The inexorable and rapid conversion of old-school shopping and buying habits into the modern world of mobile and sharing remains primarily a consumer phenomenon, and even that trend is tempered to an extent by demographic segmentation. Nonetheless, it is occurring and drawing converts daily, as things become more intuitive across devices and apps. By and large, this shifting has not yet converted to business practices and capabilities at quite the same pace, as corporates of all sizes and sides of the equation (buyers and sellers) in most cases are in the process of figuring it out. This headline speaks to a particular posting, appearing in Spend Matters Network, referencing this very laggard circumstance.
‘The experiences of consumer technology such as Uber and Amazon and the visibility and efficiency they provide, has now increased expectation of business users regardless of their sector. B2B buyers are now demanding this type of technology and supply chain visibility in the workplace, wanting to be de-shackled from the legacy systems which, historically, have been all pervasive within businesses, hospitals, schools and pretty much every other organization.’
The author summarizes a discussion with the head of a UK supply chain network enabler (Virtualstock) that provides retailers and healthcare companies with easier ways to manage, analyze and moves goods. We recently covered the growing digitization and convergence of the procure-to-pay space, and certainly agree that the tools exist to move on from 20th century practices and technology to overhaul the buying side, if not the entire ‘kit and caboodle’ (not sure of that term? check out the old George Carlin routine ‘some werds’ on Youtube).
‘Companies need an easy-to-use software system that can be plugged into, or on top of, any existing legacy system and create one centrally controlled interface that enables real-time visibility of the supply chain and management of data.’
These things are out there and so we encourage you to find them. Need help, just ask.
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
