0:00
to risky business building elasticity
0:02
and resilience and I am joined by Roy
0:06
Anderson who is our featured guest as
0:09
usual. He is a profent professor at Nor
0:12
Eastern University. Do you want to give
0:13
a short introduction to yourself Roy for
0:15
those of you who don’t know him?
0:16
Sure. uh 40 plus plus plus plus plus
0:20
years in the industry starting with
0:22
Rathon uh going to become chief
0:24
procurement officer at companies like
0:26
John Hancock as they went public uh
0:28
MetLife as they went global, State
0:31
Street Bank as they went through
0:32
transformations, uh did my own company
0:34
for a while and uh uh teamed up with
0:37
Anders frequently for opportunities to
0:40
discuss next generation activity.
0:42
Wonderful. And for those of you who
0:44
don’t know me, my name is Andrew Zelik.
0:46
I’m the phone founder of focal point and
0:48
similar to Roy I have a a long career in
0:52
procurement. I was chief procurement
0:53
officer for companies like Fandy May,
0:55
QBE, Webster Bank, Citizens Bank and so
0:57
on. So I got most of my stripes in uh
1:00
financial and insurance services
1:02
sectors. And uh if you guys want to drop
1:06
in the chat where you guys are calling
1:08
in from and why you care about this
1:10
topic, that would be fantastic. Uh
1:13
otherwise we will just start rocking on.
1:15
So uh my code of today’s objectives. So
1:18
today we want to talk about how
1:20
procurement can look at reducing risk
1:24
and supply chain uh resilience sorry and
1:27
build supply chain resilience by doing
1:30
stuff right internally within
1:31
procurement and that basically means
1:33
building redundancy and smarter
1:35
strategies to sort of meet the needs of
1:37
today as well the needs of tomorrow. And
1:40
Roy, do you want to maybe add to this
1:42
very quickly about what you see
1:44
resilience in procurement to be?
1:46
Sure. Yes. So the the concept of um the
1:51
industry today, the world economy today,
1:54
the impact whether you’re in the
1:56
manufacturing sector, direct materials
1:58
or indirect materials, there is radical
2:02
changes happening uh in every step in
2:05
every category of activity. So as a
2:08
chief procurement officer, you need to
2:10
be able to prepare for these uh rapid
2:13
changes. You need to have the skill sets
2:16
developed to be able to support that
2:18
activity. And I’ll tell you, this is a
2:20
very active area. Uh you can’t just sit
2:23
passively and see it happening. You’ve
2:25
got to actively perform uh work in order
2:28
to be prepare your organization for that
2:30
resiliency.
2:31
All right. Uh and do you think people
2:34
outside of procurement fully understand
2:36
what that means for us procurement uh
2:38
folks?
2:39
No. Until the product doesn’t show up or
2:41
the service doesn’t happen uh or or
2:44
impacts to your pricing structure is
2:46
negatively impacting your profitability,
2:48
they turn around going, “Hey, who’s
2:50
responsible for this?” And uh lo and
2:52
behold, here’s procurement trying to
2:53
drive these contractual changes uh and
2:56
and not getting the support that they
2:58
need. Now, hey, I I’m not blaming anyone
3:00
else. It’s up to us. You have I always
3:02
tell CPOS, the first problem is the
3:04
person looking at you in the mirror in
3:06
the morning. If you’re not up for the
3:08
job, you know, make sure you hire the
3:11
people that are up for the job to be
3:12
able to make those things happen. We we
3:14
have to stand on our own with our own
3:16
skill sets and capabilities in order to
3:18
be able to drive this activity and to be
3:20
able to market the value proposition we
3:22
bring to the table. I mean, that’s
3:24
that’s part of the play is that we have
3:25
to let people know what we can do and
3:28
then do it. Couldn’t agree more. So,
3:31
let’s move on to topic number one. So,
3:34
data um procurement loves data, right?
3:38
And it it’s um it’s kind of the backbone
3:40
of everything that we do. So, Roy, how
3:44
do you think about data and access to
3:46
data in today’s environment?
3:48
Oh, it’s it is uh it’s sad. Um now, some
3:52
of the companies out there, hey, you’re
3:53
doing a great job. What you’ve done is
3:55
digitized your entire um order to pay
3:59
process. So you now have accurate
4:01
information in terms of what you
4:03
historically spent with the right
4:05
supplier information, category
4:07
structure, pricing activity, uh
4:10
definitions of of those products and
4:12
services that you bought.
4:13
Congratulations. You’re you’re at step
4:15
one of this activity. For the rest of
4:18
you that are still using invoicing and
4:21
people keying in invoices in order to
4:23
get the uh things paid, you’ll find that
4:25
your data is horrific. It doesn’t give
4:28
you the information. It actually sends
4:29
you off in in wrong directions. Uh it is
4:33
crucial that you realize that your
4:36
digitization of your process literally
4:38
from need through payment. That’s
4:40
sourcing, source through pay. Name your
4:43
definition. Uh but let’s how do you find
4:46
the need? How do you look for future
4:48
activity? How you go through the
4:50
sourcing um negotiation, order
4:52
processing, payment activity? That’s
4:55
just get you your data you need to start
4:57
working for uh for the next generation.
5:01
The next generation to say now that I
5:03
know what I bought in the past, is it
5:04
going to match what I buy in the future?
5:06
I would say 60 70% match, but the rest
5:09
of it brand new every year. Uh and then
5:11
it’s up to you to be able to drive risk
5:14
mitigation based upon that activity,
5:17
those changes uh in order to support
5:19
your internal customers because they’re
5:21
at the the whim of the environment, the
5:25
economy, the government changes, the uh
5:28
the uh impact of wars and conflicts
5:31
around the world. Uh but it’s up to us
5:33
to understand our suppliers. not only
5:34
first tier suppliers, but how do we get
5:37
to second and third tier suppliers when
5:39
you’re now talking about a million
5:40
suppliers in that in that impact zone
5:43
that you’re not need to get to and I and
5:46
I think one of the topics that we in
5:48
this topic we say access to centralized
5:50
data as sort of the key like I think a
5:52
lot of companies have data somewhere in
5:55
the organization but getting your hands
5:57
on it in an organized way becomes the
6:00
herculan task and I was chief
6:02
procurement officer for a very large
6:04
global company at some point in time,
6:06
not that long ago actually. And just to
6:08
get accurate spend data for your
6:10
suppliers involved going into three
6:12
different ERPs globally to far it out
6:15
that data and then without a normalized
6:17
supplier naming convention across those
6:19
ERPs. it was always wrong. um or it
6:23
required a lot of scrutiny to just get
6:25
there and the data exists but getting to
6:28
it was hard
6:29
and I think that becomes the challenge
6:31
right um so how do you sort of see
6:35
technology coming into the four here
6:38
well we are doing a much better job of
6:41
having spend analytics tools and
6:43
orchestration tools that allow us to uh
6:46
pull that data from multiple systems so
6:48
you have the APIs that made the data
6:50
flow into much easier here but as I
6:53
mentioned you know that’s 60% of your
6:55
future spend is a indication of your
6:58
historical spend but the rest is you
7:01
need to be able to meet with your
7:02
internal customers know where where are
7:05
their budgets so now you’re talking
7:06
about how do I get access to the next
7:09
generation budgets next year’s budgets
7:12
in order to understand what requirements
7:14
they’re going to have going forward not
7:16
only just next year but the year after
7:18
because some of our efforts to be able
7:21
to get the right supplier. And what I
7:22
mean by the right supplier is not just a
7:24
good price. That’s key. Optimal holistic
7:26
cost structure, but the right supplier
7:28
in terms of innovation. Is this going to
7:30
be the supplier that’s going to take us
7:31
to where we’re the leader for for our
7:34
customer base? Are this the supplier
7:36
that is mitigating risk because of how
7:38
they spread their manufacturing or
7:40
service portfolio to be able to have
7:43
better solution sets? So it takes time
7:45
to find those suppliers that are around
7:48
the world that are going to meet the
7:50
expectations of your internal customers
7:52
not only today but for the next two or
7:54
three years and then exceed the
7:56
expectations of your external customers
7:59
which is what it’s all about to drive
8:00
that revenue. But you’re so that’s the
8:03
other big big chunk of your work is not
8:05
just historical tough enough but let’s
8:08
start being predictive. Let’s let’s
8:10
start understanding what people need.
8:12
That’s when we start adding real value.
8:14
Amazing. I I couldn’t possibly agree
8:16
more. All right, on to topic number two.
8:19
Um, and this is all about procurement
8:22
systems, right? So, how now you know one
8:25
of my uh one one of my esteemed
8:27
colleagues like liked to mention the
8:29
fact that when you and I were in
8:31
procurement Roy there was maybe like 10
8:32
procurement system and now there’s like
8:34
400 procurement, right? So u now like
8:39
how how should we think about the
8:42
capable flexible procurement system and
8:44
the role of becoming the resiliency
8:47
driver for procurement and reducing the
8:49
risk.
8:50
Okay. Now in this discussion we’re
8:52
spending most of our time talking about
8:54
the the actual technology right not the
8:56
operating system that people and all
8:58
that but the technology that’s required.
9:01
One ease of use. Let’s be let’s be
9:03
clear. Our internal customers again,
9:06
whether it’s a bill of material on the
9:08
direct side or the every internal
9:11
employee on the indirect side, it’s got
9:15
to be easy to use or they don’t use it.
9:16
If they don’t use it, you’re you’re
9:18
you’re basically stopped in the water.
9:20
You don’t have any momentum because how
9:23
fat if you’re constantly telling the
9:24
individual why it’s important. They’re
9:26
going, “It’s hard to use. I’m not I’m
9:28
not using stuff that that doesn’t make
9:30
it my life easier. Uh so your system has
9:34
to be intuitive. It has to meet the
9:36
expectations of the internal customer at
9:38
the level that they’re at. And uh that
9:42
there are individuals that are extremely
9:45
competent, capable getting things done.
9:47
And then there’s a a whole list of
9:48
people that just don’t have that uh
9:50
skill set. So our goal here is one ease
9:53
of use. Two is the fact that we can
9:56
bring suppliers into the system quickly
9:59
as the environment changes. It it should
10:02
not be painful for a supplier to be able
10:05
to do business with us. It should
10:06
actually make it easier. I’m a big
10:08
believer that I want to be the lowcost
10:11
customer. That means I want to make it
10:13
so easy for my best suppliers that
10:17
they’ll put me before anyone else
10:19
because I’m easier to work with, I’m
10:20
faster to work with. more open, more
10:23
transparent, that they’re more
10:25
profitable even though we get lower
10:26
holistic cost structure, but we’ve
10:28
stripped away the pain and suffering of
10:30
doing this business.
10:34
That’s um that’s right on. I I think
10:36
you’re absolutely right. The other thing
10:38
that I al also keep thinking about is
10:41
the flexibility of a solution to be able
10:44
to sort of flex with the needs, right?
10:46
Because typically what you and I have
10:48
done traditionally is to sort of say
10:51
like what are my requirements right and
10:53
that’s all we really have to go by like
10:55
what are my requirements today uh and
10:58
but we we seldom think about what will
11:00
my requirements be in the future and
11:02
it’s very nebulous for us to think about
11:04
that so when I think about a flexible
11:07
procurement solution it’s about how can
11:09
I take solutions that I have today and
11:13
maybe not repurpose them but add
11:15
capability ities to do things without it
11:18
taking a year to implement costing me
11:20
another million bucks to do. So that’s
11:22
the flexibility and agility of
11:24
procurement solutions that I look for
11:26
today. And and how does that fit with
11:28
what you’re seeing out there?
11:30
Yeah, that’s that’s critical. Um speed
11:33
of of implementation and I I use the
11:35
metric is how do you get to 90%
11:38
penetration? So I can get the tool up
11:41
and running in a week. But if it takes
11:43
me a year to get 90% penetration,
11:46
meaning all the work that should be
11:49
going into that tool set is not getting
11:52
into it. I don’t have penetration for
11:55
for that capability. Therefore, I’m not
11:57
receiving the benefit uh that has been
12:01
defined. So I always like to say getting
12:04
it up and running is step one, but
12:06
getting it implemented to the point
12:08
where there’s utilization at 90% of the
12:11
activity is uh is critical for that
12:14
success. So the and now as you as you
12:17
deal with your your company, your
12:20
company’s growing and developing and
12:21
changing. They’re adding other countries
12:24
to their uh um customer base. They’re
12:28
adding other countries to their supplier
12:30
base. they’re adding other capabilities.
12:32
You need to have a technology that’s
12:34
going to be able to uh reach out to
12:37
those new languages, those new
12:38
currencies, those new um policies,
12:41
procedures, taxes, uh all those things,
12:44
all those regulations have to be able to
12:46
come into your organization and be
12:49
readily available. So, the technology is
12:51
crucial to make that happen without
12:53
throwing lots of people, which you don’t
12:54
have available uh into the mix.
12:58
And I I’ll add to that, too. You talked
12:59
about geographical expansion but also in
13:02
procurement we are very used to having
13:04
regulators throwing stuff at us or the
13:07
board throwing stuff at us and so on and
13:09
so forth. It’s all about all right now I
13:11
need to look at I don’t know financial
13:14
stability assessments. How can we add
13:15
that to the to the solution? Now we need
13:17
to look at diverse suppliers. How can we
13:18
add that to the solution? Now we need to
13:20
look for conflict minerals. How can we
13:22
add that? How anti-modern slavery? I can
13:24
go on and on and on, but you know,
13:26
without I I know there are point
13:28
solutions for each and every one of
13:30
these things, but you really don’t want
13:32
to be in 65 different point solutions.
13:34
You want to be in one spot really,
13:36
right?
13:37
And maybe you can build it within the
13:39
one spot solution or you can call out to
13:41
those systems, you know, for the
13:43
information.
13:44
Yeah. And we need and we need to make
13:46
sure that our internal customers are
13:48
being communicated with real time. uh
13:51
they feel more comfortable. Uh I I tell
13:54
my students at Nor Eastern said, you
13:56
know, if I had 60 sourcing experts, they
13:59
would have 10 plus projects going on at
14:02
any point in time that and that’s 600
14:04
projects with 10 you internal customers.
14:07
That’s 6,000 internal customers that are
14:10
that are looking for information. Where
14:13
are my contracts? When they’re going to
14:14
be coming due, what have my suppliers
14:16
responded? So, the ability to be
14:19
transparent in that process to give them
14:21
the information they need to be able to
14:23
do their job and and feel comfortable
14:25
I’m getting my job done in a timely
14:27
manner is is critical. And then on the
14:30
back end, the Monday morning
14:32
quarterbacks are everywhere, right? Oh,
14:35
why did you make that decision? Well, if
14:37
you have the data, you can clearly show
14:40
people why you made the decisions you
14:43
made based upon the criteria that were
14:45
provided and the information that’s
14:47
that’s there. That’s a huge win to have
14:49
everyone realize they know what they’re
14:51
doing. They know why they did what
14:53
they’re doing and they’re optimizing the
14:54
solution for every customer inside the
14:57
company.
14:58
Amazing. As we get into topic number
15:00
three, I would like to mention that if
15:02
there are any questions, comments,
15:04
concerns from the audience, please enter
15:06
them in the chat and we will address
15:07
them as they come. But topic number
15:10
three, uh, and this is maybe more for me
15:12
than for you, but like what are some use
15:14
cases that can illustrate solution
15:16
flexibility to help us support this
15:18
resilience we’re talking about?
15:20
Yeah. Well, I’m hoping you got a nice a
15:23
nice couple in your back pocket there
15:25
for me there, Andress.
15:26
Sure.
15:28
So what we have found interesting is by
15:32
putting together you know focal point
15:34
number one we have all the data sort of
15:36
normalized into one spot. So you can
15:38
double click on a supplier for instance
15:41
and you can see the spend the payment
15:43
behavior the contracts the projects
15:45
they’re working on the risk behavior the
15:46
stakeholders and you can go on and on
15:48
and on. We can also pull in thirdparty
15:50
data and so on and so forth. But we also
15:53
have a flexible workflow studio where
15:56
people can model pretty much any
15:58
workflow that they want. So we’ve had
16:00
some customers who let us handle all the
16:03
innovation or all the implementation.
16:05
And we thought that was great at the
16:07
beginning. But what we have seen when we
16:09
have other folks that are basically
16:11
training themselves or we train them to
16:13
to modify the solution or configure the
16:15
solution, they have found ways to use a
16:18
solution in ways that we never even
16:20
thought about. So we have one customer
16:21
who does supplier invoice reconciliation
16:24
in one spot. So no longer does that get
16:27
done on the desk besides you know the
16:29
solution and the journal entry gets put
16:31
in with notes. They literally bring the
16:33
item into focal point. They collaborate
16:35
on the J journal entry decide like do we
16:38
amend the PO do we do a JA or do we push
16:41
back at the supplier and everything is
16:43
done in one spot and with full
16:44
auditability right and then it gets
16:47
resolved in the system of choice
16:48
depending on the action you take. They
16:50
set this up on their own without our
16:52
involvement which is incredibly
16:53
powerful. The other one that I always
16:55
thought was interesting too was the
16:57
whole idea of um we have one customer
16:59
who is using risk assessments within
17:03
focal point for their suppliers and the
17:06
risk organization really enjoy doing
17:08
that. So they can get the in inherent
17:10
risk questionnaire then they can do
17:12
follow-up things within like collecting
17:13
socks W9 SU certificates whatever the
17:15
case may be. But the risk organization
17:18
said, you know, this is pretty pretty
17:20
cool. Can we also use this as we are
17:23
onboarding new customers. This is a law
17:26
firm and the and the law firm basically
17:28
has to look at what actions are they
17:30
currently litigating across the
17:32
portfolio to make sure there’s no
17:34
conflict. So they wanted an intake
17:36
solution for their customers and they
17:39
exposed focal point to their customer
17:41
base to answer an inherent risk
17:43
questionnaire for them to be onboarded
17:46
and that allows again the risk
17:48
organization to work in one place
17:50
without having to go outside for another
17:52
solution for that and they were they
17:53
were using smart sheets before to do
17:55
that. So think about the different user
17:57
experience of sending a smart sheet to a
17:59
customer versus sending them a link to
18:01
say can you fill this out please right
18:02
and everything get automatically scored
18:05
but the other sort of flexibility things
18:07
is as we’re adding you know processes to
18:11
the u to the supplier management for
18:13
example or supplier onboarding for
18:15
example.
18:17
So you can think about u doing one more
18:20
due diligence check or doing fourth
18:22
party uh risk surveys those kinds of
18:24
things and It’s relatively simple to set
18:27
up. All right, here is a supplier and
18:30
here are their their third parties that
18:32
we need to manage. So on and so forth.
18:34
And we can send a survey out to the
18:36
supplier and say, all right, what are
18:38
your dependent third parties that we are
18:40
dependent on? And not only can we
18:42
collect information, we can also collect
18:44
things like website addresses. And then
18:46
we can pull out a bunch of information
18:48
about the fourth parties as well. And
18:50
then we can say to a customer, okay,
18:52
here’s your business process. here’s
18:53
your direct suppliers that you’re
18:54
dependent on. Here’s here’s they are
18:56
dependent on to make that happen. It
18:58
becomes very sort of robust and and and
19:02
enlightening as you sort of thought well
19:03
I only thought I was dependent on two or
19:05
three suppliers. Well that’s not the
19:06
case.
19:07
You probably dependent on 15 suppliers
19:09
14 of which you don’t have a contract
19:11
with which is also kind of interesting
19:13
right? So it elevates that risk
19:15
perspective significantly. That is just
19:18
a small I small subset of the things
19:21
that you know people come to us with
19:23
their original problem and don’t think
19:25
about all the tertiary use cases that
19:28
can be deployed without adding cost or
19:30
without adding manpower to which is
19:32
super powerful.
19:33
Wow. That’s why I like uh the work that
19:35
you’re doing at focal point because
19:37
transparency across a broader spectrum
19:40
of the organization will allow you to be
19:43
significantly more flexible. Um so for
19:46
example if you I mean spend analytics is
19:48
is crucial underneath you you feed that
19:50
in all your contracting activity uh says
19:53
these are the things that are happening
19:54
right now that we can actually make a
19:56
difference on. So as a risk issue which
20:00
you get feedback on uh are says we’re
20:03
having a problem in this geographic area
20:05
or for this category type you have
20:08
access to saying hey we’re using other
20:10
suppliers for similar items in other
20:12
geopolitical areas or other parts of the
20:15
company. And now why don’t we take the
20:18
contract we’re working on today which
20:19
you would never have known before uh and
20:22
be able to adjust real time as you
20:25
understand the risk so that you not only
20:27
provide mitigating support for other
20:30
areas of company but then you’re
20:32
eliminating the risk on on going with an
20:34
old supplier that is irrelevant or or
20:37
higher risk um picture.
20:41
This transparency is what it’s all
20:42
about.
20:43
Right. I couldn’t agree more. that used
20:45
to drive me crazy as a CPO to go all
20:47
over Hell’s Acres for information even
20:49
if it assuming that it existed of course
20:51
right so getting it to before is is key
20:54
the last topic is topic and this is for
20:57
you Roy is what sorts of future
21:01
functionalities should do we envisage
21:03
that will help us be even more resilient
21:06
and reduce more risk
21:07
so there is so much going on now let’s
21:10
start from where we were before
21:12
digitization of your processes are crit
21:14
critical without digital process and
21:17
data you’re you’re in trouble but on top
21:20
of that you start getting into things
21:22
like digital twins so now I can show the
21:26
flow of work or services deep inside not
21:30
only first tier second tier third tier
21:32
where we’re required not everywhere but
21:35
where necessary so in the pharmaceutical
21:37
industry they’re finding doing their
21:39
drugs all the way down to the base
21:41
product no matter how many suppliers
21:43
down the
21:44
food products, cannabis solutions.
21:47
They’re getting real good at getting
21:49
into second and third tier data and then
21:51
be able to track that data not only
21:53
through the first level manufacturing
21:55
and the distribution and the shipping
21:58
activity and and the warehousing, but
22:00
being able to bring it all the way to
22:02
where the customer has it. So when
22:03
things go wrong, they can see not only
22:06
where, but where do they have to fix?
22:08
They can actually start jumping on
22:10
things earlier in the process to open up
22:13
massive savings opportunities where they
22:15
didn’t realize they were having such a
22:17
loss or speed the shipping or eliminate
22:20
the inventory, eliminate cost because we
22:23
don’t need that new warehouse because
22:26
our data is now showing we can deliver
22:28
it more effectively going around that
22:32
that warehouse. Therefore, lowering cost
22:34
structure. uh tied to that is this whole
22:37
concept of blockchain.
22:39
How that ends up at the end, I’m not
22:41
positive. Okay, so that’s kind of uh uh
22:44
new. Uh it there’s blockchain
22:46
everywhere, but it’s changing radically
22:48
uh to try to be less energy intensive,
22:50
but the idea is that you can actually
22:52
feed the data and then be able to have
22:54
better analysis. And and I mean I’m
22:56
thinking about the concept of saying,
22:58
hey, rather than having a contract,
23:01
purchase order, invoice for your tier
23:03
three, tier two, tier one, at some point
23:04
in time, we’re all going to know that
23:06
they’re shipping and we knowing that
23:08
they’re what their contract says. So
23:10
payment should happen automatically
23:12
without all this other back and forth
23:14
documentation. It should be uh more
23:16
streamlined in that process. Then on top
23:18
of that, all those activities are
23:21
driving data, massive amounts of data,
23:24
which is where Agentic AI is going to be
23:27
able to show us how to dig deep into the
23:29
data, finding areas of opportunity,
23:32
finding areas that we never realized
23:34
were possible because humans could not
23:37
dig through that data that fast. I give
23:40
you an example. In the educational
23:41
space, there are 1 million research
23:44
papers a year of incredible insight that
23:49
no one can read or understand. But all
23:52
that is going to be made available in
23:53
the AI world and be able to pull out
23:55
those uh knowledge points that we can
23:59
take action on. And only with the power
24:02
of AI are we going to be able to take
24:04
advantage of that. So that’s all starts
24:05
with digital data and then digital twins
24:09
into AI agents that are going to be able
24:11
to give us actionable data.
24:13
Amazing. Well, you went 23 minutes
24:15
without mentioning AI. So
24:16
congratulations. I think that’s a new
24:18
record for for all of us.
24:20
Really?
24:21
But I but you know I think the
24:24
functionality that we’re seeing more and
24:25
more of is the interconnectivity of
24:28
solutions, right? Using an old
24:30
technology called API. And it’s it’s
24:32
it’s fascinating to me that a lot of
24:35
solution providers are sort of still
24:37
sort of given the heist of saying like
24:39
no don’t don’t connect to my systems. Um
24:43
as a matter of of strategy to sort of
24:45
say well I I have all these
24:46
functionality don’t let anybody in. And
24:48
I think that’s going to be a solution
24:50
killer for the future. Right? If you
24:52
can’t connect to other things to drive
24:54
processes forward you’re going to get
24:56
left behind. And I see a lot of
24:57
frustration for customers who have
25:00
picked solution providers that basically
25:02
don’t have open APIs or the AP APIs are
25:05
so limited that they’re essentially
25:07
useless. U so I think that’s going to be
25:11
continuing now to have more and more
25:13
open architectures so that people can
25:15
share information and progress things
25:17
faster and faster.
25:19
Yeah. and and you know as we mentioned
25:20
earlier there were just 10 or 20 tools
25:23
in the past there 400 going on 4,000
25:26
tomorrow those tools are very very
25:29
capable but they need to talk so open
25:31
APIs the ability to move data between
25:34
systems is is going to be instrumental
25:37
in those organizations that are going to
25:39
be able to optimize their supply chain
25:41
solutions.
25:42
Amazing. Um so with that guys we are now
25:46
at the tail end of this program. Uh,
25:48
next topic, topic five is going to all
25:51
be about ESG and beyond.
25:53
So the other stuff that procurement has
25:55
to worry about that does not necessarily
25:57
show up in our job description. I guess
25:58
it does sometimes but not always. Uh, if
26:01
there’s any quams, questions, concern,
26:03
you can drop them in the chat or reach
26:04
out to Roy and I directly. Um, but
26:07
thanks a lot for everybody’s
26:09
participation and and showing up today.
26:11
And uh, have a great rest of your week.
26:14
Have fun. Thanks, Andrew.
26:15
Thanks, guys.
