ICYMIM: August 20, 2018

Source One's series for keeping up with the most recent highlights in procurement, strategic sourcing, and supply chain news week-to-week.  Check in with us every Monday to stay up to date with the latest supply management news.



Using Contract Management to Drive Cross-Functional Digital Transformation
Nick Heinzmann, Spend Matters, 8/16/2018
Heinzmann presents contract management as an effective enabler for Procurement's much-discussed digital transformation. Taking an enterprise contract lifecycle management approach, he suggests, can help units across the organization answer their prevailing concerns and make their processes more efficient. Nearly every business unit is responsible for interacting with contracts and their related software. As a result, an enterprise-wide effort to digitize contracting and contract management is an effective way to build support for a broader change management strategy. Heinzmann concludes, however, by reminding readers that transformation is about much more than embracing digital tools. Rather, it is about making consistent improvement part of an everyday conversation. 

Category Management: Getting it Right is the Key to Surviving the Trade Wars: Part III
Michael Lamoureux, 8/14/2018
The Sourcing Doctor continues his series on the importance of effective contract management in what are fairly uncertain times for supply chain managers. With tariffs and counter-tariffs popping up every day, it's essential for Procurement teams to refine their approach to essential commodity categories. A key measure, the Doctor suggests, is eliminating dependency on any single locale. This is particularly true for organizations operating in China or the EU. Without dependable alternate sources, these organizations could find themselves in dire straits when the next tariff is announced. Nearshoring, too, could prove a viable option for these organizations. The Doctor advises Procurement to pursue this opportunity aggressively while taking care to identify nearshore suppliers that do not conduct business remotely.

Mitigating Trade War Risks: Do Procurement Organizations Have the Data Needed to Respond
Nick Heinzmann, 8/15/2018
Heinzmann opens by suggesting that data is the single most important tool for Procurement organizations looking to stay ahead amid an escalating trade war. Reflecting on a recent episode of the Metal Miner podcast, Heinzmann quotes from Bindiya Vakil, CEO of Resilinc. Of his organization, Vakil says, "Our whole underlying philosophy is that the risk problem is actually a data problem." He goes on the emphasize the importance of taking a proactive approach to data collection and analysis. Failure to do so, he suggests, "is akin to flying blind through a storm." While laggards are still approaching risk on an ad-hoc basis, the true supply chain leaders understand the importance of acting on new regulations and risk factors before they present themselves. 

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