In case you didn’t know – but as a procurement, supply chain or finance professional you probably do – eWorld is just around the corner, 3rd March to be exact. This bi-yearly event attracts procurement practitioners, solution providers, heads of supply chain, heads of finance, academia and third sector organisations from all industries, and as the name suggests, from all over the world.
It really is a gathering of all the procurement-related stakeholders you could imagine, and it seems to be getting bigger every year, which is why as well as giving us a chance to hear and meet experts on the latest topics and work with peers at roundtable events, it’s an amazing opportunity to network. We always discover vendors we didn’t know about and start-ups, and get a chance to talk with the established market players too about their latest developments.
eWorld takes place at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, just off Covent Garden, London. An excellent location, and rather refreshingly, is free to attend. So you can drop in and out for the sessions you’re interested in without worrying about not getting value for money – although we would recommend you stay the day, because if you don’t, there’s always something among the wide ranging topics that you will wish you hadn’t missed.
eWorld brings together people who want to learn more about similar things, like better procurement practices and processes, market trends, strategy improvement, technology adoption, relationships and innovation – so you’ll be in good company. The seminars are a key part to the day – a chance to learn from other organisations that have gone through transformation or tackled the same market challenges you are facing, and they are keen to share their ideas and learnings for you to take away and adapt to your own organisation.
The programme for this spring is yet to be finalised but we do know that you will be hearing from, to name but a few:
- Aimee Newey, Lead Consultant, Excelerated S2P, SAP Ariba talking to Alisa Bornstein, Senior Director of Group Procurement at Arm, a global hi-tech business that specialises in designing microchips, about their procurement transformation journey, which took just six months with the help of the right combination of technology and people.
- Debbie Metcalfe, Procurement Consultant & Trainer, Achilles Information Limited on how to conduct a compliant evaluation process, discussing an appropriate approach to scoring and moderation and the requirements of the evaluation panel, making reference to some key case law.
- Scott McKenna, Procurement Operations Manager, Royal London (on behalf of GEP) about the process of implementing a new procurement solution – due diligence and selection (selecting the ‘right’ partner and solution), designing the build requirements, bringing about cultural transformation, delivering efficiencies and adding value to the procurement process.
- Stephanie Gautier, Chief Product Officer, Silex on artificial intelligence and data processing technologies and how they are revolutionising the analytical capabilities of buyers. Based on their projects with clients such as the Ministry of Armed Forces or Total Group Procurement, you can discover how they implemented new technologies in purchasing with a quick ROI.
This is just a taste of some of the sessions on offer, but suffice to say eWorld should definitely be on your radar as one of the most rewarding events for procurement professionals in the new year – some great speakers and a good variety of topical content. Don’t forget to stop and talk to the firms that are exhibiting too; they are there to share their expertise and are happy to chat – no strings! They’ll be delighted to tell you what their competitive advantage is and share how they think their product or service can really help your organisation. So do take some time, in a non-commercial and friendly environment to ask them a few of your burning questions.
Spend Matters will be there as always to listen, network and cover the event – so we hope to see you there – more details are here and you can register here.
