Beyond simply treading water: Why procurement data quality matters On-Demand Webcast Presented by BetterManagement.com in association with SAS Register Now

The data quality lifeline: A practical approach to strategic sourcing On-Demand Webcast Presented by SAS in association with Accenture Register Now

What's so strategic about sourcing anyway? It's all in the data. Performing spend analyses using bad data will only give you bad information. Sourcing can only become strategic when you can access, categorize and analyze accurate data – so you can be confident that your decisions are based on the right information.

View this powerful two-part Web series to gain the insights and direction you need to stop floundering in data and reach your strategic sourcing goals. The first seminar answers why procurement data quality matters, and the second follows up with how you can take action to become a strategic organization.

Beyond simply treading water: Why procurement data quality matters
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Is your procurement organization simply treading water when it comes to strategic sourcing? View this webcast to develop a vision of where you want to be and learn how to create a plan for getting there.

Pierre Mitchell, vice president of AMR Research, helps you understand:

• Why reliable procurement data quality is a crucial first step to strategic sourcing.
• What data cleansing is and how it supports your sourcing process.
• How commodity classification can help you streamline your procurement operations.
• Why automated procurement data enhancement is so important.
• How to evolve your sourcing strategy.

The data quality lifeline: A practical approach to strategic sourcing
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Join Dennie Norman, worldwide strategist for SAS' supply chain analytics program; Benny Östh, manager of contracts and shipping at the Components business unit within ABB Power Technologies of Sweden; and Christopher Brousseau, senior manager in Accenture's Supply Chain Service Line, assigned to its Procurement & Sourcing Practice, describe the steps to becoming a strategic sourcing organization and the technology solutions that can help you achieve your goals.

This Web seminar describes:

• Pressing challenges and best practices in strategic sourcing.
• Five keys to transforming your procurement organization from transactional to strategic.
• The strategic sourcing continuum and how to determine your organization's spot on it.
• Steps your organization can take right now to become strategic.

Who should watch the series?
Executives, directors, managers and analysts who want a better understanding of how business intelligence, procurement data quality, procurement data augmentation and analytic applications can contribute to a company's success.

About the speakers…

Pierre Mitchell, vice president of AMR Research, focuses on supplier-facing technologies that support strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier collaboration and the inbound supply chain. He has 15 years of industry and consulting experience in operations strategy, process redesign, and systems selection and implementation. His implementation experience has been primarily in processes such as strategic sourcing, procurement, strategic network redesign, distribution and inventory planning, master scheduling, warehouse management, and production and inventory control.

Before joining AMR Research, Mitchell was a manager at Arthur D. Little Inc. (ADL), where he led numerous supply chain redesign and ERP implementation initiatives. During his consulting career at ADL, CSC Consulting, and Coopers & Lybrand, he worked at client firms such as Xerox, Johnson & Johnson, Chiron, Genzyme, Biogen, Pharmacia, Melville, A.T. Cross, Ford Motor Company, New Venture Gear and Garden Way . He has also worked as a manufacturing systems project manager at The Timberland Co., a materials manager at the Krupp Companies and an engineer at EG&G.

Mitchell received a bachelor's degree in engineering management from Southern Methodist University, and his master's in business administration at the University of Chicago, with a minor in strategy, statistics and quality management. He was recently named by iSource magazine as one of the top 50 practitioner "pros to know" in supply management.

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Dennie Norman, worldwide strategist for SAS, heads SAS' supply chain analytics marketing group. He is a long-time supply chain manager, previously working for ABB, a power and automation technologies company based in Switzerland .

Before leaving ABB to join SAS in 2003, he led the implementation of a Web-based supply management action and reporting tool. The project's business objectives were to reduce costs for purchased direct and indirect materials by 10 percent; increase efficiency in the procurement process and in the level of cross company cooperation; and better position ABB in a global supply market. Previously, Norman was CIO and supply manager for business area power systems, responsible for IT and supply chain systems.

Norman holds a master's degree in structural engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and has completed post-graduate work in both business administration and international information systems management.

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Benny Östh is the manager of contracts and shipping at the Components business unit within ABB Power Technologies of Sweden. During his 20+ year career, Östh has served in a wide variety of senior-level sourcing and procurement roles, mainly with ABB, a global leader in power and automation technologies. His positions have included purchasing manager, supply manager, global business unit supply coordinator, logistic manager, project manager and proposals manager.

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Christopher Brousseau is senior manager in Accenture's Supply Chain Service Line, assigned to its Procurement & Sourcing Practice. Based out of Accenture’s Palo Alto office, he has more than 14 years of experience in consulting and industry. Brousseau's experience covers delivery of functional and technical solutions for procurement, strategic sourcing, e-sourcing and reverse auctions, e-procurement, supplier relationship management, and supply chain management. He has experience working with the federal government, electronics and high-tech, telecommunications, products and resources industries.