Decideware profiled in Spend Matters procurement blog

Decideware was profiled in a late December 2011 post by procurement expert and influential blogger Jason Busch at Spend Matters.

Writing about the importance of category-specific technology for managing supplier performance, Jason highlights Decideware in the Spend Matters blog as an example of a vendor specializing in SPM and relationship management for marketing.

"They've built a unique platform that really bridges the gap between what an agency of record does and how it reports to and engages its clients over time -- and of course the other way around as well. Most important, it puts category managers for services procurement in this complex category in the relationship driver's seat." writes Jason.

See the article here:

http://www.spendmatters.com/index.cfm/2011/12/22/Seven-Reasons-Complex-Services-Spend-Is-Difficult--and-Unique-Part-2

Four Best Practices to Improve Supplier Performance Scorecarding

Effective supplier performance management is more than just the best KPIs. In fact, many performance management initiatives within the supply chain are unsuccessful because they do not measure the correct data, collect it accurately or communicate it with suppliers and other internal departments.

Here are four strategies to focus on when creating--or fixing--your performance management program.

1. Align business initiatives with scorecards 
To figure out which KPIs and which suppliers to focus on, meet first with the executive team to determine what the main goals of the business are. Find out where improved performance will actually improve the business’ bottom line. Then, you can take a step back and develop scorecards that will benefit your business.
 
2. Establish how you will evaluate performance and communicate
The next step is to determine your thresholds for both excellent and poor performance. Before working with suppliers to improve their performance, you must internally set what your standards are going to be. When will suppliers be rewarded? When will you disengage with poor performers? Decide this before you begin working with suppliers.

3. Communicate with suppliers
From initial contact to the SLA to contract re-regotiations, performance mangers need to communicate with suppliers regarding performance expectations. Communicate and open dialogue will help both sides - suppliers will know what to expect and where they need to improve to succeed, and performance managers will learn what’s working for suppliers and what’s not.

4. Communicate internally
Performance scorecard results are useful for other supply chain departments, but information visibility is necessary for this to take place. Internal visibility will allow for collaboration between performance managers, and other stakeholders as they attempt to decrease the supply base’s susceptibility to natural and financial disaster.

For more on this discussion, check out this blog post: Four Best Practices to Improve Supplier Performance Scorecarding.

And check out the buyer's guide.

For more advice and assistance about developing screcards for your strategic supplier assesment programs, contact sales@decideware.com

Author: VJ Ratnam, Decideware

Decideware sponsors Agency of the Year category, B&T Awards 2011

Decideware is the proud sponsor of the Agency of the Year category of the B&T Awards 2011.

Celebrating excellence across the Australian maketing landscape the prestigious B&T Awards are an eagerly awaited annual event.

Decideware is particularly proud to sponsor the Agency of the Year category given that we help many advertisers in Australia, the US and the EU to assess and manage their marketing agency relationhips and performance.

See more information at the awards site, here:

http://awards.bandt.com.au/

ANA Masters 2011 - Growth, Building Brands & Driving Results

ANA Masters of Marketing Conference

Oct 20-23, 2011

The theme of the 2011 ANA Masters of Marketing conference was "Growth, Building Brands & Driving Results." However, from my perspective, the theme should have been Challenging, Great Content, Powerful Networking.

The conference was held at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, from October 20-23. The facility was perfect, the food was great but the content and contacts were powerful. From the opening remarks by ANA President,  Bob Liodice, to the over a dozen CMO's who shared their expertise and the many hours of networking, this conference was packed with information.

Here are a few key quotes from the conference speakers:

There are now more mobile devices in America, then there are Americans. ~ Google

The integration of the agency into the day to day of our business is critical. ~ Esther Lee - AT&T

In order to thrive in a Hyper-Connected World, average is no longer an option. ~ Thomas Friedman - New York Times

Feed your brain - All new ideas are the mashing together of old ones. ~ Dana Anderson - Kraft Foods

If your company or brand were to disappear today, would the world be a different place tomorrow? ~ Jon Iwata - IBM

We're shifting from the information web to the social web. From links to connections. ~ Sheryl Sandberg - Facebook

You have to trust your Agency! ~ Bryan Reese - Bolthouse Farms

I hope these quotes give you a brief glimpse of the powerful conference that was the ANA, Masters of Marketing.

Author: Steve Wales (Decideware)

Decideware supports 7th CIPSA Annual Conference - Risky Business

Decideware exhibited at the very successful 7th CIPSA Annual Conference, entitled Risky Business in Melbourne last week.

Featuring 12 keynote speakers, 30 seminars, 6 pre-conference workshops and the annual Procurement Professional Awards, the conference was the biggest yet attracting - close to 1,000 procurement executives.

Globally, we see growing interest in the discipline of Strategic Supplier Relationship Management (SSRM) and we had many interesting discussions with procurement executives about software to manage strategic supplier assessment, scopes of work and rosters.

A key theme to emerge from the conference was the rapid growth of the procurement discipline and the maturing of approaches to manage strategic suppliers, as opposed to traditional SRM methods to assess the bulk of non-strategic suppliers.

There is a real understanding now that strategic suppliers need a specific assessment program and enabling tools to help procurement teams and their business unit stakeholders to measure and manage great relationships and performance. 

We congratulate the organisers on an excellent program and the PP Award winners for their efforts to raise the standard of procurement practices in Australia.

Author: VJ Ratnam (Decideware)

Understanding your agencies' capabilities

One area in which we are seeing a rising level of interest is Capability Management, where large advertisers are seeking to capture the intellectual property of what specifically their agencies can do for them (i.e. the services they provide and areas they specialize in).

In the past this information has generally resided in each marketers' head, but with the involvement of procurement and the desire to optimize the portfolio of agencies, organizations are now looking to formally capture and utilize this data.

Why do it?

In many cases the goal for the advertiser is to ensure that they are working with only their best agencies. This often allows them to reduce the number of agencies that engage with, which of course helps optimize costs, and also allows them to reward the agencies who are performing best, and who may well have additional capabilities.

As with other areas of organizations where Customer Management and Supplier Management have provided valuable insights, this new discipline of Agency Management has every chance of replicating those success stories by using similar processes and tools.

They also finding it a useful screening mechanism for new agencies who are looking to engage with them. He can be very difficult for clients to handle the constant stream of new business requests, and now looking for ways in which to streamline the collection of data and the decision-making process as to whether a new agency could be potentially used by that company.

What has happened in Direct supply?

So in many ways this mirrors what has happened in the direct supply base over the last 10 years, where specifically manufacturers have found that working with fewer (but better!) suppliers, not only delivers better product (through enhanced quality control), but also reduces their cost of doing business.

However, unlike direct supply where suppliers can readily provide information about their parts or services that they offer, there are not as many formal processes in the marketing environment as yet.

This means that the leaders in this particular area are forging a new path and in many cases learning as they go. We will be keeping a close eye on developments in this area and provide some follow-up posts on this topic in the near future.

Author: Richard Benyon (Decideware)

Decideware facilitates WFA APAC Marketing Sourcing meeting session

Last Wednesday in Singapore I spent the morning facilitating a discussion between members of the WFA APAC Marketing Sourcing Committee.

The group discussed important issues relating to client / agency relationships, assessments and performance management, including:

* the rise of the marketing procurement discipline

* the role of the function and its relationship with marketing / procurement / agencies

* models of agency engagment

* the interplay between regional and global

This was a very stimulating discussion revealing a great depth of knowledge among the participants and a strong desire to continually improve the discipline.

Author: VJ Ratnam

Decideware supports ANA / WFA dinner in New York.

Last Wednesday night in New York, Decideware had the opportunity to host a joint ANA Financial Management Committee / WFA dinner. The event was held at the Sidecar restaurant in Manhattan as part of the annual meeting for both committees.  Decideware is a Thought Leadership Partner with the ANA and supporter of the WFA so this event was another great opportunity to extend that relationship with both advertiser members organistions.

Steven Wales, Business Development Director for Decideware, USA welcomed everyone to the dinner.  He had the opportunity to talk about the Decideware Agency Management platform, including the industry leading Performance Evaluation tool and the new SOW Manager module.  This was a great night with some of the world's top advertisers and it was a privilege for Decideware to continue its partnership with the ANA & WFA.

Decideware partners with ANA to deliver member webinar

Decideware is partnering with the ANA to deliver an exciting member-only webinar, entitled:

Even Dummies Can Do Agency Evaluation

In this thought-provoking webinar, Ken Lloyd, author of the highly successful book "Performance Appraisals & Phrases for Dummies" will be joined by Steven Wales and Richard Benyon of Decideware, co-authors of the recent ANA Insights brief "Building an Agency Performance Management program" .

Together, they will look at areas of Agency Performance Evaluation that advertisers find most difficult to manage yet have the potential to generate significant value.

These hot topics include:

• how to collect meaningful comments
• how to manage the agency feedback meeting
• how to guide the creation of purposeful action plans
• how to deal with your stakeholders different personalities
• how to avoid the 5 most common traps in performance evaluation

Drawing on his extensive experience in the HR Performance Appraisal space, Ken will provide insights that you should not miss. Additionally, Steven and Richard will discuss the learning's they've acquired from their experience working with many members of the ANA to conduct successful agency evaluation programs.

This session will be lively and interactive, with attendees encouraged to ask questions after each topic.

Note, this webinars is for ANA Members Only. If you are a non-member, client-side marketer interested in attending a specific session, please email gmarkant@ana.net to request a one-time, complimentary guest registration.

Decideware supports The Great Escape car rally supporting Cystic Fibrosis Australia

Decideware is a long-time sponsor of The Great Escape car rally which supports Cystic Fibrosis Australia.

In September 2011 the Great Escape will be back on the road again for it's 10th consecutive year.

The best car rally in Australia (!) starts at Tamworth, NSW on Monday 12th September and finishes at Port Douglas, QLD on Thursday 22nd September. 

The cars and their crews will be travelling through great Australian outback towns including; Emmaville, The Gums, Emerald, Bowen River, Charters Towers, Forsayth and the Undara Lava Tubes.

See lots more about the Great Escape car rally and Cystic Fibrosis, here:

http://www.thegreatescape.org.au/

http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.au/