Successful CIPSA Use of Technology in Procurement Conference

 

Decideware exhibited at the CIPSA Use of Technology in Procurement conference in Sydney last week.

This was the first time CIPSA have run this event and we thought it was very successful. The format offered buyers an opportunity to hear short, 15 minute presentations from any 8 of the 15 vendors, interspersed with expert guest speakers.

We saw great interest in Decideware's supplier assessment tools and we presented to around 60 attendees in total.

The questions from procurement managers in our audience ranged across topics, for example:

Q: If Decideware can manage the program to assess vendors, what is the role of our vendor managers?

A: To manage the vendors - so instead of spending time collecting data vendor managers can focus on the task of building more productive relationships. And those conversations will be based on reliable data collected every 6 months, for example, so the dialogue can continue to evolve as the relationship matures.

Q: What options are available to procurement managers to access supplier evaluation software?
A:  The first speaker of the conference articulated a view that clients essentially can choose between buying one of many modules from an ERP provider, or they can buy a best-of-breed application from a SaaS vendor. (We believe Decideware is the best-of-breed vendor in the supplier assessment space.)

Q: Can we get help to develop scorecards for all of our supplier types?

A: Yes, Decideware offers a complete service which includes scorecard design. We work with many clients across many sectors and supplier types so we can bring that experience to client assignments.

Q: What do most of your clients see as the key reason to do supplier assessments?

A: Typically in the procurement sector it's about cost reduction, vendor rationalisation and vendor optimization. And then the focus might shift towards later brining innovation into the supply chain. In a marketing environment, it's most often about agency relationships, agency performance, brand building and meeting commercial objectives (eg sales growth).

 Author: VJ Ratnam (Decideware)