Archive for April 21st, 2011

Are you ready for more bad news or severe approaching storms?

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

GOTCHA! The only reason you are reading this paragraph at all is that bad news and weather sell. Bad news about the weather sells better. We see it at the grocery, convenience or drug store checkouts every time we make a purchase. How often do the news channels lead in with Good Samaritan stories? Everyone wants to follow the bad news. Men in particular like to follow news of bad weather. My wife says I can tell you the temperature and elevation at any time of the day as well of the impact of one on the other.

From a procurement perspective we do have a storm brewing and it’s based on a lack of easily accessible information, we can be faced with any of the following on any given day.

1. No Staff
2. The loss of a source of supply
3. Damaged goods
4. Product recalls
5. Product safety issues
6. Food borne illness issues
7. Environmental impact issues
8. Poor product specifications
9. Lack of adequate information at your fingertips
10. No way to openly collaborate with other procurement professionals
11. Transferred or promoted resources that leave a departmental brain drain

The question is how do we deal with this? There are a variety of portals, search engines and website home pages that may or may not contain what you are looking for. The question is there one that contains it all and does not cost a nickel to access. If there were, it would need to include the following.

1. A central repository and launch point for industry alerts
2. A central source for procurement information
3. A central collaboration point for all procurement professionals to hold open forum conversations.
4. A central location where one can find specifications on hundreds of products.
5. A central database of new global and local sources of supply
6. A central location that tracks suppliers environmental practices
7. A central location that tracks suppliers product safety practices
8. A daily educational commentary that can be commented on or forwarded to others in the procurement space for review.
9. A central location for your team to hold private forum conversations and share private documents.
10. A central location where companies can trace beyond one forward and one back if necessary after they have bought products or services.

The best offense is a good defense. When a storm approaches having the right tools to insulate you from the storm surge are critical. There is only one tool in the procurement space that can answer yes to providing all of these tools. To investigate further, please follow this link and spend a little time to see if you can find them all.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.