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Procurement decisions don’t fail inside procurement. They fail when real-world conditions hit them. That’s what we assess.
The $85 Million Manitoba Hydro Contract Controversy: A Case Of Looking For Phantom Monsters Under The Bed?
Earlier today, an old friend from Winnipeg posted a CBC News article on Facebook titled “$85M contract with Manitoba Hydro was not tendered” with the sub-title “Manitoba Hydro says contract was justified, but won’t say why for competitive reasons.” Based on a cursory view of the above headline, one might be inclined to jump to […]
Posted in: News & Updates
Life Outside of Procurement: A Sticky Gooey Dough
February 29, 2016
We all have a life outside of procurement. Some of you for example may like to golf or play any number of sports. Others may like to go for long drives while listening to their favorite music. It could be anything. The point is that beyond our passion for procurement, we all have personal interests. Mine happens […]
Posted in: Life Beyond Procurement
Wall Street And The Analyst Firms Are Dead . . . Long Live The New DO-ERS!
February 24, 2016
Not that long ago I wrote about Zycus and their proud proclamation that they are independent and free from the reliance on traditional money sources such as VCs and Wall Street. I have never been a big fan of Wall Street for pretty much the same reasons as most everyone else. If you have seen […]
Posted in: Commentary
No Deal: Why The Procurement World Has Gone Silent
February 17, 2016
“Oh, gotcha. But are the deals not happening or are they just not being announced? With SaaS, you can switch so easily, so why would you bother announcing who you’ve implemented this year/month/week? I think ease of switching has made win news go the way of press releases. It would be like announcing where you decided […]
Posted in: Commentary
Are women really on the losing end of government contracts? by Kelly Barner
February 11, 2016
Last week, Jon Hansen ‘tagged’ me in a Twitter exchange about women-owned small businesses and their rate of success in winning public sector contracts. The catalyst article, “Businesses Owned by Women Less Likely to Win U.S. Contracts, Study Shows” was written by Jackie Calmes, and ran on the NY Times on February 2nd. It documents […]
Posted in: Guest Posting
Does PayStream Report on Coupa Really Matter . . . To Anyone?
February 1, 2016
Editor Disclaimer: Before anyone – okay Coupa – thinks that I am picking on them, I want to state that the reference to them in this post is purely a matter of timing. Had I received a press release about the PayStream report featuring another vendor, we would be talking about them right now. In short, the vendor […]
Posted in: Commentary
How does Wall Street and Venture Capitalist money influence service provider transparency?
January 27, 2016
I have been getting a lot of interesting feedback regarding my last post about Zycus. In one discussion, I had expressed my surprise regarding how frank they were about the market, the competition, where they are weak, and where they are strong. I could not help but wonder why they were so open. The response I received was […]
Posted in: Commentary
Referring to themselves as the last of the great independents, Zycus call was unexpected and interesting
January 26, 2016
I must admit that I was a little surprised when I received an e-mail from Zycus indicating that they wanted to talk with me to provide an update on their company. It is not because I am not a good conversationalist. I think that I can be an interesting, delightful, and perhaps even entertaining contributor to any […]
Posted in: Commentary
3 Tips On How To Avoid Collaboration Burnout
January 25, 2016
Originally posted on The Remarkable Leader:
Generally speaking I have found that women are more open and willing to collaborate than men. I am not by any means suggesting that men don’t collaborate, because they do. It is just not to the same degree, nor is it for the same reasons. Whether it is the…
Posted in: Uncategorized
Why a vendor’s values are more important than their technology
January 20, 2016
As reader interest continues to shift from technical specifications and Magic Quadrant ratings, to focus instead on real performance indicators such as assessing the people and values behind a company, covering our industry requires an entirely different set of skills than it did in the past. Given the increasing level of comfort and competency that today’s […]
Posted in: Commentary
Procurement Insights 
March 1, 2016
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