I really enjoy the trend snapshots – though I am a bit suspicious of the results sometimes, but that’s another matter – and the April issue sound like a must read for practitioners and vendors alike.

Despite what other followers think, you have to believe that the underlying premise of unified standards has merit.

There is a definite need for further thought, though convergence in one manner or another would be awesome, especially for the M&A community.

Jeannie C: “In the current global economic conditions, harnessing the power of the crowd is a trend that will not go away any time soon.”

Well put both of you. I suspect it’s only a matter of time before the term “crowd sourcing” will make it’s real enterance into the purchasing lingo. But probably without a great deal of distrust.

This might be old news (as Procurement Leaders blogged it as it happened – http://blog.procurementleaders.com/procurement-blog/2009/9/9/ibx-ceo-marks-out-a-brave-new-world.html ), but I still love the story about how IBX CEO Leif Bohlin realized that his son was sourcing globally for skateboards using online supplier directories, auction websites (to keep costs down), social media (to establish quality on products) and a virtual network of peers. Leif’s son also forced his father to bring the board back to Sweden coming back from a business trip. One could call that a case of shared logistics.

What did Jon call it: “sustained best-value purchasing decisions”, now that’s something to strive for that will be understood by everyone. It’s a far cry from contract compliance.

Agreed!

Just read the Procurement Insights blog post (http://bit.ly/b8ZqAV) about supply base erosion due to the broad application of forcing procurement practice into an artificially narrowed funnel of supplier access, and I’ll repeat what I commented there…In the current global economic conditions, harnessing the power of the crowd is a trend that will not go away any time soon. Not only is it empowering and progressive. It just makes sense. Move with the times, or the times will move over you.

These models allow operational flexibility on the front lines without sacrificing the adherence to centrally established objectives. In short, adaptability to real-world market conditions as outlined in many of the 700 plus articles and white papers I have written, and maintaining and achieving centralized or collective objectives are not an either or proposition.

In the following excerpt from a recent article, supply base erosion through the broad application of forcing procurement practice into an artificially narrowed funnel of supplier access has had dire consequences in both the private and public sectors:

“Public sector organizations are being faced with a serious problem relative to supply base erosion. Specifically, fewer, quality suppliers are responding to bids resulting in a phenomenon known as creeping margins. Creeping margins occur when the RFP response pool decreases dramatically to the point where 80 percent of the business is being done by 20 percent of the suppliers. Over the years I have made reference to creeping margins by way of tangible examples such as the Canadian Department of Defense consistently paying a premium of a 157% above market price for Indirect MRO parts to support their IT infrastructure. Of course the results of an eroding supply base is not limited to the public sector, as US retailer Best Buy through a misaligned vendor rationalization strategy paid a premium of 23% above the going market rate for their MRO parts.” (Note: here is the link to the entire article as well as others; http://procureinsights.wordpress.com/?s=Vendor+Rationalization)

Through my government funded research (re the Scientific Research & Experimental Development Program or “SR&EDs”) the data was noteworthy regarding the effective use of agent-based models within a Metaprise platform (the basis for which the iBuy, iRequest and similar-type dashboard applications have been developed).

This ensures an accessible, dynamic and reliable supply base through which the intelligence that is gathered represents true market conditions that lead to sustained best-value purchasing decisions.

It is the collaborative view and collective outcome and not the enforced compliance practices that ultimately determines sustainable results through increased access.

In short, the technology behind dash board accessibility to a broader supply base in which advanced and multi-parameter algorithms are automatically incorporated into each front-line decision in real-time, provides the buyer with the necessary autonomy while still ensuring that centrally established objectives are incorporated into each and every decision.

* Note: here is the link to the article re Jason’s comment about spend intelligence, which we all now know is not just a simple misleading phrase: http://procureinsights.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/spend-analysis-versus-spend-intelligence-more-than-a-semantical-difference/

But as you point out – simple tasks in many cases do not imply that the handheld needs to be high-end – most tasks can (and should) be performed on a “simpler” device. In any case, software providers need to step up and provide a mobile opportunity.