Best Practices in Spending Analysis: Cure for a Corporate Epidemic [Source and Credits: Aberdeen Group]

Sourcing strategy, category expertise, negotiation methodology, and procurement execution are all critical components of a highly effective supply management initiative. However, the success of any supply management program is largely dependent upon the ability to access, organize, and analyze spend data. Spend data is also vital for other business strategies, such as budgeting and planning, inventory management, and product development.

Access to timely, accurate, complete, and detailed spend data offers invaluable intelligence on spending patterns, compliance and performance ratings, inventory status, and part attributes. Such insight is critical for identifying hard-dollar savings opportunities and developing sourcing, budgeting, planning, and product strategies

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Multi-Vendor Management: Aligning Best of Breed with the Best Possible Service [Source and Credits: Line56.com]

In this fast-changing business and technology environment, CIOs are continually juggling the priorities of the business (e.g., preserve the bottom line and the company's customer-centric focus) with IT priorities, such as creating an IT environment that's tailored to the company's needs ...

Conversations with real CIOs reveal their top concerns:
"...having to negotiate, procure, administer and manage multiple support contracts."
"...having inconsistent service levels and incompatible -- or no -- service level reporting."
"...having multiple support interfaces and frustration with finger pointing."
"...ever increasing IT support costs."
"...when my support providers aren't connected to my accountability to the business."
"...struggling to keep ahead of change in our complex, multi-technology environment."

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