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CPO News – February 3, 2012
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:30:38 +0000
DHS to Adopt eSourcing 2.0 The DHS will get out of the paper business and adopt electronic bidding for all major programs. So said Department of Homeland Security’s Undersecretary for Management Rafael Borras (DHS’ Chief Acquisition Officer) in his welcome address to attendees at the Department’s fifth annual Industry Day which was held in Washington [...]
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Non-Price Attributes – Buying Behavior (Bid Structure) and Variable Cost Components
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:02 +0000
Since introducing the “Non-Price Attributes” series here, we have discussed the following: Supplier Market Share Quality & Past Performance Production and Delivery Capabilities Who the Supplier Is Next on our list of non-price attributes to be used in making sourcing decisions should be supply risk which is both an important and complex issue. It is [...]
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Seven Trends that Will Impact Supply Management in 2012
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:30:27 +0000
To kick off 2010 (and this site), I published a series of ten lists – our “10 for 2010” – where we made predictions, highlighted strategies, identified leaders [Sidebar: I plan to revisit a few of these soon]. I love lists and it was great fun. Now in our third year and with an audience [...]
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Non-Price Attributes – “Who” is the Supplier?
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:07 +0000
When talking to friends who invest money in stocks or companies professionally or when reading about well-known (or well-heeled) investors, two investment strategies often stand out (1) invest in companies with a great business/revenue model and (2) invest in companies with excellent management. If the “smart money” thinks that the talents and abilities of a [...]
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Non-Price Attributes: Production and Delivery Capabilities
Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:30:30 +0000
Our non-price attribute series continues today with a look at Production and Delivery Capabilities. After introducing the series here, we have also discussed Quality & Past Performance and Supplier Market Share. Supplier capabilities are embedded within the quality and price of an item or service, but there may be other factors related to supplier production [...]
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Non-Price Attributes: Quality & Past Performance
Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:00:01 +0000
Last week we introduced a discussion on the use of non-price attributes in evaluating supplier bids and awarding contracts. This week, we continue the conversation by discussing specific non-price attributes as a way to help sourcing teams generate ideas and/or develop a more expansive list of criteria (besides price) that can be used during the [...]
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Sourcing & Supplier Selection – Non-Price Attributes (Market Share)
Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:30:47 +0000
Beyond price, what criteria do you typically use to award your supplier contracts? That’s the question we’ll try to answer today (and in this new series) as we share our list of non-price attributes that can be used during the sourcing process to make contract award decisions. The goal in providing this list is to [...]
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Sourcing & Supplier Selection – Non-Price Attributes (1)
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:30:22 +0000
Yes, we’ve been spending a fair amount of time talking about ePayables in recent weeks and we hope you’ve enjoyed it (we did after all, just announce the publication of our big ePayables research series – hence the recent focus). But, for our core readership of dyed-in-the-wool sourcing junkies, despite all appearances and superstitions, today [...]
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ePayables Daily Double
Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:00:44 +0000
Two good bets today – play to win! (1) Top Tips for Building an AP Automation Business Case & Calculating Your ROI We supported Cyber Week 2011 with a “net promotion” of our own, offering the first report in Ardent Partners’ ePayables SMARTSet™ – Business Case Template for AP Automation – for free for one [...]
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CPO News – January 9, 2012
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:00:16 +0000
While we work hard to make the articles on CPO Rising as interesting, informative, and entertaining as we possibly can (I hope we’re succeeding), we also hope that the articles are topical and presented in the context of the current market. And, while we cover market and industry events (often in our CPO Shop Talk [...]
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YouTube Hall of Fame – Procurement: United Kingdom’s CPO Speaks
Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:00:35 +0000
Over the holidays, my team and I watched 250 million (plus or minus) different YouTube videos in pursuit of one final week of inductees into our YouTube Hall of Fame for Procurement – all so that you wouldn’t have to. Today’s inductee is an “instant classic” that was recorded in November, 2011 when John Collington, [...]
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The Path to Paperless [Webinar]
Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:00:49 +0000
Our 2011 research agenda ended with a big focus on ePayables; so, not surprisingly, our busy event/speaking calendar kicks off with a bang next week as we co-present in a webinar focused on ePayables with sponsor, Concur. [Sidebar: Don’t worry, Strategic Sourcing will be a major focus in 2012] This Webinar will highlight: The benefits [...]
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YouTube Hall of Fame – Procurement: California’s CPO on Fox Business
Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:00:24 +0000
Happy New Year! Over the holidays, my team and I watched 250 million different YouTube videos in pursuit of one final week of inductees into our YouTube Hall of Fame for Procurement. (Sidebar: At least 25% of the videos we viewed had a baby or a cat doing something that someone thought was cute/funny. None [...]
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Seasons Greetings from CPO Rising
Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000
I want to take this opportunity to thank our readers, dedicated and new, for their interest, time, and support. CPO Rising has become a top US and global site because of you. I’d also like to thank the many Chief Procurement Officers who have taken the time to share their stories and ideas on these [...]
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YouTube Hall of Fame – Procurement: When I grow up, I want to work in procurement
Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:00:35 +0000
I believe that our last inductee into the YouTube Hall of Fame for Procurement for 2011 (we have a few more for 2012) needs no introduction. This gets into the “Hall” because of the title and because of the exchange between the “Career Seeker” and the, let’s call him the Pilgrim’s exchange Pilgrim: “Whatever you [...]
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YouTube Hall of Fame – Procurement: Research Councils UK
Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:30:09 +0000
Today’s induction into our YouTube Hall of Fame for Procurement is Nicola Dunne, the Chief Procurement Officer at the Research Councils UK. I had the pleasure to meet Nicola this summer at a CIPs award event in London (her team had been nominated). In the video below, Nicola (who was previously the Head of Procurement [...]
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YouTube Hall of Fame – Procurement: Arizona State
Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:00:17 +0000
What do you do for a living? How many times have those of us working in Procurement/Supply Management struggled to answer the simple question “what do you do for a living?” Today’s inductee into our YouTube Hall of Fame for Procurement answers just that question. A few years ago, the SCM Department at Arizona State’s [...]
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YouTube Hall of Fame – Procurement: Merck
Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:00:05 +0000
With a hat tip to Grantland, a new ESPN site, founded this year by a fellow HC alum, we’ve decided to offer up our own “YouTube Hall of Fame.” We will focus on Procurement (unlike Grantland which focuses on things on topics like the The Worst Music Videos of All Time, Worst Toys of the [...]
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A CPO with a Great Foundation
Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:00:04 +0000
Kevin Clearie’s path to becoming a Chief Procurement Officer started like many of his CPO peers in the market. Kevin graduated with a dual undergraduate degree in M.I.S. and Business (technical education) and soon found himself working for the procurement groups at AT&T, Lucent, and LSI (experience in world-class organizations). As his career progressed, Kevin [...]
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Chief Procurement Officer: The Position
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:15:52 +0000
The following is an excerpt from our latest report which looks at the key qualifications, experience and characteristics needed to ascend to the role of Chief Procurement Officer – The report – Becoming a Chief Procurement Officer – is available by clicking on the title (registration required); it was sponsored by BravoSolution. “Being a Chief [...]
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Becoming a Chief Procurement Officer
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:30:45 +0000
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an industry analyst focused on procurement and supply management. And, of course, I am telling the truth . Seriously, think about it for a minute. What did you want to be when you were 8 or [...]
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Keeping Time
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:00:40 +0000
While our last article, Making Music, was based on a real-world scenario (huge disconnect between two groups in large company) that I recently experienced while working with one client, the article was more conceptual in nature. Many enterprises (both large and small) could do a better job communicating goals and objectives, but also communicating priorities, [...]
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Making Music
Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:00:40 +0000
I was recently involved in a very interesting situation where one group (“Group 1″) within a large global company pursued an opportunity that it felt it was equipped to support. Problem was, it wasn’t. Another group (“Group 2″) that competes with the first for “mind-share” and” budget” and “credit” within the company was certainly better [...]
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“Cyber Week” @ CPO Rising: Featuring “Corporate” Site Sponsors
Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:00:33 +0000
Our final Cyber Week “promotion” is today. We want to thank our readers and our Chief Procurement Officer “friends of the site” for making CPO Rising one of the most-visited media (or blog) sites focused on procurement and supply management in the world and the most-visited site in the US. But today we’d also like [...]
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“Cyber Week” @ CPO Rising: Featuring “Sourcing in the 2010s” Report
Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:00:25 +0000
For “Cyber Week,” we are running a few “promotions”- including our sponsors and our own time-sensitive, cyber-promotions of the research over on Ardent Partners (they will be time-sensitive, so make sure to check back in regularly). Today we are pleased to offer a free research report from Ardent Partners. A few things to note about [...]
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“Cyber Week” @ CPO Rising: Featuring Lead Sponsor BravoSolution
Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:45:51 +0000
For “Cyber Week,” we are running a few “promotions”- for our sponsors and for our own time-sensitive, cyber-promotions of the research over on Ardent Partners (they will be time-sensitive, so make sure to check back in regularly). Today we feature our second Lead Sponsor, BravoSolution. If you enjoy this site, I hope you can show [...]
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“Cyber Week” @ CPO Rising: Featuring An AP Business Case Template
Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:00:04 +0000
For “Cyber Week,” we are running a few “promotions”- for our sponsors and for our own time-sensitive, cyber-promotions of the research over on Ardent Partners (they will be time-sensitive, so make sure to check back in regularly). Today we are pleased to offer a free research report from Ardent Partners. A few things to note [...]
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“Cyber Week” @ CPO Rising: Featuring Lead Sponsor Hubwoo
Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:00:17 +0000
Thank you for taking time out of your frenzied shopping schedule to visit us today. Today is Cyber Monday. What began as an afterthought to “Black Friday,” six years ago has become a very real thing and a very big thing. According to some experts, today will be the biggest online shopping day of 2011. [...]
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Investing in ePayables? What is Your ROI?
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:30:00 +0000
Today’s article is by Vishal Patel, Research Director, ePayables at Ardent Partners. Ardent Partners has initiated its technology coverage with the launch of the ePayables SMARTSet™ – a low-cost, comprehensive set of research tools and templates designed to guide organizations though the process of automating their processes and selecting the best-fit solutions for their specific [...]
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Bridging the Social Media Gap (Use Case Example)
Mon, 21 Nov 2011 06:00:50 +0000
Today is the third article focused on our view of the potential impact that social networking will have in reshaping Supply Management (or B2B or P2P relationships). The first – Business or Pleasure: How Social Networking Will Reshape Supply Management? The second – 750 Million People Can’t Be Wrong Bridging the Social Media Gap The [...]
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750 Million People Can’t Be Wrong (a.k.a. How Social Networking Will Reshape Supply Management)
Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:00:22 +0000
Today’s article continues our discussion of Ardent Partners’ new report that takes a forward-looking view of the top social networking platforms in the context of the work environment and highlights the social networking capabilities that have the greatest chance to reshape Supply Management operations in the years ahead. The report is sponsored by Basware and [...]
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Business or Pleasure: How Social Networking Will Reshape Supply Management?
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:00:20 +0000
There has been a paradigm shift in the way people communicate and interact and, social networks are at the core of this shift. The underlying capabilities and drivers behind the most successful of these social networks can and should have the same impact in business communication and performance. Ardent Partners has published a new report [...]
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Sourcing Pros Must Think Globally and Act Globally (3)
Tue, 15 Nov 2011 07:00:33 +0000
Today, our final answer to the question: Do you have any advice for more tenured strategic sourcing teams? What should these teams be doing to prepare for the next 5-10 years? If the focus on savings, efficiency, and cash management during the last recession brought more sourcing leaders to the front lines, globalization will certainly [...]
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Sourcing Pros Must Think Globally and Act Globally (2)
Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:00:53 +0000
Last week, I participated in a webinar – Strategic Imperatives of Procurement: People, Process & Technology – (you can view it by clicking here – registration required) that was sponsored by Zycus. In our last two articles I’ve been answering the following question that arose during it: Do you have any advice for more tenured [...]
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Sourcing Pros Must Think Globally and Act Globally (1)
Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:00:06 +0000
Last week, I participated in a webinar (which was really more of a Q&A session than a traditional webinar) that was sponsored by Zycus. This event allowed me to tackle a address a series of “hot topic” questions across the spectrum of people, process, and technology [the archived event is here - registration is required]. [...]
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Attention Sourcing Professionals – A Few Recommendations
Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:30:54 +0000
Tuesday afternoon I participated in a webinar/Q&A session that allowed me to tackle a series of hot topic questions [I'll post the archive when it becomes available]. One question that really got me thinking was the following, which I will expand upon below. Do you have any advice for more tenured strategic sourcing teams? What [...]
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SNAFU
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:00:51 +0000
Supply Disruption (Candy) – Halloween in Massachusetts Today, October 31, 2011 is not Halloween, at least in certain parts of Massachusetts. It has been postponed. A “Nor’easter” has taken down the power, phone, and internet across a huge region. This unusual storm has made it dangerous and all but impossible (fallen trees on electrical wires) [...]
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CPO Shop Talk (1) An Adoption Roundtrip (2) Webinar Nov 1 (3) Market Alert
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:00:23 +0000
(1) An Adoption Roundtrip Over a home-cooked team dinner (asian fusion) at one Chief Procurement Officer’s house this week, I fell into a discussion with a Director of Direct regarding the eSourcing solution that the company had adopted five years ago. “We started so strong in that first year – great energy and a huge [...]
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Getting over the Adoption Hump: Spend Analysis
Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:00:22 +0000
Today’s Adoption Series entry follows our last article which looked at the concept of a “learning curve” and argued that until users find the new process to be more efficient than the old process (when the efficiency “hump” is crossed), end-user adoption remains at risk. Say what you want about the “old ways” (i.e. the [...]
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Q&A with Daniel Warn, CPO of BCBSRI (2)
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:30:57 +0000
Our CPOs on the Rise series continues today with Part Two of a Q&A with another “friend of the site” – Daniel Warn (Part One is found here). Dan is the Head of Strategic Sourcing and Vendor Management at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (Chief Procurement Officer). Those interested in hearing more [...]
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The Path to P2P Excellence Runs Through Finance and Procurement
Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:00:06 +0000
In our last article, we discussed the opportunity that exists for many enterprises to improve their P2P operations (P2P is defined more broadly as Procurement and Accounts Payable – not simply POs and invoices) and the idea that the relationship between the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Procurement Officer (as well as other procurement [...]
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CPO & CFO: Building a More Perfect Union
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:00:59 +0000
We keep finding ourselves drawn to the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) – Chief Procurement Officer (“CPO”) relationship story because it is one of the most difficult and challenging within the enterprise today, and, also one with great potential. Those of you on the path to Procure-to-Pay (P2P) excellence, understand that no business relationship is more [...]
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Q&A with Daniel Warn, CPO of BCBSRI (1)
Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:00:57 +0000
Last month I had the opportunity to participate in a webinar that focused on the issues of procurement performance and procurement value and the fundamental differences that exist between the average CFO and the CPO in their perspective and approach to these topics. My co-presenter in this webinar was a CPO – Daniel Warn, Head [...]
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Adoption Series – Getting Over the Hump
Wed, 12 Oct 2011 06:00:22 +0000
I guess today (Wednesday) is “Hump Day” – It’s not a term I’ve ever incorporated into my everyday conversations. To be honest, I actually try to avoid using it because (1) with 24/7 connectivity and employer demands, work weeks all start to blend together – when you’re always on “the clock,” there is no true [...]
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An ePayables Business Case Made Easy
Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:30:55 +0000
As we mentioned in an article last week, Ardent Partners is initiating its technology coverage with the launch of the its first SMARTSet™. A SMARTSet is a low-cost, comprehensive set of research tools and templates designed to guide organizations though the process of automating their processes and selecting the best-fit solutions for their specific requirements [...]
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Technology Adoption – An Expert’s View: Iasta (2)
Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:00:17 +0000
As part of our ongoing Technology Adoption series, we thought it would be helpful to capture and share the perspectives from a few industry leaders who face the challenge of technology adoption on a daily basis. Today we are pleased to share part two of a contribution from Iasta on the subject. Part One which [...]
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Technology Adoption – An Expert’s View: Iasta (1)
Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:00:42 +0000
As part of our ongoing Technology Adoption series, we thought it would be helpful to capture and share the perspectives from a few industry leaders who face the challenge of technology adoption on a daily basis. Today we are pleased to share this contribution from Iasta. 8 Elements to Drive Value through Sustainable User Adoption [...]
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Introducing The ePayables SMARTSet
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:00:18 +0000
We often highlight the thought-leadership reports and presentations that Ardent Partners publishes/presents on the pages of CPO Rising as a way to share some of our key research findings and provide a view and perspective on trends, best practices, and other topics that matter to our readers (i.e. supply management leaders). But, Ardent Partners also [...]
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Six Major Trends for AP in 2012
Wed, 05 Oct 2011 07:00:16 +0000
While I have personally have spent a good deal of my time over the past six years focusing on the accounts payable market, at Ardent Partners, we have another analyst – Vishal Patel – who has been and will be solely-focused on accounts payable. Ahead of Vishal’s upcoming ePayables research series, we recently got together [...]
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CPOs on the Rise in 2011: Calling all Suppliers
Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:00:35 +0000
CPOs on the Rise in 2011 continues – In our last article we introduced you to an EMEA-based Chief Procurement Officer who works for a company that operates in 38 different consumer markets (which tend to be smaller and developing – countries like those in Latin America). This CPO oversees a decentralized procurement organization which [...]
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CPOs on the Rise in 2011: Calling All Suppliers
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:00:56 +0000
So, where were we? Ahh, that’s right – the CPOs on the Rise in 2011 series is back and with a big push coming up we plan to focus on the high-profile Chief Procurement Officers whose interviews and profiles are long overdue to appear on these pages. First up is an EMEA-based CPO who works [...]
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Analyst Q&A – 2012 Outlook (3)
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:00:14 +0000
Where are we headed in 2012? It may be too soon to predict but I gave it my best shot during a recent media session. What follows is a rough transcript in part three of the series, which is also the finale. Part one is here. Part two is here. Where are the jobs going? [...]
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Analyst Q&A – 2012 Outlook (2)
Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:30:28 +0000
Today, we continue with the second part of the content from my recent media interview that focused on the current business cycle and where we are headed in 2012. Part one is here. Q – In the context of today’s challenging financial environment, where are the biggest opportunities? AB – Let’s look at where we’ve [...]
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Analyst Q & A – 2012 Outlook (1)
Fri, 23 Sep 2011 03:57:18 +0000
When I’m not working diligently sourcing stories, interviews and ideas for this site, CPO Rising, I wear an industry analyst hat (but I am still laser-focused on supply management) and do a fair amount of media work. Well anyway, yesterday I had a sit down with some media types to share some thoughts and perspectives [...]
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CPO Shop Talk – Career Transitions: A Sign of the Times
Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:30:29 +0000
In what is surely a “sign o’ the times,” over the past two weeks, I have connected with several leading Chief Procurement Officers who are all moving on to other opportunities – sometimes by choice, sometimes not. One of the leaders is moving to the ‘dark side’ (i.e. consulting) and is thoroughly excited to begin [...]
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State of the Procurement Market Webinar
Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:00:55 +0000
Editor’s Note: An archive of this webinar is available by clicking here; while the report that fueled my portion of it is available here (registration required at each). Readers have noticed that we have dedicated a fair amount of space over the past two months to discuss the key findings from Ardent Partners’ large state [...]
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Final Thoughts on Corporate Culture and Technology Adoption
Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:00:18 +0000
As part of our ongoing Adoption Series, over the past few articles, we have presented a case study on the specific experiences of two rival companies and their implementations of similar supply management technology suites. Specifically, we looked at the impact that the existing corporate culture had on the implementation and overall results in the [...]
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Technology Adoption – An Expert’s View: Puridiom
Mon, 12 Sep 2011 06:00:16 +0000
As CPO Rising continues to advance and mature through the years, we will strive to introduce new ideas in new ways and formats. Today we start by introducing a new perspective from an industry expert in our first external contribution. As part of our ongoing Technology Adoption series, we thought it would be helpful to [...]
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Corporate Culture and its Impact on Technology Adoption – Results
Fri, 09 Sep 2011 06:00:58 +0000
According to authors P. Montana and B. Charnov (in the 2008 edition of their book, Management) by way of Wikipedia, Corporate culture is defined as the “total sum of the values, customs, traditions, and meanings that make a company unique. Corporate culture is often called ‘the character of an organization,’ since it embodies the vision [...]
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Webinar: Strategies to Manage and Improve Procurement Performance
Thu, 08 Sep 2011 06:00:58 +0000
Editor’s Note: An archive of this webinar is available by clicking here; while the report that fueled my portion of it is available here (registration required at each) A brief break from our Adoption series (which will continue tomorrow) to highlight our first event of the fall season – a webinar (registration link) on Wednesday, [...]
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Corporate Culture and its Impact on Technology Adoption (2)
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:00:49 +0000
Our Adoption Series continues by trying to answer the following question: Does corporate culture impact user adoption of technology? If so, how? by describing and then analyzing the performance of two arch rival corporations. In our last article, we introduced you to the highly-disciplined procurement department of a very large company (which we refer to [...]
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Corporate Culture and its Impact on Technology Adoption (1)
Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:30:41 +0000
Our Adoption Series continues by looking at the following question: Does corporate culture impact user adoption of technology? If so, how? In a webinar focused on Procurement Technology Adoption held earlier this week (I will post the archived webinar when it becomes available), I was prepared to answer the above question by comparing and contrasting [...]
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Failing to Leverage Business Value from Technology
Mon, 29 Aug 2011 06:30:01 +0000
Today, we continue our Technology Adoption Series - Ardent Partners’ latest research report[i] introduced the concept of a “Procurement Competency Matrix” which looks at a list of many of the higher-level competencies that a procurement staff or department should have in place in order to execute well, including specific procurement areas like transactional procurement and [...]
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SM Technology Adoption 2011 – Other Solutions
Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:00:31 +0000
Our ongoing Adoption series continues – but, before drilling down into why the different supply management technology adoption rates are what they are, we wanted to present the market adoption rates by enterprises of a few other supply management solutions used to support procurement (and accounts payable) processes[i]. Our last article looked at the primary [...]
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Supply Management Technology Adoption 2011
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 06:00:48 +0000
As part of our ongoing Adoption series, today we present the market adoption rates by enterprises of the primary supply management applications used to support the Source-to-Settle process. I make no bones about being an advocate for the usage of these solutions because I have seen, first-hand (in my consulting days – recent past), the [...]
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User Adoption Webinar
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 06:00:26 +0000
Editor’s Note: An archive of this webinar is available by clicking here (registration required) Our recent Adoption Series, seen by clicking here, will continue this week with a look at general adoption trends in the space and where companies are emphasizing their technology budgets over the next 12-18 months. I am also excited to let [...]
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Savings and Everything After
Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:00:25 +0000
Dateline Boston 2011: Analyst firm, Ardent Partners’ recent research shows that savings is the top business pressure driving Chief Procurement Officers to perform… Stop the Presses![i] Yes, it is true. According to our recent report CPO Rising 2011: Innovative Ideas for the Decade Ahead, when it comes to CPO pressures, there is savings and then [...]
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Honey Laundering
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 06:00:17 +0000
On Monday, this small story (hat tip: Susan) that sits at the intersection of globalization, sourcing, international crime, corporate conspiracy, food supply, and supply risk captured my attention. The story claims that at least one-third of all honey consumed in the US is smuggled in from China illegally. The story also fingers India’s largest honey [...]
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State of the CPO – Reporting Structure
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:30:48 +0000
Our “State of the Chief Procurement Officer” discussion, focusing on Ardent Partners’ latest research report, CPO Rising 2011: Innovative Ideas for the Decade Ahead, continues today. It is no accident that more CEOs and CFOs are talking publicly about the importance of procurement in support of business strategy and the impact that procurement success has [...]
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The State of the CPO – 2011
Tue, 09 Aug 2011 06:30:29 +0000
Amidst two other series – CPOs on the Rise and Adoption – we will also dedicate several articles to discussing Ardent Partners’ latest research report, CPO Rising 2011: Innovative Ideas for the Decade Ahead. The report is available for download from the report sponsors here or here, and here (registration required at each). This research [...]
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Case Study from the Collaborative Sourcing Report
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:00:00 +0000
In our last article, we discussed Ardent Partners’ recent report focused on Collaborative Sourcing which we define as the process “which blends traditional sourcing approaches with more robust category strategies, more penetrating views of supply markets, and deeper collaborative ties with suppliers is how the next generation of sourcing professionals will keep the business charging [...]
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Collaborative Sourcing
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:51:30 +0000
The value driven by the average sourcing team over the last decade has, in many cases, been significant and transformative. But, competitive forces at play in a rapidly changing business environment require that many tried and true strategies must be enhanced if they are to retain their impact. Ardent Partners has recently published a report [...]
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The Adoption Series (3) – “Bridging” the Gap
Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:28:20 +0000
Take a second and think about a bridge, any bridge, your favorite bridge if you have one (do people have favorite bridges?). Although I’ve spent a fair amount of time this month near Pont Neuf (where Jason Bourne set a rendezvous in the “Identity”) and the other 36 bridges that cross the Seine, I guess [...]
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1nnovative 1deas… A New Report from Ardent Partners
Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:41:05 +0000
Ardent Partners’ latest research effort, CPO Rising 2011: Innovative Ideas for the Decade Ahead, was recently published and is now available from the report underwriters: Bristlecone, Hubwoo, and SAP. This report is Ardent’s first market research effort and will be our only procurement-focused benchmark report this year. The effort has allowed us to capture an [...]
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CPO Shop Talk (London Edition): (1) Bravo’s Take on Procurement Value (2) Capital Assets (3) Career Planning
Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:02:53 +0000
The second part of this week (and the reason for the late timing of this article) found me in London for two procurement-related events on behalf of BravoSolution (Bravo also sponsors this site). The first was a dinner for Chief Procurement Officers (and Heads of Procurement) at Gordon Ramsay in the posh Claridges Hotel and [...]
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The Adoption Series (2) – You Are Not Alone
Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:07:49 +0000
While I personally find the adoption rates of supply management technologies in the marketplace to be generally disappointing (for example, eProcurement solutions, which only 52% of enterprises have adopted[1]) and often disheartening (i.e. Spend Analysis solutions, which only 30% of enterprises have adopted [2]), supply management is not alone. There are two sides to the [...]
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CPOs on the Rise: Executive Q&A
Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:33:37 +0000
Somehow, I have been sitting on this discussion with a global procurement leader for far too long. I share with you now, the verbatim Q&A conducted several months ago. How has Procurement changed since you first began in the profession? The answer to this is a book in itself. In summary from a non-strategic function to [...]
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CPOs on the Rise: Q&A with Luca Guzzaboca
Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:53:08 +0000
Luca Guzzabocca, the Director of Procurement, Logistics, HSE and Security Management at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (of the Montepaschi Group) has returned with us today to join the CPOs on the Rise series for a quick Q&A posed a short time ago. Luca is a leading Italian Chief Procurement Officer and the [...]
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The Adoption Series (1)
Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:00:11 +0000
Having been immersed in the world of supply management technology (development, packaging, usage) for many years, I was startled by the market adoption numbers I found in my first market research study conducted five or six years ago. The adoption of eSourcing was not pervasive (how could this be?), nor was the adoption of eProcurement, [...]
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F/X Effects
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:36:27 +0000
I have the great fortune to be working on an interesting strategy consulting project (procurement-related) for a multi-national that will keep me in Europe for the next few weeks. I am also able to bring my family (Sidebar: The timing of articles may be a little more unique, as we work to get our bearings). [...]
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P2P Excellence – Design for Success (2)
Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:00:04 +0000
This article was written by Vishal Patel, Research Director at Ardent Partners In our last article, (found here), we talked about Ardent’s P2P research series that is aimed at helping organizations establish a solid foundation for their P2P programs. We also offered a few excerpts from the first document in the series – ‘The Path [...]
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P2P Excellence – Design for Success (1)
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:00:17 +0000
This article was written by Vishal Patel, Research Director at Ardent Partners Ardent Partners is in the process of publishing a series of reports that are designed to help organizations achieve Procure-to-Pay (P2P) Excellence. The first in this series is called ‘The Path to Procure-to-Pay Excellence: Design for Success.’ The full report, which can be [...]
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Webinar – Collaborative Sourcing: Achieving the Next Wave of Sourcing Savings
Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:00:38 +0000
Editor’s Note: An archive of this webinar is available by clicking here; while the report that fueled my portion of it is available here (registration required at each) Next Wednesday, July 6th, I will be discussing Collaborative Sourcing (the topic of one of my upcoming research reports) in a webinar sponsored by Ariba. The value [...]
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CPOs on the Rise in 2011 – Jean Cloutier: Moving the Business (Part 2)
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:00:19 +0000
Today we have part two of a profile of “friend of the site,” Jean Cloutier, Senior Director of Strategic Procurement at Air Transat. Part one is here. In 2002, Air Transat’s procurement department was still very tactical in its approach and delivery, but with a new CEO, a culture of cost management was quickly established [...]
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CPOs on the Rise in 2011 – Jean Cloutier: Moving the Business (Part 1)
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:00:30 +0000
Jean Cloutier, Senior Director of Strategic Procurement at Air Transat, is our latest “CPO on the Rise in 2011” who helped build a procurement department and then develop its strategy and successfully execute it. Air Transat is Canada’s leading holiday travel airline. Every year, it carries some 3 million passengers to nearly 60 destinations in [...]
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Procurement Haiku Week (2)
Thu, 16 Jun 2011 06:00:17 +0000
Somehow, something called “Haiku Week” at CPO Rising continues (my eighth grade English teacher would be so proud) Process Experts Know Mind the Gaps or Lose the Save Link Source-to-Settle ____________________________________________________________________________ Happy Suppliers Are More Likely To Partner And Help Innovate ____________________________________________________________________________ Mark Your Calendar September in Orlando CPO EVENT!!
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Procurement Haiku Week (1)
Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:00:16 +0000
It’s Procurement Haiku Week at CPO Rising. With Innovative Ideas More Procurement Value Found CPOs Rising ____________________________________________________________________________ CPO Target Drive Value, Impact Earnings 15 cents per share The characters in this article’s image are admittedly Chinese. But, since the characters actually spell out “Innovative Idea” (the theme of Ardent Partners’ upcoming report) we felt we [...]
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Webinar: Innovative Ideas for the Decade Ahead
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:00:12 +0000
It’s coming together The data from respondents (218) has been captured and analyzed [Sidebar: huge thanks to all – the final report should hit your inbox in early July. Also, see postscript below]. The interviews (30+) have been conducted [Sidebar: huge thanks to all]. The slides (40-ish) are being assembled. Folks, the tension excitement is [...]
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CPOs on the Rise in 2011 – Eric Beylier: The CEO’s Direct Report (Part 3)
Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:00:02 +0000
Our profile of Eric Beylier, the Head of Global Supply Chain & Procurement (Chief Procurement Officer) at TETRA Technologies, Inc. concludes today (It began here and continued here). Since the series title is CPOs on the Rise in 2011, it is only appropriate that we look at some of the main areas that Eric and [...]
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CPOs on the Rise in 2011 – Eric Beylier: The CEO’s Direct Report (Part 2)
Fri, 03 Jun 2011 06:00:16 +0000
Our story with CPO on the Rise in 2011, Eric Beylier, the Head of Global Supply Chain & Procurement (Chief Procurement Officer) at TETRA Technologies, Inc. continues today with a look at what has happened since Eric made the case that Procurement & Supply Chain should report directly to the CEO (Part one is here). [...]
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CPOs on the Rise in 2011 – Eric Beylier: The CEO’s Direct Report (Part 1)
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 06:00:35 +0000
After a slightly longer than expected break, our CPOs on the Rise in 2011 series ramps back up this month and will go “full throttle” over the summer. We have a long way to go with this series and I get very excited just thinking about all of the great stories from some big name [...]
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CPO Shop Talk (BravoSolution Edition): (1) Strategic Sourcing (2) Perimeter (3) Transportation Spend Management
Fri, 27 May 2011 06:00:01 +0000
BravoSolution’s North American User Conference, held this past Wednesday, delivered a great blend of user case studies, best practices and thought leadership. Set in the heart of Chicago at Café Brauer in the Lincoln Park Zoo, the event was a steady stream of enthusiastic and successful customers that followed my morning presentation (which was, unfortunately, [...]
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CPO Shop Talk (SAP SAPPHIRE Edition): (1) Overview (2) Portfolio Synchronicity (3) Users
Wed, 25 May 2011 07:00:02 +0000
Don’t think me unkind, but those procurement pros who were in Orlando last week and spent all of their time at the ISM conference missed another great procurement event just up the road nestled within SAP’s SAPPHIRE NOW / ASUG Conference. And those who left SAPPHIRE early on Wednesday missed a steady stream of customer [...]
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CPO Rising Update (May 2011)
Mon, 23 May 2011 07:00:04 +0000
Since the world did not end this weekend, I thought it might be time for a few thank-yous and updates to start the week. We’ll be right back at it this week with a full slate of articles and, I hope, a continuation of our CPOs on the Rise in 2011 series (we’re only 1/3 [...]
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A “Must-Have” AP Metric
Fri, 20 May 2011 06:30:09 +0000
Following up on Wednesday’s Monday Morning Query (Offering a “Monday” series on a Wednesday is what happens when you spend two full weeks at conferences in Orlando; it’s gonna leave a mark). Anyway, we are continuing the discussion of must-have metrics for accounts payable based upon John Casher’s presentation at the FUSION 2011 Conference. While [...]
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MMQ – What is the “Must-Have” AP Performance Metric?
Wed, 18 May 2011 07:00:06 +0000
So, it is not Monday (where we occasionally publish our Monday Morning Query series) and this is the third AP/ePayables focused article in a row. Guilty as charged! This article takes an odd a unique approach in covering the presentation that the inimitable Jon Casher gave at the FUSION 2011 conference. If this were a [...]
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Reflections on FUSION 2011 – Part 2
Mon, 16 May 2011 07:00:58 +0000
Before we get started with the article, I want to thank everyone who has taken the survey to my upcoming report so far – The response has been great, but we’re not there yet – so, if you have not taken the survey and have a few minutes today or this week, it would be [...]
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Reflections on FUSION 2011 – Part 1
Fri, 13 May 2011 06:30:23 +0000
Dateline: May 8-12 Event: FUSION 2011 Host: The Institute of Financial Operations Place: Orlando Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center The newly rebranded Institute of Financial Operations (“IFO”) hosted its 21st Annual conference this past week with nearly 2,000 attendees in tow. It was an event to remember. Since it is newly rebranded, it probably [...]
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Ardent Partners and the Institute of Financial Operations Announce Alliance and First Event
Wed, 11 May 2011 14:01:37 +0000
Today we are pleased to officially announce our multi-year alliance with The Institute of Financial Operations (“IFO”). The IFO is the newly rebranded name of the organization that includes the International Accounts Payable Professionals (IAPP) and the National Association of Purchasing and Payables (NAPP). The IFO has established itself as a premier association and we [...]
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The CPO Scorecard™
Fri, 06 May 2011 06:30:21 +0000
For those who have taken the survey for my next report – a sincere thanks! For those that have not yet, please consider spending a few minutes today taking the survey found here In the early article, The Gold Standard, I talk about the key metric “spend under management” and its importance and correlation to [...]
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