Monthly Top 5 - January 2024

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🎣 The Catch Up

Hi Readers,

January is behind us and I’ve yet again scoured 40+ sources and 1000+ articles to bring you the best Procurement/ProcureTech articles published in the last month.

If you’re a Monthly Top 5 fan, I’ve also prepared something special for you.

I’ve put together a searchable database of all the articles that have ever made the Top 5 over the years (136+ articles).

Here’s a video where you can see it in all its glory.

The catch?

You must refer 1 reader to Pure Procurement to gain access.

Which colleague do you turn to for advice when you don’t know how to do something in your Procurement system? Or in Excel? They should be reading Pure Procurement.

When your referral subscribes to the free version of Pure Procurement, I’ll send you the link and password to access the database 🙌

Please don’t cheat the system… I’ll know 👀

Otherwise, enjoy this month’s Top 5!

Best,

Joël

P.S. In case you missed it, here was my most popular LinkedIn post of the month:
Procurement systems are NOT a substitute for good supplier relationships.

🔝 Top 5 At-A-Glance

1. 2024 Magic Quadrant for Source-to-Pay Suites

2. The 2024 Annual ProcureCon CPO Report

3. Is Your Due Diligence Process Diligent Enough?

4. The Science Behind Warehouse Placement

5. How to Maximize the Adoption of New Procurement Tools

More details on why I picked each story below 🔽

#1 - Gartner’s First Source-to-Pay Magic Quadrant

For the first time, Gartner has put out an end-to-end Source-to-Pay magic quadrant. Typically, we’ve only seen bits and pieces of the value chain in their quadrants (e.g. Sourcing, CLM, procure-to-pay). I’m glad to see they’ve finally arrived to the party! S2P Suites have been around 10+ years.

Some analysts claim this means S2P Suites have essentially won the Suite vs. Best-of-Breed debate. This is hilarious to me…

As with any software vendor ranking exercise, you have to apply critical thinking to the result… S2P Suites are only a piece of the Procurement Technology puzzle. Best-of-Breed and Process Orchestration systems are making a splash in parallel and your organizational context is the most important piece in deciding how to move forward with your Procurement system architecture. Buyers beware!

That being said, this is good reading to get a feeling for a good chunk of the Procurement application market.

2024 Magic Quadrant for Source-to-Pay Suites
by Gartner

#2 - The Era of the Tech-Literate CPO is Beginning…

ProcureAbility put out their yearly CPO report this month and it may just be the prettiest CPO report I’ve ever read 😅 US/Canadian Procurement leaders were surveyed in a wide spectrum of company sizes/industries.

The most interesting stats:

• 46% claim their CPO now plays a bigger role in high-level decision-making (maybe we can finally stop talking about the “seat at the table”😅)

• Top 3 focus areas in 2024:

  • Process improvement (43%)

  • Supply chain disruption (37%)

  • Technology implementation and transformation (35%)

My takeaway: Business strategy without a technology component is increasingly a thing of the past… But then again, you already know this because you read this newsletter…

The 2024 Annual ProcureCon CPO Report
by ProcureAbility

#3 - Start With the Exit Strategy in Mind

We all have those critical suppliers/partners. They’re not perfect but neither are we. And together we make things happen that otherwise would not.

However, unless you’re planning on a merger, these relationships often have an expiry date (even if unknown).

Susan reminds us in her article that thinking about, planning for and mitigating against the impacts of the eventual termination of the business relationship is not just responsible, it’s mission critical.

What’s your exit strategy?

Read Susan’s article for some key steps to kick off this reflection in-house.

Is Your Due Diligence Process Diligent Enough?
by Susan Berkenbush at Sourcing Industry Group (SIG)

#4 - Where Is the Best Place to Put a US Warehouse?

If you’re a logistics nerd, this is a great read.

If you’re involved in any way shape or form in determining where a company or supplier warehouse should be in the US, this is an essential read.

The conclusions on the best cities for a warehouse might not be directly applicable to you but the logic behind how to think about this problem most certainly is.

The Science Behind Warehouse Placement
by Brian Straight at Supply Chain Management Review

#5 - Success With ProcureTech Means Adoption

SpendHQ has been putting out some great content lately. I don’t often share vendor material because it’s so obviously salesy… But SpendHQ has been releasing great articles that could be on any Procurement blog. Kudos!

In this one, they cover one of my favorite subjects → How to maximize the adoption of any Procurement tools your implement.

I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face… Without adoption of your new tool, forget your Return On Investment (ROI).

A few great principles and ideas on how to tackle this question in the following article:

How to Maximize the Adoption of New Procurement Tools
by Thomas Delamarre at SpendHQ

📊 How Did I Do Today?

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I am not a guru… Just a guy who’s a little too obsessed 😅
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