October 2, 2019

DPW2019 Hackathon

Who lets a salesman into a procurement conference? Imposter I hear them cry!

Risk taking conference founder Matthias Gutzmann linkedin.com/in/matthiasgutzmann opened Digital Procurement World 2019 with the inspiring story of how he gave up his job to pursue his idea of starting a new type of conference, and thanked his Mum and Dad for letting him move back into their house. Any adult willing to move back in with parents to follow their dreams deserves success in my eyes.

When I was hustled into a side room after the opening talks, it wasn’t to be asked if I was at the wrong conference, it was because I had applied for and been selected to take part in the IBM sponsored Hackathon event. Another risky idea from Matthias, this time encouraged by IBMs Bob Booth linkedin.com/in/bobebooth. So not only am I a salesman at procurement event, I am a salesman at a hackathon at a procurement event, in Amsterdam, without a bike. At this point I said goodbye to my comfort zone.

Group Dynamics v Great Ideas

What do you get if you cross a salesman, a procurement analyst, and a data scientist, with a company founder, 2 IBM mentors and a PhD student of AI and Cognitive Science? started no joke ever.

Over the years I’ve clocked up plenty of hours working with great procurement people in the technology sector, so I rocked up armed with a few reasonably bright ideas. Other than a few experienced “hackathoners”, most of us didn’t know what to expect. Students and professionals alike had heard about the abundance of free food and felt that was a reasonable pay off for helping IBM invent some new patents to file.

The room was buzzing with dreams of the €3000 prize pot which was surely to be issued on a big pretend cheque, causing the winner many issues with carry-on baggage restrictions.

Proceedings kicked off with the inevitable introductions process, and I was soon clammy palmed when I realised we were doing the whole personality trait self-analysis thing. I thought so hard about what personality characteristics I would like to have that I forgot all my bright ideas. I thought I had played it safe and stuck my post it note near Bobs on the quadrant, but it turns out he (and now I) were both rather extreme.

Despite my scepticism (very possibly fear) of the personality trait exercise, it sent me off on a path of self-discovery which framed my 2-day experience. The bright ideas about digital procurement innovation ebbed and flowed, but the group dynamic remained constantly delightful. Early on, I gingerly proposed we adopt a leaderless approach, not wanting to appear too assertive. Nobody objected, so clearly they enjoyed this. Although I have to wonder, if by suggesting this method, I had therefore become the leader.

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Our Team were challenged to create new value and measurements in procurement. We all know that procurement only care about savings, right? I think this was why they let a few outsiders in, to think differently. The challenge called for bold and brave, but it had to be feasible and ready to demo by the next morning. I believe our team’s solution was the only one of all the entries that was truly new and innovative. The atmosphere was positive as we set to work and ploughed on past dusk, powered by pizza with some sleeping in situ and some coding through the night. Another team were having a tough time and abandoned their idea near the end of the first day only to start again from scratch. After the morning rehearsals, we felt our team were sitting pretty.

Our Solution

Our team decided to measure the positive and negative experiences internal stakeholders and suppliers have when dealing with procurement. The industry currently relies on measurements from the structured data in ERP, SRM and CRM systems. SLA attainment, adherence to process, and savings amount for example dehumanise the people behind it all.

A lot of the real value, and human endeavour, in the procurement process is not captured because it resides in emails, phone calls, meetings and video conferences (unstructured data).

The traditional measurements don’t capture the behaviour of the people involved that lead to the outcomes. By using Sentiment Analytics and Natural Language Programming we can capture this data, and correlate it with the structured data, to discover which behaviours, sentiments and language relate to the positive outcomes.

We can then use all the clever AI, Machine Learning, Cognitive stuff to identify the good the people do and try and get them to do more of it, whilst also gaining insights that could teach the future robots what to do. I’m probably not making it sound very simple, because it’s not. Keep going, the judges said.

How did it all end?

The final vote was taken by the conference audience via the event app. Maybe championing “the value of people” at a digital conference, offended the bots that counted the votes so unfortunately our team didn’t win.

The team that was having trouble the day before, who ended up designing another solution in half the time, ended up coming second. An excellent advert for agile working and the principles of failing fast but coming back stronger.

The whole experience has been great for me – pushing myself well out of my comfort zone into a world I didn’t think a salesman was even allowed into. I’ve always held a long-term goal of starting or being part of an actual think-tank and this positive experience has re-energised me. Well done to the winners who were cool throughout, coded through the night and communicated their concept with excellence. Although when I stepped on the plane for home, I did have a little laugh thinking of them trying to get that cheque home.

Stephen Dale

Account Director – Systems Integrators – [email protected]

News, Insights & Knowledge

What’s New?

Here’s a selection of the latest news, views and insights from industry leaders and experts from across the globe.

19 August 2023

ASM HQ built with sustainability at the forefront

The ASM Group are committed to ensuring ongoing consideration to the environment in all aspects of our operations and this began in 2005, when we were one of the first companies in the industry to complete the IS014001 accreditation, long before the environmental impact of business operations was widely understood by organisations.

We installed an array of solar panels on the roof of the building which power around half of our daily electricity usage and have generated over 43 MW of energy. We also removed the use of electric kettles and instead opted for Quooker taps which are significantly more energy and water efficient.

We continued our ongoing pledge to sustainability by installing electric car charging points to promote the use of electric and hybrid vehicles, in addition to reducing the amount of printers around the building and adopting a paperless office. Numerous trees were planted around the site to create a greener space for our team to enjoy whilst also considering the environmental benefits. To further improve our energy efficiency, we opted for energy saving, motion detection indoor lighting which dim based on the brightness outside, coupled with energy saving LED lights in the carpark.

We’re proud of the collaborative and sustainable environment we’ve created for our team which supports the ESG goals across the ASM Group for the future.

6 July 2023

ASM Thrive 2023

On Thursday 6 July, we held our annual partner event, ASM Thrive, celebrating success over the past year and looking deeper into growth plans for the future.   

We hosted over 20 vendors at our Cheshire HQ before heading to nearby Jodrell Bank to take a journey through space and learn more about how technology and exploration is teaching us more about our galaxy and the origins of our planet.  

Adele Hope-Urwin, Head of Vendor Alliances at ASM said

What a pleasure to host our annual strategic partner event, ASM Thrive. A huge thank you to all our partners who joined us to hear about our strategy and how we can grow together as well as a fantastic experience and immersive journey at Jodrell Bank, the Mars Rover activity was such good fun too! 

ASM Thrive brings our eco-system of disruptive vendors together to collaborate, network and discuss future growth plans. We were joined by partners from Azul, Bose Professional, Checkmarx, Flashpoint, Getac UK, GoTo, Immuta, Kollective, LastPass, Nitro, Pro2Col, Rocket Software and Vimeo. 

3 July 2023

ASM receives an award at CRN Sales & Marketing Awards 2023

We were thrilled to attend the CRN Sales & Marketing Awards along with some of our strategic partners.

The team received a Highly Commended award for Best Partner Event, recognising ASM Connect 2022.

ASM Connect 2022 was held at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London and featured keynote speeches from Futurists Matthew Griffin and Amelia Kallman, sharing insights about how emerging technologies such as AI, the Metaverse, VR, MR and XR will impact the future of work and the customer relationship. Guests had the opportunity to do a stadium tour or challenge themselves to The Dare Skywalk, 46.8 meters above the pitch! Our guests also had the chance to learn more about our eco-system of disruptive vendors and understand more about their innovative technologies first-hand.

Jo Wilson, Marketing Manager said

“We’ve received such positive feedback over the last 12 months from customers, with many people asking about the next one already. We’re delighted to have been recognised by the CRN judges for the hard work the team put into making the event such a big success. Watch this space for ASM Connect 2023”.

6 June 2023

LastPass delivers Sales Enablement Sessions to ASM

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to the team at LastPass, who visited our office to deliver Sales Enablement sessions. We enjoyed meeting the partner team at LastPass and learning more about the capabilities of the products and building on our existing strong partnership.

The team enjoyed a lunch provided by LastPass through the Woodfired Pizza Bar.

Adele Hope-Urwin, Head of Vendor Alliances said

“I am very pleased to be working in partnership with LastPass, with their password management tool bringing practical benefits to our customers.  We have a long term business relationship with LastPass spanning several years and I’m really looking forward to continuing the great success we’ve already had.”

James Greenaway, Regional Partner Manager at LastPass said

“It’s been great to run the sales enablement sessions today, meet the wider ASM team and continue to develop our partnership for the future.”

25 May 2023

ASM attends SCC Engage 2023

ASM Technologies were very pleased to attend SCC Engage 2023 which took place at the Silverstone Circuit. The conference welcomes valued partners and is fantastic opportunity to showcase disruptive and innovative technology.

Customer Success Manager for SCC, Paul Ogden attended the event on 11 May and said

“It was a great event to open up new opportunities, expand on existing relationships and drive growth together.”

16 May 2023

ASM wins EMEA partner of the year award from GoTo

ASM have been announced as GoTo’s EMEA partner of the year, yet again showcasing our fantastic partnership.

Adele Hope-Urwin, Head of Vendor Alliances at ASM Technologies said:

“I am thrilled to have collected the EMEA partner of the year award from GoTo at their partner presidents club event. The whole team worked very hard in helping us achieve such a prestigious award. Special thanks go to Liselotte Maidment for all her hard work throughout the year and thank you to Nadya Gaughran and Robinder Koura for all the support. I am looking forward to building on that success this year.”

1 April 2023

Financial year end 2022-23

This year ASM celebrated turning 30 in style with a fourth consecutive year of double-digit organic sales growth.

“We are very pleased with our results for the financial year,”

said Iain Tomkinson, Sales Director.

“Our strong performance is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, as well as the continued strength of our business. We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for us and are well-positioned for more growth in the years to come.”

During the year the business continued to expand the ecosystem of partners and vendors whose innovative technologies are truly disrupting the market, providing unique opportunities for our clients and their customers.

Our growth also resulted in us creating new positions within the business and our teams have enjoyed returning to in-person events including ASM Connect 2022 hosted at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Over the coming year the business will continue with its strategic growth plan and deploy further investment in people and systems.

We’d like to extend our thanks to our team, customers, vendors and partners for their continued support.

8 March 2023

International Women’s Day 2023

Technology has typically been a male dominated sector but at ASM we’re very proud to say 66% of our workforce is female.

Today we’ve been celebrating all of our fantastic team with some sweets treats while raising awareness about discrimination.

The aim of the IWD 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about Why equal opportunities aren’t enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action. Read more about this here.

1 February 2023

ASM attend Computacenter Group Kick Off

ASM Technologies were very pleased to attend Computacenter Group Kick Off which was held at Manchester Central.

Over the course of the two-day event we had an extremely busy, central stand with over 800 visitors from around the globe. This kind of event offers our account management team invaluable time with contacts from these countries while continuing to build upon our relationships.

Leanne Ogden, Head of Business Development, said:

“The event is always a great opportunity to meet different people from around the business and understand their challenges for the coming year and seeing how we can best support them.”

We were joined on our stand by our strategic vendors Getac, Kollective, GoTo & LastPass.