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  ...

Amazon Business Award winners: Cepsa, Walsall Council and ABB

At the Amazon Business first ever customer event in London this week, ABX, the first ever Amazon Business awards were made. “These awards recognize three of our most innovative, agile and visionary business customers,” said Todd Heimes, Director of Amazon Business Europe and host of ABX. “We’re excited to see procurement teams enable more modern ways of working as they drive greater employee and organization productivity across the board, improve operating effectiveness and play a key part in achieving greater business agility and velocity.” The awards went to global energy firm Cepsa for the User Empowerment award; UK local authority Walsall Council for the Agile Procurement award; digital technology firm ABB for the Visionary award. More information about the awards as well as full-length video-statements of the three winners can be found here: www.amazon.co.uk/abx

Digital transformation and the customer-centric approach – An interview

A recent study by The Hackett Group analysed world-class procurement departments that have digitally transformed and overhauled the way they work. “A customer-centric approach to service delivery is helping world-class procurement organizations influence 93% of spend and generate 75% more savings” than average procurement departments, the study said. By this token, a digital and customer-centric approach can unlock more influence, impact and deliver savings. To learn more about digital transformation and the customer-centric approach, our US Editor held a Q&A with the senior vice president of Client Solutions at procurement consulting firm Proxima. Read that here.

First signs of recession in Germany, with Europe and North America looking worrisome

This article (in Dutch) appeared on de Volkskrant explaining that the Eurozone PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) decline to 45.7 is the lowest since the 2012 Eurocrisis. A PMI of below 50 indicates economic shrinkage, so the fact that German manufacturing PMI lowered in September to 41.4, the lowest point in over 10 years, and the combined manufacturing and services index is at 49.1, the lowest in nearly 7 years, could spell a grim economic outlook for the country. The US manufacturing PMI also dropped from 49.1 to 47.8 in September. Read more here.

Former SAP Concur CFO joins Field Nation

IBM: New Sterling Supply Chain Suite targets complexity of global supply chains

Why Some UK Business Travellers Are Actually Optimistic About Brexit

Justin Sadler-Smith Leaves SAP Ariba and Moves to Basware

telent joins INCA, supporting Altnets to roll-out gigabit fibre across the UK

Cybersecurity company, BullGuard, launches BullGuard Small Office Security

4C Associates appoints Allison Ford-Langstaff as Managing Partner

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