Due to Covid-19, the possibilities of home office have found their way into many companies. Especially hereby, the advantages and the need for a digitalisation strategy becomes noticeable. For contract management in particular, paper-based processes for example for approvals and signature runs are still common but they are time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially with decentralized workplaces. Get to know how comprehensively digitalized contract management helps in operational and strategic purchasing to optimize, accelerate and control processes. An integration of the contract management with commercial processes of a company illustrates the potential of a central data and process platform for all contractual agreements.

The trend towards the home office will not disappear even after Corona. On the contrary: Covid 19 has once again exorbitantly increased the need for smart digital out-of-office solutions. For the procurement of specialist information, this means companies must gear their corporate culture and infrastructure to the decentralised digital procurement and transfer of information and knowledge. This need to accelerate the change in digital media management is countered by technical and structural requirements that must be solved. What challenges are these? In order to find out, the ims International Media Service conducted a survey among decision-makers from the purchasing departments of various companies in July/August 2020. Philipp Woermann presents the results of the survey, points out the hurdles buyers see on the way to digital professional information procurement and presents solutions to overcome these obstacles.

Putting logistics services out to tender is on the agenda of many companies at regular intervals. Nowadays, companies have a wide range of tools at their disposal in order to achieve the set targets in the best possible way. Digital platforms are becoming increasingly popular and compete with internal and external "analogue" experts. What are the most common objectives of a tender and to what extent can digital and manual tenders contribute to achieving these objectives? In the context of this "man versus machine" contest, the advantages and disadvantages of both methods will be illustrated.

Risk management is a key task in every company. Complicated ownership structures make this process enormously difficult. Moreover, not only the complexity but also the speed of change is a risk. In our presentation, we will use practical examples to show how our customers use structured corporate data for daily issues:
- Identification of financial and reputational risks
- Automation of risk processes
- Master Data Management and interfaces or APIs for all common SRM systems

Why does ERP need a Procurement Cloud, and why in real time? We will illustrate this topic in a live demo. This includes a Guided Buying solution supporting employees in purchasing via electronic catalogs, B2B marketplace, automated price request and free text orders. The focus will be on the intuitive guidance in the system and the automation of digital processes. Existing logic as well as master data in ERP remain valid, given the new possibilities in the "hybrid" cloud.

• How COVID-19 has led to the successful implementation of new levers in the areas of supply security and cost optimization • How does digitization in Procurement support the path to "best practice" in the areas of supply security and cost optimization? • What role does the increasing importance of sustainability play on the key activities in Procurement

Emissions in the supply chain are a minefield for more and more companies, and at the same time for many of them the determination is a hardly manageable task. Digitization helps to solve the complexity and deliver precise results that allow clear recommendations for action to be derived.

For many brand and industry companies the external supply chain remains a black box for procurement functions. Despite regular price negotiations procurement does not have a leaver on production efficiencies, necessary manpower and machine utilization. Nulogy connects the external suppliers with the core systems and the supply chain of the CPG. Through process digitalization the supplier is enabled to produce with a higher level of efficiency and automated quality control. Procurement is able to deliver value by utilizing the production transparency and increased production efficiency. Additionally operational procurement modules of Nulogy provide full transparency into necessary raw and pack goods for production as well as digitalized document exchange in one system. Hence, the optimized external supply chain is ready to go and deliver more value for procurement functions.

Visable, C2FO Live-Demo

Agile development methods, SCRUM and "rapid prototyping" - well known from software development - are increasingly finding their way into industrial development. The presentation will provide an insight into the influence of these new methods / mindset on the collaboration between engineering and purchasing. On the basis of practical examples the new challenges and chances are presented.

Meanwhile, it is becoming increasingly clear that (more) agility makes sense for companies in certain situations. Some functional areas are pressing ahead with the application of agility. But what is the situation regarding agile purchasing? Is there even a threat of a culture and competence gap between purchasing and the rest of the company? Prof. Dr. Elmar Holschbach will present examples from practical projects and study results that provide insights into the implementation of agile purchasing.