Category Archives: Supplier Performance & Risk Management
Welcome back! Just joining in? Check out Part 1. In order to better understand the trend towards cost avoidance, consider traditional cost containment questions in sourcing which may include: What is the historical price of what we are buying? What discounts / savings can we get from buying now? What is our existing contractual relationship with that supplier? However, when addressing cost avoidance, the questions become much more complex. A cost avoidance mentality drums up sourcing questions such as: What … More
What happens when disaster strikes your supply chain? As a modern sourcing pro, you understand your role in your company’s supply chain operations and supplier risk program. Even though you can’t avoid ALL supply chain disasters, having a plan in place and being proactive when responding to changes in your marketplace and your supply base is a critical to your company’s success. If you aren’t sure where to start in developing your supply chain disaster plan, start with these four … More
Years ago, Prego televised a commercial for their spaghetti sauce with the catch phrase, “it’s in there.” The commercial went something like this… A father enters the house for a spaghetti dinner and condones his son’s wife for using sauce from a jar. The father continues to talk about garlic, herbs and onions to which the son replies, “it’s in there.” For those not familiar with the commercial, you can view it here. So, how does a can of Prego … More
Has your company ever experienced a supply chain disruption that turned your company upside down? Have you ever experienced a day at the office like this?… Phones are ringing off the hook. Everyone is running around the office- frantically looking for their supervisors. The media is knocking on your door- demanding answers or at least a comment. Facebook and Twitter are blowing up with comments about your company’s supply chain disaster. Maybe you’re lucky enough to never experience a supply … More
As is often the case with many ideas in business, trends capture attention of decision makers in terms of what is possible. Procurement is no exception. Consider progressive concepts that advance procurement activities related to emerging areas such as in supplier risk or predictive analytics; both hot areas where Iasta continues to be focused for defining the modern sourcing paradigm. But trends also come from what was once considered old with a new spin. A perfect example of this is … More
Football season is upon us! Have you started developing your strategy to pick the winning team for 2014? Many football fanatics have begun their annual Fantasy Football draft preparations – analyzing statistics of players-yards carried, completed passes, and playing time to create the “perfect” football team. Understanding and analyzing the stats of each player is critical for “coaches” when drafting their teams. Creating spreadsheets, scanning the internet, and looking for the most up to date player’s statistics are critical tactics … More
Most of us have a bucket list filled with both personal and professional hopes and dreams. Whether your bucket list includes a sky diving trip on your next birthday or becoming the next CPO of your company, you likely have goals that motivate you on a daily basis. If you lead a sourcing organization and are looking to add some goals to your professional bucket list, here are six accomplishments you can add to your sourcing bucket list: 1) Mitigate … More
Have you ever thought of what ingredients it would take to bake a sourcing cupcake? Unless you’re a baker and procurement pro, the thought has probably never crossed your mind. But I’m a baker – and refer to myself as a “Modern Betty Crocker”, so this crazy thought crossed my mind the other day when I was baking Mudslide cupcakes. (Mmmmm) So, I started thinking, “What ingredients would I need to bake the perfect sourcing cupcake?” In order to bake … More
What is the key to a successful procurement transformation today? The question could be answered in a variety of ways, but for me – it simply comes down to the data ownership and visibility. In just a few days, I’ll be speaking at an ISM Dallas meeting about how best-in-class procurement organizations are using data as the enabler of change and the communicator in the procurement lifecycle. Consider the power of having a single interface to analyze your spend, supplier … More
Welcome back! Just joining us? Click here to read Part 1 of this series. As you can tell from my previous blog post, there is a great deal of information to consider when trying developing strategic supplier relationships. If you are like many of Iasta’s clients, these questions are all important to the identification and development of strategic suppliers. However, there is high likelihood supplier information is living in the following areas/systems across the business landscape: Spend systems (ERP, P-Card, … More
Most procurement organizations are focused on developing strategic relationships with suppliers. I recently listened to an extensive conversation about this topic at the Procurement Leaders Conference in Chicago. For a better understanding of the discussion, check out what Jason Busch recapped here and here. The panel discussion covered this topic (among many others), and this procurement challenge has been top of mind for me since that day. The term “Kissing the Frog” was used to describe the process Procurement professionals … More
As you know from my previous blog post, supplier diversity programs bring great value your organization by: Finding creative ways to approach and fund initiatives that will have a positive impact on the organization Protecting the company from risk Bringing integrity, accountability and transparency to the organization So, how can you create a program that will have a strong impact on your organization? Here are five best practices to help you develop a supplier diversity program: 1 – Do your … More
If someone came up to you and asked you, “What is supplier diversity?” – What would you say? Your answer might be different based on your industry, job role, or even experience. In fact, supplier diversity often means something different for every company. But for the purpose of today, let’s look at supplier diversity around this definition: supplier diversity is a proactive approach of sourcing products and services from the following business categories: Minority-owned Woman-owned Disabled-owned Previously-owned Etc. So why … More
Have you ever watched the movie Dodgeball? I had a chance to watch it over the weekend and the famous line stuck out in my mind: “If you’re going to become a true dodgeballer, then you’ve got to learn the five D’s of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.” So, put your game face on…the same principles can be applied to modern sourcing. If you’re going to become a true Modern Sourcing pro, then you’ve got to embrace these … More
Break out your dancing shoes, brush off the dust, and turn on the lights…it’s time to stop dancing in the dark! We find that a lot of procurement organizations are “dancing in the dark” because they don’t have the proper visibility into their spend and sourcing pipeline. Without this insight, you could be losing out on hard dollar savings and efficiencies! Iasta recently hosted a Webinar with AOL and Spend Matters, “Vote for Visibility: Yes, Procurement and Data can Dance.” … More
