Given the size of the cost savings many CPOs are being asked to deliver this year - and the urgency with which they are having to act - I'm surprised that we haven't heard more about the use of reverse/e-auctions. Certainly at the various forums and events I've attended in the past few months, very few participants or presenters have explicitly mentioned them as a key tool for wringing out quick wins for their companies. Perhaps it's just that they are so business as usual now as part of a standard e-sourcing process that people don't think they need to be referenced. Or perhaps it's just that we all got so bored of hearing the stories about invited CEOs watching in delight as suppliers' bids tumbled on screen before their eyes (I know I did!) that people keep their exploits to themselves.
Anyway, as I was in Chicago for the week I decided to catch up with Marc Halpin, a fellow Welshman who runs the US operations of TradingPartners, a specialist e-auction service provider. As we sipped tea in his 51st floor office next to the Sears Tower marvelling at the Windy City's impressive skyline and Lake Michigan beyond, I expressed my surprise and asked for his thoughts on the subject. Marc's view was basically that while many of the bigger American companies had embraced e-auctions, the majority of mid-sized firms (which are still substantial businesses relatively speaking) have yet to dip their toes in the water.
That's good news for TradingPartners, which now generates half of its revenues in North America. Marc told me that business was brisk and that his supply managers were working on more events than ever. If that's representative of the market in general, then there would appear to be no shortage of auction activity. But unlike a few years ago, it's being conducted with a whole lot less fanfare, even if the savings to be gained - at least for those going at it for the first time - are just as dramatic.
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