Developing and maintaining an effective sourcing program is one of many game-changers that Ardent Partners has espoused for procurement teams over the last several years. Running a sourcing program that leverages spend data and increases the share of spend under management will drive significant financial value to the enterprise’s bottom line. In general, successful organizations achieve this through a combination of process and technology. In fact, on Day 2 of Ardent’s CPO Rising 2016 Summit, three leading procurement executives will take to the stage to outline their suggestions for sourcing success, as well as how to integrate contingent workforce management into the mix.

Kicking off the second day of keynotes is Jacob Larsen, Director of Digital Procurement at A.P. Moller-Maersk Group. Larsen will share Maersk’s experience with “eSourcing 2.0.,” a concept Ardent developed several years ago, which argued that every supplier negotiation that results in an executed contract should be conducted on an eSourcing platform. Maersk has put that theory into practice and has so far sourced billions of dollars annually online, including extensive usage of eAuctions and advanced sourcing technology. Larsen will share with attendees how his team gained its ability to source everything online and where he envisions sourcing heading in the future.

Ian Maher, vice president and head of sourcing at The Hanover Insurance Group, will discuss the importance of procurement taking a leadership role in the sourcing, management, and general oversight of outsourcing and discuss what CPOs need to consider before embarking on this more visible role. The audience will take away a set of criteria against which they can assess their procurement department’s capabilities to take on this responsibility, better identify and evaluate BPO opportunities within the enterprise to grow influence and credibility, and ultimately develop a three-to-five-year planning cycle for the procurement function’s management of outsourcing.

Ardent’s analyst team has often made the case that contingent workforce management requires a strong sourcing component. CPO Rising’s Day 2 sessions will wrap with Michael Arndt, VP of Strategic Sourcing at Welch Allyn, A Hill-Rom Company, presenting the Best in Class strategies, tools, and approaches his team used to launch and manage its contingent workforce management program. Today’s contingent workforce is more complex than ever before, with evolving talent types (freelancers, contractors, etc.) joining the ranks of an already-intricate space. For the modern procurement professional, the core of contingent workforce management requires control, visibility, and agility. The procurement function must sit as a “conduit of control” for helping to drive down costs, maintain compliance, and enhance total talent visibility within the non-employee workforce.

A well-managed sourcing program takes into account numerous inputs and helps the procurement organization make decisions that can get the right materials or service providers into the hands of the line of business at the right time. Because of this, it is vitally important to understand the needs of the organization and how the sourcing operations can fit those, whether it is through technology, outsourcing transactional activities, or even sourcing the right kind of contingent labor.

These topics and more will be covered at Ardent Partners’ CPO Rising 2016 Summit, coming up on March 29 and 30 at the Harvard Club in Boston. Click here to register now!

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Tagged in: Chief Procurement Officer, Contingent Workforce, CPO Rising Summit, CPO Shop Talk, eSourcing, Outsourcing, Sourcing