Connectivity is at the core of the modern business. Whether your organization is comprised of one small office with 10 people or a large multinational employing thousands, it is key to find the correct connectivity mix to support your business needs.
Another week, another 10 events added to the calendar – all of which are taking place between now and the first week of July. There are 8 webinars this week and 11 next, and several events already listed for the week of July 4th. That may indicate that the pause in business that typically surrounds the July 4th holiday in the U.S. will be shorter than in more typical years.
Talk to any procurement leader in an international company and you’ll hear some common issues being raised. The lure of technology (especially big data and AI) and dangled carrots of opportunity to digitally transform the whole procurement function are all great but hard facts are getting in the way.
From buyers to suppliers, everyone knows that the Request for Proposal (RFP) process is… less than ideal. At the same time, it is often central to the procurement process, so sales teams everywhere should be prepared to put their best foot forward when responding.
The uncertainty surrounding Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) can be frightening for all employees involved, but often overlooked is the potential a merger can bring for procurement to hit the “RESET” button – both with their internal procedures and with their suppliers. With common M&A buzzwords like “increasing shareholder value” and “synergies” thrown around by management, procurement is provided with an abundance of short term cost-saving opportunities.
In this post, I’ll outline the steps, tips, and strategies procurement can use to generate cost savings during M&A activity and boost that ever sought after shareholder value.
I have good news and less good news… The good news is that I added 8 webinars to the calendar on Friday (7 of which are in May). The less good news is that there are only 3 events to shoes from this week. Take a look at my comments below to see what I recommend.
If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Executing a Successful Procurement Transformation’ hosted by Ivalua on May 29th. This webinar will be presented by Duncan Jones from Forrester Research on the study that generated so much buzz at the Ivalua NOW event in Paris a couple of weeks ago. If you are interested in some insights about the study, which focuses on the misalignment between procurement’s maturity and our perception of our maturity, you can visit Art of Procurement’s blog or read my own write up here on BMP.
BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.
It was really hard selecting just three events to recommend this week – even the webinars that I’m not highlighting below sound fantastic. They include a Supply Chain Now Radio event on attracting top supply chain talent and an ISM/LexisNexis event on applying the PESTLE framework. We also have ProcureCon Direct taking place in San Diego, CA on Tuesday and Wednesday.
If you’re planning a little further out, I recommend “How a Leading Wine Producer Is Making Digital Order Management a Reality” from HfS Research on September 6th at 11am ET. Come for the wine, stay for the digitalization.
BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.
Fleet operations can absolutely be an overwhelming category to manage. Between deciding on the right vehicle manufacturer, understanding the ever-changing vehicle features, selecting the appropriate maintenance plans, managing fluctuating fuel costs, and more – the active time required is substantial. However, rather than looking at this category as a mountainous challenge, Fleet should be seen as a major cost saving opportunity.
There are multiple triggers for evaluating the fleet category from the top down beyond just due diligence:
In all of these hypothetical situations, a few best practices can be used for an effective category evaluation that enables both cost savings and process optimization.
For any of the reasons listed above, the fleet evaluation/optimization process benefits from taking a two-pronged approach that includes both a comprehensive OEM evaluation and a Fleet Management Services (FMS) provider evaluation. If the fleet administration and management function is housed internally, this two-pronged approach still applies in terms of analyzing the internally managed program (reactive and preventative maintenance programs, acquisition and resale processes, etc.).
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.
Procurement is undergoing a transformation, moving away from process and price and towards undertaking initiatives that demonstrate value for the business. Therefore, when the opportunity arises for procurement to demonstrate its value, you would expect them to seize it in both hands… or maybe not!
We want to share with you a real life situation undertaken this month. We have removed the names of those involved to limit embarrassment; both company names are fictitious, but the scenario is real.
Happy New Year! This week marks the start of a new year of webinars – and based on the first events out of the gate, 2016 is clearly going to be a year where it pays off to challenge the fundamentals. Click on the title of each event below to view the full description in our events calendar and to connect to their registration pages.
