EdgeworthBox Canada and SkyFly Solutions Partner for Software Licensing Supply Arrangement with the Government of Canada
March 2024 | Vancouver, BC and Ottawa, Ontario – EdgeworthBox Canada, a procurement technology company, and SkyFly Solutions today announced their listing in the Government of Canada’s Software Licensing Supply Arrangement. SkyFly Solutions is a Canadian Indigenous IT services, staffing and solutions company that helps customers implement, customize, and optimize their use of the EdgeworthBox […]
Elastic Procurement Is Better than Traditional Procurement
A good procurement event is one in which the buyers find the best combination of problem-solution fit, a reliable supplier, and a reasonable price. We call this value-for-money. Problem-solution fit refers to the degree to which the good or service purchased fixes the problem that motivates the procurement. The buyer’s objective function is to maximize […]
Improving SME Procurement Enables Social Procurement
B2B buyers have multi-fold corporate responsibilities. First and foremost, they must obtain value-for-money in purchasing solutions that solve problems their organization faces. This means buying the right solution, from the right supplier, at the right price. This is part of a broader mandate. Private companies exist to generate profitable cash flow for their owners. Government […]
Social Procurement Needs Us to Ask the Right Questions
Organizations buy goods and services to solve problems. If there is a subsequent issue with the procurement, if it turns out that what they bought didn’t fix whatever needed fixing, it could be for many different reasons. But the core explanation may be mis-specification of the problem. It is likely that what they sourced was […]
The Game Theory of Procurement and RFPs
Jeff Bezos is one of the wealthiest men in the world. He is extraordinarily good at management. He has a useful analogy for decisions. “Some decisions are consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible – one-way doors – and these decisions must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. If you walk through […]
Supplier Relationship Management Is Not an Adversarial Process
In the movie “Jerry Maguire,” the inciting incident is the protagonist’s departure from his established agency to pursue his own principled approach to managing professional athletes. After a rousing call to action on his way out the door that falls on deaf ears (but one), he rushes to call his clients as quickly as possible, […]
What Do Vendors Want?
Many suppliers tell us that they don’t respond to RFPs. They see them as “rigged” or “wired.” They think that the outcome of the RFP is pre-determined. It is nothing more than a pro forma exercise in compliance. Others tell us their frustration when they see an RFP that is inconsistent. This happens in technology […]
How to Make Digital Procurement Transformation Succeed
Digital transformation involves implementing technology to effect change. This shift we seek may refer to improved business processes, products, or business models, or some combination of improved outcomes. At a high level, it involves two phases: implementation, followed by continuous improvement. According to apocryphal reports, it fails 70% of the time. Yet, businesses still keep […]
How Can Procurement Attract and Retain Talent?
I often remark that “nobody grows up wanting to be in procurement.” Maybe somebody out there did. I have not met them yet. When children are in school, they dream of more glamorous occupations: professional athlete, entertainer, politician, and now, influencer. Of course, not everyone is suited to be these things. Perhaps they lack the […]
Reference Checks Reign Supreme in Vendor Risk Management
There has been an explosion in services that seek to help buyers vet suppliers. These services take unstructured data from a variety of sources online and develop a structured set of data, specific to an individual vendor. Some of them may use AI (and shortly generative AI) to make judgments about the suppliers. This is […]