Monthly Archives: September 2006

RSS

Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a web feed in XML format used for web syndication, where a web feed is a special kind of web page designed to be read by a “feed reader” which automatically extracts content from a server and delivers it to you in an easily accessible manner when new content is available.

Why is this important? Any decent blog will support standard RSS format that is also supported by any decent reader.* What this means to you is that you, as a user, can subscribe to the blog, just as easy as you would to an e-mail newsletter, or an old-school news group in an old-school newsreader, and have all of the postings from all your favorite blogs ready and waiting for you seconds after you open your favorite feed reader. In other words, if you like Spend Matters, eSourcing Forum, Procurement Central, Supply Excellence, Vendor Management, or Sourcing Innovation, you can subscribe to it and get your content hot off the presses as soon as your favorite bloggers publish it.

There are a large number of RSS readers out there, and you should have no trouble finding one you like. The RSS Info page on blogspace lists over a dozen. Some browsers, such as my browser of choice Opera (since it was everything FireFox is before we had FireFox, even though it wasn’t free until recently), even have a simple RSS reader built in.

Now, if you’re a power reader, you probably know all this. But since a recent CNet blog post indicated that some statistics show that about 90 percent of the public has no idea what RSS is, I thought it be best to be safe than sorry and not only share the simple definition, but also let you know that you can subscribe to these blogs through RSS.

* Note to authors: if your blog does not support RSS, maybe it’s time to upgrade.

The Sourcing Innovation Series: Part VIII

Yesterday, Charles Dominick of NextLevelPurchasing (acquired by Certitrek and now the NLPA) jumped in with an initial post on “Sourcing Innovation for Single-Customer Contracts” on his “Purchasing Certification” Blog (now the NLPA blog) where he offered his insights on the affect of the forthcoming innovation on purchasing professionals and the skill sets required for the future. For more details on the post, and my thoughts on it, check back Sunday.

Today I’d like to welcome Kevin Brooks of Apexon (acquired and merged with Infostretch in 2022) who has been kind enough to provide us with his commentary on the Future of Sourcing. Note that Kevin was also kind enough to provide his insight on “Supplier Performance Management” in response to one of my weekend series over on e-Sourcing Forum [WayBackMachine].

My take on the topic is a bit more abstract. In particular, I suspect that innovation in sourcing will trend toward doing less rather than doing more.

When I look at other industries, I notice that innovation seems to move along a path that makes things easier and simpler for end users even if there is tremendous sophistication under the hood. (Microsoft Windows might be an exception to this rule!) I don’t need McKinsey slide decks to convince me that true strategic sourcing is complex, but the same thing could have once been said about any number of things that are now commonplace. Driving across the country. Getting a knee replacement. Online banking.

I suspect that the tools to enable sourcing will move toward simplifying a complex process, and put the capability in the hands of a much wider group. Sourcing will become a standard business skill set you’d expect from any decent business school graduate. At the same time, more of the responsibility for delivering against expectations will fall on the heads of suppliers themselves, or their proxies (as in the case of contract manufacturing or outsourcing).

Obviously, big strides need to be made in sourcing technology and in clearing the pesky master data management briar patch. And I’m sure there are a few innovative strategies yet to be discovered – Jason’s global capacity marketplace, for example — but they don’t affect the ultimate trend line. In the end, I suspect successful companies will tend to prioritize customer sales and service over internal operations or supply sophistication. Yes, the two are connected, but not in the eyes of most CEOs or even the customers themselves. The less time and effort a company puts into sourcing, the more they put into customers. Ergo, sourcing innovation will trend toward doing less, not more.

Thanks Kevin! I look forward to future guest posts from you!