As 2008 draws to a close we thought we would take the opportunity to gaze into the EGS crystal ball. We can’t tell you where the FTSE will end the year but we can have a better than educated guess at what the hot topics in procurement are going to be for 2009. Two areas excite us about the next 12 months – here they are.
1. Electronic invoice management
We have seen this issue gradually gather pace in 2008 and we think it masks a bigger issue. The bigger issue is that everyone is desperately trying to rein in costs and is suddenly catching on to how much can be saved by process automation. Traditionally not very exciting, but ask the CFOs of many large and medium sized corporations if they are excited by the huge savings they can make. E-invoicing will lead the way. With hybrid solutions combining true e-invoicing and scanning & OCR, implementation, uptake and therefore savings can be very quick.
2. Outsourcing
Outsourcing comes and goes with fashion – but we think that in the current climate, Chief Execs will be trying to turn fixed costs into variable costs as well as getting infrastructure costs off their balance sheets. So outsourcing of support functions such as procurements, IT, Finance will make a big comeback.
What is for sure is that any company that helps companies to reduce cost will have a receptive audience in 2009. We think the winners will be companies that are flexible enough to break their business model to embrace new opportunity. Those companies that own their own technology will be best placed. The other winners will be those sitting on some cash, for one other likely phenomenon of 2009 is that merger and consolidation opportunities will present themselves.
Whatever 2009 brings for you, we wish you all a very Happy New Year and we hope you will continue reading our opinions in 2009.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment