| | June 20198THE NEED TO FOCUS ON DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND SUPPLIER SYNERGIES By Rajat Arora, Director IT & Global Head - Network & Telecom Services at Diebold Nixdorfs Director of IT & Global Head for Networks, I've been closely en-gaged with the Pro-curement function as we look to invest in future tech-nologies that would change the way we do IT and our core business. I see them as a critical function towards our cost saving efforts, negotiating and strategizing our IT Infrastruc-ture spends in 2019 with vendors and keeping a tab on the supply chain dynamics. The world of procurement has undergone vast changes in the past couple of years. I'll be touching on some of these trends that Procure-ment would carry forward from 2018 and continue to operate on in 2019.Aligned with the organization's Digital Strategy: For long, the rise of digital technologies and its posi-tive impact on procurement has been projected as a procurement trend. We continue to stay invested in 2019 in transitioning towards cloud and our software defined IT strategy. This lays a solid foundation towards our digital strategy. From automating redundant procurement tasks to em-powering C-Suite in decision making, from better market visibility through product innovation to increased profitability, the benefits of digital technologies are enormous, and so is the importance of digital procure-ment. To realize the maximum value, organizations need to invest in the right infrastructure, processes, and resources with a vision that aligns with their objectives in the long term.Building Talent Pool to Embrace Digital Technologies: Procurement function has to move from deliver-ing mere cost savings to providing a strategic edge to the organization. It's quite essential to build a holistic sup-ply chain and to drive enterprise-wide cost reductions, for which procure-ment function has to utilize the maxi-mum value out of digital technolo-gies such as AI, Robotic Automation and Blockchain in their day to day work. In 2019, the IT organizations especially the procurement functions is going to focus on finding the right talent and at the same time grooming the in-house resources through spe-cially designed training and skill de-velopment programs to stay relevant in the coming times. Supplier Engagement: With the growing levels of collaboration be-tween procurement and suppliers due to the advent of technology and its changing dynamics buyers can-not just afford to communicate with suppliers over the price. They need to have them engaged on strategic decisions during the initial planning phase. In 2019, more focus would be given in improving work syner-gies with suppliers. Managing risk becomes more effective and trans-parency increases which empowers the suppliers and promotes healthy competition amongst them eventu-ally benefiting the organization.Risk Management: From Brexit to trade wars (the US imposing tar-iff sanctions on China) to fluctuating IN MY OPINIONARajat Arora
< Page 7 | Page 9 >