This month we spent a few days in Chicago at the Unimarket Now 2015 Conference. We met with the Unimarket team, universities, suppliers and few of our own customers. We even gave away an iPad.
Day one we spent learning about change management from Howard Teibel. Since our team normally works supplier side, it was very helpful to learn the challenges higher education experience when implementing e-Procurement both internally and from the supplier side. Day one ended with a customer appreciation dinner with Mystic Blue Cruises. It was great to talk and get to know everyone in a fun and beautiful setting.
Day two started with a look back to review the lessons learned on change management. The day continued with a knowledge sharing discussion about the Unimarket Supplier Portal, accounts payable, sourcing strategies and a number of other hot topics around e-Procurement. After lunch our team presented our very popular Punchout Catalog Man video. We talked about how we work with universities and suppliers to make e-Procurement and Punchout Catalogs a simple and painless process.
The afternoon continued with a supplier panel where university professionals could ask questions about Punchout Catalogs and supplier integration with Unimarket. Our team was asked to participate in the panel to answer questions on the integration side. It was an informative session for both suppliers and the universities alike.
The afternoon wrapped up with presentations from three universities in varying stages of implementation: new implementation, gone live and keeping the momentum. The second day ended with the supplier expo where the universities and suppliers were given an opportunity to network.
Day three focused on the the roadmap of Unimarket development, what was developed in the past year and what is planned for the upcoming year.
We were excited to attend the conference and know we’ll be back next year!