Yesterday we counted down the top 20 visited posts from 2016 from the archives, which also contained the top 11 visited posts overall. What does this imply, besides the fact that posts on SI stand the test of time (due to their educational, vs. entertainment, focus)? It means that the desire for Procurement knowledge is increasing, and, more importantly, when you dig in, that a lot of organizations are still struggling with the basics.

Third Party Vendor Reviews Are Important

The 20^th most accessed post was vendor day reprise, which centralizes links to the the vast majority of unpaid vendor reviews done by SI. The 8^th most accessed post was from the Best Practice Vendor Selection series, and on Part V: Stuck with an ERP? You do have options! in particular. And the 3^rd most accessed post is on how BizSlate is Bringing Sexy Back to ERP. In other words, many organizations are still on ERP and trying to figure out how to take it to the next level and how to either migrate from, or, if they are stuck with it, augment their ERP.

A Basic Understanding of Sourcing vs. Procurement is Being Sought

The 12^th most accessed post was on Source to Settle – The Sourcing and Procurement Kettle, which follows up SI’s classic post on how it’s Sourcing And Procurement (and advertises a paper and webinar that explains it all). The 13^th most accessed post addresses the Difference Between Direct and Indirect and the 11^th most accessed post provides a Strategic Sourcing Plan Outline. Then the 9^th most accessed post is Smock on Sourcing Strategy, the 5^th most accessed post is on Developing Category Strategies, and the 4^th most accessed post is on the Evolution of Purchasing. Plus, the 10^th most accessed post is on the advantages of decentralization and the 16^th most accessed post is on the advantages of multi-tier supply chains, which shows that not only is an understanding of sourcing and procurement being sought, but so is an understanding of how to structure it as well.

The Talent Issue is Still Omnipresent

The 15^th most accessed post is on Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z and the 7^th most accessed post is on the importance of the job description to your talent management strategy.

Risk and Related Areas Are Always Back of Mind

The 18^th most visited post in the archives was on Bank Payment Obligations (as lack thereof puts many organizations’ financial supply chains at risk), the 17^th most accessed post was on common negotiation ploys used by sales teams (as not knowing them puts a Procurement department at risk of leaving too much money on the table), the 6^th most accessed post was on how the purpose of a contract is easy to define (as poor definition creates high risk), and the 2^nd most accessed post was on five types of supply risk and how to mitigate them.

There Are Still a Lot of Organizations Beginning Their Procurement Journey

Not only was the top post of 2016 RFX Defined, but it was accessed almost twice as many times as the next most accessed post. (In fact, it was access over 10,000 times!)