Category Archives: Technology

Got Cloud? I Got Mail. Your Mail!

And that’s just the beginning. I’ve warned you before that you can’t control the clouds and that they are inherently insecure. But did you listen? Nope. Clouds are gaining in popularity, and, consequently, every day more and more data is there for the taking, by experienced AND novice hackers alike.

As per this recent article in the (MIT) Technology Review, on “How to Steal Data from Your Neighbour in the Cloud”, a recent study (by researchers at the Universities of Wisconsin and North Carolina) has proven that software hosted in one part of the cloud can spy on software hosted nearby.

This study conducted an experiment in which malicious software was run on hardware designed to mimic the equipment used by cloud companies such as Amazon. The software was able to steal an encryption key that was used to secure e-mails from software belonging to another user. This allowed the researchers to decrypt e-mails sent by the user (which are easily captured by packet sniffers on a compromised machine attached to the cloud).

As per the article, the new attack undermines one of the basic assumptions underpinning cloud computing: that a customer’s data is kept completely separate from data belonging to any other customer. This separation is supposedly provided by virtualization technology. However, because virtual machines running on the same physical hardware share resources, the actions of one can impinge on the performance of the other, an attacker in control of one virtual machine can snoop on data stored in memory attached to one of the processors running the cloud environment (that is used as a cache in a trick known as a side-channel attack).

Remember this before you go for a full-fledged cloud solution. SaaS from a private data centre run by a single vendor is probably okay if they maintain separate database instances for each client (with their own, separate, encryption keys). But shared services on a cloud are probably not a good idea. At least not from a security perspective.

One Size Does Not Fit All – That’s Why You Need User Configurable Workflows

Andrew just posted a great post over on CPO Rising on how One Size Does Not Fit All where e-Sourcing and e-Procurement is concerned. As Andrew astutely notes, process standardization is very important within Supply Management, but having only one option for e-Sourcing or e-Procurement events is certainly not the way to go.

One has to remember that even in the simplest classification scheme, you will break your events into quadrants based on dollar value and business impact (or supply challenge and business impact). For low value, low impact events, you’re not going to use a process that requires a lot of time and effort, because you need that on high-value, high impact categories. Similarly, you’re not going to use an automated e-Auction for a high-value, high-impact category and essentially throw the category to the wind. As Andrew notes in the first example in his post, if the process is set up for large, high-value, multi-stakeholder process, it’s not going to work for small, low-value, single stakeholder processes as it will be too cumbersome and your buyers will do everything they can to bypass or ignore it.

In order for your solution to work, it needs to support multiple project configurations that can be defined by the client. For example, the client should be able to configure simple, automated e-Auctions for low-value, low-impact categories; automated e-RFXs for low-value, high-impact categories and high-value, low-impact categories where Procurement personnel only need to get involved in final review and award; and full-fledged multi-round RFX and Decision Optimization for high-value, high-impact categories. (Now, every category should run a baseline optimization scenario before an award is made, but extended analysis does not need to be done for all categories.)

And, further more, it needs to be easy for a Director or CPO to grant exceptions to the process when they are appropriate. For example, as per Andrew’s 3rd example, it should not take months of back and forth to remove a “mandatory” automobile insurance provision when no automobiles are being used! So make sure your solution is configurable, or it might not last long in your client’s Supply Management department.

Demo Tips

the doctor has been asked a few times now by vendor reps on how to give a good demo. He’s been hesitant to address the subject beyond what is already on the FAQ regarding product reviews because this is one subject where good is in the eye of the beholder, but since he doesn’t like his time wasted when getting demos, here are his tips for giving a good demo to SI.

(01) PowerPoint is for Pansies.
Did I mention I was going to be brutally honest? You don’t demo a product with PowerPoint. EVER! Powerpoint is only for

  1. Summarizing key facts about your company.
  2. Summarizing key points about the problem domain.
  3. Summarizing key contributions of your solution.

then you get into the demo ASAP (As Soon As Possible).

(02) Off-the-Cuff is only for experts. Have planned, tested, to-the-point walkthroughs that cover the key features you want to promote.
If you just released a new version of your product that adds new auction formats, constraints or cost modelling capabilities to optimization, real-time market feed integration, etc. and that is what you want to show off – make sure you’ve tested minimal walkthroughs that display those capabilities as accurately as possible. Don’t divert from these unless asked as you don’t want to run out of time and not show off your best capabilities. And definitely don’t dilly-dally.

(03) Focus on features that are unique. Not cookie-cutter features found in a dozen competitor products.
Even if it’s new to you, it isn’t going to do anything to impress someone who’s seen it a dozen times before, no matter how flashy your UI is. And speaking of UI, this is enterprise, not consumer, so flash doesn’t get you bonus points. In fact, if the flash slows down or detracts from the process, it gets you strikes. Enterprise is about ease of use and efficiency. Unless you’ve found a way to simplify the process, avoid anything that’s considered a standard feature of the product you’re promoting.

(04) Don’t jump around the screen.
You might have fast internet, but that doesn’t mean that the person on the other end has fast internet or that the web sharing software you’re using can keep up as you jitter around the screen like a Hummingbird. Move smoothly, and slow enough for the software to keep up. If you have a habit of jittering, setup a client machine next to you so you can see what your audience sees.

(05) Have a flushed-out data-set.
Once you get through the scripted part of the demo designed to show off your product’s key feature, or significant enhancements since the last demo, the doctor is going to want to confirm that it is market ready and real. This means he’s going to want to see some random functionality, on the path of his choosing. And he’s not the only blogger who works this way. Be prepared to cater to your audience’s demand. After all, if you want a good write up, you’re going to have to keep their interest long enough for them to get enough material to write it.

(06) Have a domain expert on the call.
Preferably this person and the person giving the demo are one in the same, but if not, be sure you have someone who can answer intelligent, thoughtful, expert questions, which you are going to get if you do a good job and keep the doctor‘s attention because he is, after all, a domain expert.

(07) And, whatever you do, don’t paint an old Fiat 500 black and call it a luxury limo.
Remember that even though you can put lipstick on a pig, in the end, you still have a pig, so do not simply slap a new UI on an old product and try to pass it off as new and improved. If you haven’t improved the process or capability, or it still doesn’t really do what it needs to do to be effectively deployed, you’re not going to be able to hide this from anyone who has one eye open and half a functioning brain when it comes to technology. Trust me on this one.

Iasta: Smart Source-Style! Part II.

To the tune of Gangnam Style.

Sourcing Smart-Source Style.
Smart-Source Style.

Sourcing platform for users and bosses too. Sweet.
SaaS on the cloud, always on, real-time reporting complete. L33t.
Analyze this. Auctions, Performance. Real time data.
Optimize It. Contracts, and vendor schema.
One. Two. Smart-Source Success!

In Part I, we covered the first three significant changes to the Iasta platform since we last covered Iasta in depth on SI three years ago. Today, we cover the remaining significant changes.

Extensive Support for Third Party Data Feeds
Realizing that no analytics platform is complete without the ability to enhance the data with supplementary data that makes it meaningful (like index data for raw materials / components, inventory cost data from an ERP, services spend from a third party management [3PM] system, etc.), Iasta has developed native in-house capabilities to pull in data from a plethora of ERP/MRPs, e-Procurement/P2P systems, and third-party data feeds (like D&B, etc.) as well as custom feeds from sources you already use.

P2P Integration Capabilities
Iasta knows that the best sourcing event is all for naught if the sourcing plan, ultimately embedded in a contract, is not properly implemented and followed through and 40% of the negotiated savings leaks and goes down the drain. Thus, they have developed powerful P2P integration capabilities in-house and can suck in all of the transactional data from your e-Procurement and/or P2P systems, map it against your contracts, and let you monitor spend in near-real time as the contract progresses. This way, if the contract is being neglected, the buyer can detect that after the first or second purchase, and not three years down the road during the re-sourcing event when all of the negotiated savings have been lost due to maverick spending or dishonoured discounts and/or rebates on the part of the supplier.

Customizable Reporting and Dashboards for Users and Executives
While Iasta, like other (e-)Sourcing and (e-)Procurement providers has always had sourcing dashboards, by module and by suite, it has developed the ability for users to create their own dashboards using pre-configured reports and widgets, custom reports (which can be created by its custom reporting engine), or existing dashboard templates. Most clients don’t, choosing to have Iasta do it for them, but the extensive reporting and dashboard configuration capabilities allow Iasta to create extensive summary dashboards to meet any need or desire in a matter of hours. Buyers can see what they need to see to be most effective on a daily basis, supervisors can see what they need to see to make sure all of their buyers’ programs are progressing appropriately, and high-level executives can get their traditional 6-gage 30,000 foot view dashboard and see that everything is, or is not, under control.

A Broader Services Offering
Iasta is finding what many other software and services providers are finding, that most organizations that (still) don’t have a (modern) (e-)Sourcing platform don’t have the resources to manage one, the skills to fully apply one, or the support to acquire either. The fact that an average organization still is not hiring or putting money back in the training budget means that a new supply management software acquisition is not beneficial to an organization without vendor or third party support. Due to the lack of talent, and training, most of the advanced functionality ends up being shelf-ware unless it’s used by an appropriately knowledgeable third party. So, like BravoSolution, Iasta has extended their suite of services and are now doing as much, or more, services work than software support. In addition to being able to fully manage events, they can fully manage sourcing programs, spend analysis efforts, integrations with P2P or ERP systems, and training efforts.

Other changes include enhanced category management and sourcing pipeline management capabilities, built-in trend reporting and variance analysis, geographic reporting, enhanced project management with milestone-level tracking, and built-in supplier scorecards.

It’s an extensive suite, and exemplative of why Iasta is now a clear-leader in the e-Sourcing mid-market.


We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls!

Wallmedien Puts Another Brick in the Wall – With Contract Management!

When I was hired in Procurement there were certain people who would lay bare our spend anyway they could by pouring their derision upon anything we bought exposing every weakness however painfully skilled it was wrought

But among us it was well known that when they went home at night
they too were paralyzed with fright that gripped them fully throughout their work life.

… because …

We don’t have no contract system.
We don’t have no price control!
No spend monitors in the software,
buyers left in a black-hole
Yes, Buyers, left in a black-hole!

Without contract management and monitoring, most buyers are in a black-hole as they don’t know whether their carefully negotiated savings-laced sourcing strategy is being properly implemented. Every organization needs (near) (real-time) contract management, even if it already has a sourcing suite. That’s why, noticing the dearth of stand-alone contract management solutions on the market (as the best-of-breed vendors keep getting acquired), Wallmedien decided to release a stand-alone contract management solution for those who already had a (partial) sourcing or procurement solution and just needed to fill a gap or two.

Like any good contract management system it supports all organizational contracts (buy and sell side), roles-based access, reporting, inventory and spend tracking, early-warning of upcoming terminations or automatic (evergreen) renewals, automatic identification of contracts that are no longer linked to products or services (or that have not been purchased against in the last x-months), and extensive contract authoring features for framework, services, purchase, maintenance, license, telecommunication, and rental contracts. It can also track warranties and alert a user when a return can be made against a contract. And it seamlessly integrates with numerous third party systems, including the big-name ERPs and MRPs.

Since we all know what contract management systems do and how they work, there’s no need to go to deep into any of these points as the whole point is to let you know that if you need a BoB point-solution to augment an existing sourcing or procurement solution, and are having difficulty identifying a stand-alone contract management solution that meets your needs, Wallmedien is one option that you can definitely consider.