For anyone in the Atlanta, GA area who wants to meet an amazing group of procurement professionals, you’ll want to check out the ProcuremenTalks event this Wednesday from 6-8:30pm: Procurement Nightmares, Trainwrecks & Meltdowns: Tales of Lessons Learned.
If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend “Southwest Airlines Gets Jiffy With Automation: An Underdog RPA Tale Driven By Cultural Fit And Ease Of Use” from HfS Research and Jiffy.ai on February 20th at 11am ET.
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One commonality that I’ve noticed in webinars, blog posts and discussions recently is that digital transformation is getting REAL this year. No more nonsense. We’re over the hype, past the buzz and bored by the generalized razzle dazzle (jazz hands!). Expect to see more of this in 2020… as procurement gets smarter, service and solution providers will have to overcome our skepticism and critical thinking, focusing on the reality of digital transformation and the hard work required to make it successful.
If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend ‘Supporting C-Level Digital Initiatives with Business Spend Management’ from Coupa and Mickey North Rizza, IDC’s Vice President of Enterprise Applications Research.
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As we turn the calendar to May, there are already 8 webinars and 3 conferences listed. If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Procurement: The Forgotten Member of the Supply Chain Function’ hosted on June 19th by SCNRadio, TalentStream, and APICS Atlanta and presented by Jonathan M. Townsley, CPM Supply Chain Practitioner & Consultant.
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Although the two webinars I’ve recommended below are generally applicable, this week’s webinars also include a two specific applications of procurement process and technology in Higher Ed. Check out the full events calendar if you are interested. If you are planning beyond this week, take a peek at Tradeshift’s event on e-Invoicing and supply chain finance on January 31st or Coupa’s webinar about strategic sourcing optimization on February 19th. Both of those are good bets for expanding your knowledge.
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This week continued to fill up, with new events being added to the calendar as late as Friday. Make sure you take a look at the full listing of events, which include a couple of ‘Lunch & Learns’ from Public Spend Forum.
If you’re planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I invite you to join me on October 31st for a webinar I’m presenting at Zycus’ invitation: “3-Part Framework for Procurement Talent Transformation: Vision, Realism, and Accountability”.
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The last full week of September is going to be a busy one. There are 12 webinars taking place in three days and ProcureCon Indirect West will take place Monday through Wednesday in Scottsdale, AZ. A few of our good friends will be there, including Greg Tennyson, Michael Shaw, Joanna Martinez, Phil Ideson, and Bill Michels.
If you’re looking to plan your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend RPA - The BIG Picture 2018 from IRPA AI and Virtual Operations on October 10th at 12n ET.
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Between the new technologies available and the tidal wave of talented individuals with people analytics experience, companies can now see their entire workforce in new and exciting ways. But while most organizations recognize the benefits of full workforce visibility, their efforts stall when those that need it can’t clearly articulate the benefits to company leaders and decision-makers.
While there are a number of ancillary benefits of full workforce visibility (e.g. worker quality improvements, access to talent, vendor performance comparisons) this article focuses on the different ways an organization can leverage new levels of visibility to drive cost savings.
For being the last ‘official’ week of summer, there are quite a few events listed – including two strong late additions, one from the Economist Intelligence Unit and another from IACCM. I’m not listing the EIU event on Mexico as one of my core recommendations, but I’ve already registered to attend – and for 2 reasons: 1. I’m a news junkie and want to get a business perspective on Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or “AMLO”), Mexico’s new leader, and 2. anyone in supply chain in North America owes it to themselves to understand the implications of such major a political shift.
If you’re planning a little further out, I recommend “Taming the Long Tail - The Strategic Opportunity in Indirect Spend” from SIG and Bonfire on September 13th at 1pm ET. This webinar touches on a theme I’ve been thinking and writing about for a while now, that the path to strategic procurement goes straight through (not away from) our tactical responsibilities.
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Happy New Year! We’re off and running – I added 11 new webinars to the calendar in January and February this weekend. Of all the new year’s resolutions, Ardent Partners’ were apparently the most resolute! They aren’t missing a beat, and as a result they dominate this week’s recommendations. Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.
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Another busy week on the Buyers Meeting Point events calendar. As an FYI: I will be recommending events this week and next and then breaking until the events pick back up again the week of January 8. In addition to this week’s webinars, Market Dojo is hosting an eAuction Strategy Masterclass at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.
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With the Columbus Day holiday (for some) in the U.S. on Monday, this week is a little quieter than last. There are four webinars this week and the rest of the month is already busy – so plan ahead! Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.
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Services Procurement remains a point of significant pain to procurement departments as well as business managers due to the high volume of projects and the substantial number of vendor partners involved. There are typically multiple systems at play without a centralized repository for all elements of a project engagement. Catalog e-procurement solutions, ‘blanket purchase orders’, and A/P automation all offer limited visibility, governance, or compliance support. Procurement teams are often short-staffed and ill-equipped to manage all of the projects coming through the pipeline. This can result in all attention (not to mention compliance and savings) being focused on large projects while smaller/non-strategic projects go unmanaged or receive minimal oversight. This partial visibility extends to vendor performance as well as the benchmarking of project rates, milestones and deliverables, and even estimated project completion time. Project owners are often left to their own devices where they single-source with one vendor (bypassing the competitive bid process entirely), or selecting project vendors at high rates where staff augmentation work could be utilized at a much lower cost.
This week’s three webinars all draw on big trends affecting all companies and industries: changing workforce structure, increased globalization within enterprises, and the impact of uncertainty on planning and risk mitigation. Click on the title of each webinar below to view the full description and register.
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Organizations that are not leveraging a managed service provider (MSP) and vendor management system (VMS) may be paying too much for contingent talent and are at risk of noncompliance with various labor and benefit laws. They are also likely to have challenges involving time to source quality talent.
Another busy week of webinars - 7 on Tuesday alone! Plus, Sourcing Decisions 2017 is being held on Thursday in Toronto, Canada. While these webinar topics are not necessarily new ones, we are going to get some fresh points of view – including Exari and Bloomberg. Click on the title of each webinar below to view the full description and register.
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Non-employee talent is getting more and more attention in the executive suite, as contractors, freelancers, and other knowledge-based contingent workers become increasingly important in achieving company goals. However, when management attempts to align its current contingent labor management program with corporate objectives, many companies find they are unable to answer the most basic questions about the effectiveness of their current practices.
As organizations continue to expand the use of contingent talent to supplement their full-time workforce, they are also seeking ways to optimize their contingent workforce programs to generate additional cost-savings. Historically, this was done through supplier rate rationalization, improvements in workflow and cycle time, and engaging a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Vendor Management System (VMS) to drive efficiencies. While all of these measures generate cost-savings (particularly in first generation and early stage programs), more mature programs require the identification of other strategies like self-sourcing.
