When the future you expect never arrives and business predictions fall short of their mark, the culprit is—more often than not—bad or missing data. Procurement staff must ensure their data is accurate from start to finish so that their forecasts have the desired outcomes.
Idioms abound about how to tackle future challenges such as “past results do not guarantee future performance” or conversely, “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” We have all seen or heard these intuitive phrases. On the surface, they would seem to be at odds. In reality, they address two different concepts associated with using the past (data) to understand, predict and influence the future.
Similarly, when it comes to projects that involve the need for data, whether it is to predict sales to manage inventories or to train a system to automate a process, success hinges on having the right set of data to use as input to the decision making process. Today, where machines are often making decisions, the notion of “right set of data” becomes a lot harder to understand. This is because machines learn in a different way and the rationale for the output they produce is difficult to reconstruct.
Machines do not have the intuition or the critical reasoning that can help to elevate or discount one data point over another. Input data must be accurate, representative, and free from bias so here are some key guidelines about your data to help ensure successful projects:
1. Accurate Data. Having accurate data is essential because a machine can learn on both accurate and inaccurate data, but only accurate data provides the desired results: a machine that provides output, which is reliable.
Greg Council, Vice President of Product Management, Parascript
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Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Procurement and Supply Chain
Read how GEP is breaking down some of the essential AI concepts and showcasing the game-changing applications that they believe are most relevant in procurement and the supply chain.
Your suppliers’ risks are your risks. It’s time to develop a comprehensive risk management program that protects your brand, customers, and bottom line in a world where global supply chains are symbiotically intertwined and interdependent.
Join SIG and top industry leaders May 16 for a full day of top-notch thought leadership. The stars of the western part of the United States are coming together in Bellevue, Washington.
Here's your weekly update on the latest thought leadership, networking events and training with SIG.
This Month at SIG
If your April was full of showers (real or figurative), we hope you can seize the opportunity this month to make things bloom and reap the benefits of your hard work. Read about the important things happening at SIG in May to give you a boost.
Artificial Intelligence is the topic of many business conversations where often the fantasy is of intelligent robots doing more work with less time and resources. Not all of the promises related to AI are unfounded. Read this eBook to learn how AI’s potential can transform procurement.
Thought Leadership Webinar - Gaining Control, While Improving Quality, of your Contingent Workforce Program
Join SIG and VectorVMS June 4 at 1pm ET for a webinar to learn how to look at your contingent workforce program more strategically -- no matter where you are in the maturity of your program.
Which sourcing innovation practices are yielding the best outcomes for your enterprise peers? Participate in the Pinnacle Model™ study for a complimentary summary of the findings.
You know the saying…April showers bring May flowers, and May happens to be my favorite month of the year. With the flowers blooming, the humidity low (at least where I am in Mid-Atlantic US) and more hours of sunlight to enjoy, I can’t help but get excited for the start of May. If your April was full of showers (real or figurative), I hope you can seize the opportunity this month to make things bloom and reap the benefits of your hard work. Here are a few important things happening at SIG in May to give you a boost.
FUTURE OF SOURCING AWARDS NOMINATION DEADLINE IS MAY 15
Speaking of reaping the rewards of your work, have you considered submitting a nomination to win a Future of Sourcing Award? We are accepting nominations until May 15 to honor and celebrate individuals and organizations that show innovation, leadership and transformation in areas that are critical to the sourcing industry. The 2019 Awards will bring together some of the brightest minds in the industry to create a truly remarkable experience.
Has your team made a successful impact toward moving our industry forward? Consider submitting a nomination to recognize their achievements with a Future of Sourcing Award! The team awards recognize companies who are fundamentally influencing the world of sourcing in new and innovative ways. There are also individual award categories to honor the personal accomplishments of sourcing professionals.
Here's your weekly update on the latest thought leadership, networking events and training with SIG.
The Strategic Sourcing Lifecycle
Regardless of the specific definition that is chosen, strategic sourcing is a process that is designed, and employed, to maximize the value of each purchase made by the company. It is an evolving process that matures and adapts as the needs of the organization change.
Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Procurement and Supply Chain
Artificial Intelligence is the topic of many business conversations where often the fantasy is of intelligent robots doing more work with less time and resources. Not all of the promises related to AI are unfounded. Read this eBook to learn how AI’s potential can transform procurement.
Thought Leadership Webinar - When it Comes to Sourcing, ERPs Can’t Do It All: Here’s How Modular Software Solutions Help
Join SIG and Bonfire May 2 at 1pm ET for a webinar to learn how out-of-box sourcing solutions can be leveraged to support traditional ERPs, and avoid unwanted risk.
Suplari invites finance and procurement leaders to take their Recession Survey. Share your thoughts and receive indispensable analysis and strategies to recession-proof your organization.
Kelly Bengston is Senior Vice President, Chief Procurement Officer at Starbucks. Kelly is responsible for enhancing Starbucks enterprise-wide functional strategic sourcing and supplier relationships, creating consistent global sourcing processes, developing a sourcing talent management program and building a values-based approach to working with suppliers across all categories of the business.
Kelly has held numerous leadership positions during her 8-plus years with Starbucks. Most recently, Kelly served as Vice President of Starbucks Global Supply Chain’s Strategy & Deployment team, a new team created under Kelly to support Starbucks supply chain’s aspirations of becoming digitized, strategically aligning resources against priorities and building capabilities through long-term capacity planning and supply chain intelligence.
Prior to joining Starbucks, Kelly gained broad experience in packaging, product development, manufacturing, and project management at Macy’s, Bensussen Deutsch, Cranium and Hasbro. She enjoys running, traveling, and spending time with her family. Her favorite Starbucks beverage is Nitro Cold Brew.
Can you share a little more about your day-to-day role and responsibilities as the Chief Procurement Officer for Starbucks?
I am fortunate to have an amazing job, working for an amazing company. My day-to-day is filled with connecting with great partners and suppliers to deliver products and services to our stores and customers.
Here's your weekly update on the latest thought leadership, networking events and training with SIG.
New eBook on Supplier Risk
Your suppliers’ risks are your risks. It’s time to develop a comprehensive risk management program that protects your brand, customers, and bottom line in a world where global supply chains are symbiotically intertwined and interdependent.
Which sourcing innovation practices are yielding the best outcomes for your enterprise peers? Participate in the Pinnacle Model™ study for a complimentary summary of the findings.
“It’s not enough to have lived, we should be determined to live for something” – Leo F. Buscaglia
The pursuit of greater meaning sits at the pinnacle of human nature. It reflects within all that we do, in our lives, and in our professions. As procurement or sourcing professionals, we strive every day to make a difference in the business, to solve problems while creating business value. The words “sustainability”, “sustainable”, and “impact” are commonplace these days in the procurement and sourcing world as the industry pushes towards a new future in sustainable business – but what can we really do to drive true change?
We believe Procurement has the expertise to drive sustainability while delivering the highest standard of work and championing continuous improvement in business by integrating our processes with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Amidst all the various measures in the world today, the UN SDGs provides a solid benchmark for sustainable procurement and sourcing for the following reasons:
The SIGInnova Product Forum is today at 3 pm. Buy-side attendees will interact with the latest sourcing technologies and see how they can drive strategic impact, improve profits and mitigate risk. Participants will be exposed to innovative and disruptive products that can help shape the future of Procurement.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating the next largest divide not only between people, but also between organizations. Taking full advantage of AI requires a two-pronged approach by any enterprise. First is to identify the business processes that can gain most from the introduction of AI. Second is to treat AI as a key component in any reengineering effort with quality data as one of the highest priorities.
Since one key beneficial attribute of AI is that it can replace tedious, low-value human tasks, it is important to target processes that enable staff to focus on other higher-value areas. The perspective of pragmatically tackling routine processes first is echoed in research presented by Harvard Business Review, which provides a useful construct by defining three types of AI: one applied for automation, another for delivering insight, and a third for customer engagement.
Data Science: the Key to Successful AI
Greg Council, Vice President of Product Management, Parascript
When the Future You Expect Never Arrives