Monthly Top 5 - October 2024

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Hi Readers,

There are now 10 ProcureTech demos live on the new The Pure Procurement Newsletter YouTube Channel. Double digits!

I started the channel to capture all the ProcureTech Cup recordings but will be uploading additional, new content starting in 2025.

Make sure to subscribe to so you don’t miss a thing in the new year (which is approaching at a scary pace…).

Onto the Monthly Top 5!

Every month, I comb through 1000+ articles across 40+ sources to bring you the best free procurement articles published that month.

I sort through the noise so you don’t have to.

📰 In this week’s edition:

• 📄 2024 Procurement Tech Trends Report (sponsored)

• 🏆 The Road to the ProcureTech Cup: Episode 25-11

• 🔝 October 2024 Top 5

  • No. 1 - Nerding Out on Contract Terms

  • No. 2 - The Dark Side of Corporate Payment Cards

  • No. 3 - Who Should Build Your Spend Cube?

  • No. 4 - When to Use “Big Consulting” (And When to Steer Clear)

  • No. 5 - Who Do “AI Improvements” Serve?

• 🎁 Get access to my links database

Let’s dive in!

Note: Some of the content above is only available in the email version of this newsletter. Don’t miss out! Sign up for free to get the next edition.

🏆 Road to the ProcureTech Cup

The Journey Continues…

Join me this Friday, November 15^th at 12pm ET as Pure Procurement Newsletter partner Focal Point comes on show to demo their Strategic Procurement Platform.

Focal Point leverages orchestration principles as a foundation to enable better intake management, project management, category management and supplier relationship management.

I hope you’ll join in on the fun:

Last Week’s Episode

Aerchain was on the show last Friday to demo their completely configurable Autonomous Sourcing platform.

If you missed it, I’ve made ALL the replays available for you on YouTube:

(Subscribe while you’re there 😉)

What is the ProcureTech Cup? Start Here.

No. 1 🥇

Nerding Out on Contract Terms

This report is awesome!

937 companies just “opened up the kimono” on their contract terms, revealing which terms are:

• Most negotiated

• Most disputed

• Most important to them

This is a great report to use as an input into a contract base “health check”. How do the results compare to your contracts?

Let’s find out!

Most Negotiated Terms 2024
by Tim Cummins & Bernadette Bulacan at World Commerce & Contracting

No. 2 🥈

The Dark Side of Corporate Payment Cards

As faithful readers know, I will tell anyone who will listen to me to Stop Using PCards!

However, I recognize that sometimes, in a transition or in a pinch, PCards can be a useful tool. They just shouldn’t be a core purchasing channel…

This article does a great job of very succinctly and fairly highlighting the pros and cons of Corporate Purchasing Cards (PCards).

If ever you need an article to pull from for your own PCard program “cases for change”, this is it!

The Two Sides of Corporate Payment Cards
by BlueBean

No. 3 🥉

Who Should Build Your Spend Cube?

I’ve been known to tout the benefits of building a spend cube at least once or twice… 😅

In fact, I wrote a “how-to” guide earlier this year.

However, I found this article quite complimentary to that guide as Art of Procurement highlighted who should build it and the leading players in procurement analytics.

With these 2 articles, you’re well on your way to building great procurement analytics capabilities.

Procurement Analytics: Key Methods, Tools & Use Cases for Data Savvy Procurement Professionals
by Philip Ideson at Art of Procurement

No. 4 🏅

When to Use “Big Consulting” (And When to Steer Clear)

When you hire a consulting partner for a ProcureTech program/project, you’re hiring a team of individuals. What’s important is that they have relevant experience, a good delivery track record as a team and a cultural fit with your business.

Yes, these teams work for companies/brands but you should never fall into the “brand trap”… Relying heavily on brand reputation as a proxy for your success is risky business…

That being said, there are some guiding principles you can use as a shortcut. Michael details them in his great article below.

When Should You Use Big X?
by Michael Lamoureux at Sourcing Innovation

No. 5 🎖

Who Do “AI Improvements” Serve?

Travel is category I don’t get much exposure to on an ongoing basis… ProcureTech for travel seems fairly mature and stable to me… You implement it “once and done.”

I feel like that’s often the case from a Category Management standpoint as well… It’s easy to forget once negotiated!

However, it’s evolving too! That’s why it’s always great to get an update from Tony on the topic.

My favorite line?

While you Weren’t Looking…(What’s New in the Travel Category)
by Tony O’Connor at Procurement and Supply Australasia

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