Art of Procurement

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes. In the third episode, he is joined by Sushant Adhikari, Director, and Sanjeev Singh, Director of Capabilities and Solutions, both at WNS Denali.  Their conversation focuses on the source to contract process: Which stakeholders should be involved in source to contract vs. procure to pay? How can procurement work with the leadership team to achieve better alignment? The approach to talent - whether through hiring or upskilling - and how it positions procurement for sustained success

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published 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 will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.   Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Most of the improvements procurement has achieved over time have been incremental. And while there is nothing wrong with incremental change, the challenges presented by today’s economy and global supply disruptions demand more. This is procurement’s “hour of change and challenge” as J.F.K. said in the famous speech quoted above. During the last 20 years or so, procurement has operated within a narrow band of capabilities and strategies. And while we have certainly had to contend with external limiting factors, many of the guardrails that constrain us are ones that we put in place for ourselves. If procurement wants to reach the next level, we have to break free from those guardrails and break down traditional notions of what procurement is and what we can deliver to the business.  From day one of Art of Procurement, our intent has been to help procurement organizations become and remain relevant. To meet the demands of this moment of change and challenge, we have chosen to embark on a mission to 10X the impact of procurement. In this special podcast, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner share the philosophy behind 10X: Where did the idea originate, and how is the Art of Procurement team holding themselves to a 10X standard on a daily basis? What are the six principles that we must balance in order to achieve the mission’s end goal? How are we challenging the Art of Procurement community and our brand partners to join us on the mission?

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published 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 will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.   Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Although most corporate conversations about data focus on quality, data utilization is also a critical concern. 95% of data never gets used, and since the useful life of data can be as short as a few days or weeks given the industry, value is being lost every day.  Fortunately, new data is being created at an even faster rate; the decision to get started is ours to make. This episode is based on an AOP Live session focused on the results of the fifth annual Data Quality and Governance Study conducted by The International Association for Data Quality, Governance and Analytics (IADQGA).  Kelly Barner was joined by Joseph Yacura and Vishal Patel to answer live questions related to data quality and actionability: How to get started on a data quality journey despite the complexity of today’s business environment Best practices and rules of thumb about the lifespan of corporate data What procurement should be doing differently and/or better with the system-generated data to which they already have access

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published 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 will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.     Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Procurement understands that suppliers offer critical opportunities for advantage and risk resilience - but does the rest of the company? A recent book, Profit from the Source: Transforming Your Business by Putting Suppliers at the Core, makes the case for more involvement and understanding from CEOs. In this episode, Philip Ideson is joined by two of the four authors of that book, Daniel Weise, a Partner and Managing Director in Boston Consulting Group’s Dusseldorf office, and Dr. Wolfgang Schnellbächer, a Partner and Managing Director based in BCG’s Stuttgart office. Their combined expertise in procurement and game-theory-based negotiations are evident in the book, which was written with their colleagues Christian Schuh and Alenka Triplat. Philip takes this opportunity to draw out addition thoughts from Daniel and Wolfgang about: Their firsthand experience working with some of the world's leading companies to drive bottom-line and top-line growth  How procurement leaders can help increase the profile of procurement across the C-suite and demonstrate the ROI for additional procurement investment  The importance of deliberately putting suppliers at the heart of procurement strategies

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published 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 will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.   Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

If procurement were based upon comic book rules, sales professionals would be the arch nemesis. The funny thing is, sales feels the same way in return. If we could just achieve more understanding, everyone would benefit. This week’s episode uses a roundtable format to dig into the timeless struggle between procurement and sales - more honestly and personally than we’ve ever done before. Philip Ideson is joined by Donna Donato, CEO Americas at ChainIQ, in the ‘procurement corner,’ and in the ‘sales corner’ he welcomes Chris Donato, Founder & CEO of esellas, a revenue management company, and Megan Dimmer, CRO, esellas.  And yes, Donna and Chris are married. They explore procurement and sales alignment and discuss whether there are actually any opportunities to support each other.  As you might expect, they also had some interesting differences of opinion about the tactics and strategies sales and procurement use to make life more difficult for the other.  Listen as they debate topics such as: Why sales needs to feel good about the relationship with their customers and prospects before they can advocate internally for competitive pricing How procurement can work with and through sales to gain entry to the buying process when the rest of the business is not actively engaging with them The importance of procurement and sales being able to come together to agree upon desired outcomes and what success will ultimately look like

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published 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 will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.   Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.