Post by: King Siu, Communications Coordinator, PMAC

The first keynote speaker of the 2010 Conference, on Thursday morning, was renowned Canadian futurist Jim Bottomley.

While the future cannot be predicted, Jim believes that future change can be managed, and it is how you react to that change that will determine success. Change is met by either actions to embrace opportunities it creates, or actions to minimize or avoid threats. By monitoring trends that are likely to affect your business: technological, economic, social/cultural, demographic and political/legal, one can get a head start and quickly embrace opportunity or avoid risk when changes arrive.

Some areas of focus that Jim highlighted include: the evolution of our profession from purchasing to strategic supply chain, the emergence of a more intelligent Internet (that can improve productivity and/or increase risk), becoming aware of carbon tracking and trading – grow your knowledge about climate change and other green initiatives, attracting and retaining talent will present a bigger challenge as the workforce ages and generational differences between Gen X’s, Gen Y’s and especially the millenium generation need to be considered in recruiting and retention strategies.

Finally, according to Jim, the most important trend to monitor is the social/cultural trend that is seeing a great rise of individual power through knowledge. As a result, clients/customers may become more demanding and knowledgeable, and will likely pursue partnering opportunities with increased frequency to achieve results.

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