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Browsing All Posts filed under »Procurement Trends«
Made-in-Transit Packaging: Innovative, But is it Practical?
Most fresh food comes with a “best before” date, but Amsterdam-based Canadian designer Agata Jaworska thinks it should be marked “ready by.” Her concept: packaging in which food can keep growing during shipping to the supermarket so that it arrives ready to be harvested, in a state of optimum freshness. Made-in-Transit Packaging, TIME’s picks for […]
When it absolutely, positively, has to be there overnight but . . .
December 7, 2010
Funny thing about the famous tag-line for Federal Express is that back in the early 80’s when it was first used, the thought of limited or reduced capacity was never even a question. Back then we were more concerned with fuel shortages and the rising costs associated with what was called the second oil or […]
UK Government Puts An End To The Gravy Days of Big Budget IT Initiatives: Another Nail for Large ERP Vendors?!
December 3, 2010
Cabinet Office minister, Francis Maude, speaking at a meeting attended by 31 major government suppliers including BT, Hewlett Packard, IBM and CapGemini, claimed that large-scale bespoke IT systems – many of which have gone significantly over budget in the past – would henceforth be replaced by less expensive and “off the shelf” offerings. from UK […]
IBX Capgemini Purchasing Executive Summit continues to deliver valuable insight
December 3, 2010
The true value of a presentation or seminar is found in its timeless value to the audience it is intended to serve. A similar principle can of course be tied to almost any form of communication including blog posts, as demonstrated by the enduring popularity of articles that I have written over the years on […]
When elected officials sneeze, government buyers catch the cold
November 25, 2010
You gotta love the world of public sector procurement as the myriad of competing interests that mark the convergence of short-term elected official rhetoric and long-suffering bureaucratic sensibilities rarely if ever aligns into a cohesive purchasing strategy. Like the sentiment that is reflected in the statement when the United States sneezes, Canada catches a cold […]
Jury Orders SAP to Pay Oracle $1.3 Billion: A Discovery Channel Special?
November 24, 2010
This past Sunday on Discovery Channel the first in a series of shows on dinosaurs aired much to the delight of my daughter who, like any child her age, has an active interest (and imagination) regarding these mammoth beasts. In the opening segment, the show focused on the day that the cataclysmic chain reaction of a […]
Analyst’s pessimistic prediction regarding SAP prompts the question . . . Are ERP Vendors down for the count?!
November 18, 2010
“On that note, it’s time to take a battering ram to European business software giant SAP, it seems. “SAP will continue to battle it out on the sales front, but the reality is that business intelligence (from the Business Objects acquisition) is the feeding tube keeping the old man alive,” it snipes. “As customers contemplate […]
As 23rd Annual Virginia Forum 2010 comes to a close, three Commonwealth buyers offer their view on the conference
November 18, 2010
Once again, and as a testimony to the power of social media, we were able to quickly traverse the virtual airwaves to connect with three Commonwealth of Virginia buyers who were kind enough to provide their unique perspectives on this year’s Forum and the emerging trends in the world of public sector procurement. This is […]
Centralized Buying and Staff Reductions at The Heart of Whitehall Plan
November 16, 2010
What stands out the most to me based on a preliminary review of the Cabinet Office’s “plans to slash administration costs, including procurement operations, by £100 million in 2013-14,” is that the approach from a purchasing standpoint is at once a courageous acknowledgment of the need to make hard and even unpopular decisions, tempered by […]
2008 Post on Bridging the Communications Gap Between Finance and Purchasing is Now a Generational Reality
November 16, 2010
Note: The following post will be reprinted in the Corporate United Q4, 2010 “A Word From Our Partner” newsletter column When I first started investigating the obvious communication gap between the financing and purchasing departments within organizations in 2008, there were telltale indicators that such a breakdown existed. The most ominous was the fact that […]
Procurement Insights 
December 7, 2010
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