In Case You Missed It … Procurement and Supply Market Roundup

We can't comment on every press release that hits our desks, but here are a few market news stories this week that we thought we should bring to your attention, and some of our own you may have missed - we may have more from our analysts in the coming days  ...

LevaData and Resilinc partner for increased supply chain visibility

Strategic sourcing firm LevaData and supply chain risk monitoring and mitigation solutions provider Resilinc are partnering to co-develop innovative solutions that integrate Resilinc’s EventWatch® AI risk monitoring and supply chain visibility data with LevaData’s Cognitive Sourcing™ platform. Together they aim to give customers across the globe an all-in-one solution to transform sourcing and supply chain functions with increased visibility, agility, and performance. Read the press release here.

Basware first e-invoicing network to use Trans-Tasman PEPPOL Specification and Protocol Live in Australia

Basware is the first international e-invoicing network to complete a live transaction in Australian territory using Trans-Tasman PEPPOL specification and protocol. PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) is the internationally recognised framework for e-invoicing and the Australian and New Zealand governments began to start to deploy it earlier this year to help increase business opportunities in and between their countries and to make it easier to integrate with the global trading environment. Read Basware’s press release here.

Bloom Appointed Exclusive Operator of Third Iteration of NEPRO

Professional services provider, Bloom Procurement Services, has been appointed by NEPO (the North East Procurement Organisation) to deliver the multi-billion-pound NEPRO³ public sector procurement solution for up to eight years. NEPRO³ is a compliant procurement framework, available to every public sector organisation in the UK. Bloom has been the UK’s exclusive operator of the NEPRO solution since its original inception in 2012 and has been successful in winning the third iteration of the contract up to 2027. More details here.

Many SMEs Still Favour Banks over Digital Transactions

Close Brothers invoice and speciality finance firm has released the findings of a survey into SMEs’ banking habits. One finding is that just over half of SMEs in the UK and Ireland physically go into a bank at least once a week – variable by industry; 76% use online banking at least once a week and 30% of businesses in London visit a bank branch every day. So some firms still favour bricks and mortar and personal service over digital transactions, despite Finance industry efforts to improve the automation experience.  Read more here.

And in other news ... 

African Development Bank has become world's first multilateral bank to receive CIPS  procurement excellence award

riskmethods sees significant growth in customer base and new hires over past 18 months

Accenture acquires Spanish startup Pragsis Bidoop, expert in big data, AI, advanced analytics and machine learning, with plans to add its solutions to its applied intelligence business unit

DHL Supply Chain partners with Convoy

California bill to make companies treat gig workers as employees

AI-powered AppZen raises $50 million; Beeline and TalentNet hook up