The NYTimes ran an interesting article on Google’s attempt to mine the “deep web”, that area beyond strings of simple keywords where complex questions are answered. It’s no easy task. Logic, analysis and context are tough things to perfect and scale for web crawling bots. So despite recently indexing their trillionth website and revolutionizing access to data from vast volumes of sources across the world, we’ll still need human experts to digest and analyze that data based on knowledge and experience. But short of being an expert on everything…we’ll need access to those experts, particularly if we’re tasked with making sourcing and procurement decisions across multiple categories at a time of intense volatility and risk.

In an effort to provide access to category management expertise, we’ve launched “Ask the Expert“. Each month, a new category will be featured and spend management professionals can submit their questions via the website. The category manager will answer the best and brightest questions through video, podcast or text.

First up is transportation. It’s a category ripe with opportunity, yet also plagued with risks. Low fuel prices, sagging demand and increasing capacity all combine to make transportation truly a “buyer’s market”. But, this soft market also poses risks. For example, there have been deep cuts in employment by many transportation companies. Are your current or potential providers cutting so deep that their level of service is impacted? And with attrition and consolidation in the industry, is your “Plan B” transport contingency plan now inoperable for the ‘09 hurricane season?

What are the best strategies to ensure cost savings and minimize risk in transportation?

When I have transportation questions, I turn to T&L category manager and SupplyExcellence contributor Rachel Rutkoski. Rachel will be accepting questions through the Ask the Experts site until March 13th.

And if you don’t have any burning transportation questions right now, the categories scheduled for the coming months are:

• Supplier Risk - April
• Working Capital Management - May
• Outsourcing - June

Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.