Procurement

Seven is a lucky number, but procurement success takes more than luck

Posted: 01/06/2017 - 20:59
Author: Kay Ree Lee

It’s clear that procurement has evolved over the past several years. And it continues to evolve. Digitisation has helped take it from what was viewed as a back office function to a key differentiator and value driver. But why have some procurement organisations soared with the change while others lag behind?

What do winners know that others don’t? What makes some procurement organisations more efficient or effective, more successful, more innovative, more on top of their game?

Think differently

Life Lessons: Gautam Singh

Posted: 01/06/2017 - 20:57
Author: Gautam Singh

Gautam Singh is the co-founder and CEO of The Smart Cube, a global analytics company. A first-generation immigrant who worked and built his way up to become the head of a respected international organisation, he's full of Life Lessons - and keen to share them with our readers in the next instalment of this series: over to you, Gautam...

What has been the single most significant development to impact your profession or area of business during your career, and why?

IT outsourcing is being transformed, but do the outsourcers understand?

Posted: 12/07/2016 - 00:28
Author: Mark Hillary

The Register likes to put the boot in when they comment on IT stories, so it was no surprise to see a recent feature about Fujitsu in which The Register summarised that Fujitsu needs to "get a move on" if they are going to transform their business to meet the expectations of customers today.

Q&A: John Sculley

Posted: 10/20/2016 - 11:37
Author: John Sculley

Outsource was lucky enough to catch up with John at the SIG Summit in Carlsbad, California, and to get treated to some remarkable insight from one of the sharpest minds in business…

Outsource: John, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s genuinely an honour. We have polled a few people for the opening question to this interview and the most popular query is this: what’s the one thing in your career that you’re most proud of?

Going digital, globally

Posted: 10/18/2016 - 10:17
Author: Jamie Liddell

Hard to believe half a year has gone by so quickly, but Outsource finds itself once again at a SIG Summit – taking place this time round in delightful (though, today, surprisingly drizzly) Carlsbad, California.

Procurement excellence redefined

Posted: 10/04/2016 - 07:04
Author: Kay Ree Lee

Procurement today is a different game. Once viewed as a back-office task, it has emerged as a key differentiator and driver of business value. And to execute it well requires totally new ways of thinking and acting.

Best-in-class organisations understand this. And they are tapping technology, big data and digital networks to fuel a simple, more collaborative source-to-pay process that is changing the game.

Moving Beyond Savings

Asking the right questions

Posted: 09/20/2016 - 02:11
Author: William Hooper

The formation of a good sourcing agreement relies on clear thinking and agreement between the parties on what is to be done, why and how. The market and technology are changing so rapidly that the next agreement is likely to bear little resemblance to the last. How to make sure we ask the right questions and not just the obvious of the suppliers and ourselves?

Your mess for less

In days of old, when suppliers were big, profitable and mostly American, the questions to be asked to define what a customer wanted of a new service addressed aspects such as:

Relationship marketing: is the (out)sourcing of innovation a buyer's dream challenge?

Posted: 09/09/2016 - 02:12
Author: Colin Bidewell

I recently posted on LinkedIn an article relating to the outsourcing of innovation, how large corporates were joining up with entrepreneurs and startups in the fashion, cosmetics and lifestyle sectors to form a 'supply chain of innovation'; and what opportunities and threats this type of relationship pose to an entrepreneur and SME from an agility and independence perspective.

Walking in a webinar wonderland...

Posted: 08/19/2016 - 05:28
Author: Jamie Liddell

Another month, another great Outsource Talks webinar… This week it was my profound pleasure and privilege to welcome Vested’s Kate Vitasek, KPMG’s Don Ryan and ‘Art of Procurement’ host Phil Ideson to the Outsource Talks sofa, where the hour fairly flew by in a wonderful discussion of sourcing business models, GBS, challenges facing CPOs, “two-tier” procurement profession

Introducing 'Sourcing Architecture': next-generation sourcing and procurement transformation

Posted: 08/05/2016 - 19:52
Author: Sanjay Chadha

Sourcing and procurement (S&P) leaders continue to reference efficiency, effectiveness and continuous improvement of operations as a high priority. Most will admit that continuous optimisation is not a destination, rather a journey that has become increasingly complex. Today, an agile S&P organisation that effectively aligns with the needs of the business is critical to establish. S&P organisations want to embrace accelerated decision-making, improve productivity and spend visibility, and implement tighter controls for supplier performance.

Brexit: a complex future for UK procurement and the supply chain

Posted: 07/08/2016 - 02:19
Author: Milan Panchmatia

The result of the EU referendum will undoubtedly have a profound and long-lasting impact on the entire UK population and is likely to be something that is truly generational. Whether we voted for Remain or for Leave, however, Brits now have to assess where we are and how we maintain our position in the global economy.

Embrace ambiguity: building a case for business value

Posted: 06/28/2016 - 20:03
Author: Bill Huber

Sourcing executives today are all about innovation and adding business value: buying smarter to drive business benefits such as increased customer satisfaction, reduced error rates and insights into product design. In other words, procurement operational strategy aspires to demonstrate alignment with factors driving the success of the business, which is more than just cost takeout.

Who could argue with that?

Avoid or Approach Those Who Purchase?

Posted: 06/03/2016 - 19:57
Author: Damian Scallon

Another rainy trip up north, I thought to myself, turning on the windshield wipers. A recent phone call from Anne, the head of global purchasing, requesting my participation in reviewing some ideas to build stronger partnerships with their inside-outsourcing service providers (IOSPs), was the reason for the trip. Over my forty years as an IOSP, I’d become very cynical and prejudicial towards purchasing departments. As an IOSP to the auto industry, I’d witnessed countless purchasing initiatives resulting in bankrupting IOSPs due to a complete lack of foresight.

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