The Ledger

Reducing Costs with Centralized Category Management

Category management managers are employing a broader set of performance metrics that go beyond vendor savings, including operating efficiency metrics such as: procurement operating cost as a percentage of total savings; spend managed per procurement employee; and, purchase orders processed per procurement employee. This added focus on operating performance helps to balance the savings achieved using new sourcing approaches with the cost required to achieve them.

Read More at The Wall Street Journal >

Modern Manufacturing is On the Rise

There is a huge amount of innovation happening in manufacturing regarding the type of the products being designed (which are helping address some of the sustainability and environmental issues) and the processes to manufacture and sell them. Manufacturers are leading the pack of companies that are transforming their businesses, driving innovation, and winning in the digital economy. By leveraging dynamic technologies, leading manufacturers are expanding their reach to new competitive avenues and new opportunities to deepen relationships with customers and supply chain partners. The intelligent enterprise concept provides the blueprint for companies in the industrial manufacturing industry to optimize, extend, and transform their businesses.

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Becoming an Intelligent Enterprise: What’s the Rush?

The buzz about intelligent technologies is getting louder, and every day we see proof of how these technologies are dictation the future success of every business. In most cases, industry experts warn that companies will wither without advancing data-driven automation and decision-making.

In its “Technology Vision 2018” report, Accenture observes, “Businesses depend on technology-based partnerships for growth, but their own legacy systems aren’t designed to support partnerships at scale. To fully power the connected intelligent enterprise, companies must first re-architect themselves.”

Read More at The Digitalist by SAP >

Achieving an Agile Business in Two Steps

Finance leaders strive to simplify their business planning and amplify the transfer of knowledge across the organization. The business market rewards agility, while it punishes companies that are too slow and myopic to see what’s coming and to act before they suffer serious consequences. In an era where tomorrow may not look anything like today, agility may well be the defining characteristic of success. It’s not just about responding. It’s about responding in a way that produces the outcome your board, shareholders, employees, and customers will see as successful. What can a business do to attain agility? The answer is two-fold.

Read More at CFO Magazine >