldn’t let them steal.
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Tags: Leadership, Procurement, Supply Chain
The June ISM-New York Report on Business: Not Since 2009
Buyers Meeting Point
July 02, 2019
In June, New York City purchasing managers reported 10-year lows in both the Six-Month Outlook and Quantity of Purchases.
Current Business Conditions made a slight recovery of 1.4 points to 50.0 (the breakeven point) from the more than 2-year low of 48.6 reported in May.
The Six-Month Outlook fell to the lowest level reported since May of 2009 (50.7), coming in at 51.0 in June. The six-month outlook has been a reliable short-run guide for current business conditions over time.
Employment, a seasonally adjusted index, made a small upward move from the 4-month low of 54.6 in May to 60.9 in June.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Congratulations! You are ready for procure-to-pay!
Determine
July 02, 2019
It is amazing what procurement professionals can accomplish with nothing more than spreadsheets, email and a phone. We can source, manage suppliers, track spend and report savings. In fact, we are so resourceful and so good at cobbling together solutions that we often stay with that approach longer than we should – especially considering how much is at stake for the company and its customers. The challenge for procurement is knowing when the time is right to make the switch to a procure-to-pay (P2P) platform.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Investing in Corporate Governance to Ensure Compliance
Determine
June 25, 2019
Procurement often uses the terms governance and compliance to describe the “law and order” part of our responsibilities. Governance establishes the rules for enterprise purchasing and spend management, while compliance measures how well distributed buyers adhere to those rules. In a perfect world, proper governance would lead to consistent compliance. In the real world, there is often only a loose connection between the two.
Historically, most procurement organizations have predominantly focused on compliance. This may be due to one of the following reasons...
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Understanding the Impact of Tariffs: ‘Ifs’ and ‘Hows’
All Things Supply Chain Blog
June 24, 2019
Supply chain blogs and news sources have recently been chock full of commentary and advice relating to tariffs. Unfortunately, just as with emerging technologies, it is much easier to get swept up in over-generalized hype than it is to drill down to the facts that support good decision-making. Despite the parallel challenges of complexity and unpredictability, procurement and supply chain professionals must understand if and how tariffs will affect their company directly, if and how tariffs will affect their first and second tier suppliers, and what to do if the answer to those two questions is more ‘how’ than ‘if’.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
The May ISM-New York Report on Business: Nevermind…
Buyers Meeting Point
June 04, 2019
In May, New York City purchasing managers reversed course and gave up all of the gains reported in April.
Current Business Conditions fell from a 12+ year high of 77.3 in April to a 2-year low of 48.6 in May. This is the largest month over month drop reported in May, and it is the first time current conditions have been in contraction since September of 2017 (49.7).
The Six-Month Outlook fell from a 7-month high of 77.8 in April to 56.3 in May.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Compliance advice for those who herd cats
Determine
June 04, 2019
We’ve all heard (or used) the expression that managing some group of people is “like managing cats”. For cat people in the reading audience, this requires little explanation. Cats do what they want, when they want, only if they want. The expression wouldn’t have caught on if it weren’t true, which means there are plenty of feline humans out there too. If you’re in procurement, I’m sure you’ve met quite a few of them.
We put a contract in place, and the “cats” buy from someone else. We establish a process, and they do whatever they like. It can be infuriating. But, if we approach our internal cats with the right attitude, they also present us with unique opportunities to improve procurement’s performance, impact and influence.
Here is some advice for those days when you find yourself unavoidably herding cats...
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Tags: Change Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Concentric Supplier Risk Management
Determine
May 28, 2019
When a supply chain extends across the globe, procurement has to extend the scope of their risk management efforts beyond specific suppliers to include the industry or country that a supplier operates in. Rooting out supplier risk resulting from regulatory non-compliance, child labor law violations or corruption requires proactive monitoring on multiple levels in the supply chain. In order to achieve this expanded view, procurement must move outward in concentric circles; making each supplier the center point, then expanding to include additional relevant sources of risk for further investigation.
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Tags: Procurement, Risk Management, Supply Chain
The April ISM-New York Report on Business: Lofty Long-term Expectations
Buyers Meeting Point
May 02, 2019
Without a doubt, the most interesting finding from this month’s report is the expected revenues index. At 95.0, it is big in every way: highest level ever, highest increase in the report this month, and just plan high in terms of growth indication. I pair it with the increase and high level of the six-month outlook because both look forward to November 2019.
While 61% of this month’s respondents expect business conditions in the New York metro area to be better in six months (including 15% that believe they will be much better), 70% anticipate increased revenues in 6 months. From my perspective this indicates sort of a ‘double optimism’. Not only do these purchasing managers believe conditions overall will improve, they believe their firm will outperform the market as a whole – one that they believe will be generally strong. That goes beyond optimism to become just plain confidence – the kind of confidence that fuels disruptive innovation and competitive advantage in professional services.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Savior, Slave or Sidekick: What is your perspective on automation?
ATSC blog
April 29, 2019
Automation has become a ‘catch-all’ term for the use of technology to address a range of tasks and business objectives. Although the whole business world has been swept up in the hype and optimism surrounding automation, the impact within the supply chain profession has been particularly significant, due to the fact that we can benefit from both physical automation (e.g. warehouse robotics, driverless fleets) and software-based automation (e.g. artificial intelligence, robotic process automation).
If we focus specifically on software-based automation, supply chain professionals are advantageously positioned. We have extensive experience leveraging technology to improve operational efficiency and streamline processes. Solutions such as inventory management, supply chain control towers or source to pay platforms have given us firsthand knowledge of how to (and how not to) select, implement and monitor enterprise technology.
Although the automation trend now has us focused on the potential benefits chatbots and smart machines – technologies that seem ‘futuristic’ to say the least – the fact remains that no technology is the answer to all of a company’s problems. If we ask too much of our technology, we risk repeating the mistakes of the past and failing to optimize the automation and meet user expectations.
How we perceive the automation we evaluate and implement has as much to do with its ability to deliver a sustained ROI as the design of the technology itself.
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Tags: AI, Digital Transformation, Procurement
Can the Whole Foods and Amazon Grocery chains exist under the same corporate umbrella?
Determine
April 23, 2019
Amazon recently announced that they will open a “traditional” grocery chain. This is in addition to their 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods and their experimentation with Amazon Go, a fully automated (i.e. cashier-less) convenience store-style market. All three will meet a similar kind of consumer need, just in a different way. This will likely result in the creation of three completely different cost models and profitability rates – not to mention three very different procurement and supply chain operations.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
When procurement looks in the mirror, what do we see?
Buyers Meeting Point
April 18, 2019
Sometimes a post on social media connects with people such that it takes on a life of its own. That happened this week in the wake of the Ivalua NOW event in Paris.
Philip Ideson recently shared a picture of Duncan Jones from Forrester Research sharing striking statistics about procurement’s self-assessed v. actual maturity:
- Procurement organizations who self-assess as at the beginning of their maturity curve: 4%
- Procurement organizations who are actually at the beginning of their maturity curve: 60%
- Procurement organizations who self-assess as advanced: 65%
- Procurement organizations who are actually advanced: 16%
While it is fair to ask questions about the Forrester methodology and maturity framework that might explain away some of the discrepancy, the fact remains that procurement’s perception of our own maturity is significantly skewed from reality. As a profession, we are significantly overestimating our organizational maturity by a huge margin.
This share gained 30K views, 40 comments, and over 200 likes in a very short time. Some of the most compelling comments centered around four core ideas.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management, Procurement
How much can procurement change on their own?
Determine
April 02, 2019
Real lasting change requires give and take. If procurement is to make enough change to satisfy even a fraction of the wants and needs listed above, we can’t do it alone. This is probably the largest factor missing from procurement transformation efforts; we are trying to change ourselves in a vacuum.
If our goal is to become more strategic by creating increased shareholder value or contributing to corporate competitive advantage, we need access to shareholders and corporate strategy setters. If we are going to collaborate with suppliers, we need the authority to take a multi-dimensional look at carefully selected spend categories and play a long-term, relationship-oriented game that isn’t tethered to a savings target.
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Tags: Change Management, Digital Transformation, Procurement
The March ISM-New York Report on Business: Reversing Course
Buyers Meeting Point
April 02, 2019
In March, New York City purchasing managers changed direction on every index except one - Expected Revenues.
Current Business Conditions rose from 61.1 in February to reach a 4-month high of 66.9 in March. This brings to an end 6 consecutive months of decreases.
The Six-Month Outlook fell from 71.5 in February to a nearly 10-year low of 53.0 in March (referencing the finding of 50.7 in May of 2009). This month's 18.5 point decrease gives back the 13.2 point increase reported from January to February and then some.
I always think it is difficult to interpret the ISM-New York Report on Business findings, but this month is a serious challenge. There were almost no trends to track with the (nearly) across the board change in direction. Only Expected Revenues was part of a multi-month trend.
So if the March data is somewhat stranded on its own, let’s consider what the different indices reveal about each other.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Is Blockchain Ready for the Challenge of Managing Complex Supply Chains?
All Things Supply Chain
March 25, 2019
Blockchain – or distributed ledger technology – is most commonly known for being the technological and intellectual basis of the crypto currency ‘bitcoin’, but it has many other applications as well. ‘Blocks’ on a ‘chain’ are used to store information securely via a peer to peer network. Each block contains identifiers from the blocks that precede it, making the chain difficult to modify or hack, but more importantly, making unsanctioned modifications very hard to conceal. Because the ledger is distributed, living on all machines in the network, no one company or person ‘owns’ the data stored in it. For this reason, blockchain is being studied for its ability to guarantee visibility into multi-enterprise contracts and extended supply chain transactions.
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Tags: Blockchain, Procurement, Supply Chain
Achieving Customer-Centricity by Focusing on the ‘Why’ not the ‘What’
Buyers Meeting Point
March 05, 2019
Seasoned procurement professionals understand the importance of cultural alignment in supplier relationship management - regardless of the category of spend in question. But with so much going on in procurement these days, and in competitive enterprises in general, it can be hard to define the elements of culture that should be used to determine that alignment.
There is one cultural dynamic that will resonate with most procurement organizations: the need for change, or as we frequently put it, transformation. Any organization committed to change, whether they intend to alter current practices and capabilities or add new ones, must partner with organizations that have the same objective. But change for the sake of change gets us nowhere. Understanding why we are making or requesting changes is what makes our decision strategic and optimizes our results.
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Tags: Customer Experience, Design Thinking, Procurement
The Procurement Maturity Curve: Collaboration is Value Creation – Series Summary
Determine
March 05, 2019
When we learn to collaborate with others, trading joint efforts for shared benefits, we not only increase our potential for value creation, we also open the door to new types of value. Nothing worth having is easy to get, and a state of effective collaboration is no exception. In fact, achieving a state of mutually received advantage requires procurement to completely alter some of the ways we’ve worked – and thought – in the past.
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Tags: Change Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
The February ISM-New York Report on Business: Moderate Ups and Downs
Buyers Meeting Point
March 04, 2019
Deciphering this month’s findings is a tricky matter – like reading tea leaves. In this commentary, I share a few stories that I can see some support for in the numbers - in the short term, the longer term, from a purchasing perspective and in the big picture.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
The Procurement Maturity Curve – Managing Risk Inside & Out – Part 2
Determine
February 26, 2019
It is critical that procurement not think of risk mitigation activities as separate from our other spend management responsibilities. Sourcing, spend analysis, supplier management and contract management should all reflect a keen awareness of risk, especially once procurement has demonstrated the ability to carry these processes out to good effect under internally driven objectives.
Each category of spend should be evaluated for the risk profile it bears both inside and outside of the company. When procurement recognizes that the enterprise is part of a much larger system of players and forces, and accepts the role we can play in managing those dynamics, our work becomes far more complex. Fortunately, this complexity comes with a corresponding increase in potential for value creation and competitive advantage.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Risk Management
Are We Focused On The Right Transformation Objectives?
Art of Procurement
February 20, 2019
There is no sense in fighting an uphill battle to transform into a procurement function that does something other than what our executive team has in mind. This is true whether our journey forward follows the path described by other leading procurement organizations or not.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
The Procurement Maturity Curve – Managing Risk Inside & Out – Part 1
Determine
February 19, 2019
In the past, we’ve taken a close look at how the procurement maturity curve affects its focus. Two recent posts addressed issues concerning the evolving role of procurement savings, information and technology. In this two-part blog series, we’ll consider supply chain risk in the context of procurement’s maturity. We start by looking at supplier risk and the available methods to monitor and mitigate it. Then we’ll examine internal vs. external sources of risk.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Risk Management
Is B2B driving B2C supply chain innovation, or vice versa?
ATSC Blog
February 18, 2019
Every supply chain manager is also an individual consumer, and there can be no doubt that the innovations in one market often alter the demand, offerings and consumer expectations of the other. Despite the fact that we have different priorities and perspectives on our personal spend than we do corporate spend, the rate of idea exchange between the two markets seems to be speeding up, ultimately bringing business and consumer supply chain and logistics closer together.
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Tags: Customer Experience, Procurement, Supply Chain
Combating Leadership Fatigue
Art of Procurement
February 05, 2019
NASCAR doesn’t fill its cars with regular unleaded, and SpaceX doesn’t either. High-performance engines need a specialized kind of fuel to achieve top speed and performance along with advanced maintenance. If you’re moving in the fast lane, you need to do the same for yourself. A little bit of support and self-care can go a long way, increasing your results and your professional satisfaction over the long term.
It isn’t a weakness to admit that being a superstar is taking a toll on you. In fact, it may be the wisest thing you ever do. Make sure you protect yourself before you reach the point of burnout, or worse, ‘walk out’.
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Tags: Change Management, Innovation, Leadership
The January ISM-New York Report on Business: Long Term Growth Without Employment?
Buyers Meeting Point
February 04, 2019
In January, New York City purchasing managers indicated short term decreases in the face of longer term optimism, according to the survey taken by the Institute for Supply Management-New York.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
The Procurement Maturity Curve, Part 2: Savings — and Value — at Every Stage
Determine
January 17, 2019
Part One of this two-part series on procurement maturity looked at how procurement is (and likely always will be at some level) linked to savings, even as our perspective on those savings changes. But the scope of procurement’s role has expanded. Technology and data are accelerating procurement along the value continuum and expanding our contributions beyond the bottom line. In Part Two, we look at how procurement professionals can leverage tools to increase our organizational effectiveness — and influence.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Imagining a World Without (Good) Spend Analysis
SynerTrade
January 17, 2019
Before procurement had spend analysis solutions at our disposal, every question about historical purchasing activity led to unthinkable manual work or a big question mark. Now that we can centralize, cleanse, and normalize data for analysis - often with the assistance of tailor-made automation – many of us have stopped thinking about what life was like without it. But not all spend analysis is up to the task. In fact, having inferior spend analysis can be almost as bad as not having spend analysis at all. Poor spend analysis inflates expectations about the level of visibility we have, and may artificially inflate our confidence about how well we understand the spend we’re working to manage.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement
The Procurement Maturity Curve, Part 1: Savings at Every Stage
Determine
January 15, 2019
After multiple years of transformation (first procurement, then digital), most of us have accepted the idea that we work in a state of perpetual change and self-examination. What are my company’s current practices? What am I doing to advance myself or my team to the next level? How does that compare to what my competition is doing? Isn’t this striving for growth what “procurement maturity” is all about?
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement
The December ISM-NewYork Report on Business: Downward Close to 2018
Buyers Meeting Point
January 03, 2019
I couldn’t help thinking about this month’s survey findings while watching the rain fall down on the New Year’s Eve revelers in Times Square on Monday night. For months, outlook and business conditions remained cautiously optimistic despite fears of global trade disputes. In December, it all finally came crashing down.
If I try to step back and think objectively about what this month’s report teaches us, I see both good news and bad news – despite December’s downturn.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Wondering What Your Procurement Contracts are Worth?
Determine
January 03, 2019
It would be easy to calculate the value of a contract by multiplying projected volume, negotiated costs and term. Accuracy notwithstanding, this answer limits the 'value' of the contract to its transactional footprint. Any procurement organization that insists their value transcends savings dollars or spend under management has to be willing to take the same approach when determining total contract value.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement
Additional Commentary on the November ISM-NewYork Report on Business: Outlook Stands Alone
Buyers Meeting Point
December 04, 2018
In November, New York City purchasing managers indicated lower conditions in all indices but two, the Six-Month Outlook and Prices Paid.
Current Business Conditions reached a seven-month low, coming in at 67.8 in November. Current Business Conditions have fallen between 2 and 4 points per month for the last three months.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Making the Business Case for Digital Procurement this Budget Season
SynerTrade
December 04, 2018
The days remaining in this fiscal year are slipping away quickly. All across the enterprise, decision makers’ attention is turning to 2019. The start of a new year brings new budgets – along with all their ups and downs. Procurement’s spend management mandate might lead one to expect that we have an inside line on securing funds, but this is not usually the case. Procurement teams have varying levels of visibility and influence during the annual budgeting process – especially when it comes to making the case for investment in our own technology. And an investment in digital procurement can be the difference between ‘getting by’ and ‘getting ahead’.
Procurement teams that have successfully transformed into a strategic and digitally-enabled function have stronger relationships with stakeholders and executive leadership. This is partially because of the increased access to information that transformation provides and partially because of reduced ‘static’ thanks to access to integrated, end-to-end digital procurement.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
3 Procurement Software Obstacles to Change
SynerTrade
November 13, 2018
“Hooray! Change!” said absolutely no one ever.
We work in a time of rapid, disruptive change. Today’s innovation is tomorrow’s passé trend, and yesterday’s innovation is… well, who can remember yesterday?
Procurement is often in the driver’s seat for change management efforts, and we must deal with natural resistance to change as well as competition from other enterprise projects. The following obstacles are commonly – and uniquely – faced by procurement teams in the course of rolling out processes and technology...
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
Business Survey Chair Commentary on the October ISM-New York Report on Business: "Hotter Jobs Under Cooler Conditions"
Buyers Meeting Point
November 02, 2018
In October, New York City purchasing managers reported yet another new high level of Employment while indicating lower Current Business Conditions and a lower Six-Month Outlook, according to the survey taken by the Institute for Supply Management-New York.
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Tags: Management, Procurement
Policy or Practice? Supply Chain Risk Management in Reality
All Things Supply Chain Blog
October 29, 2018
It is a scary reality for companies with global raw material supply chains that the data does not always exist to verify the source of the metals they and their suppliers buy. We can invest in supply chain risk management and/or compliance solutions and regularly audit our supply chains, but reliable visibility remains elusive.
This is not just a challenge for small or growing companies. The firms named in the WSJ article include Fortune Global 500 regulars such as Apple, VW, and Samsung. If they cannot keep conflict minerals out of their high visibility supply chains, how can any company hope to?
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Risk Management
Fleet Innovation - Beyond the Robots
ATSC Blog
October 08, 2018
Driverless fleet vehicles (a.k.a. autonomous trucks) have everyone so excited that you might finish your daily read of news from around the industry and think it is the only promising area of innovation in logistics. While fully autonomous fleets probably won’t become mainstream for a few years (at least!), there are plenty of other potentially disruptive advancements being rolled out right now – and not a single one of them involves robots.
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Tags: Autonomous Vehicles, Innovation, Supply Chain
Comparing the Merits of Digital and Electronic Invoicing
SynerTrade
October 04, 2018
If digital and electronic invoicing sound like the same thing to you, you’re not alone. Can an invoice be one and not the other? Absolutely.
With all of the hype surrounding digital (i.e. digitalization, digitization, digital transformation), it seems like the optimal form for invoicing. And yet, it has its limits. A PDF is digital, as is a Word document, a photograph and even a freeform text file. Digital just means that information is stored in ‘soft’ copy rather than on paper. And while an e-mailable soft copy is worlds better than a piece of paper, it doesn’t necessarily leverage the speed, efficiency, or effort-reducing capabilities of computing. Taking a picture of a paper invoice technically makes it digital, but that doesn’t make the data in that invoice accessible to most software programs.
The alternative to a digital invoice is an electronic invoice. Rather than being scans or images of invoice information, electronic invoices contain data directly in a file and, more importantly, in a format that can be accessed and interpreted by software. Electronic invoices change the playing field for companies looking to invest in either invoice automation or the automaton of the end-to-end P2P process, but they aren’t always the friendliest or most convenient format for the humans involved in the invoicing process.
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Tags: Innovation, Procurement
The September ISM-New York Report on Business: Help Wanted! Employment reaches a new all-time high
Buyers Meeting Point
October 02, 2018
In September, New York City purchasing managers reported the highest Employment number on record, according to the survey taken by the Institute for Supply Management-New York. Current Business Conditions were at 72.5 in September, a 4 point drop from the 12-year high of 76.5 in August. There are two really significant findings in this month’s report: employment and quantity. Both are interesting from an economics perspective, but you have to view them through a procurement lens to get the full color.
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Tags: Management, Procurement
Elements of a Diversified #Procurement Technology #ROI - Tracking the Value of Time, Efficiency and Risk Management
SynerTrade
September 06, 2018
When procurement is looking to select and implement new or replace Source to pay software, our focus is often on gathering requirements and comparing qualified alternatives. But we can’t view ourselves as the only stakeholders for the effort.
One of the earliest hurdles we must often get past is delivering a business case that documents the ROI corporate leadership can expect to see from the implementation.
Sure – there’s always savings, and no procurement technology ROI calculation would be complete without that element, but in an environment where every function, team, and individual is looked at to deliver ‘more’, a savings-only ROI may seem one dimensional.
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Tags: Customer Experience, Procurement, Risk Management
A Dose of Our Own Medicine: Improving Procurement Technology Selection and Implementation
Buyers Meeting Point
September 06, 2018
Working with a third party that specializes in selecting and implementing procurement technology offers a number of advantages, not the least of which is driving business outcomes. While completing a project on time and on budget are important considerations, the implications of prioritizing them over finding the right solution are significant – and long lasting. Although many procurement organizations have one or more IT category managers on staff, they rarely possess current expertise focused on procurement technology because their attention and effort are required elsewhere (like managing categories relevant to the business).
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Tags: Culture, Digital Transformation, Procurement
The August ISM-New York Report on Business: Nowhere to go but down... except up
Buyers Meeting Point
September 05, 2018
In August, New York City purchasing managers reported significant highs in Current Business Conditions and Current and Expected Revenues. Current Business Conditions were at 76.5, a new 12 year high over the 75.0 seen in July, but still failing to surpass the 77.1 reported in November of 2006.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain
AI Needs Us More than We Need It – For Now
ATSC Blog
September 03, 2018
Imaginative business leaders dream of applying AI to spend data analytics, achieving full supply chain transparency, and deftly automating internal buyer support. While these remain on the table as potential applications for AI in procurement and supply chain, AI is being held back like many of the other enterprise technologies we implemented with equally lofty goals.
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Tags: AI, Procurement, Supply Chain
Evading the Strategy Trap in Pursuit of Procurement Agility
Determine
August 22, 2018
Procurement’s desire to be agile is as well-documented and frequently discussed as our interest in transformation. In both cases, however, we are at risk of falling into the ‘strategy trap’ – the lack of clarity, direction and actionability that accompany all things non-tactical.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Procurement
Survey Chair Commentary: The July 2018 ISM-New York Report on Business
Buyers Meeting Point
August 02, 2018
The findings in this month’s survey are nothing short remarkable. Not only do we have a number of milestone index levels, they are high across the board. This is the only time that all of these indices have been collected (current and expected revenues have only been collected since February of 2012) and that they have all been above 60. Keep in mind, too, that we closed the survey for July on Friday the 27th – the day that the Q2 2018 GDP of 4.1% was announced – meaning that all of the optimism associated with that day did not meaningfully affect this month’s results.
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Tags: Procurement
The Private Company Paradox
Procurious
August 02, 2018
Many procurement teams have been tasked with diversifying the supply base. This often means partnering with small, diverse, or locally-sourced suppliers.
One challenge that arises is that many of the companies that qualify for such programs are privately owned. The lack of information that usually accompanies private ownership is at odds with procurement’s transparent supplier evaluation frameworks. Add to this the fact that participating in an RFP process just to be ‘diversity fodder’ is onerous and potentially even harmful to small businesses, and we’re left with a paradox:
How can procurement stay true to our mandate while also finding mutually beneficial opportunities for small and diverse businesses?
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Tags: Innovation, Procurement, Sustainability
Advantages of Having the Right End-to-End Procurement Software Solution in Place
SynerTrade
July 26, 2018
The value of working with one company, on one platform, for all procurement technology needs can be measured through ease of use, user adoption, and functionality. The advantage of taking a platform approach – with the right platform and partner – is that the results and intelligence derived from using the system are as expansive as the automation, user groups, and processes it encompasses.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Procurement steps up its game
Determine
July 24, 2018
In this, the third of our four-part blog series for the release of CPO Rising 2018: The Age of Intelligence, Kelly Barner of Buyers Meeting Point delves into the myriad facets of Procurement Performance in Chapter Three. There’s no debate that the importance and influence of procurement is on the rise across industries, but the question is, are procurement’s metrics – like spend under management – truly representative of those accomplishments?
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Tags: Analytics, Procurement
Making the Case for Libertarian Procurement
Procurious
July 10, 2018
Technology and consumer expectations have advanced to the point where we can consider the possibilities of ‘Libertarian’ procurement, an approach to spend management and compliance that nods to the free will of buyers whenever possible, even if it means giving up some of the ‘control’ traditionally associated with spend management.
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Tags: Procurement
Survey Chair Commentary: The June ISM-New York Report on Business
Buyers Meeting Point
July 03, 2018
In June, New York City purchasing managers indicated a solid end to the second quarter in the form of strong forward-looking business conditions and employment. At the highest level, this month’s findings were almost ‘directionally ideal’. What do I mean by that? Anything that we would want to see go up (current business conditions and employment) goes up and prices paid goes down.
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Tags: Procurement
Common Misconceptions About the Summer Supply Chain
All Things Supply Chain Blog
June 25, 2018
Freight is considered a leading indicator for the economy, and for good reason: goods have to be in place (or at least in distribution centers) before they can travel the final mile and be sold or delivered. This means that while many of us are ramping down for a few months, logistics activity is heating up along with the weather.
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Tags: Supply Chain
Survey Chair Commentary: The May ISM-New York Report on Business
Buyers Meeting Point
June 04, 2018
The May ISM-New York Report on Business was released on June 4th at 9:45am Eastern. This post reviews the report's actual findings as well as an interpretation of their meaning.
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Tags: Procurement
The Story Behind the Numbers: The April 2018 ISM-New York Report on Business
linkedin
May 02, 2018
Current Business Conditions were at 64.3 in April, reaching the highest level since January when they reached an eleven plus year high of 72.5. The Six-Month Outlook fell to 58.4 in April. With the exception of the small increase we reported in March, the six-month outlook has declined every month since December 2017.
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Tags: Procurement, Management
The Story Behind the Numbers: The February ISM-New York Report on Business
linkedin
March 02, 2018
The February ISM-New York Report on Business was released on March 2nd at 9:45am Eastern and is available for download on the ISM-New York site. You can also hear my podcast commentary on BMP Radio, part of the Art of Procurement Network.
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Tags: Procurement, Management
The Story Behind the Numbers of the January ISM-New York Report on Business: Optimism Today, Optimism Tomorrow
linkedin
February 02, 2018
Current Business Conditions were at 72.5 in January, up almost 20 points from December. This marks the highest level reported since November of 2006 when current business conditions were at 77.1. At that time, the Six-Month Outlook was also in growth territory at 73.0, but it was lower than what we are seeing this month.
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Tags: Procurement, Management
Call for input: Preserving Trust and Respect in Negotiations
linkedin
September 21, 2017
Mark Bilgin, career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations (2017), and I will be doing a regular podcast series – one that we’re looking for community input on. Our first discussion (next week) will be focused on the importance of trust and respect in negotiation: how to foster them and signs that they are missing.
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Tags: Procurement, Management
Help! My webinar topic sounds boring!
linkedin
January 24, 2017
This content was originally featured on the Webinara blog.
One of the things we have talked and written about at length here at Webinara is the importance of having a compelling topic for your event. That topic is what will get people’s attention when you want them to register. It will give them the incentive to show up for the live event. Lastly, it will ensure that you hold their attention while you share your content.
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Tags: Procurement, Management
Capt. Sully Sullenberger on Crisis Leadership (Revisited)
Buyers Meeting Point
September 15, 2016
January 15, 2019 marks the 10-year anniversary of the "Miracle on the Hudson". I’m as struck by his leadership now as I was then. While he is first and foremost talking about teamwork and leadership, he also teaches us about the tradeoffs of cost and risk, preparation and prevention.
My original focus was on the line about a “false dichotomy between cost and safety” but today the idea that “safety can pay for itself” stands out. After all, procurement organizations today are looking to stretch their influence beyond savings. Could a strategic, value driven approach to managing the supply chain have enough of an operational impact on the company that it would outweigh the direct bottom line impact from traditional savings? That is a question that each team will have to answer for themselves and their unique circumstances.
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Tags: Culture, Leadership, Procurement
How Procurement Saved the American Revolution
Buyers Meeting Point
July 04, 2014
As we prepare to celebrate the 4th of July in the United States, we have a lot to be grateful for. We are grateful for the simple things like peak of summer traditions: fireworks, grilling, and parades. We are also grateful that in the many years since the Declaration of Independence was signed our relationship with Britain has improved. We’d be awfully sorry not to be able to work with our British colleagues and partners.
All that being said, is the 4th of July a reason to be grateful for procurement? Absolutely. Procurement played more of a role in the American Revolutionary War than most people probably realize.
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Tags: Leadership, Procurement, Supply Chain
How Procurement Saved the American Revolution
Buyers Meeting Point
July 04, 2014
As we prepare to celebrate the 4th of July in the United States, we have a lot to be grateful for. We are grateful for the simple things like peak of summer traditions: fireworks, grilling, and parades. We are also grateful that in the many years since the Declaration of Independence was signed our relationship with Britain has improved. We’d be awfully sorry not to be able to work with our British colleagues and partners.
All that being said, is the 4th of July a reason to be grateful for procurement? Absolutely. Procurement played more of a role in the American Revolutionary War than most people probably realize.
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Tags: Leadership, Procurement, Supply Chain
Finance Unleashed
Procurement at a Crossroads
Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals
Top 5 Procurement Influencers
On Earth Day, Digital Networks Turning Global Commerce a Brighter Shade of Green
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Automation Deployment And Change Management Best Practices
Transformational ROI: Why Your Suppliers Should Embrace E-invoicing
The Evolution of Finance and the CFO, Part 2
The Evolution of Finance and the CFO, Part 1
Full Access: Kelly Barner with Buyers Meeting Point
Technology Alone Is Still Not A Silver Bullet For Transformation
Insider's View: Procurement Transformation - Episode 2: Why Procurement Leaders Need to Speak Up
Aligning Intent And Investment To Build (The Right) Procurement Capabilities
SIL Podcast: High-Stakes Procurement w/ Kelly Barner
Negotiating for the Unknown: Buying Emerging Technologies
The Procurement AI Gameplan Workbook
Boosting Supplier Performance with 360° Information
Procurement Must Manage Spend, Not “Spends”
ATMs Provide a Cautionary Counterweight to Digital Transformation Optimism
To Maximize Employee Engagement, We Must First Define It