
10 Ways Enterprises Are Getting Results From AI Strategies
One in 10 enterprises now use 10 or more AI applications; chatbots, process optimization, and fraud analysis lead a recent survey’s top use cases according to MMC Ventures. 83% of IT leaders say AI & ML is transforming customer engagement, and 69% say it is transforming their business according to Salesforce Research. IDC predicts spending […]

Ten Ways Big Data Is Revolutionizing Manufacturing
McKinsey & Company recently published How Big Data Can Improve Manufacturing which provides insightful analysis of how big data and advanced analytics can streamline biopharmaceutical, chemical and discrete manufacturing. The article highlights how manufacturers in process-based industries are using advanced analytics to increase yields and reduce costs. Manufacturers have an abundance of operational and shop […]
McKinsey research: IT needs a kick in the keister
A new study from strategy consulting firm, McKinsey, shows “growing dissatisfaction” with IT performance, from both business users and within the ranks of IT itself. The study notes that almost one-third of IT respondents believe replacing their own leadership should be a top priority to improve IT performance. This data signals a growing crisis, in which […]

Talent Sourcing fool me twice, shame on me
McKinsey says we are already critically short of “data scientists” even as the hype about Big Data takes off. IBM goes even further and says we are short talent in every aspect of what Cognizant calls the SMAC stack (social, mobile, analytics and cloud). Around the world. If it feels like deja vu all over […]

Friday Rant: How Much Does Your Sourcing and Supply Chain Consultant Make?
Over on our sister site Healthcare Matters, my partner in crime Tom Finn recently published a post titled: How Much Does Your Doctor Make?. Tom begins by quoting “an old joke about a housewife who complains about the $175 she just paid…

McKinsey: Getting the Supply Chain of the Future Partially Right (Part 1)
If you’re curious about general high level trends and forecasts in the supply chain that are likely to impact specific procurement and supplier management strategies, it’s worth checking out a recent McKinsey Quarterly article (re…

Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch
McKinsey Quarterly published a really insightful list of tech-enabled business trends that are shaping business today. The first one maps to something I have been spending a lot of time in lately, companies using communities to drive support costs down while improving the experience of support, build better products, and capture the marketing potential that […]

Friday Rant: When Finance Takes Over Procurement
In my spring 2010 “predictions” conference presentation (which I’ve now given almost half a dozen times), one of the scenarios I posit for the future of procurement in the next five years is that finance will take a much more active stance and roll within the procurement function. I don’t think I’m alone in this […]

Friday Rant: Quick, Target the Consultants! When McKinsey Gets a Haircut…
Over a Belgian ale at my local low-budget yet high-end gastropub in Chicago (Hopleaf) last week, I caught up with my good friend Kevin Brooks. Kevin is an extremely forward-thinking fellow when it come to contemplating where the procurement sector is going and what organizational priorities will be. And he’s usually — except when he’s […]

Friday Rant: Insider Trading and Procurement
A colleague sent me a link to an article last week about an insider trading scandal involving both a CPO and his/her spouse. The CPO will go unnamed in this context because it’s not relevant to the general issue at hand. Still, the issue of ethics and integrity in procurement, finances, outsourcing and shared services […]