The industry is flooded with numerous software solutions, and it is not easy to select the best tools to serve your business needs. Choosing the right solution is a critical decision and knowing your criteria before getting too deep in decision making is a huge benefit. Here’s a 5-Step Approach on how to choose a software package for your business. 1. Business Roadmap: Once the business owner decides the roadmap of the business, the market, and the target customers, how the business solution is going to impact...
Procurement and purchasing activities and improved spend management have always been competitive factors for an enterprise. Managing key supplier relationships and costs contribute directly to bottom-line profits. Controlling indirect procurement spending can introduce various cost-saving opportunities and help organizations improve their operating costs. Three areas in which companies try to curtail their procurement and purchasing costs are reduction in spot buys, controlling the maverick spend, and managing tail spend. Each one can be optimized to...
“What will the future look like?” has become the question of 2020. At this year’s OESA Automotive Supplier Conference, industry experts and senior automotive executives joined virtually to discuss how the industry will continue as it settles into a new norm and focuses on the future once again. Following the event’s theme of “Journey Back to the Future,” the 3-day conference consisted of a variety of conversations that included the industry impact of the coronavirus,...
In a recent webinar with Hugo Evans, Vice President at A.T. Kearney, talked about the impact emerging technology is having on procurement with our SVP of Growth & Business Development, Vikas Shah, and one of our Customer Success Managers, Marisa Pierron. During their discussion, one topic they covered was how organizations can start implementing emerging technology. Want to know what steps you should take first? Read the transcript or check out the clip below to...
We’re not like a regular procurement software company, we’re a cool procurement software company. And according to their 2018 report of Cool Vendors in Procure-to-Pay Applications, Gartner thinks so too. That’s a pretty big deal, and we’re psyched that Gartner is telling the world that we’re just as cool as we already know we are! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Xeeva already, let’s break down three reasons why we believe Xeeva was...
ISM 2018 in Nashville, TN was a whirlwind of an event! Thousands of supply chain management professionals spent last week at the Institute for Supply Management’s annual conference, encompassed with 4 days of educational sessions, 2 days of intriguing vendor exhibitions, having hundreds of inspiring conversations, and building countless relationships. From speakers like Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, to Dan Bartel, chief procurement officer at ABB, the conference was full of highly informative...
Decisions, goals, and opportunities are all part of any journey. The path you take to reach each of those is important. What matters more though is where you start. That’s what determines if you will make it or not. Every part of life has a foundation that without, it would come crumbling down. For people, it’s oxygen. For cell phones, it’s a charged battery. If either of those were taken away, how long would you...
In Gartner’s recent annual report, they discuss their predictions as to what will have a great impact on procurement and sourcing technology in the coming year and how the market will change over time. One thing that is definitely clear – the procurement and sourcing market is evolving quickly as technology continues to advance. The summary of the report suggests that CPOs, IT leaders, and procurement organizations need to “plan for the impact of virtual...
Strategic sourcing: A disciplined approach to supply market analysis that continuously improves and re-evaluates the purchasing activities of an organization. Strategic sourcing provides the best possible values in the marketplace to produce sustainable savings and reduce cycle times. Sourcing optimization starts from a diverse strategic perspective and usually takes the form of strategic decisions. It is important to identify untapped opportunities to improve vendor access and increase the value of each dollar spent. Drive benefits...
How many clients with indirect spend do we run across that conduct strategic sourcing, develop pre-negotiated contracts, and implement savings plans that can’t get those savings flow to the bottom line? Answer: all of them. Related: Supply risk defined in supplier relationship management When it comes to locking in cost reductions from hard-fought sourcing engagements, companies don't just identify opportunities, but rather they implement savings. Here are 5 tactics to drive compliance and benefits to...
There are many challenges for achieving supplier rationalization and standardization. A typical tactic deployed by procurement organizations is trying to reduce the variety of similar items that the organization purchases. The reasons for this rationalization go beyond cost savings and can include: Supplier diversity initiatives Supply mitigation and management Going green Ultimately, standardizing is not as easy as it may first appear. Take, for example, an organization with multiple manufacturing plants, each of which buys tens of...
Supplier relationship management is the discipline of strategically planning for, and managing, all interactions with third-party organizations that supply goods and/or services in order to maximize the value of those interactions. In practice, supplier relationship management entails developing closer, more collaborative relationships with key suppliers in order to uncover and realize the new value and reduce supply risk; but what exactly is “supply risk”? George Zsidisin, assistant professor of supply chain management at Michigan State...