Category Archives: Marketplaces

Cap Gemini IBX – Closing the Loop on Source to Pay

Cap Gemini is a one of the world’s largest multi-national consulting companies headquartered in Paris, France that focusses on management, outsourcing, and technology-based consulting and specializes in strategy, digital transformation, finance, marketing, IT strategy, solutions design, big data / analytics, and supply chain management consulting. Of course, we are primarily interested in the latter and, in particular, any technology underpinnings.

As part of their technology underpinnings, Cap Gemini has three primary offerings. Spend Analysis, powered by Spend Radar; Procurement Intelligence, powered by Microsoft’s Strategy Companion; and the IBX Business Network that implements their Source-to-Pay platform with e-Sourcing, e-Procurement, and supplier (portal) support. This is what we’re going to cover briefly in this post.

The solution is a seamlessly integrated Source to Pay Solution with a global supplier network, where suppliers can self-register, manage their customer interactions through a portal with a single integrated view, and even manage their invoices that originate outside of the IBX platform (which is a unique capability that will be discussed later on). If you consider the classic Sourcing and Procurement lifecycle, first diagramed by the doctor on SI back in the doctor wants to remind you it’s Sourcing and Procurement, a good S2P solution needs a lot of capability, especially if you want to capture low-volume purchases and spot-buys (and, in particular, catalog management needs to underlie the requisition through the approval process). The IBX platform contains, to some degree, almost everything indicated in this diagram (with the exception of true strategic sourcing decision optimization, which we know is currently limited to the six samurai) plus a lot of cool supplier network, catalog management, and spot-buy features, including a few that you will not find in any other (best-of-breed) platform on the planet.

In this post, we’re going to focus on spot-buy and the invoice management dashboard, as they are the most unique offerings in the platform. The new spot-buy functionality allows a requisitioner to create a requisition for anything they need, fill out as much information as possible (including expected pricing), suggest one or more suppliers on the network, and route it to Sourcing for identification of the proper products and/or services. A (senior) buyer in Sourcing will validate the request, choose the appropriate sourcing process (RFX, auction, third-party catalog offering), make a selection, and return it to the buyer for final acceptance and submission, at which time it will be routed to the appropriate approvers. Note that we say Sourcing, not a buyer, as it contains rule-based workflow management that allow it to be routed to the buyer with the proper authority with the smallest workload to minimize processing time.

The new invoice management dashboard, designed for the supplier, allows a supplier to sign in and see on one screen the status of every invoice sent to every customer on, and off, of the IBX network as well as drill in and get as much related information as there is for IBX platform invoices (including, but not limited to, conversations, buyer requested corrections, goods receipts, purchase orders, etc.). The system supports uploads from standard AP and ERP systems for suppliers to get this information in the system. Being able to log into one portal and service all their IBX customers through one login and one interface is great, but being able to manage all of their invoices, which is something that is always top of mind for a supplier, is even better still.

There’s a lot of other cool and powerful features in the IBX system, and they are covered in detail in the recent piece by the doctor and the prophet over on Spend Matters Pro (Part 1 of 2, membership required) which gives one of the most in-depth and balanced reviews of the system that you are going to find anywhere.

Geopolitical Damnation 25: Government Actions

We already know governments can be a daily source of damnation, and even though we’ve directly or indirectly addressed some of these damnations in our coverage of Waste Legislation (15), Customs Acts (28), Trade Embargoes (29), TPP & the Poison Pill (30), Tariffs (34), Labeling (36), and, especially in Consumer Damnation 71 Government, we’re going to discuss governmental actions again because, from a geopolitical perspective (as opposed to the environmental, consumer, and regulatory perspectives where the government has already received a significant amount of coverage in our damnation series to date), there is still so much more that they can do to make your job living hell.

Here are just a few of the damnations they can create that will cause you never ending nightmares.

Budget Freeze

If a budget can’t be agreed upon by a deadline, or a budget is exceeded and an overspend is not approved, until such time as the budget, or overrun, is approved, any an all payments owed to your company are on-hold. If you desperately need that cash for daily operating expenses for the big order you just delivered before the freeze, tough luck. Let’s hope you can get invoice financing or a bank loan when an expected payment date is unknown. But this is not as bad as a

State of Emergency

In a State of Emergency, you may be forced to supply goods or services to the government and/or consumers at pre-approved rates, even if such rates could net you a loss due to increased production or delivery costs in the state of emergency, and even if such goods were earmarked for sale to another customer in another locale willing to pay a premium rate. Even worse, you could be forced to deliver those goods when there is a budget freeze on, which not only prevents the organization from being paid for an unknown amount of time (and a restricted cash-flow severely hampers Procurement when the organization cannot pay its suppliers), but also clears it of inventory. Then, as we all know, there is no sale, no store.

New Legislation Outlawing Your Product or Service

As makers of betting and lottery technology, radar detection units, and even video game consoles know all too well, a single incident of consumer outrage or, even worse, the single minded focus of an effect lobbyist or lawmaker can result in your primary product becoming illegal almost overnight. Then the organization can be stuck with a glut of inventory, ironclad contracts (with huge penalty clauses), and, sometimes, no (obvious) way to get the product to where it might still be legal to sell the product in a secondary market. But yet Procurement will be expected to save the day and get the contracts nullified in exchange for new contracts for other, still legal, products, get rid of the inventory, and manage the paperwork hell that will ensue.

Criminal Charges against your Organization and/or Executives

Even if your organization unwittingly broke the law as a consequence of a rogue employee who broke the rules (despite training and policies in place to prevent it), a contractor, or a supplier that you couldn’t monitor as closely as you’d like, your organization could still be the organization brought up on charges. If an authorized party, acting in the interest of your business, makes a bribe, conducts business with a terrorist (organization), or purchases from a supplier that uses forced labour, you’re on the hook. And since Procurement is ultimately held responsible for policies and purchases, the heat will be coming down hard on Procurement.

There are, of course, a dozen more areas where government actions can pile on the damnation, but as these are among the nastiest that have not yet been covered in this series, we feel we’ve made our point. Enjoy the heat. (On the bright side, at least you’re not freezing in the cold northern winter.)

Regulatory Damnation 37: Industry Associations and Standards

One would think that the regulatory damnations would stop with the ever increasing onslaught of regulations being passed around the globe that restrict the organization on:

  • raw materials,
  • production processes,
  • available labour, and
  • third party providers

that collectively cover

  • environmental regulation,
  • energy and water usage,
  • slave labour, human trafficking, and child labour,
  • oversight and documentary requirements,
  • taxation and reporting, and
  • corporate social responsibility and ethics

among a few dozen other regulatory requirements. But they don’t.

To top it all off, you have to deal with industry association standards that you have to include in your products or face becoming the next pariah. In today’s hyper-connected, mega-corporate world where a few big companies determine the fates of thousands of smaller companies who sink or swim on as a result of their boycott or their support, your company’s fate could rely on another companies whim. So if that company enthusiastically supports a standard that you don’t, that could be the end for you. But that’s just the beginning of the damnation.

Newly enacted standards could be the exact opposite of the protocols you built your product on.

For example, you could have designed your electronics product to work on DC current but the new standard for the GPS system, designed to be used in the car and on the trail, is AC with an AC to DC adapter. All of a sudden, you can’t get the Industry Association seal of approval and your product is dropped by all of the major electronics retailers.

Newly enacted standards could redefine the communications interface.

You might have spent years developing a custom communications protocol to interface with your new mobile weather data reader, but then the major software packages adopt a new standard you weren’t expecting and drop support for your standard faster than a hot tomato and your product can’t even be sold through the discount outlets because there is no support for it.

Newly enacted self-imposed regulations could prohibit the purchase of raw materials from producers expected to violate fair-wage and human rights principles.

If you already locked into a contract with a producer that has been banned, all of a sudden you could be the target of competitors negative advertising campaigns that target you as a consumer of unfairly produced goods. This could destroy your brand value if you are buying raw materials that might be harvested by child or slave labour, even if the claim has no evidence to back it up.

While industry standards are not as damning as regulatory damnations, as industrial competitors cannot seize your goods, levy fines, or press criminal charges, they are still damning as we noted above because if you fail to honour the industry association’s boycott, you could be the target of negative advertising. And the right negative advertising can considerably damage your brand, plummet your stock, and bring sales to a trickle. This damnation, that likes to hide in the shadows, doesn’t emerge often, but when it does, it’s a doozy.

M&A: Is What’s Good for the Shepherd, Good for the Flock? Part II

In Part I, we noted that the prophet has a different take than the doctor on the recent M&A (merger and acquisition) frenzy that is again gripping the Procurement space and, contrary to the doctor‘s opinion, the prophet believes that, at least in the long term, it brings more clarity than confusion. We then summarized the cons that the doctor sees with the M&A frenzy and the pros that the prophet sees. The points that the prophet made were all valid points and they definitely presented opportunities for the firms in question, but is what’s good for the shepherd good for the flock?

While it’s obvious that any of the advantages brought up by the prophet bring great value to the new organization, do they bring great value to the customer as well? (Let’s face it, while the doctor loves innovative and customer-focussed vendors, he loves innovative and customer-focussed solutions even more.) The Supply Management space will only advance if the organizations doing Supply Management can advance. And to advance, they need the right (transitional) processes, the right technology platforms, and the right talented people to run the function. Does a merger necessarily improve the processes, the platforms, or the people? Let’s take the advantages proffered up by the prophet one by one.

  • Differentiation by way of a broader solution offering
    If you were relying on the vendor for its great sourcing platform, and the merger was between a platform provider and a services provider that allows the new organization to offer a full (outsourced) sourcing solution, how much does this help you if your organization was a leader in sourcing process and capability and doesn’t need any of the new service offerings? Or let’s say a sourcing provider and P2P provider merged but your organization already has a superior P2P platform implemented and integrated with the sourcing platform. Does the merger help you?
  • New Points of Entry
    While it’s great for the newly merged company that they have more opportunities to secure more customers, except for the fact that this may lead to increased financial stability for the provider (which will make your risk management department happy), that doesn’t do anything for you as a customer. The only thing that you care about is whether there are new products, functions, or services that make your operations better.
  • Lower-Cost foot in the door
    With the exception that this lowers the provider’s overhead in the long term and the provider is willing to reinvest this savings in innovation that results in free platform / product upgrades, this doesn’t do anything for you as a customer.
  • Stealth-Transformation
    While this is great from the perspective of an acquiring company that can use the acquiree’s personnel and capabilities to transform itself into a big league competitor under the radar, what does this do for the end customer? Maybe nothing!
  • A Better Executive Team
    If the executive team understands your needs and support requirements better and actively works to improve their service offerings for you, this could be a good thing, but not every new thang will be right for your organization.
  • New Products / Solutions
    If the new products / solutions complement the products / solutions that your organization is using and can be utilized by your organization to increase organization capability and maturity, this will be a good thing, but the new products / solutions might be focussed on a completely different type of customer base and leave you hanging high and dry.

In other words, while all of these benefits are arguably good for the shepherd, there is no guarantee that any of them are good for the existing flock. And even if some of these benefits are good for some of the herd, there’s no guarantee that they will be good for each individual sheep. So, again, the doctor must ask, from a customer perspective, M&A: Confusion or Clarity?

M&A: Is What’s Good for the Shepherd, Good for the Flock? Part I

As the doctor expected, the prophet has a different take on the recent M&A (merger and acquisition) frenzy that is again gripping the Procurement space and, contrary to the doctor‘s opinion, the prophet believes that, at least in the long term, it brings more clarity than confusion. Furthermore, in his posts over on Spend Matters, the prophet makes some great arguments as to why M&A is a good thing, at least from the vendor perspective.

But is what’s good for the shepherd good for the flock?

Let’s look at the cons that the doctor highlighted in his original post that asked if M&A was confusion or clarity.

  • Many acquisitions end up being overvalued
    As the prophet neatly summarized, the doctor has noted that some transactions often remain “in the red” even a couple of years after the transaction has been made. Maybe the value was there, but if it’s not captured, and the private investors and/or VCs start demanding realization, who’s going to pay?
  • Many acquisitions end up significantly overlapping in functionality / offering
    Does a customer need two RFX platforms? Two invoice management platforms? Two reporting engines? Nope! In order to streamline costs and operations, one of these platforms has to be axed, and a large portion of the customer base migrated. If the functions don’t map one to one, who loses?
  • Many acquisitions run on completely different platforms & stacks
    This makes integration a nightmare. Either a lot of work, and money, will need to be invested to make an integrated platform work or one platform will have to be selected as the core go-forward platform, critical functionality developed on it, and a migration strategy, and module, developed for the customer base that will need to be migrated. In the short term, costs will go up (and not down, which is what should happen if there is synergy).

Now let’s look at the pros that the prophet highlighted in his pieces on “A Critical Take on M&A in Procurement Technology” and “M&As in Procurement Technology Work” on Spend Matters.

  • Differentiation by way of a broader solution offering
    than the companies could offer on their own, which creates
  • New Points of Entry
    into the market than a point-based solution can provide with a
  • Lower-Cost foot in the door
    since, even if the technology headcount can not be synergized, at least the salesforce can be (and sell more per unit). In addition, the combined company can effect a
  • Stealth-Transformation
    that allows the combined organization to offer more than each could on its own, because 1+1=3, and all of a sudden the new organization can graduate from the minors to the big leagues, with the support of
  • A Better Executive Team
    that is formed by bubbling up the cream of the crop for each position in a manner that allows each executive (who often had to wear multiple hats in the individual smaller organizations) to focus in on their key strengths which will help the company identify
  • New Products / Solutions
    that could be developed and brought to market by the combined organization that neither organization could consider on its own.

And these are all real opportunities that can be realized by the firms in question in a merger or acquisition that truly has the right synergy, but is what’s good for the shepherd good for the flock? Stay tuned for Part II!