GPO: Global Process Ownership – not group purchasing organization. What is it? Well, as Pierre Mitchell describes in a new series published this week on Chief Procurement Officer, it is a proven strategy based on the ability to manage cross-functional processes. Head over to our CPO website to read Exploring Procurement’s Other GPO: Global Process Ownership (Part 1) and Part 2: The 3 Dimensions of Global Process Ownership to read more about why procurement organizations should adopt GPO.
The world of services procurement is in the midst of transformation. Change is happening quickly – the impact of external services on business is rapidly evolving. Granted, we are still in the proverbial “early days” of understanding how business models are changing as a result, including a move to “go direct” to externally and private talent pools rather than work through staffing intermediaries.
When it comes to supplier information, arguably the most important factor to take into consideration is not just what to collect, but how long it will be of use in the initial format in which one gathers it. Indeed, perhaps as important as what to collect is the realization of how quickly data goes stale. Initial enablement is important, of course, but data needs to be refreshed over time to stay current. Facilities close. Employees leave. Banks change. Insurance policies lapse.
Spend Matters welcomes this guest post by Becky Partida, research specialist, supply chain management, from APQC. In any organization, procurement and accounts payable activities are inextricably linked. Becoming efficient in both types of activities should result in clear benefits to the entire procure-to-pay process, from the procurement function to accounts payable. APQC has identified business drivers of an integrated procure-to-pay process that lead to improvements and business results.
Spend Matters welcomes this post by Paul Noël, SVP of procurement solutions at Ivalua. Almost every edition of the iPhone is accompanied with news stories about weaknesses in Apple's product supply chain (see: the recently reported iPhone 6 screen and staff shortages at Foxconn). Before executives in your firm take notice and come down the hall asking how “supply chain risk” is being addressed in your company, you may want to prepare a few things.
Spend Matters welcomes this guest post written by Mark Digman of SciQuest. I’m a “process, flow chart, build a plan and work the plan” type of person. This is not associated with marketing, which tends to be labeled or positioned as “creative types.” One of the things I like about the professionals in the procurement community is their pragmatic and often passionate approach. They drive efficiency and cost savings on behalf of their organizations. They have ideas of what they need to do – and they want to “get it done.”
Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from David C. Wyld of Southeastern Louisiana University. Whether it is in a corporate conference room on the floor with the nicest furniture, a white board-lined room at a major consulting firm, or the hallway outside an MBA classroom, you won’t go long without hearing the term “value chain” these days. Read on to hear more about how "both the procurement function and the marketing area are crucial in that they occupy strategic placement at opposing ends of that chain".
In the last installment of our 50 Shades series, we discussed the importance and value of mining the transactions that disburse cash to suppliers. We also discussed the “perfect invoice” to support the frequently used metric of the “perfect order” (i.e., right product in right quantity at right quality levels at right place and time – with the right invoice information), and how the transactional analysis part of spend analysis can help analyze this. But, what makes an order perfect? From a payments standpoint, is it just paying on time with accurate information? What about the ability to improve working capital and/or lend money to your suppliers in the form of early pay discounts (and/or supply chain finance)? Whatever your answer is, you’re going to need an accurate payment due date.
Picking up where we left off in our interview with Traxpay’s John Bruggeman, we come to the potential “killer apps” for dynamic payments and also consider the changes in efficiency that will come as cash moves through the supply chain more efficiency. See also our first, second and third installments in this series as well. Enjoy!
Our interview series with Traxypay’s John Bruggeman continues today as we begin to get into the nitty-gritty detail of what comprises dynamic payments – and how dynamic payments differ from traditional static bank and card payments.
In the first installment of our interview with Traxypay’s John Bruggeman, we explored the background that led him to see an opportunity with Traxpay to target the payments area to extend the reach of purchase-to-pay, order-to-cash, supplier network and related solutions to an expanded set of suppliers. Today, we continue the discussion. Enjoy!
Spend Matters welcomes this post from Zycus. During a recent Spend Matters webinar entitled,“Forget the Amazon Metaphor - P2P Needs to Be More Like a GPS,” attendees were polled regarding their greatest challenge with Procure-to-Pay (P2P). While there were a fair number of votes for oft-cited issues such as spend compliance or user adoption, what stood out is the fact that the biggest pain point actually focused on the by-product of P2P – accurate spend visibility (or lack thereof) – the biggest challenge for more than one third of webinar attendees.