Procurement Tries Social Networking
Even though I suspect that many Spend Matters readers use social networking tools on a regular basis, I highly doubt that the typical procurement professional has integrated them successfully as part of an everyday job tool. I know that personally, I use Facebook and other social networking sites more for fun than for work. But this might be changing according to a recent Purchasing article that suggests that "it makes sense that in the web 2.0 world, purchasing and supply chain executives are making the most of online networking tools such as LinkedIn and Spoke or even Facebook to network and find new employees as well as benchmark organizational best practices." Still, I'd argue, the current available social networking tools leave much to be desired. What are some bright spots? Certainly LinkedIn for basic recruiting and asking targeted questions to your social network. IACCM also has some good community tools for its members. But there has not yet been a killer social networking app in the Spend Management world. But wait until January. Along with a friend who runs a procurement organization by day but is an entrepreneur by night, we might have something brand new up our sleeves, at least from a category sourcing perspective.
- Jason Busch
- Jason Busch
http://blog.sourcinginnovation.com/2008/04/14/supp...
Your comments, most of the Doc's comments and Alan Buxton's comments point to the benefits of social networking sites for recruitment/job seeking. Looking at other functions, I think you could point to GlobalSpec's CR-4 as a networking space (albeit forum-style) where engineers share information about products and processes. In the building/construction space, there are two good professional networking sites. UPWorld (www.upworld.com) is doing a great job of connecting real estate investors, owners/developers, architects and contractors around projects and resources. Designer Pages (www.designerpages.com) is doing a good job enabling designers to collaborate around product selection/specification.
YES, social networking tools are in our future.
Bruce Richardson at AMR Research as written a number of columns about the potential http://www.amrresearch.com/Content/View.asp?pmilli... . Here are a couple of things I think are interesting. LinkedIn has begun to feature company pages. Companies spend a great deal of time and resources to manage supplier information. Does it make sense the LinkedIn or Facebook or Plaxo or something else could become a source of up-to-date supplier information that could be ported into an ERP or other business system? Think of the power of buyer and seller connections made social.
Another area that is blooming is social messaging. This basically instant messaging that can be searched. Like email it is date and time stamped. Tools like Yammer may hold the keys to undoing the email plague. Here's a great example of how socal messaging might be used. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF-j0yTHdXo
There are always naysayers but, it is not a debate. Time provides resolution that change seeks.
We’ve been working with our customers with social networking tools for about 3 years now through the BravoSolution Education Network (BEN) and have two live community sites. One is dedicated to the US Private Sector and one to the UK Public Sector. Although their membership is small in comparison to Linked-in and Facebook (the sites have 700 and 400 users respectively) their impact has been significant in terms of developing the skills of Sourcing Professionals.
Each community contains forums where customers discuss best practices, access reference materials, online training and skill assessment tools. Many of these customers get the opportunity to meet during our user groups, extending and solidifying the relationships that have formed online.
In a recent example, two customers were discussing alternate approaches for structuring an auction for Servers. Over on the UK site another example contained a number of customers discussing how each interpreted a particular EU regulation in their Sourcing Process. In both cases, the asking individual walked away more prepared to execute their chosen profession.
I think we are approaching an interesting point in time, where (as you and the Doctor have pointed out) software is becoming more and more of a commodity in our space. As the tools become more standardized, the emphasis shifts from the tool to the craftsman who use the tool. I propose that when it comes to talent, we should not only be thinking of how these tools can be used to recruit talent and meet new people, but also how they can be used to develop professionals, making them more proficient at using said tools. Although I do see ‘online social learning’ mentioned in industry writings, its typically overshadowed by social networking given the powerful examples set by Linked-in, Facebook and My Space.
Sincerely,
John Shaw