This week’s event picks come from a fresh variety of hosts – all looking at data, intelligence, and insights that procurement can use to improve decision making and results. Click on the title of each event below to view the full description in our events calendar and to connect to their registration pages.
The Raw Truth About Intelligent Automation (HfS, Cognizant)
October 13, 11am EDT
I’ve written about robotic process automation (RPA) a number of times this year. This HfS webinar applies the concept of software ‘robots’ directly to procurement and operational efficiency. Rather than just thinking about automation for the efficiencies it can drive or the work it can handle, this webinar will look at automation as an incredible source of data than can be mined for additional improvements and creative applications. A warning though: in order to reap the full benefits we’ll still have to work cross functionally and keep our eyes open to potential risk and labor impacts.
Too Much Data, But Too Few Good Decisions? (Gartner)
October 14, 8am and 11am EDT
More and more companies are investing in increased analytics fed by a steady stream of better, more readily available data. The problem with looking at analytics as a new capability is that it creates a break between the systems that generate data, the analytics engine being used, and the decision makers that need to be able to act on it. In this event, Gartner will look at in-memory computing and how - by incorporating analytics into transaction processing software - we can get closer to the goal of predictive and prescriptive analytics.
October 15, 11am EDT
Have I mentioned that I love spend analysis? Yes, I suppose I have. Long underleveraged and overlooked, spend analysis is about to come into its prime as organizations invest in analytics of all kinds. In this webinar, Jason Busch will look at the new and expanding potential of spend analysis – both from a high level and at the detail level. He’ll also talk about what is coming next, especially from startups in the spend analysis space. The webinar does include a demonstration of Tungsten’s spend analysis solution, something that usually discourages me from recommending an event, but based on the long list of topics to be addressed this will hopefully be a contained portion of the webinar.