
New Research: Going Collaborative/Quantitative — Limits Reverse Auctions, Strategic Sourcing
This morning, we’re excited to announce the publication of a new Spend Matters and MetalMiner Perspective, A Personal Lesson: Reaching the Limits of Reverse Auctions and Strategic Sourcing — When Collaborative and Quantitative Ap…

Let’s Rejoice! The Feds are Auctioning at Least .032% of the Federal Budget
I’m not one to advocate the unrestrained use of reverse auctions. They have their time and place, yet their overuse is certainly not better than their underuse. Still, reverse auction adoption is often a good stage of overall proc…

Trading Partners: Does Restructuring Portend Changes in the Reverse Auction Market? (Part 1)
Last week, my soon-to-be partner in crime in a new Spend Matters UK/Europe site, Peter Smith, broke the story that Trading Partners is going through what appears to be a period of turmoil involving staff redundancies (layoffs) and…

A Case for eProcurement in Government Purchasing — Denying Politicians Their Take!
My own state of Illinois has banned the use of reverse auctions in the telecom and construction industries because of the good-old-boy supplier system of graft and corruption. Incidentally, if you want to read a hilarious spoof pi…

The Reverse Auction Conundrum: Despite Benefits, Why Does Adoption Lag?
My British colleague across the pond, Peter Smith, recently penned a succint post highlighting an interview he had with a fellow UK procurement executive that suggests some of the reasons reverse auction usage is not more prevalent. Incidentally, I’m looking forward to seeing Peter next week at a launch party for this new book on […]

With Smaller Providers, Software and Services Can be Hard to Mix (Part 1)
Back in the reverse auction heyday between 1999 and 2001, I spent countless hours helping FreeMarkets evangelize its position that companies should avoid buying either software or consulting to do sourcing, but rather a combination of both — a solution. Our primary argument was that the sourcing process was inherently too complicated and difficult to […]