Aberdeen’s 2011 Chief Procurement Officer Summit took place in Boston on November 15^th and 16^th. During the webinar, Aberdeen shared the primary themes from the event, key recommendations from all the presentations, and data points collected from Summit attendees. They also outlined their supply management research, event and content plans for 2012.

The presentation was made by Christopher Dwyer and Constantine Limberakis, Senior Research Analysts in Aberdeen’s Global Supply Management group.  The webinar is available on demand on Aberdeen’s site. Additionally, you may want to follow them on Twitter: @ABG_GSM and @CPOSummit_AG.

I hope this trend of doing post event webinars catches on, as getting notes and impressions from an event you weren’t able to attend is better than nothing to be sure.  Here are some notes from other 2011 conferences that Buyers Meeting Point covered:

eWorld 2011 - March (Market Dojo)

ProcureCon Indirect West (PROACTIS)

eWorld 2011 - September (Bernard VanHaeften)

ISM's Services Conference (Iasta)

Overall Impressions

57% of the participants felt that procurement was seen as increasingly strategic. Cost reductions are still the #1 priority, perhaps as a result of the economic recession. 

Six Key Takeaways:

1. CPOs are positioned to drive organizational change and value
2. Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration
3. The Modern CPO must quickly disperse information to internal leaders and key stakeholders
4. The Modern CPO must effectively apply best in class strategy to complex category management (business travel, strategic meetings management, contingent labor)
5. Embrace the simple concept of implementing procurement technology
6. Look at new innovating ways to work with suppliers: Focus on supplier development rather than supplier management.

2012 CPO Summits

April 5, 2012 – Chicago

November 13-14, 2012 – Boston

Supply Management Research Agenda 2012

Q1: Expense management, supplier risk management

Q2: Strategic sourcing, Contingent workforce management

Q3: Strategic meetings management, CPO Agenda

If you are interested in the concept of the “Modern CPO”, here are some other points of view to consider:

"CPO in the Hot Seat", Purchasing Practice

“An In Depth Look at the Modern CPO”, W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University

About Aberdeen Group

Aberdeen Group is the leading provider of fact-based research helping organizations and individuals make better business decisions.Founded in 1988, Aberdeen has earned the reputation as being the "voice that matters" when it comes to understanding the implications and results of process innovation, methodology advancements, technology deployments, and business re-engineering.

Aberdeen's fact-based research is delivered at no charge to end-user organizations and business executives through a permission-based on-demand content platform. This real-time environment brings buyers and sellers of technology and services together to explore the "facts that matter" regarding how technology is driving business value today.