Dawn TiuraReaders of Spend Matters and SIG’s member companies have a lot of overlap. I’ve read many articles on this site from companies that are part of the SIG community. Through the years, Spend Matters has never failed in delivering amazing content that is actionable and reality-based, as well as non-sponsored ratings for those of us who work with procurement technology.
In that way, SIG and Spend Matters are kindred spirits. SIG provides its members thought leadership, networking and career training so sourcing, procurement and risk professionals can stay on top of the latest innovations — from updated best practices to the technologies that continue to change the way we work.
As the President and CEO of SIG, I’ve seen the industry grow and the roles of sourcing, procurement and risk professionals morph. We’re all staring down the barrel at these new technologies of robotics, automation and machine learning and wondering, Is my job next?
Well, it could be. But I not only believe that this technology comes in peace, I want to show you how it can help you be a little bit better at your job every day.
Want to find out how? Join me and over 350 of your colleagues next week at SIG’s Global Executive Summit in Carlsbad, California, Oct. 14-16. Innovation is at the heart of this conference, and at SIG events you aren’t bombarded by salespeople (they’re not allowed and I’ll kick them out), you’re introduced to buy-side thought leaders who are working with provider industry experts pioneering the latest advancements in machine learning, robotics process automation, artificial intelligence and more. Some are in the start-up phase and others are industry titans, but they all have takeaways, templates or research that you can use as soon as you return to the office.
So whether you are looking to implement a process change, cultural change or a full-scale digital transformation, SIG’s Global Executive Summit has something for everyone. Here’s a sneak peek of my SIG Summit favorites, but you should definitely check out the full agenda.
Be prepared for trillions of dollars to hit your corporate balance sheets
The CFO-CPO relationship is historically fraught, namely due to communication gaps. At the start of 2019, public companies began to adopt one of the biggest accounting changes in history. New lease accounting standards will result in trillions of dollars of leases being transferred onto corporate balance sheets by 2022.
This means that finance and procurement are going to have to get a lot cozier. We’ve put together a keynote panel of leaders from finance, supply chain and procurement to cover the impacts of the new leasing standards. But at the heart of this discussion are ways that automation is helping the procurement and finance relationship with financial reporting, spend analysis, accounts payable automation and supply chain finance.
Want to spark change, innovation and inclusion where you work? Keep reading
Kate Renwick-Espinosa is the President of VSP Vision Care. In her keynote at Summit, she’ll highlight how VSP set the tone from the top that led to driving the behavioral changes needed to allocate money, resources and employee inclusion to invest in strategic priorities.
We know that employee adoption is one of the biggest barriers to any kind of change, whether cultural or technological. Kate will highlight how organizations can adopt a culture of fiscal fitness through impactful activities, engaging content pushed through a variety of communication channels, and a tighter alignment between leadership and different groups.
Take a stroll through Innovation Hall
It’s easy as a sourcing professional to think you have all the technology you need … but as I am oft heard saying, “You really don’t know what you don’t know, if you haven’t looked recently.” So much is happening with procurement technology that unless you admit that things are changing, there is no way that what you have is all that you need.
Innovation Hall will allow attendees to spend time talking to all the industry’s best service providers to show you the latest and greatest technology improvements coming to sourcing and procurement organizations today.
Witness what’s next
It is our ethical responsibility to continually adopt new technologies to improve a company’s competitive edge, while at the same time improving the lives of people displaced through automation. We need to be smart about it, we need to be deliberate about it and we need to make sure people understand our ethical responsibility.
That’s why we are so proud to recognize some amazing nonprofits and companies focused on socially responsible sourcing and automation. You will have an opportunity to meet people from organizations like the Carbon Disclosure Project, Givewith, the Global Impact Sourcing Coalition, and Refunite.
While there is much talk of nationalism these days, global trade is like glitter — once it’s out, it is impossible to contain. Like glitter, globalism continues to spread prosperity, and while you are not always thinking about it, you will often find little glitters of prosperity showing up from your impact sourcing initiatives, like the glitter from the holidays is still shining somewhere in your home six months later.
Dawn Tiura is the President and CEO of Sourcing Industry Group (SIG).
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