Art of Procurement

"At the end of the day, we exist to try and help the procurement profession be more impactful. That's the lens through which we look at everything." - Philip Ideson, Founder and Managing Director of Art of Procurement In this milestone 700th episode, Art of Procurement Founder and Managing Director Philip Ideson has the tables turned on him as he's interviewed by longtime friend and colleague Mark Holyoake, Owner and Managing Director of Holyoake Search. In this special conversation, recorded face-to-face, Philip gets personal about his journey from an early career in automotive procurement to the motivations behind his decision to launch the Art of Procurement and how AOP's evolution into a successful media and advisory company has challenged and strengthened Philip's own leadership skills along the way. Philip shares his insights with Mark on what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur and how resilience, continuous learning, and embracing change are essential to that success. Highlights from the episode include: How a rocky entry into the procurement profession was buoyed by his passion for travel and learning about new cultures Recounting the evolution of Art of Procurement from its early days of content creation to the most successful, longest-running podcast in the industry, along with a growing advisory and consulting arm that connects practitioners with subject matter experts The essential skills that have helped Art of Procurement achieve success, including forward-thinking, relationship building, understanding ROI versus just cost, and resilience in the face of challenges. Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Mark Holyoake on LinkedIn Philip Ideson on LinkedIn AOP Episode 001: Welcome to the Art of Procurement, with Philip Ideson The Journey to 1 Million Downloads of the Art of Procurement Podcast w/ Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner

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.

"In some weird sense, as we see the power of technology, the more apprehensive we get about how much information it should have." - Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP Procurement leaders face a number of challenges in optimizing their source-to-pay processes, and they are increasingly relying on AI tools to address those challenges. In this episode, Philip speaks talks with Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP, about the positive and negative trends he is seeing across source-to-pay, including in spend analytics, data management and governance, category management, risk management, scenario planning, and AI integration. Baber shares his insights on evolving trends in source-to-pay, including: How spend analytics has emerged as the number one technology imperative where AI can enable cost savings and risk management insights Why scenario planning is gaining importance in category management for better risk management amid increased volatility The skills and talent procurement will need to keep up with a shrinking labor force and growing digital demands Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Baber Farooq on LinkedIn [Pod] Bridging the Confidence Gap to Achieve the Best Business Outcomes w/ Baber Farooq [Pod] Helping Procurement Push the Envelope w/ Baber Farooq

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.

"There is one thing you can do that really creates a positive ROI for an RFP respondent even if they lose. One thing that will increase the chances that you receive the best RFP responses possible… That one thing is feedback." - Philip Ideson, Founder and Managing Director at Art of Procurement In this special solo episode, Art of Procurement Founder and Managing Director Philip Ideson explains why it's so important for procurement to give meaningful feedback to unsuccessful bidders. This feedback is an often-ignored part of the RFP process, but taking the time to give substantive, detailed feedback can lead to better RFP responses in the future, increased goodwill with suppliers, and stronger long-term relationships that benefit everyone. In this episode, Philip shares practical tips on how procurement can efficiently incorporate better feedback and responses to losing bidders as well as the benefits this can lead to. He will discuss: Why procurement should view giving feedback as creating value, not just another obligatory task How to give insightful, meaningful feedback beyond the usual "you were too expensive" or "your application fell short" How to leverage RFP feedback to help suppliers improve and build stronger long-term relationships that also benefit the business Links: Subscribe to This Week in 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.

"Only when we stop accepting the fact that procurement is being made to make decisions that are not the best for the future but the best for business today will we really start to take action." - Alex Jennings, Former CPO DS Smith, Independent Consultant at APSL Consulting Ltd Alex Jennings is a procurement powerhouse with decades of leadership experience working for well-known brands like GE and Toyota and occupying multiple senior roles before his retirement from corporate life in 2023. But, Alex is still leading procurement into the future, even after retiring as CPO of DS Smith. Most recently, he has launched The Alchemie Network, a new platform for collaborative learning around ESG and sustainability for procurement. In this episode, Alex talks with host Philip Ideson about how The Alchemie Network can help procurement make better strides towards a more sustainable supply chain and how they can turn their organization's vision for sustainability into tangible outcomes for the business. They'll discuss: How procurement can take an active role in impacting sustainability goals Ways procurement can balance short-term cost-savings needs with long-term thinking around sustainability Why education is the key to procurement's success and how they can feel more empowered to lead the business toward a more sustainable future Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Alex Jennings 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 you think of it simplistically, orchestration is a whole art form. You have to learn what it all means. But in so many words, it is nothing else than acting as if it is your own company. How cool is that?" - Elisabeth Schlag-Lawrence, SVP, Head of Procurement Governance and Enabling, Bayer When procurement is decentralized, it is difficult to achieve the visibility they need to proactively manage risk and compliance, identify savings, and create value and opportunity for the business. In this episode, Philip Ideson welcomes a heavy-hitting panel of Fortune 500 procurement leaders to discuss how procurement orchestration can help create optimal digital experiences across the organization and level-up procurement's tech stack. He is joined by Elisabeth Schlag-Lawrence, SVP, Head of Procurement Governance and Enabling at Bayer; Chris Vessey, Executive Director, Global Product Strategy & Transformation at Goldman Sachs; Shachi Rai Gupta, Global Head of Strategy, Intelligence and Digital Transformation at Bristol Myers Squibb; and Lance Younger, CEO of ProcureTech. They discuss: How global procurement leaders define modern-day procurement orchestration in a highly decentralized and digitized landscape and the difference it can make to an organization Snapshots of what a journey towards successful procurement orchestration looks like for a Fortune 500 company, and the challenges they may need to overcome along the way How procurement leaders can secure buy-in for an orchestration "revolution" in the business and the steps they should take to launch it once they have that support Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Elisabeth Schlag-Lawrence on LinkedIn Chris Vessey on LinkedIn Shachi Rai Gupta on LinkedIn Lance Younger 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.