As we round the corner to Labor Day weekend, the number of weekly events is picking up. My recommendations for this week are below, but be sure to look at the rest of the month of September as it is already completely packed with great procurement and supply chain webinars. Click on the title of each event below to view the full description in our events calendar and connect to their registration pages.
Key Trends of Advanced Analytics (Gartner)
September 2, 8:00am EDT and 11am EDT
You have two shots at this week’s first recommended event as Gartner looks at current and expected future trends in analytics. Since knowledge – or as we more commonly call it today, data – is power, procurement should be prepared to do anything we get the opportunity to with analytics. In this webinar, Gartner will take us beyond the basics of analytics to look at advanced capabilities in technology and skill sets. I actually think it is an advantage that this is not a procurement analytics event – the more generalist the better. Looking at analytics as a broad approach will help widen our horizons about what is possible and what we need to know to harness the power.
Enhanced supplier due diligence: the implications for supplier risk management (Supply Management)
September 3, 8:00am EDT
While we don’t have a lot of information on this webinar, I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt because Supply Management is running it. It is easy to make the case that risk and due diligence are both important to procurement’s objectives, and the speakers for the event should present some interesting case study-like information. Ted Datta, Strategic Account Director for London at Bureau van Dijk, and David Lyon, Head of Procurement at Cancer Research UK, will both speak during the webinar.
Balancing Labor Spend with Candidate Quality (SIG, PeopleTicker)
September 3, 2:00pm EDT
As more and more responsibilities are handled by a contingent workforce of contributors, procurement needs to get better at sourcing and managing services spend. In this classic ‘cost plus’ sourcing category, the risk of putting downward pressure on costs is very real – if procurement negotiates too hard, the result is candidates of inferior quality and qualifications. In addition to sharing some information about balancing cost and quality, PeopleTicker has one of their clients joining them on the webinar. David Feldman, Director of Global Contingent Workforce for Monsanto, will share Monsanto’s business challenges, internal process changes, and best practices using PeopleTicker’s rate software.