CPO Rising has been actively publishing thought leadership, technology analysis, and supply management best practices for many years and the result has been a steady stream of valuable content that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. To help our readers keep better track of our ideas on certain topics, we’ve developed a new series in which we will feature a sampling of impactful insights and recent articles on the topics that matter most to CPOs and other procurement executives (Note that readers can also search different categories by clicking on “Articles” found in the blue menu bar directly under the CPO Rising logo or by searching “Tags” under the sponsor logos on the right hand navigation bar). We’ll start with Strategic Sourcing topics as we are now hard at work on our annual report on this topic….
4 Spend Analysis Articles You Should Read
1. Digging Deeper with Next-Generation Spend Analytics:
From our article entitled, Digging Deeper with Next-Generation Spend Analytics: There may be no greater advantage for the modern enterprise than visibility. Today’s procurement organizations are often under pressure to not only drive down costs while improving category management, but to also enhance their array of source-to-pay processes in support of larger enterprise objectives. While collaboration, automation, and other core strategies advance procurement’s overall value and influence, it is within the realm of intelligence that Chief Procurement Officers (CPO) and their teams may find the greatest organizational impact. In fact, the next great path to procurement performance improvement will be blazed with the next generation of spend analytics and data-driven strategies. This report focuses on those key elements. Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
2. Next-Gen Spend: Accelerating Procurement Performance with Data-Driven Strategies
From our article entitled, Next-Gen Spend: Accelerating Procurement Performance with Data-Driven Strategies: For the last five years, CPOs and procurement teams have been most pressured to identify and realize savings for the enterprise – a trend that has been steadily declining but still takes the top spot for a majority of CPOs. Fortunately, many CPOs and procurement teams already have a handy tool in their toolbox that helps many enterprises identify and realize greater savings, and that is spend analysis. Although not universally applied, automated spend analytics tools help many Best-in-Class CPOs and procurement teams examine historical spend by by supplier, category, region, etc. By taking advantage of reams of Big Data, users can aggregate, cleanse, categorize, and distill spend data down into actionable spend intelligence. This spend intelligence then provides greater visibility into sourcing behaviors and allows CPOs and procurement practitioners to change those behaviors – whether that means sourcing more categories from one supplier, driving greater internal contract compliance, or using spend intelligence to support supplier performance management initiatives. Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
3. Spend Analysis: The First Strategic Sourcing Pillar
From our article entitled, Spend Analysis: The First Strategic Sourcing Pillar: Spend analysis is a foundational business process that can help procurement teams determine the next, best steps in the sourcing process including how to prioritize sourcing resources and where the largest savings opportunities exist. It is the process by which spend data is collected from multiple sources/systems (usually multiple) like AP/accounting, ERP, eProcurement, etc. and aggregated, integrated, analyzed, and distilled into usable information that can drive insightful outputs. Essentially, spend analysis helps sourcing teams better understand the spending habits of the entire enterprise, including…. Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
4. Skills for the Modern Procurement Pro – Data Analysis
From our article entitled, Skills for the Modern Procurement Pro – Data Analysis: For procurement professionals, the ability to analyze spend and other procurement data – in effect, to connect the dots – is critical for organizational success and ultimately career advancement. Unfortunately, procurement staff with titles like “data analyst” are often tasked with managing data via manual, iterative processes and antiquated technologies that preclude them from analyzing procurement and spend data. As a result, analysts aren’t able to fully realize their value to the company, and it often stunts their professional growth. But when organizations automate processes like procure-to-pay, they facilitate a more strategic environment for all. They allow their staff to move from data management to data analysis, where they can deliver true value for their departments and or customers – a win for all. Being able to say that you “realized x-dollars in savings or y-man hours for my department or client” looks much better on a resume than “managed procurement data for my department and clients.” Read the rest of the article by clicking here.
