Published by Jason Hekl on March 10, 2010
Rob Bernshteyn’s thought leadership and vision is redefining the way businesses manage spend
“Spend under management” and “operational efficiency” are terms too often tossed around in strategic conversations, but rarely acted upon. At a time when organizations need less talk and more action, Coupa CEO, Rob Bernshteyn, stands out as a true thought leader on how companies can capitalize on smarter spending practices in order to drive down costs and deliver real savings for their shareholders. His vision, determination and bias for action is why Rob has been named one of Supply & Demand Chain Executive Pros to Know in 2010.
“This year’s Provider Pros to Know have shown themselves to be thought-leaders in the Supply Chain industry,” said Andrew Reese, editor at Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “Highlighting the learnings that the Provider Pros to Know have taken out of the Great Recession provides our readers with a wealth of best practices that they can apply in their own supply chains, as well as insights into how leading organizations are positioning themselves for competitive advantage in the Great Recovery ahead.”
With Rob at the helm, Coupa is leading the movement to get all organizations, large and small and everything in between, to spend smarter – a priority for any organization hoping to survive the short-term economic crisis and thrive in years to come.
“The biggest challenge facing businesses today is recession survival. To respond to the downturn, most organizations have already undergone hiring and budget freezes, cut spending and ‘right-sized’ their organization,” said Rob. “But these are only temporary measures that will not ensure long-term survival. Procurement and business leaders must take this time to lay the foundation for smarter spending and seize upon savings opportunities that will have a lasting impact into the future.”
Delivering on his vision, where organizations can operate more efficiently and take real-time action to save money, Rob is driving Coupa to provide the most innovative, easiest to use, fastest to implement and cost effective cloud spend management (CSM) applications in the world.
See for yourself why Rob is a “Pro to Know”. Watch his ProcureCon Indirect keynote at http://www.vcasmo.com/video/CoupaSoftware/7614. To learn more about Coupa Software, visit http://www.coupa.com or call 650.931.3201.
About Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive’s user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage. On the Web at www.SDCExec.com.
The full listing of the 2010 Pros to Know will be available in the February/March 2010 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine and e-book beginning in the third week of March and on the Supply & Demand Chain Executive Web site at SDCExec.com/2010Prostoknow.
Published by Jeannie Christensen on March 9, 2010
Last Week’s ProcureCon Indirect 2010 in Charolotte, NC had quite a few highlights. One major highlight–although unrelated to Procurement–was that it snowed in a part of the States known for its mild weather. That was big news and confounding to many local stores that closed down due the elements. (Meanwhile, the Chicago natives were laughing and shaking their heads at what they deemed “flurries”.) In terms of key topics, panel discussions covered a range of subjects, but a few--like organizational structure and building credibility with senior executive teams, were especially noteworthy. But the biggest highlight of all may have been Rob Bernshteyn’s keynote “The Next Generation of Spend Mangement”.
Those of us around the Coupa offices already know how convincing and entertaining Rob Bernshteyn, Coupa’s CEO, can be. But for the unsuspecting souls who witnessed his “Journey Through Time” keynote at the convention last week, Rob’s refreshingly un-corporate approach to presenting the past, present, and future of Spend Management was a real eye-opener. During the presentation, there were a few “oh no he didn’t” moments, and even more nodding heads. The feedback was fantastic, with many attendees calling Rob’s presentation “the best presentation at the entire conference”.
(SPOILER ALERT!) Here’s a brief synopsis of the presentation for those of you who like to read the end of the book first.
INTRO: Rob opens with the question: How can you spend smarter and save money? He answers his own question by noting that it’s impossible to answer that without thinking of the times we’re in.
PAST: This intro allows him to dive into his “Journey through Time”. He speaks to the technology, the people, and the pop culture, and the current events from post World War II all the way up to the 90’s. He clicks through images of the young Rolling Stones, gas guzzling cars, and land line phones. He points out that Procurement was just starting, and America’s economy was booming. It was kind of all administrative and less strategic. Key quote: “We had a seat a table, but it wasn’t the table we wanted to be at…We were a diamond in the rough.”
TODAY: Where are we now? Well, we may still be listening to the Rolling Stones, but they’re older now. The cars? They’re built for fuel economy. And the phones are as mobile as we are. This type of change is just as apparent in the Procurement world. Technology has changed, and with it comes something called SaaS. SaaS is a reaction to the enterprise software problems of the 90’s, where you spent millions and got little. Now with Cloud-based SaaS software, employees can contribute to the bottom line, and there is visibility into the budget that was never there before. There is super fast deployment and easy integration with legacy ERP systems. And all this is happening on the web so you can transpose information within the company with information on suppliers outside the company. These systems are highly flexible, social, and insightful. Key Quote: “Now Procurement has a seat at a table, and the right table. You have a chance to partner with the CFO’s and to not only be the diamond in the rough, but the jewel.”
FUTURE: What will happen in the future? Rob shows images of the hottest TV show called “American Idiot” instead of “American Idol”, the Rolling Stones looking especially geriatric and 3-D computer screens that pop images. The technology? Software will take advantage of artificial intelligence and become “smart”. We’ll be able to log on once online to have access to every site we need, and employees will have applications at their fingertips that empowers them to help control spend. And those who do manage their spend will be rewarded. With revenue being so hard to come by,
Key Quote: “Procurement will have a a seat at the front of the table…The spotlight is on us in the Procurement realm today. We have an opportunity to seize the moment.”
Published by Jeannie Christensen on March 4, 2010
Today’s post is the third in a three-part series by author, PI Window on Business host, and ProcurementInsights.com blogger, Jon Hansen. Part One of this series on Vendor Blogs can be found here, and Part Two on Interactive Intelligence can be found here.
Special Introduction to Procurement Professionals, from John:
Some may suggest that Social Media, the “Power of Publicity” and “Increasing Your Profile,” have very little to do with the world of procurement. However, and as we are finding out, by not paying attention to these important areas of professional development it can, and often does have serious consequences regardless of your profession or area of practice. Just ask the individuals whose expertise is in the areas of Lean and Six Sigma.
Amongst the first to be laid off in large numbers were those professionals whose very role was to drive the efficiencies and savings that were supposedly indispensable during an economic downturn.
As we have discovered in recent segments of the PI Window on Business Show, remaining part of the faceless herd no longer guarantees job security, let alone advancement within an organization.
It is within this renewed lens that I invite you to listen to my interview with Marsha Friedman. My own thoughts on the interview follow, below.
Why Purchasing Professionals Should Care About Personal Branding
There were many tremendous insights provided in my September 17th broadcast in which national radio show host, author and Public Relations Genius Marsha Friedman shared the “Three Step Method to Increasing Your Profile and Exploding Your Business” from her new book “Celebritize Yourself.”
One piece of advice that Marsha gave in terms of helping people to Stand Up and Stand Out in the ephemeral world of social media is to “write a book.”
While writing a book may be too ambitious a task or perhaps even a tad overkill for most purchasing professionals the strong underlying message is simply this: Have you done anything to build your personal brand and community of first level contacts?
As you know, it has always been my belief that purchasing professionals are more than the positions they hold in a company. Like CIOs and CFOs, the artificially established historical boundaries associated with functional silos are becoming blurred. This means that the traditional, and in retrospect narrow, definitions of one’s duties are ceding to a more holistic or enterprise-wide understanding of the many operational areas that were previously off limits.
Included in this broader horizon, is the need to effectively communicate and establish a brand presence with what is a diverse group of internal, as well as external stakeholders. Many with whom the average purchasing professional has had little if any interaction.
This of course doesn’t mean ignoring the indigenous or traditional aspects of purchasing. What it does mean is that we now have to view the world though a more enlightened lens that takes into account a bigger role on a much larger stage.
The challenge however is that the stage is becoming increasingly crowded which means that standing out and securing your future requires considerably more than just being good at your job. Here of course, is the rub: Fear of self-promotion is the problem.
According to a recent study, “The fear of self-promotion is a condition in which even highly competent people receive far less in position, compensation and recognition than they feel they deserve. Doing the best job doesn’t always get the best rewards. Those rewards tend to go to people who promote themselves, what they’ve done and what they can do.”
Now I am not talking about the get up on the soapbox and broadcast yourself to the world mindset. As the international guest panel of experts on my June 4th segment “The Psychology of Social Networking” stated with absolute certainty, telling the world how great you are will get you nowhere in a hurry.
It is therefore important to remember that those individuals who are most adept at leveraging social networking and social media start off by becoming involved in a group or a community of mutual interest. They then look for ways to make a contribution to the group or community as a whole by responding to questions and sharing expertise.
In the process, these individuals build a reputation for making a positive contribution and, as a result establish their personal brand as experts in their respective areas of practice. In short, personal branding is getting involved and delivering value to those with whom you come into contact and associate with on a regular basis.
Think of social networking as an accelerated multiplier in that it enables you to reach more people in a short period of time from the convenience of a single location. You just add the value.
Published by Jason Hekl on March 2, 2010
Over the next few days, we will be blogging from the ProcureCon Indirect conference in Charlotte, NC, where Coupa is a sponsor.
Organizational Structure, Building Credibility, and the Art of Procurement Transformation
This morning’s highlight (aside from Rob Bernshteyn’s presentation – more on that later), was a panel discussion featuring procurement
executives from Invesco, MetLife and Illinois Tool Works, moderated by Bill Schaefer of IBM Procurement Services. The panel discussion covered a range of topics – but two in particular were noteworthy:
- Organizational Structure. Bill asked the panelists where they are with their current organizations, and where they’d like to be, and all three advocated the benefits of not falling beneath the CFO and his organization. Now three data points does not constitute a trend, but it is interesting to get the viewpoints of three particularly well-spoken and successful procurement executives on why the proper organizational structure and alignment is so critical achieving the objectives of the Procurement and Sourcing organization. Though all three were quite respectful of their Finance counterparts and allowed that operating from within the CFO’s organization can be effective under certain circumstances, they were unequivocal in their belief that in their current roles, falling outside of the CFO’s sphere has been particularly helpful in aligning their efforts with the business units they ultimately support. One rolled up to a vice chairman of the board, another to the SVP of IT and Operations, and the third to the COO. All three cited alignment with the business as the primary benefit – primarily because it connected them directly with the operational staff in each business unit, versus the Finance lead or Controller in each group. And one cited that aligning under the COO was very effective in positing the procurement organization as one of the driving forces in ensuring that the businesses operated within their budget allocations. I saw a lot of nodding heads in the audience, and can’t help but wonder if the procurement profession as a whole wouldn’t be better served by similar moves to align procurement and sourcing under a more operationally-oriented part of the organization?
- Building Credibility. Almost all business programs will include organizational behavior as a core discipline, but many business students will be dismissive of those “soft skills” classes. But the three procurement leaders featured in this morning’s panel made clear collaboration, communication, and partnering skills are absolutely essential in building credibility with senior management for their respective organizations. So what does that mean? All three advocated hiring for deep category expertise, because without that, procurement is “just a clerk processing orders.” To truly drive value, the procurement organization must be staffed with professionals who understand their customers’ business, and who align their efforts with the business’s objectives. It’s not sufficient to hire category expertise, however. MetLife AVP of Global Procurement Brad Costedio made clear that you need to be conscious of hiring people who can “gel” with their counterparts in the business groups, because without that, “you’re not going to get anywhere”, even with deep category expertise. Chris Duchene, VP of Corporate Strategic Sourcing at Illinois Tool Works went one step further and explained how important it is to not speak like a consultant outsider – you have communicate in a way your business partners can understand (i.e. in other words, save “strategic sourcing analysis” for procurement conferences), and engage with them in the procurement and sourcing process. And above all, don’t be confrontational – disruptive folks can be a killer. And Mike McHale, CPO of Invesco, advocated that you lavish praise on your business group customers and let them take the credit for your joint successes. Because if you do, you’ll be surprised by how the word gets out about the value the Procurement organization provides. As details of successful projects find their way around the organization, the model naturally moves from “push” (where Procurement pushes its way into the business group to affect change) to “pull” (where the business groups ask for the procurement organization to help them), and you win over the hearts and minds of your business group counterparts across the organization. So to be truly transformational, your procurement leaders must be well-schooled in how to leverage influence. A strong lesson indeed!
Stay tuned for more from ProcureCon Indirect. The next post will be a recap of Rob Bernshteyn’s presentation and his “journey through time” of spend management technology.
Published by Jeannie Christensen on February 26, 2010
Around the Coupa offices, we like the phrase “Show, don’t tell”. And Thursday’s Cloud Spend Management (CSM) debut webinar was a testament to this. Coupa’s very own VP of Marketing, Jason Hekl, gave the presentation–an all-inclusive introduction to the CSM platform. He really got into the guts of the applications, presenting demonstrations of the products (both e-procurement and expense management) that broke down the functionality in digestable bits.
Jason showed how companies can manage both indirect spending streams and expense spend from a single platform built atop a common approval work flow model, a single chart of accounts, and consolidated reporting dashboards and performance benchmarking. And he spoke to the benefits of managers having these tools and insights they need to at their disposal. Simply put, managers can more effectively control the company’s spending as it occurs.
The live webinar is over, but you can watch the archived presentation here. You’ll get a chance to see how the cloud is empowering companies to get 100% of indirect spend under control. And it won’t just be all talk. You’ll get actual how-to’s that you can easily replicate within your organization.
Watch the free Cloud Spend Management webinar now.
