eWorld Day 2 - London

Add comment October 5th, 2006 Sean Delaney - Iasta UK

Day 2 of eWorld and I am coming to the end of this years’ exhibition. From the past 2 days there are 3 observations which I feel are worthy to highlight:

Firstly, although willing the Public sector have yet to grasp the eProcurement nettle with one notable exception, the Scottish executive. They are extensive users of market places and esourcing, which in some cases puts them way ahead of their private sector colleagues – I would like to see a seminar on this in Feb 07!

Secondly throughout my time in the eSourcing marketplace purchasing professionals hunger for “thought leadership”. However this is truly a scarce commodity. So often at these events vendors use their seminars as thinly veiled sales pitches but those vendors who avoid this always achieve the greatest impact.

Finally another observation is the new found enthusiasm of retailers to tackle indirect purchasing through eSourcing. Some 5 years ago retailers were the earliest adopters of eSourcing technology (mainly e-auctions) in Europe however they often focused on directs. Whilst directs have been relatively simple commodities to auction, indirects are proving far more difficult. The common barriers stopping greater activity seem to be the lack of spend data, Senior management buy in and poor esourcing technology. From experience indirect esourcing projects achieve higher returns……I think the saying “no pain no gain” definitely applies here!

Well that’s it for this year and I look forward to eWorld Feb 2007 with some trepidation as I realise I have now thrown down the “thought leadership” gauntlet!

Entry Filed under: General, Global Supply Issues/Risk, e-Sourcing Marketplace