2019 is shaping up to be a wild year. We’re not even a month in and business leaders are already seeing the continuation of trends from 2018 and wondering what the rest of 2019 will have in store for them. Think about these for a moment: U.S. Congressional gridlock; a government shutdown; slowing economic growth; political disruption; terrorism; mass-casualty incidents; regional instability; resurgent geopolitical rivalries; changing climates; harsher weather events; food insecurity; mass migrations; human trafficking and modern slavery. Dark and powerful storm clouds have been following us for some time, and there does not appear to be a break in the weather.
It’s not all scary news, though. Technological innovation continues unabated, enabling businesses, business units, and supply management teams in particular to continue their long and steady march toward digital transformation. “Industry 4.0” is upon us, bestowing exciting and “new” technologies like 3-D printing, advanced/predictive analytics, augmented intelligence (AI), Blockchain distributed digital ledgers, connected devices, deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing, robotic process automation, and more. Armed with intelligence, predictive insights, and AI, business leaders and teams can be better informed, more agile, and wield outsized strength to not only overcome this year’s challenges, but find and seize opportunities within them to drive business performance.
The current and emerging workforce will need to embrace these technologies and the requisite skills in order to thrive in the “Future of Work” that lies before them. Re-skilling, up-skilling, the “gig economy,” and more will each play major roles in this “Future of Work,” which in many respects is already here (just ask your Uber driver, who might be a furloughed U.S. government employee trying to keep the lights on during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history).
All of these trends, collectively and individually, are shaping our tomorrows and leading us here at Ardent Partners to make some pretty bold predictions for 2019. Join Ardent’s Founder and Chief Research Officer, Andrew Bartolini, and Ardent’s Research Director/VP of Research, Christopher J. Dwyer, plus special guests from Beeline and Scout RFP, on Tuesday, January 29th at 2:00 pm ET for our annual Big Procurement Trends and Predictions Webinar (click to register). This highly interactive first installment in our monthly webinar series will highlight a series of market trends and predictive scenarios that will arm you for battle and success in 2019.
Webinar Details:
Procurement 2019: BIG Trends and Predictions
Date: Tuesday, January 29th 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
Presenters:
Andrew Bartolini, Chief Research Officer, Ardent Partners
Christopher J. Dwyer, VP of Research, Ardent Partners
Andrew Durlak, Co-Founder & VP of Operations, Scout RFP
Kristine Davis, Director of Product Marketing, Beeline
Webinar sponsored by:
Tagged in: BIG Trends, Chief Procurement Officer, Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, CPO, Events, Innovation, Predictions, Solution Providers, Sourcing, Strategy, Supply Risk, Technology
