To accomplish this they will need to find and leverage external sources of innovation, contribute to revenue generation, expand efforts to manage costs, and ensure business continuity and sustainability.

These are some of the findings of research undertaken by the Centre for Advanced Purchasing Studies (CAPS), A.T. Kearney and the Institute of Supply Management, in which they examined how the mission, goals, performance expectations and strategies for supply management must change to support future business models.

In order to innovate, contribute to, expand and ensure the sustainability of supply chains, procurement professionals will need to lean on a foundation of fundamental knowledge. As such, continuous professional development must be a top priority.

Procurement training provider Commerce Edge and niche online media channel to the South African procurement fraternity SmartProcurement will be hosting their Gauteng Road show at Centurion Golf Club.

During the morning session on 22 September, Commerce Edge and SmartProcurement will present to their fellow procurement professionals in Gauteng’s P&SM community the leading world-class procurement trends in supply management and strategic factors that are expected to affect businesses until 2016.

More specifically, they will be focusing on:

1. Trends in attracting, retaining and developing top Supply Management Talent
Future skills & capabilities of Supply Management Professionals and, Competency based delivery models from now till 2016

2. Leveraging Technology Enablers
Moving from automated, user- defined work flows to integrated data to user- defined procurement dashboards and analytics...

Several of the economic drivers that contribute to a positive outlook for South Africa will also be discussed.

These included the cushion that the significant infrastructure expenditure of the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup has provided South Africa from the severest edges of the economic downturn and the role that the National Credit Act had in protecting South African consumers as the credit crunch began.

To register for the Gauteng Road show, please contact Erieka Santos at 0861 334 326 or email her at admin@smartprocurement.co.za