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Procurement 101 – Introducing Concepts

The Source Blog presents the “Procurement 101” series. These videos are intended to introduce basic concepts of procurement for people in and out of the industry.

Procurement goes by many names – supply chain, buying, sourcing, purchasing (the list goes on). Whatever you call it, the function of the organization is to reduce cost and risk.

As the series progresses, more complicated concepts will be introduced as well as basic guidelines and strategies.

This first video sets the table on what global procurement actually does and covers material and indirect supply chain.

Script/Notes for this video (click here)

Photo by Jon Cellier on Unsplash

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Taking A Vacation


Photo by Khachik Simonian on Unsplash

Readers, I wanted to put an announcement on the blog in case you are looking for new content… I decided to take the summer off.

This is not some ominous statement, I have been doing some version of this blog for over 8 years and have almost never missed a week. The technology news that I try focus on has been rightfully stagnant the last few months and in light of all of the other things going on, I thought it would be a good time to take a little break.

Thank you all for reading and subscribing.

I will be back in September.

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Supplier Report: 6/19/2020


Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

After IBM took a stance on restricting facial recognition software, their competitors Microsoft and Amazon did the same.

While the move is being applauded by many, Amazon’s decision seems like a panic reaction. People have been asking Amazon to back off of providing this technology for a few years due to bias flaws.

And unlike IBM and Microsoft who offered more nuanced responses, Amazon announced they would restrict the technology for only a year (instead of committing to getting it right or not using it at all). It is another disappointing response from a company that has been struggling to get things right for the last 3 months.

Acquisitions/Investments

  • IBM could make another big cloud acquisition: Analyst

    The cloud was a key driver in IBM’s buy of Red Hat. And if Cloudera – which like Red Hat has an open source focus – is indeed for sale then IBM might make a play as it continues to fight for marketshare with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google.

    IBM “is the most likely strategic buyer, especially given the partnership between Cloudera and IBM,” wrote analyst Rishi Jaluria at D.A. Davidson. He noted that a deal would complement the Red Hat buy.

    But CloudEra won’t come cheaply. It has a $2.9 billion dollar market cap, and shares climbed to $12 on Tuesday after Bloomberg reported that the company is open to a takeover.

    https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/06/10/ibm-could-make-another-big-cloud-acquisition-analyst/

Cloud

  • Oracle Q4 Earnings: Larry Ellison Will Focus on 5 Things

    For the past couple of quarters, Ellison—a master storyteller—has used Oracle’s earnings call to claim that his Cloud ERP app has so much momentum that a number of SAP’s biggest and longest-term customers are on the verge of tossing out SAP and installing Oracle Cloud ERP. But with each telling, the claims get a bit more vague. My hope is that Ellison will avoid the subject unless he’s able to share some specific names and details.

    However, the Oracle-SAP wars have been raging for decades, and the latest battles seem to now be centered around which company can be more convincing in persuading existing on-premises customers to move to the cloud. As I noted above, SAP has flat-out denied that any of its big ERP customers are on the verge of jumping ship to Oracle. In fact, CEO Christian Klein recently told me that not only are none of his customers jumping to Oracle, but also SAP’s cloud ERP business has far more customers than Oracle’s.

    https://cloudwars.co/oracle/oracle-q4-earnings-larry-ellison-will-focus-on-5-things-including-sap/

Security/Privacy

  • IBM ends all facial recognition business as CEO calls out bias and inequality

    IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms, or any purpose which is not consistent with our values and Principles of Trust and Transparency. We believe now is the time to begin a national dialogue on whether and how facial recognition technology should be employed by domestic law enforcement agencies.

    https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/08/ibm-ends-all-facial-recognition-work-as-ceo-calls-out-bias-and-inequality/

  • Amazon bans police use of facial recognition technology for one year

    While the House Committee on Oversight and Reform has held a number of hearings on the use of facial recognition technology, it has yet to introduce a bill regulating the technology. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Ca., who serves on the committee told CNBC in a phone interview he is hopeful Congress will pass a bill this year.

    “It’s a good first step, but it’s still not enough,” said Rep. Gomez of Amazon’s announcement.

    “They’re saying, ‘we’ve been asking Congress to put guardrails on the use of this technology,’ – but every time we tried to get more and more data they stalled – and we had to have hearings to make movement on the issue.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/10/amazon-bans-police-use-of-facial-recognition-technology-for-one-year.html

  • Microsoft joins Amazon, IBM in pausing face scans for police

    Microsoft’s president and chief counsel, Brad Smith, announced the decision and called on Congress to regulate the technology during a Washington Post video event on Thursday.

    “We’ve decided we will not sell facial recognition technology to police departments in the United States until we have a national law in place, grounded in human rights, that will govern this technology,” Smith said.

    Also…

    Microsoft, Amazon and IBM are calling on Congress to set national rules over how police use facial recognition — something that’s now being considered as part of a police reform package sparked by the protests following Floyd’s death.

    “If all of the responsible companies in the country cede this market to those that are not prepared to take a stand, we won’t necessarily serve the national interest or the lives of the black and African American people of this nation well,” Smith said. “We need Congress to act, not just tech companies alone.”

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Microsoft-joins-Amazon-IBM-in-pausing-face-scans-15333452.php

Other

  • Two states are reportedly looking into how Amazon treats sellers

    California and Washington state investigators have reportedly been looking into how the company treats third-party sellers, particularly whether it’s using the data it collects to compete directly against them. The Times says the Washington attorney general’s office is also investigating whether Amazon is making it difficult for sellers to list their products on other websites.

    WSJ reported back in April that the e-commerce giant scooped up data from its sellers — product information such as prices, total sales and how much vendors spend on marketing and shipping — to launch competing products under its private label division. In response to that report, US Senator Josh Hawley requested for a criminal antitrust investigation into the claims and the House Judiciary Committee called on Jeff Bezos to testify before Congress.

    https://www.engadget.com/amazon-california-washington-investigation-055430238.html