Art of Procurement

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Once you have clean data, it becomes a business asset. You can now answer questions from it. When it’s sitting there in a data swamp – it’s not even a data lake – you cannot leverage any type of insights from it.” - Robert Birch, Director, Data & Analytics, SpendHQ Without a strong foundation of reliable, clean, and accessible data, it is difficult for procurement to achieve and sustain success, and it may also expose the business to increased risk, waste, and missed opportunities.  Data underpins every decision procurement makes, and it should never be an afterthought. So how should procurement approach some of their most common data quality problems, and what kind of resources and approaches do they need to create the ideal data environment that will support differentiated decision making?  To answer these questions and more around procurement’s complicated relationship with data, Philip Ideson recently spoke with Andy Moir, Director of Product Marketing, Mitchell Couper, Vice President Delivery and Business Intelligence, Robert Birch, Director, Data and Analytics, all from SpendHQ. In this episode, they discuss: The importance of prioritizing, improving, and maintaining data quality Assessing your data maturity and the value of data enrichment Where AI can (and can’t) support data hygiene and management Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Andy Moir on LinkedIn Mitchell Couper on LinkedIn Robert Birch on LinkedIn  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“If procurement wants to have an outsized impact, they need to provide value in a way that alters how decision making happens.” - Philip Ideson, Founder and Managing Director of Art of Procurement In this episode, Philip Ideson, Founder and CEO of Art of Procurement, welcomes the procurement community into 2024 by continuing an annual tradition of sharing his perspective on the most important issues, challenges, and opportunities procurement is likely to face in the new year.   Technologies like AI are now changing the face of the profession we love and today’s uncertain macro environment shows no signs of abating. Collaboration between procurement, supply chain, finance, HR, operations, IT, and all other business functions are more important than ever before.  Amid all of these changes and existential reckonings, Philip encourages procurement to look inward and think deeply about 3 key questions in 2024: What is the purpose of procurement in your organization? How can you create a true competitive advantage, and what are you doing to achieve that? How are you driving differentiated decision making in 2024? Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Philip Ideson on LinkedIn 3 Key Messages to Procurement Leaders in 2023 2021 Annual Letter (Part 1): Day 1 for Procurement 2021 Annual Letter (Part 2): Celebrating Successes and Looking Forward 2019 Annual Letter (Part 1): Procurement In Review 2019 Annual Letter (Part 2): Art of Procurement In Review AOP 2018 Annual Letter (Part 1): Procurement in Review AOP 2018 Annual Letter (Part 2): Art of Procurement in Review  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“I think it is really important not to assume that just trying to tie everything to revenue is the right answer … I think we should tie everything to the value and the outcomes perceived by our stakeholders.” - Dan French, CEO at Consider Solutions Procurement has long struggled with feeling as though they are an underappreciated or undervalued function that receives less support, advocacy, and budget than other areas of the business – especially revenue-driving areas, like sales or marketing.  As Dan French, CEO at Consider Solutions, said in the opening session of Mastermind LIVE 2023, not only is this perception a little misguided (and likely not doing procurement any favors either), but it also can lead to an over-reliance on revenue contribution as procurement’s key performance metric.  Instead, he says, procurement has to understand that their existential angst is not unique. Every business unit is fighting for relevance (and resources) and delivering real value requires procurement to look at more than just cost savings and create a more “balanced scorecard” of what success looks like. In this episode, Dan talks with Philip Ideson about: How to build a balanced performance measurement framework that reflects procurement’s real value contribution The importance of aligning with the business versus going rogue when it comes to goals and KPIs What procurement keeps getting wrong about their own role in the business Links: Dan French on LinkedIn Mastermind LIVE 2023 on Demand Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

You can’t build a community based on the power of a podcast if you don’t love listening to them yourself. All year long, the Art of Procurement team is interviewing, producing, and promoting podcast interviews with some of the most interesting people in the field. In this episode, Helen Mackenzie, Head of Sales and Community at Art of Procurement, takes over hosting responsibilities to share the five interviews she thinks of as 2023’s chart toppers. She also enlists a bit of help from our Procurement 6 announcer to count them down. Listen in for a recap of Helen’s picks of the year: Stephane Morel and his category workbench, a place where all the tools procurement needs are in one place, making work so much easier. Advice on shifting priorities and procurement’s ability to adjust from Matt Reddington and Mu Wagh from Procure Analytics  Vendr’s Emily Campbell and Nick Pinkman digging into the darkness to address the topic of shadow spend Katherine McCleery, a B2B brand marketing expert, on how important procurement’s brand is to getting engagement and making an impact. And her #1 pick - A powerful example of using procurement as a force for good: Tim Nelson, CEO of the charities Hope for Justice and Slave Free Alliance, talking about how we can help combat slavery in today’s supply chains    Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Navigating the Perfect Storm Using Category Management with Stephane Morel Strengthening Your Corporate Culture to Survive Challenging Economic Times with Mu Wagh and Matt Reddington Stop Shadow Spend in Its Tracks With Improved Data Visibility with Emily Campbell and Nick Pinkman How to Know When Procurement Needs a Rebrand with Katherine McCleery Enlisting Procurement in the Fight to Eradicate Modern Day Slavery with Tim Nelson

Long time listeners of the Art of Procurement podcast will know that the team hosts a related podcast, Dial P for Procurement, every Thursday. The show, which is hosted by AOP Head of Content and Operations Kelly Barner, is part of the Art of Procurement family, but runs in its own podcast feed.  Episodes air every Thursday and they have a different format than Art of Procurement. Most of the topics are pulled from the headlines and are covered as heavily researched solo pods. Don’t worry though - there isn’t a dull moment. Dial P for Procurement provides up to the moment storytelling about trending supply chain and general business news. Looking all the way back to the beginning of the year has a way of putting everything into perspective. In this episode, Kelly does just that - following the lead of the listening audience: Going back to the beginning of the year to see which Dial P for Procurement episodes had the greatest number of downloads. Taking some of the ‘honorable mention’ episodes topics and running a LinkedIn pulse poll to see which one the procurement social media community thinks best represented the general tone of 2023.  Listen to this week’s episode to find out the social media ‘business sentiment’ pick as well as the top 3 downloaded episodes of the year. Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Listen to Dial P for Procurement on Art of Procurement Dial P for Procurement on Apple Podcasts  Dial P for Procurement on Spotify Dial P for Procurement on Google Podcasts    Episodes and newsletters referenced: The Power and Danger of Asking Good Questions Socrates: Ignorant Influencer or Disruptive Thinker? A GAAP in Judgement at Kraft Heinz I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday for a Hamburger Today Loss Aversion Theory and the Collapse of SVB We are Hardwired to Avoid Loss More than Risk Case Dismissed: Spencer Patton Prevails Over FedEx The Fine Line Between Free Speech and Commercial Speech Reading FedEx Ground the RICO Act  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“ESG… should be integrated as much as possible into existing processes, structures, and policies because there are so many synergistic effects to be gained.” - Alexander Hellwig, Editor Sustainability & Compliance, IntegrityNext Historically, regulatory requirements drove most of the momentum and investment in ESG. It was another, albeit critical, corporate box to tick, but rarely considered in relation to revenue-driving areas of the business.  Pressure from consumers, investors, and business leaders is causing a shift in this mindset, and ESG is quickly becoming a top-line business priority, one that cannot and should not be ignored.  To learn more about how to build and scale a strong ESG program, Philip Ideson recently spoke with Alexander Hellwig, Editor Sustainability & Compliance, and Jared Ridgley, Head of Sales US, both from IntegrityNext.  They also discussed: Perceptions and misconceptions around what ESG really means today The most important ESG topics everyone should be aware of in 2024 How to leverage emerging technology to build supply chain transparency and integrate ESG into every facet of the business Links: Jared Ridgley on LinkedIn Alexander Hellwig on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement