BuyersMeetPoint

Today I am joined once again on the show by Mark Bilgin. Mark is a career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations and he is joining BMP Radio for a regular podcast series on all things negotiation. In this session, we’re going to depart from the straight and narrow negotiation topics we’ve tackled in the past and take on something a little trendier: AI.

Mark is a career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations and he is joining BMP Radio for a regular podcast series on all things negotiation. In this session, we’re going to talk about how no negotiation preparation can be considered complete without a careful study of the other party’s interests.

The April ISM-New York Report on Business was released on May 2nd at 9:45am Eastern and is available for download. I will add a link to it on today’s episode page. The ISM-New York Report on Business (like the other ISM reports) is compiled as diffusion indices –we add the percent of positive responses to one-half of those responding that conditions remained the same.  A reading of 50% means no change from the prior month, greater than 50% indicates a faster pace of activity, and less than 50% a slower rate. Each month is not so much a reading of the current level of activity as it is an indication of growth or contraction from the previous month. A note specific to the New York Metro area, where all of this report’s respondants are located: they are predominantly in professional services industries. While I’m sure that does not come as a surprise, it is important to keep in mind when you think about the context for the trends being reported by these particular purchasing managers.

The ISM-New York Report on Business and the national and regional ISM reports are compiled as diffusion indices – meaning we take the percent of positive responses plus one-half of those responding that conditions remained the same (which we consider positive).  A reading of 50% means no change from the prior month, greater than 50% indicates a faster pace of activity, and less than 50% a slower rate. Each month is not so much a reading of the current level of activity as it is an indication of growth, contraction, or no change from the previous month. A note specific to the New York Metro area, where all of this report’s respondents are located: they are predominantly in services industries: information services, finance, insurance, scientific, technical, and educational. While I’m sure that does not come as a surprise, it is important to keep in mind when you think about the trends being reported by purchasing managers through this report.

The ISM-New York Report on Business and the national and regional ISM reports are compiled as diffusion indices – meaning we take the percent of positive responses plus one-half of those responding that conditions remained the same (which we consider positive).  A reading of 50% means no change from the prior month, greater than 50% indicates a faster pace of activity, and less than 50% a slower rate. Each month is not so much a reading of the current level of activity as it is an indication of growth, contraction, or no change from the previous month. A note specific to the New York Metro area, where all of this report’s respondents are located: they are predominantly in services industries: information services, finance, insurance, scientific, technical, and educational. While I’m sure that does not come as a surprise, it is important to keep in mind when you think about the trends being reported by purchasing managers through this report. With that background, let’s transition to this month’s report.

The ISM-New York Report on Business and the national and regional ISM reports are compiled as diffusion indices – meaning we take the percent of positive responses plus one-half of those responding that conditions remained the same (which we consider positive).  A reading of 50% means no change from the prior month, greater than 50% indicates a faster pace of activity, and less than 50% a slower rate. Each month is not so much a reading of the current level of activity as it is an indication of growth, contraction, or no change from the previous month. A note specific to the New York Metro area, where all of this report’s respondents are located: they are predominantly in services industries: information services, finance, insurance, scientific, technical, and educational. While I’m sure that does not come as a surprise, it is important to keep in mind when you think about the trends being reported by purchasing managers through this report. With that background, let’s transition to this month’s report.

Today on BMP Radio I am joined by Mark Bilgin.  Mark is a career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations and he is joining BMP Radio for a regular podcast series on all things negotiation. In our last session, we spoke about negotiating with an unpredictable entity. I started the conversation by asking Mark how we can prepare to negotiate with a person or organization that we aren’t sure will live up to their end of the bargain. In this podcast, we’ll take on the opposite kind of negotiation: one where the other party is very well known because they are an incumbent supplier.

Today I am joined by Jack Quarles. Jack is the author of Expensive Sentences, a fascinating new book that shines a spotlight on the casual remarks made day in and day out at companies that are costing them money.

The ISM-New York Report on Business and the national and regional ISM reports are compiled as diffusion indices – meaning we take the percent of positive responses plus one-half of those responding that conditions remained the same (which we consider positive).  A reading of 50% means no change from the prior month, greater than 50% indicates a faster pace of activity, and less than 50% a slower rate. Each month is not so much a reading of the current level of activity as it is an indication of growth, contraction, or no change from the previous month. A note specific to the New York Metro area, where all of this report’s respondents are located: they are predominantly in services industries: information services, finance, insurance, scientific, technical, and educational. While I’m sure that does not come as a surprise, it is important to keep in mind when you think about the trends being reported by purchasing managers through this report. With that background, let’s transition to this month’s report.

Most discussions about the financial sector are focused on how it has been (or will be) affected by fintech. While this is interesting, how fintech will affect the non-financial sector promises to make things even more interesting. The decentralized world of the Internet is a marvel, enabling us to engage directly one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many without the interference of a central power or institution. It has changed everything. Take the example of the hashtag #metoo, the social media movement that exposed harassers to the verdict of the whole world. This hashtag solved a problem that the centralized world, run by government institutions, police, the legal system, etc., continuously failed to address with the same impact. The power of a viral hashtag can be bigger than all governments combined. This means that ‘we the people’ can solve problems together without interference from a central institution. Governance and power are becoming decentralized and democratized in a way we’ve only experienced in very small communities or families. The shift is mind-boggling.  In this podcast you’ll learn: How the increased decentralization of the worlds allows people to take novel approaches to solving long-lasting problems If it is possible to take inspiration from the Internet, social media, and blockchain and build a decentralized financial system The difference between an ‘ecosystem fight’ and an ‘ecosystem play’

The ISM-New York Report is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues. For anyone new to either the ISM-New York Report on Business, or the national or other regional reports for that matter, the survey results are compiled as diffusion indices – meaning we take the percent of positive responses plus one-half of those responding that conditions remained the same (which we consider positive).  A reading of 50% means no change from the prior month, greater than 50% indicates a faster pace of activity, and less than 50% a slower rate. Each month is not so much a reading of the current level of activity as it is a trend up, down, or the same from the previous month. As I run through the numbers in a minute, you can consider anything above 50 good news and anything under it… well, not so much. A note specific to the New York Metro area, where all of this report’s respondants are located: they are predominantly in services industries: information services, finance, insurance, scientific, technical, and educational. While I’m sure that does not come as a surprise, it is important to keep in mind when you think about the trends being reported by purchasing managers through this report. With that background, let’s transition to this month’s report.

Hello and thank you for joining BMP Radio at our new home here on the Art of Procurement Network. This is Kelly Barner, Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and the Director of Intelligence for Palambridge. Today I am joined by Mark Bilgin. Mark is a career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations and he is joining BMP Radio for a regular podcast series on all things negotiation. In our last session, we spoke about some of the things that business negotiators can learn from the precarious situation with North Korea, specifically how to handle multi-party negotiations when you are counting on one player to use their leverage with another of your behalf. This week we are going to move on to a related point: negotiating with an unpredictable entity. I started the conversation by asking Mark how we can prepare to negotiate with a person or organization that we aren’t sure will live up to their end of the bargain.

Hello and thank you for joining BMP Radio at our new home here on the Art of Procurement Network. This is Kelly Barner, Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and the Director of Intelligence for Palambridge. Today I am joined by Jonathan O’Brien. Jonathan is the CEO and Owner of Positive Purchasing, an international procurement consultancy and training provider. He is also the author of four books, the most recent of which was just released this year, titled ‘The Buyer’s Toolkit: An Easy to Use Approach for Effective Buying.’ In this interview, I have Jonathan start us off by providing a brief overview of the book for anyone that is hearing about it for the first time.

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues. 

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Mark Bilgin as our guest. Mark is a career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations who has been joining BMP Radio in a regular podcast series on all things negotiation. In this session, we take our 'inspiration' from the complex, high-profile situation of North Korea, where the United States is going to have to negotiate with China as an intermediary to place the desired pressure on North Korea. This situation offers many lessons for business-based multi-party negotiations, inlcuding: How to use a third party to bring about a desired resultTwo negotiating scenarios: when all three parties come to the table together v. when two parties negotiate and one of them goes on to negotiate with the thirdConcerns around 'undisclosed alliances' between two of the parties in a multi-party negotiation

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The September report, which can be downloaded here, includes the following: Current Business Conditions came in below the breakeven point for only the second time in 2017. Employment, a seasonally adjusted index, fell back into contraction territory after August's 18-month high. News for the top line and forward guidance continued to make small adjustments in opposite directions for the second month in a row.  Remember to check back in with me on Thursday, November 2nd for the release of the October report. 

Today Buyers Meeting  would like to welcome back Mark Bilgin, career negotiator and the author of Mastering High Stakes Negotiations. Mark will be joining BMP Radio for a regular podcast series – one that we’ve welcomed community input on. Today we will focus on the importance of trust and transparency in negotiation based on comments and feedback we received in response to a LinkedIn post shared last week. Here is an excerpt from High Stakes Negotiations: Trust and respect are two fundamental ingredients for any healthy relationship, including negotiations. Creating this trusted environment with the other party is imperative. Here are some ground rules I review before the start of the meeting. I even ask the counterparty to add any additional ones if he or she would like to create a fair and democratic environment right from the get go. One person speaks at a time.Show mutual respect.We expect to have a constructive, honest dialogue.Check your understanding by asking questions. In this conversation we'll discuss: If you can have either trust or transparency without the other, and which needs to come first. If procurement is trying to strategically increase transparency/build relationships with our suppliers, how can do so while still minimizing risk?

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Dr. Rob Handfield as our guest. Rob is the Executive Director of the Supply Chain Resource Co-Operative and the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University. Rob recently co-authored a new book titled, “The LIVING Supply Chain: The Evolving Imperative of Operating in Real Time” which can be purchased on Amazon or directly from Wiley. Click here to read Kelly Barner's review of the book on BMP. In this conversation we discuss: Three major shifts affecting the digital economy and how supply chain managers can prepare for themThe importance of decision-making velocity in an era of cognitive computing and real-time dataRising trends that will shape the future of supply chains and how they interact with the business environment in general

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes back Wake Forest researchers Dr. Jim Narus and Dr. Michelle Steward. They have been leading research into a number of different procurement behaviors and how they affect each company's relationship with suppliers as well as individual industry peers.  Jim and Michelle are currently focused on the international aspects of digital tool usage, working with their colleagues Lujie Chen in China at the China Europe International Business School, Damien McLoughlin, at University College Dublin in Ireland, and D.V.R Seshadri in India, at the Indian School of Business. In this conversation we discuss: Variations in the use of digital purchasing tools by country, generation, industry, and type of tool.How procurement's information seeking behaviors are evolving (or not) and what this may mean about their decision making process.The "hot" categories of digital purchasing tools. Anyone interested in connecting with Jim and Michelle or learning more about their research can visit: http://www.engagementb2b.com or follow them on Twitter: @engagementb2b.

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The August report, which can be downloaded here, includes the following: New York city purchasing managers reported decreased current business conditions while indicating a significant increase in employment and moderate improvement to the six-month outlook.Economists are cautioning over-optimism about the ISM manufacturing national employment number because of the national jobs report, but the ISM-New York employment number is directionally aligned with almost no industry overlap.In February, the six-month outlook aimed to project the current business conditions we saw in August. How accurate were the purchasing managers? Remember to check back in with me on Tuesday, October 3rd for the release of the September report. 

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Mark M. Bilgin, Ph. D., the author of "Mastering High Stakes Negotiations: Both Sides of the Table". Mark is a seasoned sales and procurement professional in the oil & gas industry, where he honed the skills and insight shared in his book. Click here to read a review of the book on Buyers Meeting Point. In this conversation, we discuss: What constitutes a 'high stakes' negotiationThe human element of negotiationThe power of silence and topic 'float'Becoming a high stakes negotiator

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The July report, which can be downloaded here, includes the following: Current Business Conditions at the highest level since December of 2016The Six-month outlook falls below current business conditions for the first time since July 2016Current revenues reaches the lowest point since it was first tracked in February of 2012  Remember to check back in with us on Tuesday, September 5th for the release of the August report. 

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Stephany Lapierre, CEO of tealbook, as our guest.  Stephany is the CEO of tealbook, a cloud-based platform that delivers actionable intelligence to enterprise. She is a born entrepreneur with two successful companies to her credit, one in professional services and one technology-based, both of which require knowledge of procurement processes as well as how to clearly articulate a value proposition to professional buyers.  Given her experience advising executives about supplier intelligence and then working to build out the vision and value proposition of tealbook, Stephany is uniquely qualified to offer advice about selling into procurement.  In this conversation we discuss, How business development teams and procurement can both benefit when the initial introduction process is based on mutual trust and recommendations.How suppliers can communicate their value proposition wihtout being overly promotional or losing the attention of a strategic procurement audience.That relationships - especially ones that transcend individual connections and include the relevant organizations - are the key to lasting value and retained knowledge. To learn more about tealbook, visit their website, watch videos from procurement and suppliers on YouTube, or follow them on Twitter: @tealbook.

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The June report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: The Six-Month Outlook has 2017 ending in growth territory, but without much wiggle roomCurrent Revenues took a rare trip into contraction territoryEmployment is just below the breakeven point and at the highest level in 6 months Remember to check back in with us on Tuesday, August 2nd for the release of the July report. 

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The May report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City purchasing managers balanced short term uncertainty with persistent long term optimism in May.Three survey indices (Current Business Conditions, Employment, and Current Revenues) pulled back to levels not seen since before the Presidential election.Forward looking optimism and the health of the top line (Expected Revenues) remain strong. Remember to check back in with us on Friday, July 5th for the release of the June report. 

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Martin Berr-Sorokin as our guest. Martin is the CEO and Co-Founder of IntegrityNext, a compliance platform that brings together pre-built supplier assessments, blacklist and sanction checks, and real-time social media insights to covers international standards multiple tiers into the supply chain. IntegrityNext just launched, but Martin is no newcomer to the space. He worked in procurement for Siemens before founding Xcitec, a strategic purchasing software provider that was purchased by Emptoris. After Emptoris was acquired by IBM, he worked as their worldwide Product line director for 4 years. In this conversation we discuss: Whether increased public awareness of B2B business preactices has changed the profile of companies investing in supply chain compliance and sustainability.The use of social media as a data source – turning unstructured data into an actionable source of intelligence for decision makers.How investment in compliance can elevate procurement's profile and increase our influence in the enterprise.  For more information you can follow them on Twitter @Integrity_Next or read The Power of Social Media Voices in Supply Chain by Simon Jaehnig, IntegrityNext's Co-Founder and Head of Cloud Platform.

Remember to check back in with me on Friday, June 2nd for the release of the May report. The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The April report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City purchasing managers demonstrated a small but directional shift in perspective in April.Most of this month’s indices - excepting only Quantity of Purchases - moved in the opposite direction from March.For consideration: Can the recent high levels of optimism be preserved if a significant portion of the respondants report 'the same' month over month?   Remember to check back in with us on Friday, June 2nd for the release of the May report. 

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes INNOVO Network Founder and CEO Martin Kelly as our guest. Martin set up INNOVO in 2011 as a global network enabling companies and individuals to achieve more with their existing commercial opportunities. Before founding INNOVO, Martin had a diverse career, specializing in the turnarounds of mid-cap companies in a variety of different industries.  In this conversation we discuss, How INNOVO brings together the driving objectives of procurement and business development teams in a way that achieves both at the expense of neither.The program INNOVO has put in place that allows them to support Good Causes from the increases in commercial efficiency created on their network.The INNOVO Marketing Affiliate model that allows media outlets, as well as traditional marketing agencies, to monetize content about INNOVO.   If you are interested in learning more about the INNOVO Network, visit their website or follow them on Twitter: @InnovoNetwork. I also highly recommend the Industry Specific Insights part of their website, a curated collection of news stories that cross industries and circle the globe.

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The March report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City purchasing managers reported strong optimism in addition to a faster pace of activity in MarchAll of this month’s indices - without exception - moved in a desirable direction in March. Three of them - the Six-Month Outlook, Current Revenues, and Expected Revenues - notably reached the highest level seen in multiple years. For consideration: what do the six-month optimism and employment numbers actually indicate about current and projected business conditions in the New York Metro area?

Today Buyers Meeting welcomes Mark Webb, Managing Director of Future Purchasing as our guest. Mark has 22 years’ procurement experience in line management and consulting roles in categories such as consumer electronics, telecom, pharma, and financial services. He has worked with some of the most recognized companies around the globe, including GSK, Nestle, Nokia, Barclays, and RSA. Part of why Mark joins us today is to discuss the results of Future Purchasing’s bi-annual category management survey as captured in the report: Collaborating for Category Management Success: Bridging the Performance and Value Gap. If you are interested in downloading the report, click here. In this conversation we discuss: How Future Purchasing defines category management, and how organizations have optimized their approach since the report was last run 2 years agoThe five practices that demonstrate procurement’s need to collaborate with stakeholders during the category management processSources of and approaches to building the supply market knowledge that is a key differentiator between category management and strategic sourcingForward looking expectations about how category management will continue to expand and mature within the procurement community

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The February report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City purchasing managers reported slower growth while still indicating a faster pace of activity in February.Current Business Conditions came in at 51.3 in February, continuing the slide from December's fourteen-month high.With the exception of Employment, which fell below the breakeven point in February, all report indices stayed in growth territory, even as future optimism eased for the third consecutive month. Two indices - Quantity of Purchases and Current Revenues - increased over January's findings.The annual ISM-New York economic forum held in New York City on February 22nd, gives us an opportunity to dig further into the following three themes in this month's podcast: the difference between uncertainty and risk, the rationale of purchasing timing and contract length based on procurement’s perception of risk, and healthy unemployment and labor availability.

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Josh Boltuch as our guest. Josh is the CEO of Fancy Hands, one of the largest virtual assistant services in the country. Individuals and businesses can instantly connect to a Fancy Hands assistant to fulfill all of their personal and professional to-dos. All the assistants are based in the US and available 24/7 via the web, iPhone and Android apps, SMS text, email or a phone call. Whether it's providing scalable, reliable and secure workforce solutions to Fortune 100 companies, or waiting on hold for an hour with the cable company, the Fancy Hands platform combines automation with amazing people to get the job done right.  In this conversation we discuss: The launch of On Demand Ops (ODO), the enterprise division of the Fancy Hands platform, which combines machine automation and skilled US workersThe consumerization of enterprise solutions, and how the original Fancy Hands B2C/B2B model led to an enterprise versionHow objective-driving pricing can bring providers and consumers into alignment Application of the ODO platform to procurement For anyone that is interested in learning more about ODO, including reading the case study, please visit their website.

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Dr. Carsten Linz as our guest. Carsten is an entrepreneurial leader and expert on innovation-led business transformation as well as the co-author of ‘Radical Business Model Transformation: Gaining the competitive edge in a disruptive world. You can read my review here. For more of his writing, visit his blog. The transcript for this podcast is available on Buyers Meeting Point. Carsten leads SAP’s Center for Digital Leadership, a renowned C-suite think tank showcasing next-generation innovation and transformation approaches. He is an active business angel, serves on the investment committee of Europe's largest seed stage fund and holds various advisory board seats.  In this conversation we discuss: The difference between innovation (which can happen anytime) and transformation (which can only happen at an inflection point (or a change in direction). Why 'radical' and how the authors kept each other on the right path during the three years it took to write the book. Three things companies must identify: 1. The need to change, 2. The new business model they want to pursue, and 3. The valuable DNA of their company/solution that should be preserved. How to ensure that trends such as digital customer-centricity become more than buzzwords for an organization looking to make a radical shift in direction

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The January report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City purchasing managers remained optimistic but 'setteld in' this monthCurrent Business Conditions came in at 57.7 in January, dropping from a fourteen-month high in DecemberThe Six-Month Outlook decreased to 66.2 in January after the eighteen-month high seen in DecemberThis month's 'story behind the numbers' focuses on the role of seasonal adjustments in the indices

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Simona Pop as our guest. Simona is the Head of Partnership and Global Communication at InstaSupply. She has held roles in sales, marketing, and event planning and she is an author and speaker for WeRSM, one of the largest independent websites dedicated to social media. In 2016 she was selected as the winner of the Virgin Disruptor challenge for her desire to disrupt P2P.  Simona recently had a guest post placement on Spend Matters titled, “In Business Relationships, It’s All about H2H (Human to Human)”. In this podcast, we discuss her article along the following lines: There is no real B2B/B2C divide, but rather a consistent need for strong, healthy human relationships able to fuel success in complex businesses.One of the relationships that deserves attention is procurement's relationship with tech, described by Simona in the post as evoking “distinct feelings of inertia and unease".Given the fact that human bonds are just as critical in commerce as they are in community, shared values become foundational, and should play a much larger role than they often do today.

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The December report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City purchasing managers expressed a surge of forward-looking optimism to end 2016Current Business Conditions came in at 63.8 in December, reaching a fourteen-month highEmployment, a seasonally adjusted index, dropped December after rising above the breakeven point in NovemberNews for the top line and forward guidance continued to be positive, albeit without seeing significant changes over November

Today, Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Robert Cohen, Vice President of Marketing at basware. Bob brings nearly two decades of accounts payable, finance, technology, purchase-to-pay and e-invoicing expertise and experience to his work at Basware and to the industry overall. Prior to joining basware, Bob worked for American Express, Cendant, and Computer Associates. In this timely conversation we discuss the three reasons why CPOs should attend budget reviews, including: Learning critical information about each budget owner's plans for the year to come, including sourcing needs, tight funds, and areas of potential supplier riskBetter understanding the users of the e-procurement system and identifying opportunities to improve complianceProviding consultative services to other departments, whether because requested funds were not approved or because there are opportunities to partner with suppliers to achieve ambitious goals with limited resources For additional information, you may be interested in the following resources: Webinar: WeProcurement: Change Spend Behavior eBook: WeProcurement: Putting the We in e-Procurement Whitepaper: Introducing e-Procurement for Buying & Paying Smarter  

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The November report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: New York City business activity showed confidence and optimism after an uncertain summer and fallEvery index in the November Report saw gains over the previous month, some significantly so, reflecting the same upward trend being seen in the markets in the weeks since the Presidential electionThree of the indices came in at milestone levels: Prices paid, Quantity of Purchases, and Expected RevenuesThere is a close link between the Prices paid and Employment indices that we wil watch in the coming months

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Donal Daly as our guest. Donal is the Founder and CEO Founder of Altify, a provider of enterprise sales methodology for enterprise B2B sales organizations. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 Best-seller ‘Account Planning in Salesforce’ and the recently released Tomorrow Today: How Ai Impacts How We Work, Live And Think.  Altify recently opened the response period for their 2017 Business Performance Benchmark Study, and Buyers Meeting Point is one of a carefully chosen group of partners working to encourage participation and learning from the study’s results. The study, which is open now through December 21st will examine revenue considerations, top priorities, and metrics that we can use to gauge progress.  All participants will receive a copy of the report including results, analysis and insights and it only takes 10 minutes to share your opinion.  CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE To read a transcript of the interview, click here.  

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The October report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: For the most part, the survey responses indicated a holding pattern - perhaps in anticipation of the Presidential election next weekAfter September's eight-year low, Employment came in at 50.6 in October - listen to the podcast audio for what this really meansCurrent Business Conditions came in at 49.2 in October, continuing to hover just below the break even point of 50.0 for the third month in a row.

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes two guests: Brian Seipel and James Patounas, both from Source One. Source One recently announced the launch of Spend Consultant, a Spend Analysis as a Service web platform, and Brian and James each played a key role in its development. Brian Seipel is one of Source One’s Strategic Sourcing Analysts, focused on helping companies implement innovative solutions to drive revenue and expand market share through procurement and strategic sourcing best practices.  His combined a background in Business Analysis, Information Technology, and Marketing allowed him to play an instrumental role in developing the proprietary spend classification taxonomy and user experience for Spend Consultant. James Patounas is Source One's Senior Data Scientist. His background has focused heavily on the practical application of data mining, acquisition, normalization, and visualization to facilitate procurement and strategic sourcing. He is the team lead and primary architect of Spend Consultant.   In this conversation we discuss: How the 'scientific method' can be applied to spend anaytics with the help of data scienceWhy procurement must strive to resist the effects of 'analysis paralysis' or the trap of conducting analysis for its own sakeThe importance of using a taxonomy that matches the procurement perspective (acquisition) rather than relying upon a standard (NAICS, UNSPSC, SIC) that while widely recognized, was developed for production purposes.

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Kasia Katrycz as our guest. Kasia is the Risk Intelligence Director at riskmethods, a cloud-based supply chain risk management solution. Kasia is the ‘lead human’ (if we can call her that) that forms a core part of the riskmethods Risk Intelligence Service. By combining Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with a Human Touch, a higher level of actionable intelligence is created for companies and supply chains facing the possibility of disruption.  In this conversation we discuss: The filtering process that is required to harness the 'ocean' of informationThe role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in managing risk multiple tiers into the supply chainThe unique partnership between humans and machines that makes it possibleto isolate relevant risk indicators from all the 'noise'How the size of a supplier affects the availability of information and the QA process

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The Report, which was first run in 1917, is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The September report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: The majority of the indices held steady month over month or made minor changesThe exception to this observation was Employment, which dropped to 33.9 in September, a marked decrease from the 54.9 seen in August81% of this month's respondents reported that there would either be no change in the number of jobs in their organization or there would be a decrease in jobs

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Andy Kohm as our guest. Andy is the CEO at VendOp, a B2B review platform.  Through nearly a decade of conducting R&D in the medical device field, Andy experienced the problem of vendor selection firsthand, specifically finding, vetting and qualifying vendors and suppliers. Andy is a serial inventor having 20+ issued patents and over 50 pending patents, as well as a Ph.D. in engineering from Ohio State University and an MBA from The Wharton School. Rather than continuing to toil on in frustration, he decided to work towards a solution. He has been at VendOp since 2013. In this interview we discuss: The popular trend of sharing reviews online that is spreading from the B2C space to corporate purchasingThe background work required to verify the identify of a reviewer while still keeping their identity privateHow more information from multiple perspectives can improve the procurement and strategic sourcing processes

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Charles Findlay as our guest. Charles graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in Engineering Science and then spent five years with GEC as an industrial engineer working in various manufacturing industries in Europe and the United States. Following an MBA from London Business School, he joined Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, first in the Strategy practice, then running the UK Supply Chain practice and finally helping set up the Procurement out- sourcing business. For the last few years he has worked as an independent consultant, an angel investor in early stage technology companies and a founder member of the Supply Chain Finance Community. Earlier this year, Charles co-authored Financing the End to End Supply Chain with Simon Templar and Erik Hofmann. My review of the book is available on Buyers Meeting Point. Listeners may also be interested in reading Charles' recent blog post, 'Supply Chain Finance - Who Wins?' In this conversation, we discuss: The structure and players in the supply chain finance 'ecosystem'How a cross functional group can come together to implement a supply chain finance programThe wide variety of supply chain finance starting points, and whether they lead to blue sky opportunities or problems with standardizationThe impact of the public sector, regulatory bodies, and political climate on supply chain finance

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The purpose of the survey is to quickly assess business conditions among firms in the New York City area.  The ISM-New York Report on Business began in 1917, and it was originally started to provide the United States government with information on manufacturing activity in the New York metro area against the backdrop of World War I. To this day it remains a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The August report, which can be downloaded here, allows us to make the following observations: Short term expectations seem measured, with volume of purchases, revenues, and expected revenues all either contracting or staying flat.The Six-Month Outlook increased to 65.5 in August, a significant increase in activity and the highest level reported since February.The combination of short term concern and longer term optimism may be a reaction to the uncertainty connected to the coming Presidential election – not the candidates themselves, but the lingering unknown of who will win.

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Ken Ballard as our guest. Ken is a supply chain Project Manager at Source One Management Services, responsible for leading sourcing events to optimize the spend and operations of clients in the areas of supply chain and IT, working directly with clients and their suppliers through all stages of the strategic sourcing project – from data collection, through selecting and conducting go-to-market strategies, to negotiation and contracting, to implementation.  Ken recently wrote a two-part guest series for Buyers Meeting Point on the advantages and challenges of nearshoring, and that is what he joins us today to discuss. Ken's two post are available here: Nearshoring - Why Now? Nearshoring - Why Now? Warnings

The ISM-New York Report on Business is released on the second business day of each month at 9:45am ET. The purpose of the survey is to quickly assess business conditions among firms in the New York City area.  Effective August 1, Buyers Meeting Point Editor Kelly Barner will begin serving as the Business Survey Chair, compiling the monthly responses from ISM-New York members, updating all of the indexes in the monthly report, and providing observations and commentary.  The ISM-New York Report on Business began in 1917, and it was originally started to provide the United States government with information on manufacturing activity in the New York metro area against the backdrop of World War I. To this day it remains a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues.  The July report, which can be downloaded here, provides us with the following observations: Despite the concerns that affected the tail end of the June report, July demonstrated no initial ill effects from the UK’s decision to leave the EUCurrent Business Conditions and Current Revenues align in that they are stableOn the other hand, the Six-Month Outlook and Expected Revenues contradict each other coming in down and up, respectively.

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes back two of our regular guests: Dr. Jim Narus and Dr. Michelle Steward from Wake Forest University.  Dr. Jim Narus serves as a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at Pennsylvania State University and Dr. Michelle Steward is an Associate Professor at the School of Business at Wake Forest University. This is the third time they have joined us here on BMP radio to discuss the findings of their research into how the customer journey has changed because of the use of digital tools – and what that means for B2B procurement. Today, they are back to provide us with an update on their work, including: The implications of the fact that procurement is the slowest growing management practice area, and trends that show it will be 50% Millennial in 5 yearsThe analytical experience procurement professionals are faced with when they have to reconcile positive and negative reviews of the same supplier from different sourcesThe critical learning process prompted by incorporating sometimes conflicting information from multiple sources   Please also listen to their previous podcasts: Incorporating online supplier reviews and evaluations in procurement and The Influence of the Digital Environment on Decision-making in Procurement.

Today Buyers Meeting Point welcomes Dennis Toohey as our guest. Dennis is a Senior Principal Consultant at Xperience Incorporated. Xperience Incorporated helps business owners and schools develop a highly efficient buying-to-paying process by providing experienced assessments along with the right strategies and technologies for each organization’s needs, in part by providing their own vendor network for GPO buying. Today, Dennis joins me to talk specifically about Xperience Incorporated’s schools program as an example of alternate procurement models, including benefits such as: Enabling spend improvement through their 'Thesis' program's suppliers and integrated technologyReducing administrative spend by as much as $35 per studentThe key lessons that any organization - school or otherwise - must learn to improve their efficiency

Today Buyers Meeting Point brings you a unique podcast – in fact, it is more of an announcement. Phil Ideson is the the Host of the Art of Procurement podcast. We have been scheming and brainstorming for about a year and we’ve finally come up with an idea that combines our love of the field of procurement with our enthusiasm for progress and innovation. Today we are excited to announce The Procurement Revolution - 100% online, multi-channel event, launching in September 2016. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait until then to join our ranks. Visit The Procurement Revolution website to view our launch video and enlist for updates from HQ Follow @ProcureRev on Twitter or watch #ProcRev for the latest news about the event and opportunities to shape the direction that the revolution takes.Join our engagement page on LInkedIn   STAND UP. SPEAK OUT. DRIVE CHANGE.