I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Mitchell, the President of the Professional Pricing Society. Our conversation covered a lot of ground—from the market dynamics fueling increased demand for pricing professionals to the latest trends in professional development, networking, and training.
Of course, PricingBrew Journal subscribers can hear and read the interview—Exploring the Future of the Pricing Profession—in its entirety. But I wanted to highlight this nugget of insight about the effect of technology on the practice and profession of pricing…
On the one hand, the Internet has made it much easier for pricing people across different sectors and geographies to share pricing expertise and best practices. And new software-as-a-service delivery models have made even the most sophisticated pricing technologies much more affordable and accessible. According to Kevin:
You don’t have to be the biggest kid in the neighborhood to get pricing software, expertise, and training. Right now, there are a lot of options available for different sized corporations. You don’t have to be on the Fortune 100 or 500 in order to take advantage of what’s going on right now.
But on the other hand, customers and buyers haven’t exactly been sitting still. They are benefiting from the very same technology and communication trends—possibly to an even greater extent:
Customers are probably even further along the learning curve from a supply chain or purchasing perspective. Your customers know what’s going on in every remote corner of the globe, and they probably know more than you think about specific deals that you’ve made.
As Kevin highlights, technology is a double-edged sword. There’s little doubt that it’s changed the game for the better. But it’s crucial to remember that it’s changed the game for all of the players—sellers and buyers alike.
