Monthly roundup – February
February, a month known for it’s brevity, was bursting with events that significantly impacted global trade and business. In a time when it’s tough to tell which stories are real and which aren’t, we promise that you can rely on our procurement news stories to ring true (and never be incorrectly revealed on stage from an envelope).
1. Shipping and logistics is gettin’ lucky in Kentucky
The extensive shipping and logistics industry of Kentucky is set to embark on a disruptive mission. Amazon has announced plans to build the first air cargo hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport. This new development builds on Amazon’s already established footprint in the state of 10,000 full-time employees.
Small businesses often face a common challenge: gaining access to capital necessary to grow their business. That’s why Tradeshift partnered with Biz2Credit to offer small business financing solutions on the Tradeshift platform. Tradeshift’s extensive invoice data provides much-needed insight for lenders into the cash flow of small businesses, making lenders more likely to offer financing to this underserved market.
3. Ask not what brown can do for you, ask what can drones do for brown
UPS has executed their first successful package delivery via drone, in Florida. The autonomous drone lives in the roof of the truck, and is activated by the UPS driver to send a package to it’s final destination. This innovation in last-mile logistics might make waiting all day for a package to arrive a thing of the past.
4. Suppliers come first at London happy hour
While some procurement solution providers choose to charge suppliers to join their network, we like to throw caution to the wind and take a different approach: invite our supplier community for a drink at the Skylon in London. Tradeshift hosted the first event of it’s kind, and we hope to host more in the future.
5. The tip of the digital reinvention iceberg
The impact of digitization has already had a significant impact on many industries, but this report indicates that the changes we’ve already witnessed are simply the tip of the iceberg. This is especially true for supply chains. “The biggest future impact on revenue and EBIT growth, is set to occur through the digitization of supply chains.”
… becomes the hallmark of global leadership discussion for the year. That’s why we made all of our interviews, co-hosted by CNBC, available to you. Stay tuned for our in-depth reports discussing these topics, and their implications on business.
7. And the Oscar goes to… globalization
Globalization has largely driven growth and prosperity across formerly disparate nations. It has also polarized winners and losers within nations. So while globalization can be given credit for general economic improvement, business leaders will need to strive to inspire trust that sustained prosperity is achievable within their organizations. The real winner is digitization, and more specifically, collaborative networks that can be scaled easily.
8. What’s next: Shared Services and Outsourcing Week
Don’t miss the world’s largest and longest running event for shared services, outsourcing, transformation, and GBS professionals. Tradeshift is proudly hosting the discussion- P2P Success: Creating Impact through Process Ownership and Digitization, a must see roundtable for companies in the SSC, BPO and GBS market.