Future of Sourcing - Benchmarking https://www.futureofsourcing.com/tags/benchmarking en Benchmarks Versus Best Practices: A Case for Both https://www.futureofsourcing.com/benchmarks-versus-best-practices-a-case-for-both <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%287%29.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%287%29.png" title="Benchmarks Versus Best Practices" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1717-3LGzanlrxTM"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%287%29.png?itok=scHEHVXg" width="624" height="325" alt="Benchmarks Versus Best Practices" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/benchmarking-procurements-next-big-competitive-advantage">Benchmarking: Procurement’s Next Big Competitive Advantage</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/4-major-procurement-trends-to-watch-for-in-2020">4 Major Procurement Trends to Watch for in 2020</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>A topic that comes up time and time again in discussions with clients is the idea of benchmarks as a means to drive high performance. <a href="https://blog.thesmartcube.com/inside-procurement-benchmarks-best-practices" target="_blank">Are benchmarks valuable</a>? How much emphasis should we place on them as we think through what we want to get done in our function?</p> <p>This topic isn&rsquo;t specific to procurement. It&rsquo;s relevant across the board, regardless of function. But it&rsquo;s an especially acute debate on the General &amp; Administrative side of the house, where procurement plays a significant role.</p> <p>Benchmarks come up regularly in discussions about functional and corporate performance. Senior executives like to use them to quantify both financial and operational performance, providing a measure of current levels and a comparison to peers, as well as guidance as to where the function could potentially be.</p> <p>In fact, it&rsquo;s difficult to have an executive conversation without the term coming up, and executives spend a lot of time benchmarking. They labor over the relevant benchmarks to add to their plans, the right metrics to report on, and the best explanations for where they are and are not. Entire companies have sprung up to service this need. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>My take? Benchmarks are useful tools but within constraints.</p> <h1>The Good and the Bad of Benchmarks</h1> <p>Understanding metrics such as functional spend as a percentage of total spend, the number of transactions conducted per FTE, or costs tied to any one category, in comparison to appropriate peer groups, have real value. They help provide a level of quantitative granularity and sharpness to the discussion around performance optimization that you wouldn&rsquo;t otherwise get.</p> <p>But they can also lead to problems.</p> <p>During my consulting days, every time we&rsquo;d use benchmarks in our analyses, a huge amount of debate with client stakeholders would ensue. What was the basis of the numbers? Why did the numbers show what they showed? Why did that area fit in a specific quartile versus another? And why was this relevant &ndash; or not?</p> <p>The problem was that discussions around benchmarks often diverted the focus to the details of the numbers and not the substance of the conversations.</p> <p>I would also argue benchmarks are often used by senior management to drive changes that aren&rsquo;t necessarily right for the business. Particularly with functions such as procurement, unless the CPO reports into a C-level executive with a long term, strategic focus, benchmarks can be easily used to justify cost reductions that don&rsquo;t make sense &ndash; and in those cases, they become a means to a predefined end.</p> <p>So benchmarks must be used judiciously.</p> <h1>The Case for Best Practices</h1> <p>It&rsquo;s far more meaningful, I believe, to focus on best practices &ndash; or as I&rsquo;ve heard them referred to, better practices. That&rsquo;s because the word &ldquo;best&rdquo; varies based on the context.</p> <p>Best practices are qualitative in nature, but they spell out what should be done to move up any given performance quartile ranking. Placing focus on what we are or aren&rsquo;t doing relative to best-in-class is much more useful guidance. It allows us to concentrate the conversation on the specific changes that need to be made to improve performance.</p> <p>Further, we can visualize how different these changes are relative to the current state. We can quantify the level of change and investment that would be needed to get to the next-level performance state (and whether there is the appetite, and/or ability, to make that investment).</p> <p>Finally, and equally importantly, we can properly assess whether there is even a need to achieve &ldquo;top quartile&rdquo; performance in a given area. For example,we might be happy to forego being in the top quartile for that area because it would require a level of automation that isn&#39;t appropriate for the business or would reduce service levels beyond what&rsquo;s necessary and suitable for the business.</p> <h1>Sourcing Best Practices</h1> <p>So, where do we get these best practices from? There are a range of external third-party sources &ndash; from general consulting firms to specialist intelligence and analytics firms. Be sure you&rsquo;re thoughtful and comprehensive in where you look. Consider not only what your peers are doing within your sector, but also companies outside your sector. Get a handle on what similar category managers are doing in industries different from your own.</p> <p>You should also look to your supply base &ndash; and this doesn&rsquo;t just mean the larger established businesses, but also the startups,the high-growth firms and the emerging players. They&rsquo;re the ones typically pushing the envelope in what can be done.</p> <p>Finally, look internally across the company, especially if you are global and/or decentralized. So often, we miss a trick by not looking at our own colleagues across the firm to understand what they&rsquo;ve done well and how they&rsquo;ve done it.</p> <h1>Best of Both Worlds</h1> <p>In closing, benchmarks have value, but they&rsquo;re not the be-all and end-all. They serve as directional indicators but are not an exact science. They provide guides that must be underscored by best practices &ndash; the &ldquo;what&rdquo; and &ldquo;how&rdquo; of the work to be done.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/benchmarking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Benchmarking</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/best-practices" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Best Practices</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Benchmarks Versus Best Practices: A Case for Both - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/benchmarks-versus-best-practices-a-case-for-both"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 23 Jul 2021 02:00:00 +0000 Omer Abdullah 1717 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/benchmarks-versus-best-practices-a-case-for-both#comments Benchmarking: Procurement’s Next Big Competitive Advantage https://www.futureofsourcing.com/benchmarking-procurements-next-big-competitive-advantage <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Benchmarking-%20Procurement%E2%80%99s%20Next%20Big%20Competitive%20Advantage%20624x325.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Benchmarking-%20Procurement%E2%80%99s%20Next%20Big%20Competitive%20Advantage%20624x325.jpg" title="Benchmarking: Procurement’s Next Big Competitive Advantage" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1337-3LGzanlrxTM"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Benchmarking-%20Procurement%E2%80%99s%20Next%20Big%20Competitive%20Advantage%20624x325.jpg?itok=2ew2a8Y7" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>The procurement industry is at a crossroads. Procurement executives are tasked with delivering value that impacts the bottom line, but demonstrating that value to stakeholders, finance and other departments is easier said than done. Almost every <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/challenging-ourselves-be-the-change" target="_blank">CPO strives to lead a best-in-class function</a>, but how do we know what best-in-class actually looks like?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Complicating the issue further is the digital transformation organizations everywhere are experiencing, forcing procurement teams to modernize or fail. Organizations that embrace digital transformation and the enormous amount of data that comes from new technologies like machine learning and AI gain a leg up on the competition &ndash; but only if they turn that data into action. Put another way: data that fails to drive action is useless. In a similar sense, organizations that want to drive real competitive advantage &ndash; and prove it &ndash; must look beyond their own data sets. Solely relying on one&rsquo;s own data to assess performance is shortsighted. For procurement leaders that truly want to get ahead &ndash; and create a best-in-class team &ndash; there&rsquo;s a new strategy that needs to be prioritized: procurement benchmarking. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Static <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/measure-what-matters-linking-it-metrics-to-business-value" target="_blank">benchmarking</a> has been available for quite some time for organizations looking to see how they stack up to the competition, but it typically requires costly and time-consuming consulting engagements, essentially putting projects like this out of reach for many organizations. These projects also usually result in static reports that provide high-level, moment-in-time pictures that become out of date before they are even finalized. However, with digital transformation making machine learning and procurement analytics more readily available, on-demand benchmarking has the potential to revolutionize procurement and change the game forever. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Imagine the possibilities if organizations were equipped to monitor performance metrics and sourcing opportunities in real time with a benchmarking solution powered by machine learning. With such technology, procurement professionals would gain on-demand insight into category performance, peer benchmarks and financial metrics, including supplier payment terms, number of suppliers accounting for 80 percent of spend, spend as a percentage of revenue, spend per employee and more. On-demand benchmarking enables procurement leaders to more intelligently and efficiently set targets, prioritize strategic opportunities and adjust their sourcing strategies to generate more value and savings. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The secret ingredients to a powerful benchmarking tool are automation, machine learning and advanced analytics. Without these technologies, extracting the data necessary to successfully benchmark against industry peers would be impossible, due to the sheer volume of data that is available at our fingertips. To benchmark effectively, procurement needs to account for external data sets like supplier information, credit ratings, currency rates, publicly-traded commodities and risk and CSR profiles. This picture is impossible to create without the help of emerging technologies. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Measuring procurement performance against industry peers is a critical starting point for every high-performing organization, but that&rsquo;s only the first step. The next step, and where the real value of benchmarking lies, is acting on the insights to improve performance &ndash; whether that be spend, payment terms, etc. The great thing about benchmarking is that procurement organizations can unveil value from insights about categories that previously may not have been considered. Organizations could go into the benchmarking process with certain metrics in mind but come out with insights about a different set of KPIs that could improve. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Procurement executives are constantly looking for their next big competitive advantage, and finally, AI-driven procurement benchmarking is offering just that. In the era of Big Data, automated procurement benchmarking provides a way for organizations to integrate and analyze internal data sets with external sources and identify real opportunities for improvement. Procurement digitization isn&rsquo;t going away, which is why successful organizations will embrace machine learning and data-driven technology &ndash; and turn that data into dollars.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/benchmarking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Benchmarking</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/metrics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Metrics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/strategy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Strategy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing-solutions" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing Solutions</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/spend-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Spend Management</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Benchmarking: Procurement&amp;rsquo;s Next Big Competitive Advantage - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/benchmarking-procurements-next-big-competitive-advantage"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:45:33 +0000 Johan-Peter Teppala 1337 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/benchmarking-procurements-next-big-competitive-advantage#comments TOP TEN: Rock-Inspired Sourcing Insights https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/759 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Vast forests of digital trees have been sacrificed to the topic of sourcing. While the incessant stream of white papers, articles, blogs, tweets and posts we&rsquo;re bombarded with are certainly helpful, don&rsquo;t they all start sounding the same after a while?</p> <p>While working recently with some music playing in the background, I was struck by the idea that some song titles and lyrics reflect typical sourcing scenarios as well as specific relationships I&rsquo;ve encountered over the years. That got me to thinking about other songs that might also apply, and inspired the following list of ten songs that describe sourcing relationships. Whether you are a buyer of services or a provider of services, you might recognise some of these&hellip;</p> <p><strong>1. Welcome to the Jungle (Guns N&rsquo; Roses)</strong><br />This song perfectly fits the scenario where the client and provider have rushed into an agreement with minimal communication, planning or alignment. Basically, each party rushes to get to their version of the end state as quickly as possible, with little coordination or communication between client, provider and key stakeholders. Both parties constantly struggle to define and meet expectations, and the relationship quickly turns to finger-pointing as the first course of action.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;Welcome to the jungle it gets worse here every day, you learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>2. Livin&rsquo; on a Prayer (Bon Jovi)</strong><br />The song reflects a lack of insight into what tomorrow will bring. Things may be going relatively well overall, but both parties share a sense of apprehension about how to get to the desired end state. Amidst a general sense of chaos, lots of good work is being done, and the relationship is characterised by a shared commitment to success &ndash; although no one really knows how that will happen.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;We&#39;ve gotta hold on ready or not, you live for the fight when it&#39;s all that you&#39;ve got&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>3. You Can&rsquo;t Always Get What You Want (The Rolling Stones)</strong><br />Frequently (as in almost always), disconnects arise between desired expectations and what is actually being delivered. All parties should think through the relative importance of such gaps &ndash; are they small irritants? Or do they reflect material issues? No matter the dialogue that occurred before the contract was signed, both parties will consistently look for ways to maximise value from the relationship. The key is to manage the relationship to align as much as possible on adjustments to the agreement, and to also recognise that sometimes you can&rsquo;t always get what you want.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;You can&#39;t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>4. My Own Worst Enemy (Lit)</strong><br />Face it: sometimes when things aren&rsquo;t going well you only have yourself to blame. One party expects quick and absolute decisions, while the other party requires time and deliberation to make a decision. One party expects one collective voice, while the other party has several entities with conflicting requirements, priorities and/or processes. One party thought they wanted one thing in the contract, only to find it wants or needs something else now. Whatever the situation, look in the mirror to determine what you may or may not be doing that is contributing to a strained relationship.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>5. We&rsquo;re Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister)</strong><br />A strained sourcing relationship, left on its own with little corrective action, can get to the point of no return. This &ldquo;death by a thousand paper cuts&rdquo; can eventually lead to one party deciding to either exit the relationship early or to not renew the relationship once the contract term ends. At this point, the trust has been broken, and practically no amount of contract concessions, price reductions, or other incentives will work. If a relationship reaches this stage, exiting the deal gracefully is probably preferable to continuing the fight.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;If that&#39;s your best, your best won&#39;t do.&quot;</p> <p><strong>6. Won&rsquo;t Get Fooled Again (The Who)</strong><br />Especially for clients in their first major sourcing agreement, many lessons can be learned and applied to the next sourcing agreement. These lessons typically include, &ldquo;We retained too much or too little,&rdquo; &ldquo;We assumed the other party would do&nbsp;<em>X</em>&nbsp;and they didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; &ldquo;We underestimated the effort to manage the agreement,&rdquo; &ldquo;We asked for&nbsp;<em>X</em>&nbsp;but should have asked for&nbsp;<em>Y</em>,&rdquo; etc. Depending on the timing of these revelations, adjustments can be negotiated within the existing agreement, or can be applied to the next agreement. Think through these lessons and update your sourcing strategy going forward. Don&rsquo;t get fooled again!<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;Then I&#39;ll get on my knees and pray, we don&#39;t get fooled again&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>7. Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)</strong><br />As a consultant, I frequently enter into an environment where a long-term sourcing agreement has been in place and both parties have reached a state of complacency. They have worked together for so long that neither recognises the inefficiencies that exist, nor the potential value adds that are nearly self-evident to an outsider. Both parties are seemingly just going through the motions. Even as new ideas develop, processing, prioritising and making the changes required to implement and realise benefits poses a challenge. The overall relationship can be considered successful, but opportunities exist to rejuvenate and refresh the relationship to be even more beneficial to both parties.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;Your lips move but I can&#39;t hear what you&#39;re saying&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>8. I Want You to Want Me (Cheap Trick)</strong><br />This song is especially dedicated to those providers who are so excited to have a &ldquo;marquee&rdquo; client that they will do almost anything to make the client happy. While seemingly great from a client perspective, this attitude can result in short-term happiness at the expense of longer-term pain. At some point, the provider has to stop coddling the client. Otherwise, the compounded cost of fulfilling the client&rsquo;s every minor whim and desire erodes the provider&rsquo;s business case and materially affects their P&amp;Ls. Typically, this results in the provider&rsquo;s executive team taking control and invoking startling behavioural changes to try to rectify the situation. This can become a huge strain on the relationship and usually results in key personnel changes to attempt to correct the situation.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;I want you to want me; I need you to need me; I&#39;d love you to love me; I&#39;m beggin&#39; you to beg me&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>9. Money For Nothing (Dire Straits)</strong><br />Even when the relationship is good, services are being delivered, and contracted price points are being met, many clients will start getting a sense that they are paying more than they should be. This is particularly true when the provider increases its offshore delivery or implements tools, automation and/or autonomics to reduce the labour required to provide services. Even when those changes are allowed (or maybe even specifically required) in the contract, clients can&rsquo;t resist counting bodies and wondering if they are paying &ldquo;money for nothing.&rdquo; While the contract may contain benchmarking clauses, they can be ambiguous and difficult to execute and enforce. If that&rsquo;s the case, the parties can instead discuss the issue and agree on a course of action that allows the client to realise some of the additional cost benefits, while also allowing the provider to improve its margin.<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;Now that ain&#39;t workin&#39; that&#39;s the way you do it, lemme tell ya them guys ain&#39;t dumb&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p><strong>10. Should I Stay or Should I Go (The Clash)&nbsp;</strong><br />As the saying goes, the grass is not always greener on the other side. However, after a long-term sourcing relationship, especially one that has had its share of ups and downs, a client may decide that moving to another provider will yield benefits. Many times this is an emotional decision rather than one based on facts. Take an objective look at the situation and ask questions such as, &ldquo;What problem goes away by making such a move?&rdquo; &ldquo;Why can&rsquo;t my current provider address the issues?&rdquo; &ldquo;Is the transition cost and risk worth the perceived additional value?&rdquo; and &ldquo;Could it get worse instead of better?&rdquo;<br /><em>Key lyric:</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;If I go, there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double&hellip;&rdquo;</p> <p>Sourcing relationships are complicated. Yet, the complexities, angst and heartache that often characterise them are not unique. In fact, many of the songs we grew up with (and perhaps still listen to today) speak to the difficulty of making a sourcing relationship work - which suggests that (as we focus on issues such as value realisation, mature vendor management, scope realignment and process optimisation) we consider that at an important level, sourcing relationships are fundamentally human in nature. Or as the Monkees put it (via Neil Diamond&rsquo;s lyrics): &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a little bit me, and it&rsquo;s a little bit you, too.&rdquo;</p> <p><em>(Editor&#39;s note: any readers feeling inspired to contribute their own additions to this list are more than welcome; if we get enough we&#39;ll publish a sequel to this article at an appropriate juncture. Please send all suggestions through to me at <a href="mailto:hcorr@sig.org">hcorr@sig.org</a>.)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/advisory" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Advisory</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/alignment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Alignment</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/benchmarking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Benchmarking</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/relationship-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Relationship Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="TOP TEN: Rock-Inspired Sourcing Insights - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/759"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div> Fri, 05 Aug 2016 12:57:55 +0000 David Mitchell 759 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com The digital transformation journey https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/936 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Business leaders and technology executives are deluged by the rhetoric about disruptive digital technologies coming of age, companies and whole industries going digital.</p> <p>Maturing and new technology tools, combined with rapidly changing technology usage patterns of businesses and consumers, are forcing a rethink, even a re-imagination of what companies can do. Obviously there are leaders and there are followers, with every success story probably preceded by unsung failures.</p> <p>In this climate, a ravenous appetite for technology consumption is stoked by vendors and technology providers, driving business and technology leaders into a metaphorical corner &ndash; a corner characterised often by fear of competitive moves and doubts over the chosen strategy.</p> <p>But before being swept away out to the sea of confusion and indecision, it may be wise to pause to get some contextual clarity on the what, why and how, of digital transformation.</p> <p><strong>What is the new wave of digital transformation?</strong></p> <p><em>Digital transformation is the building of new technology-enabled business models and solutions, to improve business results, enhance customer engagement, to drive operational excellence.</em></p> <p><em>Digitalisation is forcing a rethink of business architecture, creating new players and even changing industry structures. It is an opportunity and a threat.</em></p> <p>Digital disruption is not alien to businesses. In previous waves of digital computing, distributed computing, internet communications and commerce, it created opportunities and risks. The present wave of digital disruption is not dissimilar in its impact &ndash; it presents new opportunities and new risks.</p> <p>Digital technology is impacting the landscape of many industries, demanding a rethink of business strategies, structures, leadership focus, operational efficiencies and investment priorities. Business solutions and customer experience which once seemed fanciful are standard expectations today. Organisations from all sectors, profit-driven businesses or public services, are finding technology-enabled ways to improve their competitiveness. The outcomes may take different shapes, such as increased operational effectiveness, improved cost efficiency, enhanced omnichannel customer experience, faster time to market compressing supply chains, or even new service offerings.</p> <p>The convergence of new digital technologies is making it possible to envision end-to-end digital businesses, beyond aligning technology to meet current business needs to developing new business models. Undoubtedly this is no easy feat, particularly for mid to large organisations, which require a complex mix of factors to devise and succeed.</p> <p>The ingredients for successful digital transformation are many and diverse. It is more a journey than a destination, certainly not a corner office technology-driven agenda. While several key factors are explored further, suffice it to say that usage of digital technology components such as social, mobile, analytics, cloud and sensors may well be necessary, but are not sufficient conditions for successful digital transformation.</p> <p>In charting the way forward, business leaders rushing with a technology-led agenda may risk capital, time and opportunity, in addition to ignoring the required business strategy, defined by needs, priorities and changing business context.</p> <p><strong>Why is it different this time?</strong></p> <p>One could argue that the falling costs of computing, communications, and storage have been a long-term trend. So what has changed the trajectory?</p> <p>This wave of digital transformation is powered by the confluence of technologies, each useful, but together more powerful. The pervasive technologies of cloud delivery, smart devices, ubiquitous connectivity, social media, sensor feeds and analytics, are powering opportunities erstwhile impossible. It is only in the past few years that the convergence of these digital technologies has created never-before possibilities.</p> <p>Consider these:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>Pervasive connectivity through mobile phone subscriptions and use of smartphones.</li> <li>Omnipresent sensing, with internet-connected devices providing massive amount of data to decipher and use.</li> <li>Digital data explosion, doubling every two years &ndash; most of it digitised with half of it linked to an IP address.</li> <li>Cloud-driven speed, where software is the new hardware, not limited by physical obsolescence or capacity.</li> <li>Analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence are seeking out insights, grinding through noisy data sets.</li> </ul> <p>Now consider Uber, the popular taxi-hailing app on your phone. It is more than that. It is a digital business innovation with physical and technology-enabled operational layers. It is a network of drivers and cars, an online marketplace connecting mobile buyers and sellers, using a dynamic transparent pricing model and a reliable payment system. It is also a trading platform, with an intuitive front-end for buyers, while squeezing out overheads for free-agent sellers, who can reach buyers at the right time and place &ndash; all supported by a feedback mechanism, a robust, always available infrastructure operation. Some years ago this was not feasible, without the digital toolbox.</p> <p>This digital toolbox is making the next stage of business transformation different. This wave is being dubbed as the most significant wave of digital disruption. It is having significant implications not only for business strategy but for the structures of industries and companies.</p> <p>Organisations are seeking the first-mover advantage, leveraging the growing pervasiveness of the digital toolbox, improving digital fluency within their organisation, creating value throughout the enterprise, increasing consumer-facing digital offerings, accelerating data analysis and defining new business requirements.</p> <p>The plethora of possibilities and the cumulative impact of these technological advances is nothing short of a digital-fuelled business revolution.</p> <p><strong>How is digitalisation being achieved?</strong></p> <p>Not all businesses are born in the cloud. So if you do not identify with the likes of Uber, Netflix, Facebook or Amazon, you are in the majority. But all businesses are technology enabled, and in present times unable to ignore the impact of the digital revolution upon us. So it is worth considering some of the common success factors of digital transformations.</p> <p>Context is king, and will determine what works best in an organisation and industry &ndash; yet there are common threads of experiential learning that can help accelerate the journey.</p> <p><em>1. Executive-level ownership of digital business strategy</em><br />It is recognised while technology is critical; the core strategy is about the business. An executive-led management structure takes overall ownership, driving the transformation &ndash; orchestrating, prioritising and coordinating &ndash; digital solutions across the business value chain. However this works when coupled with a digital mind-set, up and down the organisation, seeking new ways to improve, simplify and innovate to deliver better outcomes.</p> <p><em>2. Reward innovation and speed</em><br />Minimising the organisational &ldquo;fear of failure&rdquo; by taking calculated risks, characterised by rapid prototyping, small-scale trials, developing on the learning, while writing off failures and scaling up success. This also means flexibility from traditional budgeting, monolithic projects and rigorous needs analysis models.</p> <p><em>3. Cross-functional teams and capabilities</em><br />Successful digital transformation is being achieved only through a mix of process reinvention, mind-set shifts and deepening inter-disciplinary competency. Restructure, elevate roles, fine-tune, as needed, to break down departmental silos and drive improved collaboration and communication between multi-skilled cross-functional teams.</p> <p><em>4. Drive improved customer experience</em><br />An integrated customer view involving capture and analysis of varied data streams of flowing from all customer touchpoints. The drive is to use this integrated view to monitor, adjust, anticipate and deliver real-time personalised responses, focusing on the customer journey and experience, using a mix of physical and digital assets to engage one-to-one, to deliver the most relevant, convenient and differentiated customer experience possible.</p> <p><em>5. Technology decisions are not make or break</em><br />The transformation journey will have many milestones, operations and decisions; technology choices need to be seen in an overall programme perspective. While there may be a plethora of technology options, the difficulties in determining which digital products, services or capabilities to pursue are no different than the hurdles for any other product, service or capability.</p> <p><strong>What is the impact on IT &amp; outsourcing?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><em>IT and its partners are under pressure to innovate, develop and deliver solutions faster than ever before, while &ldquo;keeping the lights on&rdquo; efficiently.</em></p> <p><em>IT needs to find investible savings in opex, resources, skills, time and focus, while delivering sustained value to the business.</em></p> <p><em>Put another way, IT has challenges of business as usual, coupled with the need to be proactive in engaging with the business, to be agile in building new solutions, opportunities, efficiencies and value.&nbsp;</em></p> <p>IT has a key role and responsibility is helping with the digital transformation journey. To meet the challenges, IT has to manage three areas of impact.</p> <p><em>1. IT Operational Structure</em><br />This has implications on the way IT is structured, managed, budgeted and operated. This is largely because there is a need to take different approaches in managing IT delivery across applications, infrastructure, development and maintenance for &ldquo;running the business&rdquo; and &ldquo;changing the business&rdquo;. One way of looking at the dual split personality that IT needs is to consider the two moving parts of the IT operations:</p> <p><a href="http://outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Digital-IT-Structure.png" rel="attachment wp-att-20395"><img alt="Digital IT Structure" height="1001" pagespeed_url_hash="619986586" sizes="(max-width: 1356px) 100vw, 1356px" src="http://outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Digital-IT-Structure.png" srcset="http://archive.outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Digital-IT-Structure-300x221.png 300w, http://archive.outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Digital-IT-Structure-768x567.png 768w, http://archive.outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Digital-IT-Structure-1024x756.png 1024w, http://archive.outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Digital-IT-Structure-700x517.png 700w, http://archive.outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Digital-IT-Structure.png 1356w" style="line-height: inherit; height: auto !important;" width="1356" /></a><a href="http://outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Navin-Anand-May-2016-graphic.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-20396"><img alt="Navin Anand May 2016 graphic" height="291" pagespeed_url_hash="1726365086" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" src="http://outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Navin-Anand-May-2016-graphic.jpg" srcset="http://archive.outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Navin-Anand-May-2016-graphic-300x218.jpg 300w, http://archive.outsourcemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Navin-Anand-May-2016-graphic.jpg 400w" style="line-height: inherit; height: auto !important;" width="400" /></a></p> <p><em>2. Digital Foundation</em><br />Comprising teams charged with &ldquo;running the business&rdquo;; focused on reliability, efficiency, process discipline, adherence to policies and standards, responsible for stability, security and up-time, with rigorous testing and scrutiny. There is a compelling case that an effective and efficient digital foundation operation is more important than ever.</p> <p><em>3. Digital Innovation</em><br />Comprising skilled experts, developers, analysts and business relationship managers focused on delivering innovative &ldquo;change the business&rdquo; solutions; charged with turning new requirements and functionality around at lightning speed, best served by an environment that facilitates agility, speed and flexibility.</p> <p>In addition to structure, which may be dynamic, the teams are differentiated by more than skills and capabilities. The supporting management systems, vendors and providers, commercial and contractual mechanisms need to be fit for purpose.</p> <p>The IT organisation which can successfully support the digital transformation journey needs both the teams and approaches. This allows it to raise the bar of expectations, with relative importance and size of the teams and budgets depending on the business priorities.</p> <p>Even when such a structure is not formal, it can evolve informally. In either circumstance IT leadership has to ensure optimal contributions of each team, make certain of coordination, communication and highlighting the contribution of each team, while maintaining the holistic oversight of the service delivery model. Establish unique performance indicators for each team, while ensuring logical touch points between the two teams, to optimise innovation and ensuring stability.</p> <p>Managing the two-team model within IT also has implications on the routine management systems, in terms of frequency, metrics and vendor performance management. It is critical for IT leadership to recognise the differences between the two teams, to establish boundaries, and to acknowledge the potential for strife, while at the same time realising the potential for magic to happen.</p> <p><strong>Capabilities and skills</strong></p> <p>In addition to IT structure and management, there are key skills areas to consider in getting equipped and setting up IT for digital transformation success:</p> <ol> <li>Enterprise architects to work in tandem with key business stakeholders, ensuring an adaptable IT architecture, which can remain robust but flex with changing business environment and needs.</li> <li>New skills development in data science, analytics, and visualisation to ensure meaningful analytics to guide decision-makers through a constant deluge of data.</li> <li>Process modellers to ensure that the complexity of the digital enterprise can be simplified with data-dependent efficient processes.</li> </ol> <p><strong>IT budgeting &amp; digital innovation</strong></p> <p>In the early stages of digital transformation it is particularly daunting to identify clear budgets which can deliver on the digital innovation initiatives. There are constraints of the traditional IT budgeting model which can prove challenging if the organisation is not conscious of the pitfalls. Here is a list of issues and considerations when seeking to fund and support digital innovation initiatives pursuant to the strategy.</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>Digital innovation is the key to delivering on the digital business strategy, and by its nature, this an ongoing journey impacted by changing opportunities and risks. Unlike a large monolithic solution development or technology project, the budgeting of digital innovation needs to be seen as an ongoing process of finding funding for many digital initiatives, some of which may fail.</li> <li>By its nature a digital initiative touches many parts of the organisation, requiring constructive collaboration and communication. While budgets in department silos are important for singular accountability, for digital transformation success this approach can be detrimental. Orchestration of budgets for digital initiatives should be the domain of the digital transformation executive leadership.</li> <li>IT has to make a contribution to the digital initiatives, not by simply working all hours or negotiating harder with its &ldquo;run the business&rdquo; providers but by finding efficiencies and optimisations in the digital foundations, through real-world comparisons of costs and performance, improving reliability through process discipline, tools for better service management and elastic infrastructure.</li> <li>Digital initiatives are particularly tough when it comes to defining and validating the project vision against the digital strategy and with the key stakeholders. A suggested way forward is to prefix the project with validation of expectation through prototyping or a Proof of Concept (POC) to demonstrate and gain concurrence.</li> <li>Innovation budgets to support core digital transformation projects, to run prototypes and POCs to test new ideas which can inform broader funding commitment. This may well be funded by efficiency savings from the digital foundations.</li> <li>Focus on defining digital projects in terms of business outcomes, rather than features and functionality. While this requires baselining the present state and contrasting it at various stages in the deployment of the digital initiative, it is critical to evince business value to continue to win favour with the digital strategy owners and key stakeholders.</li> <li>Operational processes for project managing digital initiatives may be agile, but vendor contracts tend to be based on principles of &ldquo;run the business&rdquo;. This can limit the ability to respond to changing needs, and discourage collaboration and innovation. New vendor engagement and management models need to be devised, which are supportive of innovation and collaboration.</li> <li>Headroom for changes can be particularly critical in digital initiatives which are subjected to rapid pace of external or internal change. Tight budgets, long review cycles and no evidence of value can impede project continuation and success.</li> <li>Digital innovation helps when it is deployed and adopted. It is wise to consider associated project costs like IT infrastructure, data migration, interfaces, compliance, security, on-boarding costs for internal or vendor staff, costs of process change, user training, and so on.</li> </ul> <p>While this list of issues and cautions may be long, IT budgeting and funding is never easy, particularly when digital innovation breaks the mould from traditional entrenched management models.</p> <p><strong>What are you doing about it?</strong></p> <p><em>As with any meaningful transformation, it is a business approach to faster and better results, not a technology improvement program.</em></p> <p><em>Several factors are impacting success, such as leadership focus, technology skills, structures, collaboration, management processes, speed of delivery (or failure), and &ndash; critically &ndash; funding.</em></p> <p><em>Optimising the digital foundations is a crucial underpinning transformational digital innovation capability.</em></p> <p><em>Outsourced IT partners are working towards re-skilling and re-inventing themselves to fine tune their capabilities and costs.</em></p> <p>It is recommended that all business and technology executives engage with some urgency on the subject of evolving the organisation&rsquo;s digital business strategy and digital transformation plans. The value of these discussions can be greatly enhanced with the participation of independent advisors, who may be helpful in challenging the present status and exploring creative solutions.</p> <p>Be warned though that it can be wasteful aiming to organise a digital strategy around technology, skills, systems, and so on before seeking clear and coherent answers to the business strategy impact of digital on your business.</p> <p>Some useful questions to seed the debate, with a view to defining a path to adding digital to your organisation&rsquo;s competencies and capabilities, may include:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>Does digital technology change the businesses you should be in?</li> <li>What are your distinctive assets and capabilities and how could you create a new business by combining them with digital technology?</li> <li>Could digital technology help you expand your company&rsquo;s boundaries in the value chain downstream or upstream of your current businesses?</li> <li>How could digital technology help improve key business processes?</li> <li>Can the supply chain be accelerated, made more reliable with the use of digital technologies?</li> <li>How could digital technology improve the way you add value to the businesses you are in?</li> <li>How could digital technology make your company better at how it helps individual businesses become more competitive in their markets?</li> <li>How could digital technology help you improve the cost and quality of the shared services you are providing to your businesses today?</li> <li>Could a marketplace approach bring the discipline of competitive markets to your corporate services?</li> <li>How could digital technology be used to improve your strategic planning, capital allocation, performance management, or other management processes?</li> <li>Could digital technology change your target customer? Is it eroding your target market or is it opening up new potential targets?</li> <li>Does digital technology affect the value proposition to your target customer?</li> <li>Instead of providing a product or service for a fee, could you promise an outcome?</li> <li>How could you use digital technology to enhance your physical products &ndash; say, by using virtual reality or add-on services which may increase demand for the real thing?</li> <li>How can digital technology enhance the enterprise capabilities that differentiate you from your competition?</li> <li>How can you use social media and big data and analytics to help you further differentiate it? What is the right level of investment in social media and big data for that purpose?</li> <li>Where will digital technology have the greatest impact on your value chain? How can you invest proactively to get ahead of the curve?</li> <li>How can you use technology to better understand customers and deliver what they want?</li> <li>Is leadership aligned and committed to the vision?</li> <li>Have you engaged the front line to both design and embed the digital strategy?</li> </ul> <p>Not easy, but it is this type of constructive discussion and debate which can help focus attention ton adding the digital edge to your business strategy.</p> <p><strong>What is the best next step?</strong></p> <p>Taking an independent diagnostic approach to gain insights on the present state is an ideal next step, whether the journey has begun or yet to launch. In addition to benchmarking the digital foundations, to find optimisations and funding through savings, independent mentoring can go a long way in defining a pragmatic digital agenda, plotting the journey and tracking the progress.<br />In dispassionately reviewing the present state of the digital journey, a structured approach is necessary &ndash; but only sufficient unless it is sensitive to business context, strategy, structure, current performance, partners and operational management. A quick-fire survey of digital technology adoption can be tempting, but may not provide actionable insights that are business-impact focused.</p> <p>Multiple management tools such as structured questionnaires, executive level interviews, voice of the customer surveys, process assessments, time and/or SWOT analysis need to be deployed to plot the journey after assessing the facts, the possibilities and the ambition. Independent assessments that can actually can lead to clear directions ask some difficult questions:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>Is there a digital business strategy agreed? Who owns the strategy? Is there a shared understanding of the strategy?</li> <li>Is there a mechanism to identify, prioritise and review digital initiatives? Are all parts of the organisation engaged in the digital transformation plans?</li> <li>How are digital innovation projects scoped and budgeted? How are they funded? Is the value expected from the projects defined and baselined?</li> <li>How is the IT organisation structured? Is there a focus on innovation, speed and agility? How are digital innovation projects managed?</li> <li>Is there a two-team structure in IT? What is the governance model for each?</li> <li>Are there suitable hands-offs between the two teams? Are there suitable commercial and contracting mechanisms in place?</li> <li>What are the key metrics for managing the two teams in IT? Are the metrics aligned to business expectations and SLAs?</li> <li>How is the business involved in digital innovation projects? Are there mechanisms for ongoing strategy reviews to ensure relevance?</li> </ul> <p>Hopefully I have given you enough to think about when considering the best suited approach to moving ahead and to accelerate your business towards a sustained and successful digital transformation.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/advisory" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Advisory</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/analytics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Analytics</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/benchmarking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Benchmarking</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/cloud" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cloud</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/collaboration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Collaboration</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="The digital transformation journey - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/936"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 06 May 2016 12:59:12 +0000 Navin Anand 936 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com