Exceprts and link to a good procurement article by Chris Salis, SAP's Global Vice President of Procurement Solutions - The procurement organization has never been afraid of technology. It rode the dot-com wave like many other departments, rolling out e-procurement and reverse auction functionality, while launching public and private marketplaces by the dozens. It used technology to automate routine tasks with the goal of taking the next step and focusing on more strategic areas like supplier risk management and detailed spend analysis. But for many procurement organizations, that next step didn’t come. They got bogged down in resource constraints or budget cuts and never deployed the technology required to truly transform procurement. Now is the time for procurement to take that step. In the current market, many companies are focused on bottom-line savings and top-line growth, and the latest wave of procurement technology can help drive both. To learn how new innovations ar