How Procurement Can Create Value In Mergers And Acquisitions
According to analysts, the strong mergers & acquisitions (M&A) market is expected to continue. The forecast is that the deal environment will improve, or at least remain stable, over the next...
View ArticleSustainability Summit: The Debate On Corporate Social Responsibility Continues
What’s the biggest change in terms of the focus and priorities for procurement teams and leaders over the last decade or so? There are a few potential answers to that question, but my feeling is that...
View ArticleReimagining Smart City Procurement With Digital Technology
Part 4 of the series “Winning In The Experience Economy“ Have you ever thought about how many of your life’s major critical decisions would have been greatly facilitated and perhaps modified if the...
View ArticleNew Digital Tax Mandates Pose Big Risk In Procure-to-Pay Processes
Worldwide, nearly one-third of countries’ revenue from value-added tax (VAT) or other indirect taxes goes uncollected because of fraud, evasion, or errors. Totaling almost half a trillion euros – equal...
View ArticleFour New Places To Find More Savings
If you’ve looked everywhere in your search for savings, we have an answer for you. Four, actually. You’ve picked all the low-hanging fruit and upended every stone. You’ve already delivered mountains of...
View ArticleHow Do You Prosper In An Intelligent Economy? Create An Intelligent Enterprise
“Big breakthroughs happen when what is suddenly possible meets what is desperately needed.” — Thomas L. Friedman We’re all participants in a global economy that’s not only interconnected but...
View ArticleIn Procurement, You Can Have It All (Just Not All At Once)
Overhaul your procurement function – one piece at a time. Let’s hit the ground crawling. That’s not a very popular notion in business these days, but if you bite off more new procurement processes than...
View ArticleBlockchain In Chemicals: An Occam’s Razor Problem?
Over the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of buzz around blockchain. Billions of dollars have been spent, thanks to “inflated expectations,” in Gartner’s terms. The company’s 2018 Hype Cycle for...
View ArticlePlant Tours In The 21st Century: How Procurement Executives Can Stay Connected
Part four of a six-part blog series based on 30+ years’ experience collaborating on innovation with complex, discrete machinery manufacturers. In the third blog in this series, I discussed how...
View ArticleConnect The Dots Between Experience And Procurement: Q&A With AI Authority...
Part 4 of the series, “Transforming Your Enterprise for the Experience Economy“ Reducing costs. Expanding profits. Mitigating risk. Improving the customer experience. One of these things is not like...
View ArticleThink “What’s In It For Them” Before Saying “What’s In It For Me”
Initiatives that involve your suppliers usually are meant to benefit you, since you are the owner of the initiative. Before embarking on technology adventures such as the Internet of Things (IoT),...
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Not Your Grandfather’s Procurement (Part 1)
In Part 1 of a 3-part series, Marcell Vollmer, chief digital officer at SAP Ariba, shares his take on where digital procurement is headed. Read Part 2 and Part 3. Q: Let’s start with a pair of basic...
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Not Your Grandfather’s Procurement (Part 2)
In Part 2 of a 3-part series, Marcell Vollmer, chief digital officer at SAP Ariba, shares his take on where digital procurement is headed. Read Part 1 and Part 3. Q: Your report says that digital...
View ArticleSourcing: A Call For High-Stakes Evolution Across The Mill Products Industry
Part 5 of the “State of the Mill Industry” series Executives across mill products companies wake up every day in a world of volatility that impacts every aspect of the one thing that can make or break...
View ArticleThree Ways AI Makes Procurement Smarter
In 2017, Gartner predicted that artificial intelligence (AI) would benefit procurement and sourcing technology. That moment has arrived, according to Mike Quindazzi, managing director at...
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Not Your Grandfather’s Procurement (Part 3)
In Part 3 of a 3-part series, Marcell Vollmer, chief digital officer at SAP Ariba, shares his take on where digital procurement is headed. Read Part 1 and Part 2. Q: In the 2018 survey, you noted,...
View ArticleProcess Mining: A Key To Intelligent Procurement Operations
I was recently thinking about how speed and precision are so important to professional teams in sports such as women’s soccer. These traits don’t come to athletes easily. They are continually enhanced...
View ArticleSmart Move: Bring Intelligent Spend Management To The Business
Part of the “Intelligent Spend Management” series about how to manage more spend, more intelligently If you’re only buying office supplies, you’ve probably got a good idea what you’re spending on paper...
View ArticleYour Digital ERP Journey Goes Farther Faster With Procurement
Nearly every organization in virtually every industry is facing similar pressures. How can we be quicker and more nimble with everything – from back-office processes to how we get products to market?...
View ArticleWhy The Time For Intelligent Spend Management Is Now
Part of the “Intelligent Spend Management” series about how to manage more spend, more intelligently In 1692, Sir Isaac Newton settled a fundamental scientific question: What do you get when you mix...
View ArticleThe Brexit Effect
Doing nothing can be a remarkably rewarding thing. For example, when I did a click-n-collect no-show at John Lewis for something I realized I don’t need, JL auto-refunded me the product cost. However,...
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Unlocking Value In The Oil And Gas Industry
The United Nations predicts that by 2025, the global population will reach 8.1 billion and by 2050, it will reach 9.6 billion. Most of this growth will occur in developing countries – primarily in...
View ArticlePrivate-Label Products: The Rising Star In Retail Automating The...
The retail industry is going through dramatic changes due to changing consumer preferences like unified commerce and seamless shopping experiences, emerging new business models like business to home...
View ArticleTaking Intelligent Spend Analysis To A New Level
Going from data to intelligent spend analysis? Traditional tools just don’t cut it anymore. How do we get from data to tangible, valuable ideas? Supply chain leaders today are being asked to help...
View ArticleChallenges In Oil And Gas For Procurement Leaders
As a chief procurement officer, you know you need to get the best bang for your buck in buying equipment at the highest discount and the best terms and conditions for maintenance and service. You have...
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Four Powers Of Supply Chain And Procurement Superheroes
Summer is over and fall is settling into the northern hemisphere. The weather is getting chilly; the foliage shows gorgeous colors, and holidays featuring plenty of yummy food are coming up. Autumn is...
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Attain Desired Business Outcomes With Intelligent Spend Management
In our ongoing customer improvement series, we’ve discussed how employee spend is changing, tips for mitigating fraud, why you should be controlling low-level spend, and the power of corporate and...
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Strategic Priorities And Shifting The Role Of Back-Office Functions
In large and established businesses with global operations, back-office functions, like finance (including risk and compliance), procurement, supply chain, HR, and IT, are traditionally tagged as cost...
View ArticleUpdate: Business-To-Business Payment Technology
Liquidity is one of the key ratios and financial indicators for any business: It’s the ability to settle liabilities as they come due with the current assets available – fundamentally, money due from...
View ArticleThe 20-Year-Old Web Shop: Standard Solution, Please
In the early 2000s, many chemical companies started launching webshops, digital sales platforms for B2B buyers. Decisions were easily made from the top-down and because plenty of companies were already...
View ArticleFrom A Procurement Pac-Man To A Value Ninja
Senior leaders in procurement organizations often find themselves reacting to a barrage of activities coming their way in sequence, much like the protagonist of the famous 1980s video game Pac-Man eats...
View ArticleChaos Theory And Cost Breakdown Analysis In Sourcing
Can a butterfly flapping its wings in Timbuktu disrupt your supply chain in the Mall of America, Minnesota? Chaos theory aficionados will answer with a resounding yes, as the butterfly effect, applied...
View ArticleTowards 2020: Predictions For The Future Of Procurement
Technology holds huge promise in the procurement sector, but making the most of it requires a rethinking. Observers have been predicting the evolution of procurement for many years. Yet the results of...
View ArticleIs It Time To Rethink Your Supplier Relationships?
No matter what product you produce or service you sell, you rely heavily on your suppliers to provide the raw or indirect materials and services so you can go to market on time and on budget. But when...
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Building A Network One Node At A Time
All networks are originally pitched on the efficiencies that their participants will receive. But when they achieve critical mass, network effects take off, and the real value is in data, information,...
View ArticleManaging Experience And Costs On Retail’s 2020 To-Do List
Apparently, in the early 1900s, the various products of the earth could be ordered quite easily, if one were “of above-average capacity or character,” middle class, and happened to live in London. For...
View Article2020 Predictions For Procurement, Supply Chain, Business, And More
As we turn the corner to a new decade, businesses are looking for ways to address ever-increasing customer expectations: high-quality products and services delivered on demand, without negative impact...
View ArticleTackling Procurement Complexity With Digital
If there’s one word to describe the current procurement landscape, it’s “complex.” From goods and services to equipment and talent, globalized supply networks are already incredibly intricate. Coupled...
View ArticleThe Field Of Gold: Why It Is Time To Rethink Your Customer Service
I participate in a lot of big discussions where executives generate plenty of ideas about how to use digital means to improve processes, reduce complexity, get more transparency, tackle the challenges...
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Connecting Direct Materials And Service To Broader Business Areas
As direct sourcing gained steam in the 1990s and 2000s, it usually encompassed five critical business areas: design, plan, manufacture, deliver, and operate. Fundamentally, these five areas have not...
View Article“I’ve Got A Guy In Toledo” Is Not A Strategy
Recently, I heard the following from Diane Swonk, Grant Thornton’s chief economist, on Marketplace: “Supply chains are being disrupted.” Your favorite sources – be they in Toledo or elsewhere – have...
View ArticleCan A Supply Chain Be Really Transparent In A Digital World?
The voice of the customer is a key driving factor for many companies, leaders, and brand or product managers. Albeit customers are willing to pay more for products with full visibility into the supply...
View Article2020 Strategic Sourcing: Value-Driven Source-To-Contract Transformation
In a recent research report, Achieving Procurement Excellence in the Age of Digital Disruption, The Hackett Group states, “Procurement is facing a dual challenge in 2020: reducing costs – both internal...
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Marketplaces In The Chemical Industry, Just Hype Or The New Battlefield?
Consumer digital marketplaces are very appealing; we can find anything we want there, with no limitations by brand, competition, or portfolio. Previous buyers’ reviews, personalization, and targeted...
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How The “Amazon Effect” Is Impacting B2B Sales
In the consumer space, we’ve seen online marketplaces quickly expand over the last decade in response to buyer demands for faster, easier purchases. This expectation – a la the Amazon effect – has also...
View ArticleSustainable Sourcing: Strengthen Your Supply Chain With Reliability And...
Today, worldwide volatility and supply chain disruptions are creating huge uncertainties for global companies, making reliability and cost containment more critical than ever. Effective supplier...
View ArticleBusiness As Unusual: Why Your Organization Needs A Business Continuity Plan
I think it’s fair to say that the last few months have been a real test for all of us, adapting to extreme changes to our personal and business environments while also trying to stay safe, healthy,...
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The Impact of Intense Disruption On Business Models: Strategic Alternatives...
Part 2 of a three-part series Once you understand the key parameters that impact your business model, it is time to dive deep into how to leverage existing capabilities to navigate through the new...
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B2B Digital Marketplaces: Paving The Way Forward In Procurement And Sourcing
Growing a recognizable brand while remaining cost-efficient are two key imperatives for businesses as they continue to transform their organizations digitally. Procuring software through digital...
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The Impact Of Intense Disruption On Business Models And Strategic...
Part 3 of a three-part series Most companies are facing challenges in collecting real-time demand information on the ground at the same time the pressure is increasing to deliver essential items....
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