Supply NOW: Spend Matters First Podcast is Available!
When it comes to covering enterprise software technology, I've always considered myself somewhat leading edge. But on the personal technology front, I will admit that I'm a tech curmudgeon. In fact -- and I kid you not -- I only recently got my first iPod. To give you some sense of how far behind the times I am, my stereo amp and pre-amp at home is still a 1970s tube-era Mcintosh -- and not the kind with the Apple logo. But it's a good thing I have finally entered the MP3 age now that Spend Matters first Podcast series, Supply NOW, is available (click on the previous link or the links at the end of this post to access the recording). Done in conjunction with Supply Excellence's Tim Minahan, Supply Now will come out monthly -- provided we can get our act together and stick to deadlines -- covering a range of procurement and supply chain areas. Our first edition tackles such areas as the spend vs. supply management debate, while also offering an interview with AMR's Mark Hillman on supply risk.
Here's the formal elevator pitch that Tim and I came up with if you're interested: "Supply NOW is a one-of-a-kind monthly podcast dedicated to bringing you the latest supply trends, strategies and best practices. In each episode, we square off on a supply issue of the day and respond to questions and comments from our blog and podcast audiences. We also look to leading experts to share their successes and address the challenges of supply and spend management in their respective industries. Our goal is to entertain, educate and spur debate among supply management executives. We hope you'll join the dialogue and become a regular listener."
On a personal level, I'd like to thank Tim for dragging me into the Podcast age. I have very high hopes for this series and it's an honor to be doing it with my old friend and colleague who has a far better radio voice than I could ever hope for!
- Jason Busch
Here's the formal elevator pitch that Tim and I came up with if you're interested: "Supply NOW is a one-of-a-kind monthly podcast dedicated to bringing you the latest supply trends, strategies and best practices. In each episode, we square off on a supply issue of the day and respond to questions and comments from our blog and podcast audiences. We also look to leading experts to share their successes and address the challenges of supply and spend management in their respective industries. Our goal is to entertain, educate and spur debate among supply management executives. We hope you'll join the dialogue and become a regular listener."
On a personal level, I'd like to thank Tim for dragging me into the Podcast age. I have very high hopes for this series and it's an honor to be doing it with my old friend and colleague who has a far better radio voice than I could ever hope for!
- Jason Busch
Re: Supply risk management, I thought Mark Hillman's piece was very good and I'm eagerly anticipating the AMR report. One area I thought was underaddressed, though, was where software and service providers are headed in this space for areas such as risk assessment and decision support. Will it be staked out by the ERP players, big 5, e-sourcing suite providers, niche providers,a combination? Will the supply risk management apps and services be tightly integrated with existing suites or will they be more standalone? My view is this area will need a lot of early involvement and input from customers to design the tool that fits their needs. I can see maybe a mixture of tools, some strategic that link procurement risk management to the corporate financial & operational risk plan and some other more tactical risk man. tools focused on the commodity manager level that assess specific risk factors (continuity of supply, currency, etc.) and provide decision support for supply strategy setting. Should be an exciting space for the next couple years.
I would also suggest that this is one of the many areas where a huge amount of value can be created through process change and an organizing conceptual framework for SCRM without needing much new enabling technology. Of course, there are many cases of innovative uses of technology to support SCRM processes, but a lot of low-hanging fruit can be gathered just through process change, culture change and a re-orientation around risk.