Jon Hansen (pi Window On The World)

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest audio, Jessica White, SVP and Director of Corporate Real Estate and Sustainability at KeyBank and Michael Jordan, Executive VP of Strategic Consulting at JLL, share the role sustainability initiatives play in bringing Real Estate spend under management. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

Like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, there are some things you just take for granted without really giving it much conscious thought. For those of us who have been in the purchasing industry for more years than we would care to admit, we can recall the days of frayed catalogs with paperclips and scribbled upon post it notes marking pages like the rings of a tree marks time.  This was the world of a buyer when there was no Internet, and catalogs such as the Thomas Register were indispensable tools of our trade. So what happened to Thomas Register, a buying guide listing industrial products and services that was first published in 1898? With the same dependable certainty of day turning to night and night turning to day, the Thomas Register has become the quintessential web-based collaborative sourcing tool ThomasNet.com. Today I will be joined by Mark Holst-Knudsen, President of ThomasNet, and Tom Greco, Vice President, ThomasNet.com to talk about this seemingly quiet evolution of a grea

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest audio, we will hear Bob Tevelson from Boston Consulting Group discuss the three top challenges for procurement organizations: creating value, managing risk, and attracting talent. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest soundbite, we will hear an excerpt from a recent Source One Partnercast in which they interviewed Gary Como, VP of Sourcing Operations for Corporate United about the challenges of recruiting in procurement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZTXsTBu7EU).   Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week’s guest audio we will hear Mikkel Rasmussen, one of the authors of ‘The Moment of Clarity’, to share the key findings from their work at LEGO. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

"Our formula for success is simple and ever-lasting: By providing logistics and supply chain executives with the highest-value, best-written, and most useful information available, we stand apart. This new joint venture with one of the best research and consultancies in the market reflects a natural and exciting extension of our philosophy." Earlier this month, Supply Chain Visions Inc. and AGiLE Business Media announced the launch of AGiLE Applied Research Labs. Referred to as being a joint venture, AGiLE Applied Research Labs is a collaboration between a team of respected consultants, academics and research scientists and a team of award-winning, veteran journalists and marketing professionals  with decades of experience in logistics and supply chain. The question quite simply is this; what impact will this new knowledge resource have on existing industry publications including bloggers?  Joining me today to talk about this new venture is Mitch Mac Donald, who is the Group Editorial Director from DC Velo

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week’s guest audio, we will hear an exclusive clip from Dr. Tom DePaoli on his most recent book: Kaizan Kreativity.   Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week’s guest audio, Trevor Stansbury, the president of Supply Dynamics, talks about extended value chains. The complete video can be viewed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVWIxsTixDY Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

In what was the ultimate movie cliffhanger, the main protagonists in the 1969 classic The Italian Job, found the bus they were traveling in precariously perched over the edge of a cliff.  Whether they survived or careened down the steep drop was left up to the movie goer to decide. Well I am happy to say that we did not come to the same impasse in selecting our co-winners in the 2014 Year in the Life of an eProcurement Start-up series.  I am of course talking about Scout and Freightos. As part of our extensive coverage of the companies during 2014 we will be airing, on a quarterly basis, interviews with members of their respective executive teams regarding the previous quarter in terms of successes, challenges and set-backs, as well as looking to the future. Joining me today is Freightos CEO Zvi Schreiber.

In what was the ultimate movie cliffhanger, the main protagonists in the 1969 classic The Italian Job, found the bus they were traveling in precariously perched over the edge of a cliff.  Whether they survived or careened down the steep drop was left up to the movie goer to decide. Well I am happy to say that we did not come to the same impasse in selecting our co-winners in the 2014 Year in the Life of an eProcurement Start-up series.  I am of course talking about Scout and Freightos. As part of our extensive coverage of the companies during 2014 we will be airing, on a quarterly basis, interviews with members of their respective executive teams regarding the previous quarter in terms of successes, challenges and set-backs, as well as looking to the future. Joining me today is Scout Co-Founder & VP of Business Development Andrew Durlak.

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest audio, we will hear Blaine Hurley, Senior Director of Sourcing Excellence for Whirlpool, discuss the challenge their organization faced in creating a global vendor master. This excerpt is from a recent webinar presented by Ivalua and Procurement Leaders, and can be viewed on demand using the following link: http://www.ivalua.com/webinar-procurement-leaders-replay You can access the link to my interview with Paul Noël, who is Ivalua’s SVP Procurement Solutions and Havi Global Solutions Brian Benjamin discussing  the “Food Chain” in the restaurant and hospitality industry @ Managing The Food Chain. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

Since Procurement Insights began covering Xchanging last May, I have found that they are one of those companies that seem to walk lightly in terms of market chest pounding, but carry a big stick in terms of delivering results and gaining market share.  In short Xchanging, at least to me, walks the talk, even if they don’t seem to say a great deal. From their acquisition of MarketMaker 4 at the end of last year, to the announcement of their recent big win in landing two new contracts with Godiva Chocolatier, life is indeed sweet (excuse the pun) for the third largest procurement services provider in the world. Even through only IBM and Accenture are larger, one has to wonder if it is only a matter of time before the London-based company surpasses these to assume the top rung on the ladder. Joining me today to talk about the year ahead for Xchanging is Marie Meliksetian, CEO of U.S. Xchanging Services, Inc. and Managing Director, Procurement Services for Xchanging North America.

Not long after I took to the virtual airwaves of the Blog Talk Radio Network, I had the privilege of interviewing Jennifer Allan Hagedorn. At the time, Jennifer's runaway bestseller Sell With Soul was the focus of our discussion.  The reason of course was obvious . . . her prescibed values as it related to becoming a successful real estate agent worked.  And not just in the real estate industry. Sales people - and even those who did not realize that they were sales people - from all industries and from all walks of life discovered a resonating tone in Jennifer's message. Fast forward to today, and Jennifer's latest book "It Really Is That Simple" is creating similar waves of enthusiasm. Today we will find out why as I once again welcome Jennifer Allan Hagedorn back to the show.

I am not normally one to give much heed to press releases.  After all and as my regular listeners already know, I usually view press releases as being more about PR than about providing meaningful information.  However, when I received the release regarding the news pertaining to Applebee’s and IHOP, I was immediately transported back about 30 years to a time when “Industry Specific Applications” as they were called then, were a relatively new concept.  If you remember the MAI Basic Four you will know what I mean.  More to the point, I was reminded of Fisher Business Systems, which at the time was revolutionizing the hospitality industry my providing restaurants and hotels with what was then an unheard of capability to better manage their inventory and related costs.  We will talk about that later in the show. However and jumping ahead to the here and now, and specifically the Ivalua and HAVI news regarding their partnership’s work with chains such as Applebee's and IHOP, I welcome to the show Paul Noël, who

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest audio we're going to hear an excerpt from a recent webinar by Puridiom and Ardent Partners in which Andrew Bartolini talks about how procurement can use data to prepare for internal conversations about their own outsourcing. The full event can be accessed on demand using the following link: http://post.puridiom.com/acton/fs/blocks/showLandingPage/a/5671/p/p-0077/t/page/fm/3 Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest audio, Alun Rafique from Market Dojo explains the challenges and advantages of properly using weighting in auctions or tenders. Anyone interested in more information on the topic, should read their recent blog post on the topic: Weighted Tender Evaluations @ http://blog.marketdojo.com/2014/02/tender-evaluation-and-linearity.html Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com Producer’s Note: Here is the link to the corresponding post in Procurement Insights; Variables in the Adoption of Auctions in Procurement

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest audio, we will hear a video on conflict minerals in the consumer electronics supply chain produced by Intel for their keynote at CES 2014. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: This week's guest audio is an exclusive excerpt from the Next Level Purchasing Association's January webinar featuring Bill Dorn from Source One Management Services on 'Bridging the Gap Between IT and Procurement'. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week's guest audio, we'll get an overview of disruptive innovation from Harvard Business Review and then consider the idea as it relates to eProcurement solutions such as the ones included in the Year in the Life of an eProcurement Startup series. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com NOTE: Follow The Year in the Life 2014 Series on Twitter #YRiLife2014

I would once again like to welcome from Buyers Meeting Point to share information of this week's events and news from the world of purchasing, Kelly Barner. NOTE: In this week’s guest audio, we’re going to hear Jay Timmons, the President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, who will tell us how American policies and regulations that have held back U.S. manufacturing. Be sure to visit the Buyers Meeting Point website @ http://buyersmeetingpoint.com