Empowering Strategic Procurement With Data Insights
Posted: 09/24/2020 - 22:56
Key Facts
Data Analysis
Where Data and Operations Intersect to Meet COVID-19 Challenges
Posted: 07/28/2020 - 04:20
There is no shortage of analysis and predictions today regarding COVID-19 and our future. While experts of all walks of life weigh in via global news channels, healthcare organizations are still left addressing the here and now as well as surges that could happen tomorrow, next week or in a few months. For those supporting the front lines securing necessary supplies and resources, it is paramount to be able to deliver what is urgently needed.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Procurement
Posted: 06/04/2020 - 04:52
Today, about 80% of large organizations are using artificial intelligence in their core business – compared to about 10% just five years ago. Companies that focus on AI are harnessing opportunities from vast data availability, machine learning and complementary technologies such as cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and 3-D printing. And they are doing so with a focus on short-term benefits as well as long-term growth. According to Harvard Business Review, if you miss out, the opportunity cost could be as much as 41% of revenue by 2023.
What IT Procurement Professionals Must Know about Data Center Hardware Maintenance RFPs
Posted: 07/16/2019 - 03:59
“We all want this to be a success,” is a pretty common sentiment at the outset of a major RFP. When considering hardware for data center maintenance services, in many cases, the outcome can mean significant cost containment for the IT group and accolades all around for a job very well done. And let’s face it, it is not only a fiduciary duty to avoid over-paying a vendor (even the original equipment manufacturer) it can be flat-out galling to think that your company has been over-paying for YEARS. So, damn straight, you want this to be a success!
When the Future You Anticipate Never Arrives: Ensuring Your Expected Outcomes Are Accurate
Posted: 05/10/2019 - 01:33
Today, where machines make decisions, the notion of the “right set of data” becomes a lot harder to understand. This is because machines learn differently than we do. In addition, the rationale for the output that they produce is more difficult to reconstruct. Machines do not have the intuition or the critical reasoning that can help to elevate or discount one data point over another. Input data must be free from bias, representative and as accurate as possible.
Patterns of Innovation in Business and Biotechnology
Posted: 02/08/2019 - 04:13
In the past few years, six decades after Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the chemical structure of DNA, scientists have developed CRISPR technologies that prevent disease by pinpointing unhealthy genetic sequences and replacing them with healthy ones. These technologies locate and repair errant mutations to the lengthy, repeating patterns of genetic code that form DNA’s double helix. In so doing, they cure disease.
How Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing Help Create Structured Versus Unstructured Data
Posted: 10/16/2018 - 03:43
Most procurement organizations lack the necessary data to make decisions about their services spend. The fundamental reason for the gap between the data they have and the data they need is that it is buried in documents. As a result, there is a desperate need for deeper visibility into services spend in most organizations. For too long, spend analytics have only provided details at the aggregate level and in many cases the data is not accurate. The marketplace consistently wants to better understand this part of the business to gain greater insight.
Where Will Outsourcing Head to in 2018?
Posted: 12/29/2017 - 22:16
This time last year I wrote in these pages about the year ahead for outsourcing. The key trend I focused on was an increase in partnership with clients and suppliers getting much closer—and that seems to have taken place throughout 2017. One major driver for this has been the change in how consumers become aware of a product and then convert into customers...what marketing professionals call the ‘customer journey.’ Think for a moment about the classic customer journey.
The Legal View: Brexit (Part 1)
Posted: 07/05/2016 - 21:18
Nearly two weeks after the UK’s vote to leave the European Union (the ‘Brexit’), very little has become clear in terms of what this means for the country and the EU itself – and the sourcing and outsourcing space in the region - and even how and when the exit process will take place. Obviously, such a momentous transition should not be rushed through over-hastily; however, uncertainty can have a paralysing economic and commercial impact and pressure is already mounting on the British government to begin the formal exit process.
