Are You Ready To Lead a Digital Transformation?

Hello strangers.  It has been awhile since my last posting.   I have been on quite the adventure over the last year at work and at home (all great things, but took my focus).  However, I feel like I have my blogging mojo back and I have time to dedicate. 

With that said, I had an amazing experience at Generis’ Supply Chain Summit in Dallas, TX earlier this week.  The presenters were mostly practitioners with a subtle mix of suppliers. It was great to hear the up and coming trends, what companies are already doing, and having the opportunity to meet so many talented people is always a great motivator. 

At the conference, I had the opportunity to present on a lot of the concepts that I have written about on this blog (video will be available soon, but if you do not know the concepts, please read the historical posts), with a particular focus on Sourcing Acceleration and the type of talent we need in Procurement to meet the consumer centric, individualized Supply Chain needs of the future. (Note - for some the future is very much now). 

In order to meet those needs, we have the perfect opportunity to get on the digital bandwagon.  95% of respondents in a recent Hackett study said that digitalization will drastically change Procurement in the next 2-3 years.  So, do you have a strategy to apply machine learning to make recommendations for you?  Do you have a pilot for RPA to automate your Sourcing processes?  Do you have an RFP scenario optimizer?  Have you thought of how to get data on demand for all decisions that are being made by your Sourcing team?  Do you believe that a simple sourcing event could take seconds and a complex one under 4 weeks?  What if you had a potential supplier database at your fingertips? 

Did I just overwhelm you?  Sorry.  You want some good news?  Unlike the trends of the past, you do not need to invest tons of money in this.  I do not even believe you need a slew of consultants to tell you what to do to make this happen.  And, you can move pretty quickly, as these solutions are fairly simple to implement (get that ERP implementation out of your head…).

Because I believe in Procurement so much and that we can make this happen TOGETHER, I would like to share in my upcoming posts about a) how to develop your digital roadmap and b) a suggestion around how to implement the changes, while getting engagement from your teams to drive the change. 

The concepts that I will share, I have learned through the several transformations that I have lived through and/or led.  Unlike blockchain, 3D printing, machine learning, these concepts that I will be sharing are not new but can be applied to this need. 

If you are in, please follow the updates in the coming weeks on Saturday mornings and share with a friend.  It would be my wish for all of you to be digital rockstars for your company by the end of the year.