It has become increasingly common to hear about technological disruptions. Every day there is a new tool, software, methodology or someone trying to do something different. And this is excellent! Tech...

The ‘app boom’ is widely recognized to be slowing as we approach the half way mark of 2017. Success stories such as Snapchat and Uber remain (in terms of continued, steep growth), but the aggregate gr...

On June 5th, I covered a webinar on Robotic Process Automation (see my notes here). At the time, they announced the planned release of an eBook on the topic. It is now available for free as a download...

Editor’s note: It is my distinct belief that as corporate objectives become more general, functional silos dissipate, and millennial professional habits lead to increased talent rotation, the inf...

“The bigger you are, the more likely you are to fail because of the change required in aggregate.” – Thomas Young, Founder and Managing Partner of RUMJog Enterprises

“This is real.” - Frank Casale, Founder of the Institute for Robotic Process Automation and the Outsourcing Institute

These webinar notes are from a May 28^th event run by the Institute for Robotic Process Automation (IRPA), which was founded by the Outsourcing Institute’s Frank Casale. Casale was joined in the event by a panel of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) experts: Raheem Hasan (CMO, IRPA), Pat Geary (CMO, Blue Prism), and Thomas Young (Founder and Managing Partner, RUMJog Enterprises).

These notes are from an August 18^th webinar by the Institute for Robotic Process Automation (IRPA). The primary speakers were Barry Matthews Managing Director at Alsbridge, and Eric Shander, Vice President of Global Technology Services at IBM Global Services.

I’ve been covering all of the Robotis Process Automation (RPA) events based on IRPA’s recently released ebook meant to educate people about RPA. The most important things to know are that RPA is best suited to logic-based, repeatable tasks currently performed by in house employees or third party outsourcers. In some cases, robots can even provide governance or oversight of other robots. The other thing to know is that these aren’t mechanical robots – they are software robots: programs designed to handle tasks and learn over time.

The piece of this particular event that I found the most compelling was the potential for negative impact, or the ‘bad and ugly’ as they put it in the webinar. Let’s face it, as much as people decry the impact of offshoring, RPA’s cost structure and scalability raises a significantly larger concern about job loss. The honest truth is that RPA will have an effect on jobs, but it may not be quite what people think.

These notes are based on attending an October 13^th webinar hosted by HfS Research. The event can be viewed on demand here.

The panel included two HfS team members (Phil Fersht and Charles Sutherland) and two executives from Cognizant: Robert Hoyle Brown and Matt Smith. I listened to the event end to end twice – once live and once on demand. The topic of automation is fascinating and it was well covered and discussed in this webinar. My challenge was to figure out what this growing trend means for procurement.

The following are our webinar recommendations for the coming week – selected based on topics and speakers. If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend “Managing Supply Ecosystems“ from IACCM on March 2 at 11am ET.

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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 20^th at 11am ET.

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This is an incredibly busy week – 10 webinars in four days. Looks like 2019 is going to go out with a bang! So put on your cozy socks and dig out your mug Snuggie (see how I did that, tying everything into the image above?) and settle in for a webinar by a warm fire.

The first 2020 events are starting to go up as well, so don’t hesitate to keep an eye on January. Speaking of which, if you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend “The dos and don’ts of stakeholder engagement & collaboration” from Proactis and Peter Smith on January 21^st.

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The New England Supply Chain Conference and Exposition (or NESCON) is taking place on Monday of this week in Marlborough, MA – outside of Boston. I’ll be there in person along with some familiar faces, so please reach out if you plan to be onsite! If you can’t be there on person, watch the BMP Twitter feed for updates throughout the day.

If you are looking for a longer term recommendation, check out “Power your Source-to-Pay with insightful and predictive analytics” from basware on October 24th.

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We’ve officially entered the summer slowdown from a webinar perspective. While this means the volume of events to choose from is down, it means that anyone hosting an event is committed to it and will hopefully put in a bit of extra effort to make the investment of time worthwhile!

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Lessons in Transformation: What Direct Procurement Teams Can Learn from Indirect Procurement’ with SIG and GEP on June 18th at 1pm ET.

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As we start the month of February, events about 2019 planning are starting to give way to events with broader themes: specifically digital transformation and AI. In fact, 2019 may just be the year of ‘More of What We Saw in 2018’. I’ll continue looking for a new topic, but until then: transformation and automation it is!

If you are planning further in advance, I recommend an upcoming event from Philip Ideson at Art of Procurement: AOP Live. It is all about getting participants to engage with subject matter experts rather than zoning out or dozing off during an overly scripted slide-driven webinar. In February, AOP Live will feature Sammeli Sammalkorpi (Sievo) in a discussion about Establishing Your Procurement AI Game Plan.

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And… we’re back! After a 1 webinar week last week – likely due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. – June is already shaping up to be an active month for events. If you like to plan further ahead, I recommend "Building a Best-in-Class Category Management Program: The Newest Trends, Tips and Technologies" on June 12th from SIG and GEP.

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After a slow couple of weeks, the calendar is once again buzzing with activities. In addition to the webinars recommended below, ProcureCon Pharma is happening in Zurich on the 13th through the 15th and Procurement Leaders’ World Procurement Congress is happening in London on March 15-16. If you like to plan further ahead, I recommend “Applying B2C Strategies to Corporate Procurement” from BuyerQuest on March 28th. 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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I have a bit of a ‘bone’ to pick with this week’s webinar hosts. Usually the week of Thanksgiving in the U.S. is a sleepy time – at least professionally. We all wind down Monday and Tuesday so that on Wednesday we are ready to load up the car and head for Grandma’s house. I was assuming that this year would be the same – including a quiet week for me. Not so much! This week's hosts may be 'turkeys' but their topics and speakers certainly aren't. Not only are there four events taking place on Tuesday, they all look fantastic! Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.

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This week is a little slower than the last two, but the topics are fantastic! The three webinars I’ve recommended below are forward looking different ways. From getting smarter through the use of procurement apps, planning our your 3^rd party risk management strategy for 2018, and getting a realistic grasp on RPA adoption success, the future looks bright indeed! Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.

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Another busy week of events! 11 webinars and ProcureCon Pharma in Philadelphia Oct. 24-26. I’m also presenting a webinar this week, along with Jaggaer and WNS Denali: How can you control rogue marketing spend? We will have an honest (and humorous) conversation about the challenges procurement commonly faces with Marketing and make some recommendations to address them. Click on the title of each recommended webinar below to view the full description and register.

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If you’re thinking of attending a webinar this week, don’t hesitate. With the July 4^th holiday in the U.S. next week closing most companies on Monday and Tuesday, the events calendar is a ghost town. Click on the title of each webinar below to view the full description and register.

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