Browsing All Posts filed under »Commentary«

Are these profile images representative of the brand a company wants to project? by Jon Hansen

February 19, 2015

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A couple of weeks ago, I received the following message through my LinkedIn account from a young sales representative: I currently work at a company as an Account Rep. I came across an article you wrote regarding the 3 BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACED BY SUPPLY CHAIN/PURCHASING PROFESSIONALS. My job is to reach out to prospect to […]

Is innovation the sole domain of the young or why Kurt Warner and Tom Brady could have been in procurement? by Jon Hansen

February 18, 2015

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Over the past few weeks I have been writing about the procurement world from the standpoint of what I referred to as being Generation Next. I wrote about how procurement was a “brand new game, with new rules requiring new skill sets that the older generation does not possess.” Now to once again be as […]

The M&A Dilemma: To buy or not to buy that is the question by Jon Hansen

February 13, 2015

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 In December I wrote a post titled IBM’s plans to corner or corral the cloud – it’s all a matter of governance based on my interview with IBM’s Pete Wharton. Wharton talked about the company’s “plan is to create an ecosystem of technology partners to extend IBM’s service capabilities to its customers.”   So here is the question; […]

Do client references really matter? by Jon Hansen

February 12, 2015

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“When asked what impact our customer references had on the decision, the client indicated they had never called them.” – Why Customer References are a Gigantic Missed Opportunity in Selecting a CMS by Jeff Cram Last June 18th I wrote a post titled Translating Irrelevance: Why vendor “market share news” has little value in a practical sense.  In that […]

Coupa’s acquisition of Zen Purchase: The perfect marriage of two trailblazers? by Jon Hansen

February 11, 2015

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In announcing the launch of Procurement Insights’ New Wave Company program in 2014, I had made frequent references to the blog’s early days in which I focused on covering companies I believed were going to one day become major players.  In 2010, I interviewed Rob Bernshteyn on my radio show, in which Coupa was featured as being one of […]

You know that you are likely a supplier bully when . . . by Jon Hansen

February 10, 2015

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I just read an interesting post on the Nipendo blog titled “Supplier Bullying: Cutting The Branch You Are Sitting On” by Eran Livneh. It actually reminded me of a post I wrote back in 2007 and have revisited many times since, regarding Walmart’s treatment of its suppliers.  In particular the Vlasic Pickles case study. “Finally, […]

Procurement’s silent majority or influential minority? by Jon Hansen

February 6, 2015

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In the past couple of weeks I have written about the old timers of purchasing, and the emerging Generation Next procurement professionals, focusing on the seemingly inseparable chasm between what once was, and the new reality of today. However, I did not immediately take into account that there is a third less vocal but increasingly influential […]

Freightos wants to know: Are you ready to go stealth mode?

February 4, 2015

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2014 New Wave Company Year In The Life winner Freightos, has developed a new user interface for a full-fledged online marketplace that they are planning on launching in 2015.  They are looking for procurement professionals who might be interested in taking part in a quick 15 minute interview while testing their new user interface. I […]

Teaching an old dog new tricks or the challenges of adopting a new mindset by Jon Hansen

February 3, 2015

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“One last point – I would contend that some of the change in “new” procurement professionals are not just recent college graduates. The change in approach includes those of us who are new to the profession – like me on a 2nd career (and well-out of college days!!! ) . We don’t hold to the […]

Who Are Procurement’s New Leaders? by Jon Hansen

January 27, 2015

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My most recent post titled The Face of Procurement’s Generation Next, has garnered considerable attention throughout the social media world, including some interesting comments in a number of social networking sites. One reaction however stood out, as the perspective offered by the reader served to remind us that despite the profession’s elevation from that of a functional […]