| | March 20176CIOReviewCopyright © 2017 ValleyMedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher thereof.CIOReviewMARCH - 22 - 2017Mailing AddressCIOReview44790 S. Grimmer Blvd Suite 202, Fremont, CA 94538T:510.402.1463, F:510-894-8405 MARCH - 22 - 2017, Vol 06 SE 19 - Published by ValleyMedia, Inc. To subscribe to CIOReviewVisit www.cioreview.com PROCUREMENT SPECIALCIOReviewEditorial StaffSalesAaron Pierce Chithra VijayakumarSarah Fernandes Ava GarciaJoshua ParkerVian IsaacKatherine Joneskatherine@cioreview.comT: 510.996.5173VisualizersDave BrownManaging EditorJeevan GeorgeEditorialK. Manoj KumarWith businesses spending about 50 to 70 percent of their budget on buying goods and services, procurement deems the role of a strategic enabler. No longer a standalone process focused on driving down cost, innovative procurement strategies today help improve revenues, optimize working capital, retain market share, extend product ranges, speed up time to market, mitigate enterprise risk and manage third-party costs and relationships. However, in order to realize its strategic impact, procurement should be supported by agile operating models and robust processes, and this where technology acts as a key facilitator. Clever use of technology not only improves the customer-facing operations but also enhances the supplier-facing side by improving efficiencies, streamlining processes, and enabling visibility into the way buying and selling activities are carried out. Technology can make procurement more manageable and enable businesses to scale with fewer costly errors, better service quality, quicker decision making, and reduced administrative overhead. Technology is not only a catalyst for change in procurement arena but it is also becoming the reason for the change. For instance, e-sourcing is improving the way the businesses source and communicate with the suppliers; analytics is enabling more accurate track of savings and performance; and a unified SaaS platform is streamlining and automating the procurement processes. The list doesn't end here. The mobile technology is allowing procurement professionals to work on the go, with built-in collaboration tools facilitating seamless communication. However, the procurement leadership is hesitant to jump on the tech bandwagon fearing its fast paced evolution that renders even best solutions obsolete in short time. This should not be a hindrance but a motivation for the businesses to stay abreast and relevant with the latest technologies in a competitive and dynamic procurement environment. Those who fail to adopt technology could fall behind. In this scenario, our goal with this special edition is to highlight procurement solution providers who combine their procurement expertise with process excellence and technology solutions to help clients transform their procurement capabilities. This edition blends thought-leadership from subject matter experts with real stories on what selected vendors are doing for their clients, including exclusive insights from CIOs and CXOs. Send us your thoughts.Jeevan George Managing Editoreditor@cioreview.comA Key Strategic Enabler
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