The Point
Buyers Meeting Point attends many sales AND procurement webinars/webcasts. One of the interesting things about consistently reading content from quality sources is that you start to notice trends. It is amazing how often the same topics arise at the same time in different places. We use this blog as a way to help you stay on top of the major themes in procurement and supply chain management.
Webinar Notes: Reaching New Heights: The Dividends of Collaboration Between Finance and Procurement Featured
This week’s featured webinar was presented by ISM, Ariba, and CFO Research Services. It was based on a recent study of 263 finance executives from North America, Europe and Asia about their perceptions of procurement. The study was originally conducted in 2007, so this can also be considered a five-year revisit. If you are interested in reading the full report, you can download it for free (without registration) from CFO.com.
Event Notes: ISM nabs ADR – Tipping the Scales of Change in their Favor
This week’s featured event looked at ISM’s recent acquisition of ADR North America. Jon Hansen, host of the PI Window on Business Blog Talk Radio program and writer of the Procurement Insights blog interviewed Bill Michels, President of ADR North America and ADR-ISM China, and Senior Vice President at the Institute for Supply Management. If three hats is not enough, he is also the author of ‘The Sourcing Guy’ blog.
You can listen to the entire interview on demand.
Webinar Notes: Manage Supplier Risk: Be Proactive Using Diverse Market Intelligence
This week’s featured webinar was run by ISM and provided a “how-to” on market intelligence with examples of market data usage, potential sources of information and some real-world examples of why this topic is so important (or should be). Although Reed Elsevier (owners of LexisNexis) sponsored the event, it was remarkably non-salesy. The event is available on demand (as are the slides) and can be accessed on ISM’s site with their other Previous Web Seminars.
Webinar Notes: Tackling the Procurement of Complex Services Emptoris/Forrester/ISM
I have a background in services, both professional and otherwise, and this is always an interesting topic. In my opinion, the most important take-away from the event is that more companies are breaking down the wall and not only addressing services spend but having success. Although there are complexities with services like legal and marketing that don’t exist with straightforward services like facilities maintenance or contingent (temporary) labor, procurement groups are more than capable of handling those complexities just like they have done with complex materials spend.
Last week’s event on sourcing complicated services is now available on demand by clicking here.