Iasta reSource dispatch II - Highlights from the main day

May 15th, 2008 at 05:10am David Bush - Iasta

There is no way I can keep up with Spend Matters type coverage of our conference. Just way too much else to do, and besides, does any one want to read me Twittering about myself?

---

D Bush is taking the stage to welcome to give the Iasta SOU - about 30 minutes ago

Damn, that guy is good looking, stage presence like pro! - about 30 minutes ago

Yep, still profitable, new book, blogs, wikis..blah blah - about 28 minutes ago

Uh oh, his computer sucks, looks like Melissa forgot to disable the anti virus deep scan. - about 24 minutes ago

He’s announcing new products and service offerings, exciting stuff!! - about 20 minutes ago

I think he’s closing with a joke and dropped in a s*x reference - eeeee! - about 15 minutes ago

Whew, he pulled it off! - about 14 minutes ago

---

Nope, I don’t think so. Even though that is not going to add much value, our speakers did.

• F500 construction and engineering firm, Fluor Corp, spoke about how they successfully rolled out SmartSource to a large group of users over a period of 2 years. In the process, Fluor built an internal sourcing community and knowledge center.
• Our team gave multiple examples of how sourcing optimization should be used in every day sourcing projects. Truly opened some eyes and showed the power of post bid optimization with constraint scenarios.
• VP Procurement from a global transportation company gave a great overview of how they utilized SmartSource during a very complex merger, and subsequent cost reduction mandate over 6 months. Savings target of $43mm, actual $54.4mm.
• Charles Dominick, of Next Level Purchasing, spoke of the value of purchasing certifications. Specifically, he brought attention to the idea of raising the knowledge as a team, more than the traditional outlook of certifications being for the individual.
• Infosys discussed principles of global sourcing and how things like outsourcing and offshoring can help a company in their supply chain strategy.

Every one really did a great job. Infosys had some of the most content packed, dense PowerPoint slides I have ever seen. It was some what remarkable that some one was able to design a slide like that!

I am looking forward to seeing the feedback from the attendees. I think we took a lot of the feedback from last year and improved every where. Now, its sleepy time..zzzzz.

Entry Filed under: General, Spend Analysis, Supply Management Best Practices, Technology / SaaS