Jon Hansen (pi Window On The World)

At the recent Long View Systems #ActivateDigital2018 Conference, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the most notable thought leaders from the high tech industry and beyond. In what is the first of eight podcast interviews I did with amazing individuals such as Microsoft’s new President Kevin Peesker, NetApp’s Jon Mellon, and HPE’s new Vice President and General Manager John Dathan about digital transformation and its impact on our world today. This week I sit down with Microsoft President Kevin Peesker.

At the recent Long View Systems #ActivateDigital2018 Conference, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the most notable thought leaders from the high tech industry and beyond to talk about digital transformation and its impact on everything from business, to the economy and even gender from the standpoint of the pressing need for more women in the STEM fields. In what is the first of eight podcast interviews I did with amazing individuals such as Microsoft’s new President Kevin Peesker, NetApp’s Jon Mellon, and HPE’s new Vice President and General Manager John Dathan

Back in April I welcomed Ivalua SVP Sales and Business Development Amol Joshi to the show to talk about the company's big win Arizona, as well as successes with Quebec Hydro, Toronto’s Cadillac Fairview, and other notable account wins including US Foods, Honeywell and Credit Suisse. To say that Ivalua is a company on the rise may be an understatement, especially given their recent acquisition of Directworks, a company who has cloud-based platform that provides supplier management and process automation solutions for the manufacturing sector. Joining me today to discuss the "business" implications of this news is Alex Saric. Alex is Ivalua's CMO, and we will be focusing on the following three discussion points; 1. In my April interview with Amol Joshi, I suggested that we are perhaps seeing "the dawn of a new era, where companies such as Ivalua will begin to dominate both the market and its traditional big players." He did not disagree. Within this context, and from a business and branding standpoint, how i

In October I had the privilege of moderating two panels featuring international industry experts discussing some of our industry's most pressing questions. I am pleased to provide you with this PI Window On The World exclusive broadcast of one of those discussions which were on supplier risk assessment and mitigation. INNOVATION TRACK (Lafitte Room)  The Evolution of Supplier Risk Assessment and Mitigation - A Panel Discussion  Panelists:  Bill Michel, CEO at Aripart Consulting, Business Advisor, Author, Professional Speaker Abdullatif Albastaki, Senior Vice President (Head - Retail Infrastructure and Automated Banking Services Retail Banking & Wealth Management), Emirates NBD  Gerard Smith, President, Global Risk Management Solutions (GRMS)  Moderator:  Jon Hansen, Writer and Speaker, Procurement Insights 

Okay, so I took some liberties with the famous Mark Twain, and Charles Dudley Warner joke about the weather and made it about risk. However, and different from the weather, procurement professionals can do something about risk, but for whatever reason choose not to. At least this is what one study reported when it was disclosed that while 80 percent of companies do background checks on their employees, just 20 percent screen their suppliers. Joining me today to talk about this disconnect is The Hackett Group's Chris Sawchuk, who's paper Emerging Options for Supply Chain Risk Management attempts to shed some light on what is a growing issue in the rapidly expanding global marketplace. I will be asking Chris these questions; Going back at least a decade, there has been the ready acknowledgment on the part of organizations that while risk exists not enough is being done to mitigate said risks. Why?In your recent paper, you state that the risk-management software tools that are currently available on the marke

On April 10th, 2017, I received a press release announcing that Spend Matters released its first SolutionMap, an essential tool for procurement executives and their teams to assess and understand vendor capability on an ongoing basis. In today's segment, I am joined by Spend Matters' Chief Research Officer Pierre Mitchell to talk about SolutionMap, including the just-released rankings focusing on the following four questions; To start, what was the inspiration behind SolutionMap, and how is it different from a Magic Quadrant?There is reference to “rankings (that) are based equally on demonstrated technology/solution capability as well as on customer input.” How large is the customer pool, and how do you correlate the two?Let's talk about the most current rankings. What stands out the most in terms the company's referenced? What is the best way for those accessing the reports to use the information?Looking ahead to the future, what is the long-term vision for the SolutionMap tool?

Okay, so I took some liberties with the famous Mark Twain, and Charles Dudley Warner joke about the weather and made it about risk. However, and different from the weather, procurement professionals can do something about risk, but for whatever reason choose not to. At least this is what one study reported when it was disclosed that while 80 percent of companies do background checks on their employees, just 20 percent screen their suppliers. Joining me today to talk about this disconnect is CreditRiskMonitor CEO Jerry Flum to try and shed some light on what is a growing issue in the rapidly expanding global marketplace. I will be asking Jerry these questions; Going back at least a decade, there has been the ready acknowledgment on the part of organizations that while risk exists not enough is being done to mitigate said risks. Why?In a recent Hackett Group paper, Chris Sawchuk stated that the risk-management software tools that are currently available on the market "are still immature" when it comes to an

The Procurious Big Ideas Summit that is scheduled to take place on September 28th in Chicago promises to bring across the pond the same energy and insights as last years event in the UK. To do this, the organizers have lined up an impressive array of speakers, one of whom will be joining me today. Over the next 30-minutes, I will be talking with IBM Vice President of Global Procurement Graham Wright, and we will be focusing on the following discussion points; 1. In your Procurious Big Ideas Summit, you will be talking about transformation being the "new norm" as organizations look for ways to respond to an "onslaught of shocks."  Right off the bat, to what shocks are you referring and, what future shocks can we expect? 2. You will also be talking about a "best-practice" approach or way to transform the procurement function. However, there is a difference between being aware and prepared, and taking meaningful action. How do you move companies from a state of inertia in the face of acknowledged risk and mo

The Procurious Big Ideas Summit that is scheduled to take place on September 28th in Chicago promises to bring across the pond the same energy and insights as last years event in the UK. To do this, the organizers have lined up an impressive array of speakers, one of whom will be joining me today. Over the next 30-minutes, I will be talking with  American Blockchain Council Executive Director Jack Shaw, and we will be focusing on the following discussion points; 1. In a webinar last November I asked a procurement audience the following question by way of a poll; Are you familiar with Blockchain's role in the business world? Just a little more than 5 percent of those polled said yes. Two questions; do those numbers surprise you and, if we were to take the poll again a year later, would there be a notable difference regarding the response? 2. As it relates specifically to purchasing, what impact will Blockchain have on how procurement professionals do their jobs? How will Blockchain affect other professions

The Procurious Big Ideas Summit that is scheduled to take place on September 28th in Chicago promises to bring across the pond the same energy and insights as last years event in the UK. To do this, the organizers have lined up an impressive array of speakers, one of whom will be joining me today. Over the next 30-minutes, I will be talking with Sibylline CEO Justin Crump, and we will be focusing on the following discussion points; 1. Your bio states that you are the CEO of Sibylline Ltd, which is an international intelligence and risk analysis consultancy based in the UK, and that you have a personal focus on international jihadist terrorism, strategic affairs, military evolution, and intelligence operations worldwide. While I did not see an immediate or direct connection with the procurement world, you will be discussing the disruptive forces headed toward procurement pros in 2017 at the Procurious Big Ideas Summit. So here is the question; how do you link or correlate expertise in jihadist terrorism wit

PROACTIS, the Wetherby-based provider of spend management solutions, recently completed the reverse takeover of US-based Perfect Commerce, LLC for an aggregate consideration of up to $132.5 million (approximately £102.4 million). It has been reported that the acquisition will significantly "accelerate PROACTIS’ growth strategy and its geographic footprint" through Perfect Commerce's "global reach" as the latter has operations in the US, UK, and Europe. But what does this expanded combined footprint really mean? Joining me today to talk about the new Proactis is CFO Tim Sykes. During this 30 minute interview, we will focus on the following three key points; Solution synergyThe new company cultureBiggest challenges and opportunities

Everycs, a data and software engineering company focused on product intelligence, has just joined forces with environmental consultant GreenDelta to connect their Makersite platform with the world's life-cycle data, augment it with other information, and enable faster, distributed collaboration for procurement professionals.  Joining me today to talk about what this means to the supply industry as a whole is Everycs CEO, Christoph Wilfert.  

Today I will be joined by Ivalua’s SVP Sales and Business Development Amol Joshi to talk about the upstart company's big win with the State of Arizona. Ironically, the use of the term upstart is somewhat deceiving, because Ivalua has been around for 15 years. The moniker, however, is appropriate because the win with Arizona as well as with Cadillac Fairview, US Foods, Honeywell and Credit Suisse are an indication of a seismic shift in the industry. In short, companies like Ivalua are taking the battle to the big boys such as CGI and coming out on top. During my discussion with Joshi you will learn why.

One top public sector procurement expert suggests that the additional $2 million that Santa Clara County is going to pay to KPMG to review its procurement practice makes absolutely no sense. Or as he put it, there is no amount of service or insight that KPMG – or any consulting firm for that matter, can provide that would come close to justifying not just the additional $2 million, but the total $3.3 million that the County will spend. In today's segment, I welcome Santa Clara County Executive Jeffrey Smith to talk about these and other concerns relating to the KPMG contract. 

The partnership between THOMASNET.com (formerly the Thomas Register), a company that is more than 100 years old, and Dun & Bradstreet (a company that is more than 150 years old) to protect supply chains against disruption due to unforeseen risks, is a potential game changer. Today I will be joined by THOMASNET President and CEO, Tony Uphoff, to talk about the new partnership focusing on the following three questions; 1. Given the length of time, your respective organizations have been in existence, why form a partnership now? 2. Studies consistently show that while executives acknowledge that their organizations have exposure in terms of supply chain risks, the vast majority have failed to take the appropriate measures to address said risks. Why is this, and how can the new partnership stimulate or facilitate needed executive action? 3. What reaction do you expect to receive from "the service provider" world, some of whom already have a supplier network as part of their offering?  

Procurement is a cornerstone of a sound supply chain and overall business strategy. Procurify recognizes the importance of innovation and excellence in the profession and is committed to rewarding those organizations and individuals showing leadership and dedication to driving it forward, impacting their teams, organizations, communities and the world at large. Today we talk with Procurify's John Rugamas about this new program. In the introduction to the Global procurement awards, reference is made to recognizing "the importance of innovation and excellence in the profession and is committed to rewarding those organizations and individuals showing leadership and dedication to driving it forward, impacting their teams, organizations, communities and the world at large." I would like to talk about each one of these elements individually. 1, Driving it forward . . . it seems like a fairly straight forward concept, but what does driving it forward actually mean and, how has the premise evolved over the years i

Last month I welcomed to the show Procurious' Tania Seary to talk about the state of our industry and the then upcoming Big Ideas Conference. Today, I am once again joined by Tania Seary, to not only revisit some of the questions we discussed last time, but to learn about any new revelations that resulted from the event, including their impact on the procurement world. During this 30 minute segment I will be asking her the following questions: 1. In the last segment we talked about the great generational divide in our profession. What if anything did you learn about how different generations view procurement? 2. Going into the Big Ideas Conference, what did you anticipate would be the top 3 or 4 "hot" topics? What were actually - if they were in fact different - the key discussion points and takeaways? 3. Were there any surprises? 4. Given the abundance of insights and perspectives that were presented and discussed, how can we now turn this information into meaningful action? 5. Will; there be a Big I

In this advanced briefing of their presentation at the upcoming ISM2016 conference titled "Why Buyers Find it Tough to Connect with SMB Suppliers and What They Can Do About It"?, I am happy to welcome to the show Tom Greco, vice president, THOMASNET.com, and Travis Sherbine, vice president, marketing and product management, THOMASNET.com.

Nicole Verkindt is a frequent commentator on Canadian news outlets CBC's Exchange, "The Round Up", and is a "Dragon" on CBC's "Next Gen Dragons Den" focused on investing in early stage technology start ups. She is also the founder of OMX (theomx.com), an online platform that helps organizations "buy local" by pushing out opportunities to organizations that match the requirements. The platform also manages and tracks total job creation and economic impact from large projects, primarily large government contracts in the defence, aerospace, energy and infrastructure sectors.  Today I will be talking with Nicole about OMX, and what it means in terms of public sector procurement.  

Today I am pleased to wlecome to the show this year's Top 30 Under 30 Megawatt Winner Amy Georgi to talk about not only her participation in the ThomasNet/ISM Top 30 Program, but also about a profession that is going through a major transformation, and the role GenerationNext professionals will play in shaping the future. In this regard, I am going to be focusing on the following three areas: Why did you chose to become procurement professionalsWhere do you see yourself headed in terms of the future, andWhat has being part of the 30 Under 30 program meant to you from both a personal and career standpoint. Also joining us will be ThomasNet's Kristin Carty, who will share some background information on the Top 30 Under 30 Program. To learn more about Amy and the other Top 30 Under 30 Winners visit http://30under30.thomasnet.com/   Lawsuit Update: A Campaign For Truth @ https://procureinsights.wordpress.com/2016/03/21/lawsuit-update-a-campaign-for-truth/