Digital Transformation

Leading Procurement’s Digital Transformation: Three Steps to Success

Posted: 03/11/2022 - 09:00
Globality CRO Keith Hausmann discusses how innovative technology can help procurement meet today’s biggest challenges, while increasing its influence through the power of “Performance Spending.”

In her book Trade wars, pandemics, and chaos: How digital procurement enables business success in a disordered world, Dr. Elouise Epstein, a digital futurist at Kearney, explains why most companies have historically been underwhelmed by the digitalization of procurement processes, noting that it hasn’t always delivered on the promise to empower people to move at speed, be more agile and work how they want.

7 Takeaways From the 2021 Hackett 1000 Research Study

Posted: 02/09/2022 - 09:00
Seven findings from the annual report and his analysis for sourcing, procurement and supply chain teams.

The Hackett Group’s annual working capital research – The Hackett 1000 – shows that the largest public U.S. companies have run a tight ship during the crisis, employing cash and working capital management strategies to increase liquidity and cash on hand as they navigate uncertainty and demand shocks. Nevertheless, those companies collectively had nearly $1.3 trillion of excess cash tied up in working capital at the end of 2020.

Is It Time to Add AI to Your Commodity Insights?

Posted: 11/30/2021 - 09:00
Is It Time to Add AI to Your Commodity Insights?

Over the last few years, we’ve seen artificial intelligence (AI) being used for a host of procurement applications, from spend analysis to supplier risk monitoring. Now, the same technology is increasingly being applied to commodity forecasting.

In the right situation, this can provide invaluable insights. AI makes it possible to look at larger, more complicated data sets over a longer period of time, helping to improve the accuracy of predictions and supercharge decision-making, near real-time.

Sourcing Modernization: Two Solutions for One Goal

Posted: 11/04/2021 - 09:00
Sourcing Modernization: Two Solutions for One Goal

In the midst of global disruption, fluctuating demand and supply has driven industry leaders to hold sourcing events more frequently amid the chaos.

While supply chain challenges continue, it is crucial that businesses equip themselves with tech that allows for both standard and complex sourcing events. This is especially true as the need to drive non-cost objectives around sustainability initiatives, delivery speed and more rises.

5 Ways Digital Procurement Mitigates Risk

Posted: 11/02/2021 - 09:00
5 Ways Digital Procurement Mitigates Risk

Nothing in business is risk-free. Every department in a company needs to deal with risk daily.

Risk management appears to be a simple concept, yet it is a highly complicated aspect of organizational and procurement strategy.

We all know that procurement must be dependable and secure. Hence, it's crucial to control and mitigate the variety of risks connected with business operations to achieve success.

Turning the Corner on Digital Transformation with GBS

Posted: 08/18/2021 - 00:00
Turning the Corner on Digital Transformation with GBS

The COVID-19 pandemic made an already challenging marketplace even more complicated, forcing businesses to seek out value in every corner of their operations—including in their extended networks. As a result, Global Business Service (GBS) organizations are increasingly investing in new capabilities, demonstrating to parent organizations their ability to improve business outcomes as a true strategic partner.

Surprise, Surprise: Procurement Has Yet to Solve Its Data Challenges

Posted: 03/26/2021 - 09:00
Procurement Has Yet to Solve Its Data Challenges

LogicSource and Sourcing Industry Group recently conducted a joint procurement technology survey. The results revealed some consistent, yet alarming, trends in procurement spend analytics. In short, responses made it apparent that procurement organizations at-large have yet to solve their spend data quality challenges.

Three key findings from the survey indicate the market’s need for more expertise and ongoing data services as it relates to procurement spend analytics:

Practical Lessons from the Frontlines of Automating Procurement

Posted: 03/23/2021 - 09:00
Practical Lessons from the Front-Line Automating Procurement

The stark reality is, many, if not most, businesses fall short when implementing automated processes within procurement. Company leaders driven to improve efficiency and flexibility often attempt to revolutionize their entire function at once, opting for the "done and dusted" approach; this is a flawed strategy.

The Top 10 Actions CPOs Must Take in 2021

Posted: 03/09/2021 - 19:15
The 10 most critical actions and accomplishments for chief procurement officers.

According to The Hackett Group’s 2021 Procurement Key Issues Study, the 2020 crisis continues to shape the 2021 procurement agenda. Unprecedented business disruption forced procurement organizations to refocus on supporting critical business operations and harnessing the value from supplier relationships, resulting in a pivot toward supply assurance and spend cost control.

In 2021, spend cost reduction remains the top priority for the procurement agenda and procurement must provide stability to the enterprise through spend cost control and supply assurance.

Is digital transformation procurement’s secret weapon to boosting business agility?

Posted: 02/23/2021 - 09:00
Digital transformation: the secret weapon to agility.

As I reflect on the turbulence from this infamous last year, a predictable pattern has emerged: organizations that were able to digitally transform their business prior to the pandemic were able to mitigate most of the risks the pandemic presented to business continuity. In obvious contrast, organizations that hadn’t been able to do so fell victim to those risk factors. As we saw with numerous industries, businesses unable to shift their focus quickly during lockdown or acute supply chain disruption, suffered great impact in the immediate term.

Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Nearshore Digital Transformation Partner?

Posted: 02/04/2021 - 04:06
Nearshore Digital Transformation

Given the supply chain disruption, business shut-downs and economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, it’s never been clearer — doing business closer to your own shores is coming back into vogue.

With recent restrictions on H-1B workers and a tech talent shortage, selecting a nearshorer is fast becoming the first step on a company’s digital transformation journey.

Artificial Intelligence Brings Empathy and Linguistics to Customer Service

Posted: 01/04/2021 - 22:51
When artificial intelligence (AI) was first introduced in customer service, it was limited to basic chatbot features. Recent advancements are now bringing a sense of empathy and linguistics to AI agents.

When artificial intelligence (AI) was first introduced in customer service, it was limited to basic chatbot features. Recent advancements are now bringing a sense of empathy and linguistics to AI agents.

Currently being tested by banks in the Middle East, this new AI can detect anger, frustration, and other human emotions both over the phone and online. Impressively, most customers can’t even detect that the voice on the other end of the line is not human.

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