23 Sep House of HR selects Coupa for pan-European rollout
One of Europe's leading human resources management groups, House of HR, has selected Coupa Software for its Pan European Procure to Pay (P2P) rollout....
Procurement Software
11 Sep The history of average and why we need ergonomic business processes
Posted at 06:36h
in Procurement Best Practices, Procurement Process, Procurement Software, Purchase to Pay, Purchasing Process
I’ve learned over many years that when faced with a complex problem there is always a very simple solution that is wrong. There’s a standard approach to everything that will not work most of the time and one size fits all never quite fits. Relying...
17 Jul P.O. Flip is Flipping Flawed
I’m fortunate. Like most people, I’ve never been in a serious car accident but accidents do happen and seat belts save lives. I must have been on tens of thousands of car journeys and despite the fact that I’d be no worse off if I’d...
15 Jul Overcoming the challenges of the old school software sales model
Posted at 07:15h
in AP Automation, Procurement Software, Purchase to Pay, Purchase to Pay Process, SaaS
I recently made some comments about Basware that were somewhat critical. It was positive, constructive criticism. I wanted to point out that Basware was ideally placed to become a monster. With one of it’s largest competitors sidelined somewhat by their acquisition by SAP, Basware could fall into the trap of becoming complacent – indeed, I have , from personal experience seen hints of this on the horizon.
But I overlooked something – something that to an observer from outside of their organization could go unnoticed. It is the astonishing turn-around that Basware has performed, the foresight they have shown making that change and the energy and determination they have exhibited in completing it.
08 May Fundamentally, why would you implement e-procurement?
There are lots of reasons to do e-procurement but most of the stated reasons are not the real reason at all. Indeed, most of the reasons stated for implementing e-procurement are impossible to deliver. But there is one very good reason to implement e-procurement and oddly, the functionality that delivers it is usually not available from the e-procurement vendors.02 May The broken promises of e-procurement
I've been working with e-procurement in a wide variety of guises and in many different organizations for nearly 20 years. Before the widespread use of the internet there were some proprietary on-line purchasing systems that were, by and large, the same as a modern incarnation of a web based e-procurement system. And they all have one thing in common - they don't work. To be fair, they're getting better but still, most implementations are an expensive set of broken promises. It's not always the technology that's at fault - sometimes it's the promises that are wrong - expectations are set unrealistically. Or its the functional design that's wrong - business requirements ignored or misunderstood. And it's such a shame because e-procurement was such a good idea. So what's gone wrong?01 Mar Coca Cola and Coupa – wall to wall P2P
Posted at 16:36h
in e-Procurement, e-Procurement Software, Procurement Best Practices, Procurement Process, Procurement Software, Purchase to Pay, Purchase to Pay Process
Over the years I’ve had some great ideas. I’ve had some pretty dumb ideas too. I’ve followed through on some – both the good ones and the dumb ones but most, I have to admit, have been left as just ideas. But it still gives me great satisfaction when I get to see one of my great ideas executed perfection – by someone else.
A number of years ago, I had the great idea that smart phones could be used as purchase to pay tools. I wrote about it here. The problem of process compliance in some situations like construction sites it that it has, historically at least, been difficult to put IT solutions in place. Purchasing Cards have been tried but rather than helping to support a robust purchase to pay process they tend to remove the process entirely – the “Nuke” option. But now, everyone carries a smart phone and it’s perfectly feasible to put purchasing software in the hands of everyone, regardless of their working environment. It’s not just possible – it’s delivered, and a few weeks ago, I had the great pleasure to speak to Patrick Hopkins, CPO at Coca Cola Bottling Company to understand how they’ve implemented a Coupa solution to do just that.