Today’s post is by Heather Powell, Customer Service Manager at SafeSourcing.

The world is looking to the East Coast of the United States where Hurricane Sandy has leashed her furry.  The worst of the weather is over, but her destruction continues. Here is what this writer has learned over the past few days…

Hurricane/Superstorm/Frankenstorm Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damages and $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm.

Across U.S. industries, disruptions will slow the economy temporarily. Some restaurants and stores will draw fewer customers. Factories may shut down or hold shorter shifts because of a short-term drop in customer demand.

Shipping and business travel has been suspended in areas of the Northeast. More than 15,000 flights across the Northeast and the world have been grounded, and it will take days for some passengers to get where they’re going.

The Wall Street Financial District, including the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) was closed for two straight days, the first time since 1888. Many are holding their breath that the salt water from the flooded tunnels and street haven’t affected the power lines underground that feeds this area. If it has there could be delays or intermittent shut downs for repair.

Though those living with the destruction, devastation, and some families who have lost loved one these things don’t matter to them.  They folks need help, temporary and long term. They are looking to find a “home” again and peace of mind.

Is there positive in this situation? This writer believes there is.

In natural disasters people are drawn together. Our nation has been through a similar natural disaster before with Hurricanes Andrew (92’), Ivan (04’), Katrina (05’), Ike (08’) just to name a few. Tornados, Earthquakes, Floods all bring out the humanity in Americans.  Even with warning there were groups gathering supplies together to send to the hardest hit areas. People from the inland and all over American drove into the storm to help those individuals in need.

Re-building…  Retail sales may take a hit now but are likely to benefit in November and December, when people buy the supplies they need to rebuild. Rebuilding homes, businesses, infrastructures all need building materials. Those businesses will increase production to meet the demand.  Also to rebuild means new jobs.  Those that have lost everything will need to replace everything from homes, cars, clothes, and basic necessities those purchases will filter back into the economy.

From a previous SafeSourcing Blog written post Hurricane Ike, by CEO Ron Southard and still rings true today and every day:
 
“So, what can procurement professionals do? We already know that billions of dollars in new products and services such as building materials, automobiles, clothing and construction will be purchased by service organizations providing benefits to disaster victims as well as by consumers themselves once they receive insurance payments. To support these efforts, procurement professionals can take extra care to insure that the products they buy substantially support the local economy. By purchasing products from U.S. based companies we keep the Americans employed that build, ship, install, and train and otherwise support these products. Simple questioning can be asked of your suppliers. First, are all the products we procure from you made in the U.S.A.? Second, are all of the raw materials that are used to make the products we procure from you sourced within the U.S.A.? Third, are all of the products we buy from you picked, sorted and packaged within the U.S.A.

If you’d like to review your local sourcing strategy, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager.

We look forward to your comments.

Today?s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing.

When I was younger, I loved to play video games.? The whole combination of dexterity, strategy and thought in order to be successful caught myself and an entire generation by storm in the 1980s.?? Over time I began to slightly resent those who moved on and continued to play computer and Xbox type games not because they hadn?t grown up, but more because I had to and never had enough extra time.

That being said it struck me as odd that today?s post would find its roots in the lessons that today?s gamers learn every day and the reason why they are so popular.

The number one rule of any video games is that, until you master it, you are going to struggle initially and that there will be a battle to learn everything necessary to complete each challenge.? Gamers LIVE for this struggle!? It is the reason they continue to spend billions of dollars on the games and millions of hours playing them.? A game that lets you win every challenge and level without fail would never be purchased by anyone because there would be no fun in it.

What a strange contrast to the same situation each of us has in the corporate world.? Our careers are bigger, more complex and more important game-type situations where we face challenges and victories as well but we tend to look at challenges as something we don?t want to ever have rather than as an opportunity to learn and master something new.

Let?s take the thought process of a gamer encountering a new level or challenge in a game and apply it to a new category spend for a procurement professional.

?? Scout out what you can find out about the new challenge.? Don?t dive right in.? Feel your way around and observe what you can about the new encounter.? In military terms this would be called reconnaissance.
?? Move forward with the information you have collected and develop the?? strategy by which you plan to succeed with what you have to that point.
?? Be prepared to adapt your strategy as soon as new information about the challenge pops up that was not known at the beginning.
?? Do not panic if the attempt begins to go awry.? You will never know all of the details you need before you begin a new challenge and sometimes the missing pieces will create big hurdles to overcome.? Soak in everything that is going on so that after the attempt is complete you can learn from what you didn?t know.?
?? If you do not achieve the success you planned on, use all of the details you collected and look at what was done right and what can be changed to improve the next time.? Armed with this information and any new information that popped up in the process your chances of success increase greatly.
?? Be excited when you can look back and enjoy the success when you get it and the effort you put in to get there.

This is the approach many gamers I know take to new challenges but it also mirror the same process and excitement we can have as procurement professionals with our own new challenges.

For more information on how we can help you source new and existing categories for your business, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.??

We look forward to your comments.

A weather man is just a prognosticator or forecaster, ours is better than most. Please read on.

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations,  CTO  and category prognosticator at SafeSourcing. 

For many companies the process of controlling and maintaining the working condition of the refrigeration in their facilities is a constant challenge.  For companies whose sites are spread out, this can become even more of a challenge due to a collection of different repair & maintenance companies as well as different processes for managing your equipment.

Today we will be looking at some of the advantages companies are realizing by allowing their refrigeration R&M partners to remotely monitor their systems.

Real Time Monitoring – One of the biggest advantages of a Remote Refrigeration Monitoring solution is the fact that conditions can be monitored and analyzed in real time.  Opening and closing of doors, energy use levels, and temperature levels can all be tracked and monitored for unusual trends.  By having availability to data real time it makes it easier to see when an issue is beginning before it  becomes a problem or before a normally scheduled maintenance visit can catch it, saving a company tens of thousands of potential dollars.

Mobile Monitoring/Alerts – As with all technology, the need to provide a mobile solution is becoming a key.  Many of the Remote Monitoring companies now provide their customers with the capability to receive voice, text or email alerts to their mobile devices any time the system detects a problem with the company’s refrigeration and freezer systems.  The combination of real time monitoring mentioned above and mobile alerts can prevent a major problem from occurring well in advance.  With many solutions, the capability of being alerted is also paired with Smart Device apps that can allow a user to open a R&M request immediately from wherever they are.

Historical Data – Data, data, data.  The best decisions made by any company are the ones based on large amounts of valuable data.  The more you know about what has, is and will happen with a project the easier it will be to determine how things have historically happened and what needs to change to improve that performance.  One of the big advantages of refrigeration and freezer monitoring systems is that they can track so many data points every minute of every day from all over an organization.  Armed with this level of information, decisions like which equipment may need replacing becomes much clearer as historical temperature trends can be compared against electricity usage and other captured points.

These types of features are why many companies have adopted remote monitoring solutions.  For assistance in finding the partners who can give you proposals and value propositions for deploying these type of solutions, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing. 

In yesterday’s blog we took a look at some emerging trends and what they may mean to your business and how you adapt to those changes.

Social Networks – For many people who saw the beginnings of Myspace and Facebook they likely chalked it up to a new fad that, like so many other technologies, would eventually fade away.  Much like the people that thought the same thing about Rock and Roll music, it is safe to say that Social Networking is here to stay.  It’s undeniable power and influence is shown in no better way than in the recent Facebook IPO which raised $16 billion for a free service whose only real revenue comes from ads that run within its framework.  Being able to advantage of focused demographic and geographic segments gives businesses the opportunity to focus their marketing like never before to a group that is as captive as any other they could reach.

Paper Free – You get the emails from the companies you deal with every day about going paperless for your accounts and you should not expect that to end any time soon.  The social responsibility in being more Green is one thing, the sheer cost of companies continuing to deal in paper for customer statements, purchase orders, invoices, newsletters and other external and internal communications is forcing companies to evaluate their strategies for how they communicate with their employees, customers and partners.    A major part of these strategies is how to eliminate the cost of paper and mailing.

Consumer Diversification – If you were to look back at the advertising in the 1950s you would have seen a very limited view of messages geared to groups outside of Caucasians.   At the time this represented such a huge percent of the population that it didn’t matter that other groups of people were more or less ignored in the message.  In today’s age and in a strong trend of growth, marketing and advertising executives are begin to realize that their messages need to change and adapt to reach more of the population with a more diversified message.  Businesses are following suite as they begin to adapt their branding and product mix to fit a wider range of cultures many times offering communication in more than just English.

Expanding Sales Channels – Throughout the past two days we have discussed two of the new channels companies are using to expand their sales strategy; Social Media and Mobile Technology.  As the population and the continued splintering of where they invest their time continues over the next 10 years, companies will need to expand from the traditional sales channels in order to continue increase top line revenue.   Many mid and small companies are looking more at Group Purchasing Organizations to help them stay competitive in costs with their larger competitors.  Other companies are realizing the added benefits of joining organizations and getting certifications in areas that help them become better companies. 

For assistance in finding the partners to assist with developing strategies in these areas within your organization, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  

We look forward to your comments.