Welcome back to series 4 of The Procuretech Podcast!

Join procurement content creator and consultant James Meads as he hosts weekly conversations with experts in the digital procurement space. With insights from thought leaders and news on the latest tech, we aim to excite and inspire you about the future of the industry.

Introduction to Series 4 – Solo Episode with James Meads

This episode is something a bit different. A solo episode from James that serves as an introduction to the new series, as well as a chance to catch up on recent trends in the digital procurement marketplace.

So what can you expect from the new series?

03.25

We're going to be concentrating predominantly on overcoming objections and ensuring successful outcomes. There are so many botched digital transformations out there. Tech is not a magic wand that solves problems on its own. So we're going to do more episodes on topics like change management, proposing a business case, influence and persuasion, and developing the right talent, so that implementation can be a success.

05.53

We'll also be touching on some of the big developments in the procurement tech ecosystem since our last series. Such as the acquisition of Coupa software that was announced back in December. What impact will this have on our industry at large?

07:25

Are ERP's days numbered? We'll look at how funding difficulties and the rise of  millennials to leadership positions is driving change. Can the big suites keep up with a market that demands good UX? It's going to be an interesting battle, so watch this space!

11:32:

Tech companies in emerging markets are well positioned to grow and disrupt. Look at Penny, setting a great example in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. These solutions offer something really unique, so that's something we'll also be watching very closely.

Check out this recent video interview with Muddasir Ahmed from SCM Dojo for more on this topic.

14:15

Best of breed solutions seem poised to keep poaching business from the legacy suites. As does anyone coming into the market with new technology. We've got a couple of episodes coming up with Raindrop on that topic.

15:56

Solution providers look set to keep evolving into SaaS providers. Trends in the gig economy point to procurement teams becoming smaller and more specialised.

16:57

We could see Sourcing-as-a-service come into play from some of the E-sourcing platforms.

18:00

And then last but not least,  VC funding is going to continue to be tough for startups.  We've kind of got to the point now that all of the early adopters of procurement tech, have adopted it. So we've stuttered a little bit on the growth of the bell-curve. This is going to be a big challenge for the industry going forwards.

20:16

And that rounds off the first episode of Series 4!

Stay tuned for more interviews to come in the following weeks. This series is going be much more diverse in terms of guests.

We're branching out from our traditional structure, where we invite guests on to talk about their software. We're still going to do those, but they're going to be less common sponsored episodes that will slot in every two or three weeks.

Instead we're going to branch out into much more diverse content, aimed at a wider audience.

As always, please subscribe to the show and leave us a review on Apple podcasts if you like what you hear. That really helps us to reach more people.

We also have a monthly newsletter where we give a round-up of everything that's happening in the procurement tech space. Links below.