Managing your Procurement Business Processes... What a Pain!
Pure Procurement
May 15, 2023
Business Processes: most agree it’s important to manage them for operational excellence. Nobody really does. Why? Because, in its classical form, Business Process Management (BPM) is a high friction process. Realistically, BPM is inaccessible to most in the modern organization when pitted against the demands of day-to-day operations. BPM is also an activity that is important but rarely urgent. Therefore, it resembles an unkept New Year’s Resolution… We know we should be doing it but we always put it off… How can we change this?
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
A look at middleware — the technology that bridges S2P systems as procurement organizations digitally transform
Spend Matters
July 22, 2021
Regardless of whether organizations adopt a best-of-breed or best-of-suite technology strategy for their source-to-pay system architecture, they will always be in a transition phase.
Why?
It’s because migrating to new systems takes time. This is especially true in global organizations with dozens of business units. There will always be business imperatives that drive stragglers and leaders within organizations. Stragglers will remain on legacy software longer than they should. Leaders will press for the integration of new applications into your landscape before you have completed rollouts of previous applications.
In this context, having your systems “talk to each other” to exchange data and ensure flawless end-to-end processes across applications is essential.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Digitally upgrading procurement: How to build a business case for the transformation
Spend Matters
April 22, 2021
There are a multitude of good reasons to modernize and digitize your company’s procurement function. However, the most important factor to ensure success is that your reasons resonate with the rest of your organization. Otherwise, you may very well find yourself in the company of a majority of organizations who have implemented modern procurement technologies but are not satisfied with the results.
Enter the business case.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Digital Transformation, Procurement
Without Quality Data, Artificial Intelligence Is a Shriveled-up Prune
Pure Procurement
January 26, 2021
Building Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in your business without high quality data is like driving a Ferrari without gas. It’s expensive and it gets you nowhere.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
How to Buy the Right Procurement Systems
PureProcurement.ca
October 19, 2020
With the proliferation of enterprise procurement systems available today, buyers are confronted to an anxiety inducing paradox of choice. There are well over 100 procurement software companies worldwide today, each focusing on different parts of the Procurement value chain. Certain larger providers even argue they can be your “one-stop shop” for the entire Procurement value chain. This plethora of options reflects the increased focus on Procurement organizations as value drivers for the business. Generally speaking, this is great news for supply chain professionals. However, it makes buying Procurement systems and the associated Procurement system architecture decisions more complex.
To make things simpler, it is important to understand that there are 3 main categories of Procurement software solutions. These three categories are: ERP systems, Source-to-Pay (S2P) suites & other “best of breed” solutions.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Rules for Your Procurement Digital Transformation
PureProcurement.ca
April 02, 2020
In Deloitte’s 2019 Global CPO Survey, 53% of the 481 top procurement leaders surveyed reported that they are not satisfied with the results of digital technology implementations within their organizations. Why is it still so hard to get a Procurement digital transformation right?
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Supply Chain, Procurement
The Top 10 Critical Success Factors for Source to Pay Implementations with Thierry Jaffry
PureProcurement.ca
October 13, 2019
Transcript of Pure Procurement Podcast episode #2 where Thierry Jaffry and Joël Collin-Demers discuss the top 10 critical success factors to consider before starting your S2P software implementation.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Source to Pay Content Goals are Critical to Benefits
PureProcurement.ca
September 19, 2019
Source to Pay content goals for your implementation can make or break your benefits realization. Read this post to identify the data items to focus on.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Solve Business Problems, Don’t Implement Software
PureProcurement.ca
July 10, 2019
When brainstorming the simplest solution to a business problem, don't forget to explore an option that excludes software.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Management
SAP Intelligent Spend Management: Interview with Dr. Marcell Vollmer
PureProcurement.ca
July 03, 2019
Transcript of Pure Procurement Podcast episode #1: Interview with Marcell Vollmer, Chief Digital Officer at SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass, on the SAP Intelligent Spend Management strategy.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Supply Chain, Procurement
Don’t Let Procurement Be the Bottleneck
PureProcurement.ca
May 27, 2019
Are you still waiting for that purchase order or contract? Implement parallel processes to remove the possibility of a process bottleneck in Procurement.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
SAP Intelligent Spend Management : What to Expect
PureProcurement.ca
May 05, 2019
SAP launched their Intelligent Spend Management vision in early 2019. There are changes to expect in SAP Ariba, Fieldglass and Concur going forward.
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Tags: Cloud, Supply Chain, Procurement
Stop Negotiating the Best Contract Terms
PureProcurement.ca
April 25, 2019
By negotiating the best contract terms you might be costing your company more money. Start doing these two things to ensure you really get the best price.
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Tags: ERP, Procurement, Supply Chain
Buying a Source to Pay System is Like Buying an Old House (S2P System M&A)
PureProcurement.ca
April 15, 2019
When buying a Source to Pay system, you should consider merger and acquisition data in your RFP. Here's a list of questions to ask your vendors.
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Tags: Cloud, ERP, Procurement
SAP Ariba Live 2019 Conference Summary, Day 2
PureProcurement.ca
April 10, 2019
On Ariba Live day 2, Ariba discussed an enhanced Ariba Network value proposition, the Celonis standard adapter and much more. Read this summary for details.
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Tags: Cloud, ERP, Procurement
SAP Ariba Live 2019 Conference Summary, Day 1
PureProcurement.ca
April 03, 2019
On Ariba Live day 1, Ariba discussed the keys to procurement transformation, Fieldglass merger details and much more. Read this summary for details.
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Tags: Cloud, ERP, Procurement
The Best Practices Trap. Don’t Fall in!
PureProcurement.ca
March 05, 2019
What does best practices actually mean? Are these practices serving you or working against you? How can you tell? Read to find out!
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Tags: ERP, Procurement, Management
The Power of Guiding Principles in ERP Implementations
PureProcurement.ca
February 17, 2019
Guiding principles are a set of heuristics guiding organizational decision making in a common direction. Set your project up for success by using them.
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Tags: Cloud, ERP, Management
Top 20 SAP Ariba 2019 Q1 Release Features
PureProcurement.ca
February 08, 2019
When releases are jam packed with new functionality, it's hard to keep up. Here's my top 20 of the SAP Ariba 2019 Q1 Release to make it easier for you.
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Tags: ERP, Supply Chain, Procurement
What’s the Difference Between Purchasing and Procurement? Why Does It Matter?
PureProcurement.ca
January 30, 2019
Procurement is a function. Purchasing is a process. Why does it matter? Knowing the difference will help you achieve your supply objectives.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Management
How to Scale Your Proof of Concept
PureProcurement.ca
January 23, 2019
How can you get your initiative from proof of concept to full blown project? Here are few questions you should answer before socializing your project.
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Tags: AI, Cloud, Leadership
Mastering Maintenance Catalogs with SAP Ariba Catalogs
PureProcurement.ca
January 19, 2019
The typical Source to Pay indirect purchasing scenario doesn't work for maintenance buying. Maintenance catalogs are the answer.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
What Does It Mean to “Champion” a Client?
PureProcurement.ca
January 02, 2019
Championing a client starts with building trust. Trust starts with Empathy. Empathy starts with knowledge and research. Here's how to go about it.
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Tags: Management, Leadership, Marketing
SAP Ariba Tax Management Scenarios
PureProcurement.ca
December 19, 2018
How should you manage tax in SAP Ariba Buying & Invoicing solutions? You essentially have 3 options which are discussed at length in this post.
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Tags: Cloud, ERP
Support of Cloud Solutions After Implementation
PureProcurement.ca
October 25, 2018
How should you support your new system after it is deployed? How will end users find quick answers to their questions?
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Tags: Cloud, ERP
SAP Ariba Live 2018 Conference Summary
PureProcurement.ca
March 11, 2018
Key highlights of the 2018 SAP Ariba Live conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ariba revealed their plans for solution innovation in 2018.
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Tags: ERP, Supply Chain, Procurement
Procurement Function Overview
PureProcurement.ca
November 20, 2017
How does the procurement function create value for the business? What are the main activities executed by procurement?
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Tags: ERP, Supply Chain, Procurement
How to Onboard Vendors to a B2B Business Network
PureProcurement.ca
October 19, 2017
What is the best way to onboard vendors to a Business Network? (ie. Ariba Network, Coupa Supplier Network, Basware Supplier Portal, etc)?
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Tags: ERP, Supply Chain, Procurement
A Perspective on ERP/Procurement System Commodity Codes
PureProcurement.ca
June 13, 2017
Here are my main takeaways from multiple implementations on how to configure material/system commodity codes in ERP/Procurement systems.
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Tags: ERP, Supply Chain, Procurement
How to Implement Procurement Technologies Successfully
Varisource
April 25, 2023
Today I'm excited to have Joel Colin Demers, who is the consulting principal of Pure Procurement, on the show with us. Pure Procurement is a procurement technology advisory firm, and in the last couple of years, working with a lot of different enterprise companies and procurement technology and also procurement teams, I have become even more appreciative of what Joel and his profession does.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Solving procurement's problems with technology with Joël Collin-Demers
Consulting Lifestyle Podcast
April 17, 2023
Our guest today is Joël Collin-Demers from Pure Procurement. Joel is a procurement systems expert who has extensive experience in procurement and SAP implementations. He discusses his career journey, starting from university to his work at IBM Canada.
In this episode, Joel talks about the importance of considering the organization's context and industry, which may have different processes and architecture. He also mentions the richness of procurement markets and the need to be a translator between technology and business.
Joel also stresses the importance of building relationships internally for an end-to-end process. Overall, this episode is a great insight into the procurement process and you'll surely learn how to be a better consultant for your own career!
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Best of Breed Technology in Complex Services Categories
Zivio
December 12, 2022
When and for whom do best of breed tools make sense? And how can they add value within a wider tech stack?
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
ProcureTech Pub
ProcurementSoftware.site
June 01, 2022
- Dynamic of the S2P application market
- How to craft a Procurement transformation roadmap
- Difference in maturity between suites and pure play solutions
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Throwback Thursday: Procurement, critical thinking and communication with Joël Collin-Demers
#CoffeeWithConvery
October 14, 2021
Intimate, upfront and personal coffee chats with some of the amazing and inspiring students and young talent, Brian Convey has met over the years. This series creates a platform for students (past and present) to share their voices with a focus on life experiences including their high school to post-secondary to work transitions. Each episode is produced "for the students by the students" to provide relevant content and meaningful insights to prepare the next generation of talent for the future of work. #Listen #Learn #BeInspired
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Episode 18: ERP vs P2P vs Niche Masterclass
World of Procurement Podcast
July 22, 2020
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Source-to-Contract Tech 101
The ProcureTech Podcast
May 13, 2020
Before you can go out there and run a tender and select a provider for all of your digital transformation and procuretech requirements, you need to have an overview of what’s out there, and what differentiates the different providers and types of software, right?
So, that’s why I invited Joël Collin-Demers on the show to give us a Source-to-Contract 101 lesson so as you can get a broad knowledge of what type of solutions are on offer.
Joël is a Source-to-Pay (S2P) expert and consultant from Montréal, Canada and has extensive knowledge gained in this field from his time in large organisations.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Gathering Market Intelligence With a Single Click with Embry Davis (#6)
PureProcurement.ca
January 29, 2021
Today, we’re talking about market research in Procurement. More specifically, we’re covering how to optimize the market research and market intelligence gathering processes within your organization. This will help you generate better and faster outcomes from your sourcing events.
Currently, when your organization needs to buy something new, you’ll do research on the market and potential suppliers through a many different methods: search engines, industry conferences, asking other buyers in your network for referrals, etc. This is all very labor intensive. How can we optimize this process? That’s the question at the heart of this episode.
To help me discuss the subject, I am joined by Embry Davis, Senior Business Development Manager at ProcurementIQ. A research and market intelligence firm dedicated to creating research products for procurement professionals. Embry has been in the research space for just under a decade so I was excited at the prospect of picking his brain on leading practices in this space.
During our chat, we covered a variety of topics such as:
At a high level, how to go about market research
The typical pain points and value drivers associated to market research activities
How to adopt and successfully roll out market intelligence tools in your organization
And we get into some interesting case studies near the end of the episode.
As always, if you have questions or comments after listening don’t hesitate to reach out via any of the Pure Procurement channels (e.g. LinkedIn)
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Accounts Payable Automation : Where to Start with Danny Schaarmann (#5)
PureProcurement.ca
September 23, 2020
Today we discuss where to start when attempting Accounts Payable automation. This is last piece of the Source-to-Pay process. It is often neglected by Procurement departments as it usually falls outside the department’s scope of responsibility. However, including Accounts Payable in your digital transformation is a key to maximizing benefits.
To help me discuss the subject, I am joined by Danny Scharmann, President and CEO of xSuite, an Accounts Payable automation solution provider based in Boston. xSuite has been implementing AP solutions for 25 years and which has 1,200 implementations in 60 countries under their belt, I could think of no better person to discuss this subject with. It definitely also helps that he’s a business-minded technologist and, like me, has an elite sport background which made for some fun exchanges.
During our chat, we covered a variety of topics such as:
Defining Accounts Payable
The value drivers of AP processes
The value of AP automation tools
How to think about selection and architecture of AP automation tools
Considerations for implementation of such tools
And much more
I enjoyed my chat with Danny and know you will learn a lot from it as well. Later in the interview, we often refer to SAP as an example of an ERP but the points are just as valid for any other ERP system.
As always, if you have questions or comments after listening don’t hesitate to reach out via any of the Pure Procurement channels (e.g. LinkedIn)
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Get Value From Your Spend Data Without a Source-to-Pay System with Susan Walsh (#4)
PureProcurement.ca
April 03, 2020
On the last episode, we explored the criticality of vendor data for Source-to-Pay system benefits realization. On this episode, we widen our focus to see how you can quickly get value from the spend data you currently have in your organization to enable better decision-making.
In 10 years of working with clients on Procurement improvement mandates, I’ve never worked with an organization that had excellent spend data. For a multitude of reasons, organizations typically have their spend data all over the place. So, what’s the easier, fastest way to fix that?
To help me explore this subject, I am joined by Susan Walsh or The Classification Guru. She’s worked with dozens of organizations over the last 8 years to help them find invaluable insights in what they considered to be useless data. Data cleansing, classification & taxonomies are the name of her game and, in our chat, she shared her no non-sense approach to getting results on these fronts.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, ERP, Procurement
Vendor Data – The Achille’s Heel of Source to Pay Benefits Realization with Stephany Lapierrre (#3)
Pure Procurement
November 25, 2019
On the last episode, we explored the critical success factors for your Source to Pay system implementation. One of the factors that came up and got a strong reaction was vendor master data quality. Everyone agrees this is an important topic. However, when it comes down to the specific actions that should be taken to tangibly set yourself up for success, there aren’t many experts on the topic.
Today, I am fortunate enough to be joined by one of these rare gems. In fact, my guest today has built a company around the fact that being the master of your vendor information is the backbone of success in Source to Pay.
Stephany Lapierre is the Chief Executive Officer at Tealbook, a Canadian vendor network software provider based in Toronto, Ontario. Stephany and her team have been working since 2014 on putting together a platform that leaves your ERP vendor master in the dust. By doing away with limited and static vendor information and developing tools and processes to delivery up-to-date, granular and contextually specific information to buyers and sellers, Tealbook is making a name for itself.
While on this journey, let’s just say she’s gotten very intimate with the good, bad and the ugly of the vendor master. That’s why I’ve asked her onto the show – to discuss how companies can effectively cleanse vendor master data, how to measure progress and how to keep consistent vendor data quality levels.
We dive into the problems with traditional thinking about vendor data quality management and walk though the process and tools that can be used to really see progress on this front in your company.
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Tags: Cloud, Supply Chain, Procurement
The Top 10 Critical Success Factors for Source to Pay Implementations with Thierry Jaffry (#2)
Pure Procurement
October 07, 2019
On this second episode of the Pure Procurement Podcast, I am joined by Thierry Jaffry to discuss the top 10 critical success factors to consider before starting your S2P software implementation.
Thierry is Vice-President for the North-American market and Global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Fluxym, a global leader in Source to Pay consulting services. Thierry has been working in the procurement space for over 10 years, working in various roles with both software providers and consulting firms.
Can you guess which factors came out as the most important?
System selection
Choice of partner
Clear project objectives
Team selection
Deployment plan
Supplier Enablement (SE)
Data quality
System customization
Change management
Governance
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Tags: ERP, Supply Chain, Procurement
SAP Intelligent Spend Management: Interview with Dr. Marcell Vollmer (#1)
Pure Procurement
July 03, 2019
I recently posted a review of the SAP Intelligent Spend Management strategy on my blog. The goal was to think through what this new concept might concretely mean for SAP customers. Subsequently, I was lucky enough to sit down with Dr. Marcell Vollmer, Chief Digital Officer at SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass, to get more clarity around the strategy.
We discussed:
What it will mean for product development and for organizational changes at SAP.
How this will impact new and existing customers
How this change helps organizations set up for the future of procurement.
Enjoy this very first episode of the Pure Procurement podcast!
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Business Strategy
Post-Graduate Certificate, Strategic Procurement & Supply Chain Management
