Iasta reSource dispatch I - Users and usage

May 13th, 2008 at 09:34am David Bush - Iasta

During our training and workshop day, I co-presented with our COO, Jason Treida, on user adoption. We feel this is a critical topic that impacts every single user of sourcing technology. Not every company/user will have usage of functionality like reverse auctions or project management or optimization. However, every company will need to address the challenges of user adoption. Hence, our workshop was heavily attended.

To begin, it is important to realize that eSourcing tools are being implemented at an accelerating pace and,

**75% of respondents to a Purchasing Magazine survey in Nov 2006 said their organizations did not provide the training and help to ensure competency with online sourcing tools and techniques.

**Also, it was stated that CFOs were expected to increase the investment to eSourcing applications and in turn expected greater adoption and savings.

In our opinion, these facts mean that every company needs to invest in training and roll-out plans. Too frequently, it is thought to be “good enough” to just get web based training in the first month. This will only work out well, if your organization is deeply staffed with people that have eSourcing experience to go with the executive backing.

There are a variety of ways that companies can successfully roll out eSourcing. Most of which are provided by the eSourcing company, but are not required to come from the vendor. They can also be done by consulting companies or by internal teams. The key is to realize that someone needs to do it and manage it. Train the trainer, managed implementations and category management + training are successful strategies that are critical to success for different profiles of organization.

Entry Filed under: General, Supply Management Best Practices

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