Last week’s rant — “Putting an End to Patent Madness” — put the spotlight on a critical issue for enterprises considering supply management software investments. It also sparked some great debate among Supply Excellence readers looking to balance intellectual property (IP) protection with the insatiable need for continuous innovation and improvement.
I tip my hat […]
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I regret to report that I’ve recently had a number of disturbing conversations with supply management executives from around the globe. Their comments clearly indicate that, despite all the blustering of bloggers, analysts, and even CPOs, the harsh truth is that, on the whole, the supply management discipline still has a long way to go:
Consider this comment […]
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Countless analyst reports and enterprise testimonials (and even research conducted by Supply Excellence) point to the benefits of automated spend data management and analysis solutions. Automating data extraction, classification, enrichment, and analysis processes have been proven to improve spend visibility and leverage, enhance compliance rates, and uncover opportunities for cost savings of 2% to 12%.
Despite […]
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Last month I had the opportunity to host a web seminar — Sure-Fire Contract Compliance Strategies — in which Qualcomm revealed its approach for successfully launching and expanding a global contract and compliance management initiative.ÂÂ
Today, Qualcomm uses a common contract lifecycle management (CLM) system to manage over 30,000 contracts enterprisewide — from basic supplier product […]
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Yesterday, Rob Martens, Director of Purchasing EMEA for NAVTEQ, shared techniques his organization used to assess procurement performance and develop a plan for improvement. Today, Rob shares how NAVTEQ organized its turnaround and the results they’ve achieved.
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What does NAVTEQ’s new procurement organizational structure look like?
 It is a regional center-led structure, supported by worldwide purchasing policies […]
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Late last year, I had the honor of moderating a track on best practices for supply management organization and process at ProcureCon Europe. Track presenters included supply management executives from Nokia, HH Print, American Express, and NAVTEQ. I previously posted on Nokia’s presentation on Center-Led procurement structures here.
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I am happy to report that Rob Martens, […]
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I received multiple e-mails about last week’s post on IACCM’s Top Negotiated Terms. In the post, IACCM President and CEO Tim Cummins and I raised concerns that supply and contract managers were spinning their wheels by rehashing and renegotiating standard T’s & C’s, inhibiting their ability to collaborate with trading partners on what really matters: […]
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Episode two of the monthly SupplyNow podcast is now available. This month, the collaborative series between Supply Excellence and Spend Matters, tackles the highly contentious subjects of China, spend visibility, and the future of Detroit.
Our featured guest, Jessica Mahre, Vice President of Operations at A.T. Kearney, shares insights into the do’s, don’t’s, and the future […]
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For the past month, I have been reporting on the Top 5 Supply Strategies enterprises have prioritized for the next two years. The findings were the result of a September 2006 survey of the top challenges and initiatives of 300 supply management and business executives from around the globe. Color commentary was added based on interviews I conducted with survey […]
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While at ProcureCon Europe earlier this month, I had the opportunity to lead a track (or in their parlance a “stream”) focused on Organizational Structure and Processes for Effective Procurement. Presenters on this stream included senior supply management executives from Nokia, HH Print, American Express and Navteq. Today, I will share insights into Nokia’s six-year journey to […]
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