Events featuring Open Windows

Open Windows sponsors/exhibits at a number of carefully selected events each year. We’re excited to showcase our Modular Procurement Software suite and Verified Supplier Network^TM at these upcoming events.

Make sure to register if you’re nearby! We’re always happy to have a chat and provide the solutions that will best solve your procurement needs.

What better way to open 2020 than with a PASA conference? Open Windows Software is exhibiting at PASA’s ProcureTECH 2020 conference, come February.

In an increasingly digital age, most procurement teams face a diverse set of challenges when seeking to adopt new technologies into their workflows. ProcureTECH 2020 will address these challenges head on, through a blend of workshops, cross-room discussions and buyer-and-supplier meetings.

Procurement teams: we’ve got some exciting solution updates we think you’ll be interested in hearing about. Even if you’ve met with us before, we still encourage you to drop by for a chat about what’s new in the Open Windows universe. With technology constantly evolving in procurement, you should always be on the lookout for new solutions that can streamline the quality of your processes – and we’re more than happy to help.

ProcureTECH 2020’s unique ‘hosted’ buyer model comes in handy here. Rather than paying to attend the conference, if you commit to attending at least 4 pre-scheduled buyer meetings, you can attend for free. See below for registration details – ProcureTECH is one of 2020’s not-to-be-missed events.

Open Windows Software is excited to announce that we will be exhibiting at Procurement Week 2019 in Sydney.

Depending on what industry you work in, the art of procurement can be very different. Building an effective procurement strategy can possess its very own unique challenges, team structure and approaches.  The 2019 Procurement Week addresses these diverse factors with four distinct events and personalised procurement content. Procurement managers and their teams are therefore provided with plenty of opportunity to upskill thanks to the conference.

Attendees can choose up to two of these four different one-day events running under the Procurement Week umbrella, for an in depth, sector specific dive into the content that matters most to them.  This year the streams are;

– Gov Procure

– Health Procure

– Indirect Procurement Leaders Forum

– Construction Mining & Energy Procurement Forum

The Open Windows Software team will be available over all 3 days to discuss your Source to Contract Management needs.

We hope to see you there!  Click here to register.

Open Windows Software is exhibiting at the 2019 MAV Technology conference at Kardinia Park, Geelong from 25 to 28 March.

MAV Technology was established by the Municipal Association of Victoria in 2004. It is an independently funded group of local government IT, digital and business transformation practitioners, who are committed to demonstrating leadership to improve council and community services. 77 of Victoria’s 79 councils are current members of MAV Technology.

The primary focus of the conference is transforming local government to serve and support communities in the digital era. Topics will include emerging technologies, AI, data ethics, business transformation, data governance, customer experience, smart cities, new and collaborative ways of working, digital access, equity and diversity – and navigating the massive cultural change that all this will bring. This event will include case studies from rural, regional and metropolitan councils, state government, universities and the private sector.

Open Windows Software will be located at booth #5. Click here to register.

Most procurement teams are grappling with the challenges of ‘going digital’. The drivers for this are many, from the desire to streamline processes and drive efficiencies, to better serve end users, to capture better data, to drive greater compliance, to free up procurement time to work more strategically or simply to buy better.

ProcureTECH is the region’s only event specifically focussed on those technologies that enable and assist the procurement function.

ProcureTECH provides the best opportunity of the year to explore a wide range of procurement enabling solutions in one place – at one time. At the time of writing, it looks like we will have the largest line-up of technology solutions in the technology showcase, with everything from enterprise end-to-end solutions to more niche players who specialise in specific elements of the procurement process. If you attend as a hosted buyer, you can use our online meetings scheduling system to pre-schedule 20 minute appointments with those vendors you are most interested in meeting with. There is also plenty of time built in to the programme to enable more informal viewing of the solutions being showcased.

Open Windows Software will be located at booth #3, and is available for meetings on both days. Book your one-on-one meeting by registering at https://pasaprocuretech.com/

OW2018

Open Windows Software is proud to present our National User Conference OW2018. This year we’re pleased to welcome customers to Brisbane on the 30th October at the Sofitel Hotel, and Melbourne on the 1st November at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The event will showcase the launch of open windows 8, while providing attendees with a blend of insightful customer case studies and presentations by contract management thought leaders.

As such, the 6th edition of PASA’s Premier Confex series will allow procurement teams to:

PASA’s events are always worth attending – especially this one. More information is available below.

Melbourne Olympic Park
Olympic Blvd

Melbourne VIC 3000

The 6th Annual PASA Premier Confex Melbourne

Improving Customer Experience

The theme for the 2018 Premier ConfeX series is ‘Improving Customer Experience’.

To define ‘Customer Experience’ we must first identify who our customers are. Procurement is essentially a service function. So, all stakeholders procurement teams come into contract with should be regarded as customers – even our suppliers. While this may sound odd, we are providing services to both the buy and supply sides of the equation. Therefore, should we not treat our suppliers just as well as we do our internal customers?

And by serve, I do not mean we should be subservient. Rather, we should make the experience of working with procurement, with our business or government department, better for all.

So what are these issues that I see the theme addressing?

‘Procurement agility’ or ‘agile procurement’ are terms that have been increasingly used in recent years. How do we become more responsive to the needs of our customers/stakeholders? How do we increase the speed at which we serve while still ensuring appropriate governance and best commercial outcomes? Becoming more agile, after all, is about improving the customer experience.

‘Digitisation’ is another hot issue. How can we use technology to improve our customer’s experience; either by streamlining their buying experience, interacting better with suppliers, or by facilitating faster processes and decision making?

‘Innovation’ has been on PASA’s radar for some time now; specifically procurement’s role in driving innovation through the supply base. We use phrases such as ‘becoming a customer of choice’ to our suppliers. Improving our supplier’s experience of how they interact with us and our business is essential to achieving this status. For instance, SME’s are widely recognised as being the most likely source of innovation for larger organisations. How friendly are our procurement practices to SME’s?

Finally – and frankly – procurement has a brand problem! Issues around stakeholder/customer understanding of the procurement value proposition are always high on the agenda.

Too often procurement is seen as a roadblock; a function to be bypassed or avoided. We will only change these perceptions by making the experience of dealing with procurement more positive. Complaining isn’t going to help.

We need to better understand what our customer’s value. Plus, we need to ensure we are delivering it in a way that makes them see us as the trusted advisors we believe we should be.

I am sure there will be other issues that we will identify through the year, but in the meantime there is plenty there to work on.