The Post Digital World talk

I was on the panel last week for Results International. It was called 'The Post Digital World: Tomorrow's ROI Models'.

Now you, like me, must be wondering where does a procurement person fit into that title (not literally of course). I listened very attentively to the three really good speakers before me talking about the holy trinity of DM, data and digital and then Social media:driving ROI and then Procurement!. Andy Collins from Results then did an up date on valuing your business and current market trends.

There were (luckily) a number of themes that I could pick up on and then talk about.

The first one was about a site called Net Haggler, where you could go on and suggest a price that you would like to pay for the item. I suggested to the audience (mainly agencies) that perhaps we could look at building one of these sites to buy agency services !. Sounds an interesting concept perhaps for low value tactical purchases.

Another point that one of the speaker mentioned was that he had never been asked to speak on ROI in the last 2 years. I was really surprised at that as for me this is one of the key areas that I think Client Procurement can lead on. Too often agencies complain that they see Procurement at the pitch and negotiation stage, and then they disappear after that. Diageo do Supplier Relationship Management really well and I saw in Supply Management that my old company, Orange, are rolling out a SRM program. Make ROI part of that program.

Andy spoke about how an agency can maximise its value if they want to sell. Areas such as being a specialist and not a generalist, developing and having key people that engage with clients and manage costs. All areas that we look at in agency selection. As client procurement we can help agencies be better focused on costs and put the processes and disciplines in place to support their growth plans.

So hopefully I held my own - the scores on the door have not been sent through yet.

I have also written an article for Results quarterly bulletin. It is called 'Why a Commercial Threesome can work'. I cover off some of the trends that we need to look at for 2010. If anyone would like a copy of the article then please do let me know.