purchasing | Procurement Insights

Browsing All posts tagged under »purchasing«

New Year, New Slogan – “Control the Narrative” by Kelly Barner

January 13, 2014

In the wake of the 2012 U.S. presidential election, the political idea of managing one’s ‘optics’ spilled over into the corporate world. The pesky but popular buzzword captured an increased focus on how everything looks to observers from timing to backdrops to the tone of a statement or presentation. It is a topic I took […]

Scout: A Dragon’s Den View by Kelly Barner

January 7, 2014

Editor’s Note: On November 26th, 2013 I had the opportunity to interview Year in the Life candidate Scout, a New Wave company that provides “painless” RFP capability to its clients. In the post-show commentary, our Dragon’s Den (or Shark Tank if you prefer) panel of experts will provide their take on the interview and offer […]

Reader Spotlight Series or What does Martha Stewart know about blogging anyway by Jon Hansen

November 11, 2013

In our October 17th post titled “Martha Stewart’s comment that “Bloggers Are Not Experts” is a case of delivering the right message but using the wrong standards,” I shared with you my opinion on Stewart’s assertion that bloggers are not experts. While I questioned the advice offered up by those who have been traditionally referred to as being […]

How to Handle Contract Disputes by Shené Commodore, CPCM

November 11, 2013

Editor’s Note: Over the past few months we have focused on the factors that have led to the high rate of failure of complex contracting relationships, as well as the challenges it poses in terms of engaging an increasingly cynical supply base. The latter is particularly true in relation to the public sector procurement process as […]

When it comes to SciQuest, is the defection of Oregon and Colarado a sign that the WSCA wall is crumbling? by Jon Hansen

September 26, 2013

Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA) Selects SciQuest to Improve Cooperative Purchasing . . . SciQuest Collaborative Procurement Empowers Multi-State Consortium to Streamline Purchasing Processes and Reduce Spending! It doesn’t seem that long ago that the above “news” was broadcast to the world by SciQuest via a press release. On a side note, and in the […]

Disconnected policies in public sector spend: Ombudsman Minto’s policy review revisited (Part 2 of 2) by Jon Hansen

August 5, 2013

In Part 1 of today’s post, I talked about the consensus that public sector procurement is a critical tool in driving socioeconomic benefit. Referencing a number of articles by industry experts, it is clear that there is a universal acknowledgement that we have to do more in terms of leveraging public coffers in critical areas […]

How open are you to change? One CPO’s unique journey from finance to HR to purchasing by Roz Usheroff

June 18, 2013

Editor’s Note: The following post originally appeared in Roz Usheroff’s The Remarkable Leader blog under the title Dubai Travel Journal (Part 2): Adaptable Brilliance . . . Denise’s Story. As far as I am concerned, one of the best examples of being open to trying something new is reflected in the following excerpt from my […]

World Class Procurement by Colin Cram

May 6, 2013

What is world class procurement? That is the question that was asked last week at a conference that I was chairing. The topic was world class procurement in the NHS. Some people would argue that if an organisation has efficient and modern processes and procedures, category management, a highly qualified workforce, good information and performance […]

Appetite for Development: How Procurement Departments Differ in Their Desires for Continuous Staff Training by Charles Dominick, SPSM, SPSM2

April 17, 2013

Editor’s Note: Charles is founder, president and chief procurement officer of Next Level Purchasing, which offers the SPSM (Senior Professional in Supply Management) family of certifications. Be sure to check out Charles’ Purchasing Certification Blog. In my line of work, I see four types of procurement departments relative to their appetites for professional development. Type […]

Assimilating Innovation (Part 1 of 3): Why Coupa’s new alliance with KPMG may be the worst (or best) of times by Jon Hansen

April 10, 2013

Editors NOTE: It wasn’t that long ago that Coupa used to applaud my articles for the veracity of my research and the perspectives that I delivered regarding their growing presence in the market. In fact I wrote a series of guest posts for the Coupa Cabana blog in which they informed me that the readership […]