Andrew Bartolini | Procurement Analyst & CPO Research Specialist

Instant Analysis: Simfoni Expands the Band, Announces Acquisition of Xeeva

By Andrew Bartolini November 28, 2022Articles, General, Solution Providers, Technology

Simfoni Announces Xeeva Acquisition This morning, Simfoni, a digital procurement solution provider, announced that it had acquired Xeeva, a spend management and procurement technology provider. The second major acquisition for the…

Black Friday Starts Today!

By Andrew Bartolini November 23, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, Complex Categories, General, Process, Solution Providers, Strategy, Technology

Attention Shoppers! The day after Thanksgiving in the US has long been known as Black Friday, the dark name for what is generally considered the biggest shopping day of the year…

The Macro-Level Issues Impacting the CPO Right Now: Inflation

By Andrew Bartolini October 24, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, General, People, Strategy

So in 2022, we’re emerging from the pandemic amidst great uncertainty, As of today, procurement’s long-term future remains bright, even if things look challenging in the near-term. Over the next…

Procurement Experts on CPO Rising – Ensuring Procurement Has a Seat at the Table

By Andrew Bartolini October 17, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, General, Process, Strategy

Our “Procurement Experts on CPO Rising” series continues today with an excerpt from my 2021 episode of the Procurement Rising Podcast — Chris Shanahan, Vice President Supply Chain Operations for Thermo Fisher…

Paper or Electronic Invoices and B2B Payments?

By Andrew Bartolini October 14, 2022Articles, General, Procure-to-Pay, Strategy, Technology

The Answer Is Obvious. Should your AP department use paper as its main mode of supplier invoicing and payments, or should it leverage the power of automation to create repeatable,…

ePayables Technology Adoption in 2022

By Andrew Bartolini October 7, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, General, Process, Procure-to-Pay, Technology

Given recent trends toward improving business processes in a bid to increase efficiencies and drive down costs, one wonders why more enterprises have not fully automated their AP processes. This…

New Risks to AP Performance in 2022

By Andrew Bartolini September 30, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, General, Procure-to-Pay, Strategy

Unfortunately, in addition to the traditional, primarily tactical- related challenges facing AP year after year, Ardent Partners believes there are several new risks on the horizon that could negatively impact…

Hurdles to AP Success in 2022

By Andrew Bartolini September 23, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, General, Strategy

Given their recent performance, many AP teams are destined for greater things, supported by the growing perception of the function as adding real value to the enterprise at large. However,…

Procurement Experts on CPO Rising — Building Credibility for Indirect Procurement

By Andrew Bartolini September 19, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, General, Process, Strategy

Our “Procurement Experts on CPO Rising” series continues today with an excerpt from my 2022 episode of the Procurement Rising Podcast – Jim Polak, former Director of General Purchasing at PPG Industries…

Performance Is Reality

By Andrew Bartolini September 16, 2022Articles, Chief Procurement Officers, General, Strategy

“Perception” has long been one of the biggest issues holding AP groups down within the organizational hierarchy of an enterprise. Perception acts as a lens through which reality is viewed,…