Art of Procurement

Traditionally, procurement has been focused on driving corporate profitability by putting pressure on suppliers, rationalizing specifications, and managing demand. While these strategies have delivered some benefits to the business, their diminishing returns came at the cost of procurement’s internal reputation. As procurement’s focus turns to top-line growth, they will have to change more than just their strategies and tactics before they can be successful. This podcast is the last in a 4-part series focused on how procurement can contribute to efforts to restore corporate growth. In this episode, Host Philip Ideson shares why a focus on growth is so important to the future of the procurement profession before concluding the podcast series by sharing some of his key takeaways from the first three episodes. In this episode, Philip wraps up the series by considering points such as: Why procurement doesn’t need to fix how we are perceived, so much as we need to address the attitudes, styles, and behaviors that have led to that perception How procurement can pivot to a focus on corporate growth, and what we need to understand about our organization before knowing which actions to take The opportunity associated with a partnership between procurement and sales, and which corporate KPIs this will allow procurement to contribute to

The pandemic has caused a rethink of many past assumptions, from just in time inventory to offshored supply chains. Moving forward, leaders need to avoid jumping from one extreme to the other. Traditionally accepted priorities such as efficiency and cost containment suddenly must be assessed against the risk involved. Success will increasingly depend on how well organizations strike the optimal balance among such priorities. This podcast is the third in a 4-part series focused on how procurement can contribute to efforts to restore corporate growth. In this episode we welcome Alex Saric, Ivalua’s Chief Marketing Executive. For over 15 years he has evangelized spend management, shaping its evolution and working closely with hundreds of customers to support their digital transformation journeys.  In this episode we will look into: What risk factors are most critical and how can procurement best manage them? What strategies can best minimize the tradeoffs between risk and growth? What can procurement / supply chain leaders learn from investors by taking a portfolio view of supply chain risk?

As organizations look beyond Covid-19, restoring growth is top of mind for many. Specific strategies vary by industry and company, but suppliers often play an integral role. This is especially true as organizations have become more dependent on the supply chain than ever before and their innovation is increasingly key to growth and success. This podcast is the second in a 4-part series focused on how procurement can contribute to efforts to restore corporate growth. In this episode we welcome Vishal Patel, VP of Product Marketing at Ivalua, where he is focused on ensuring product - market fit, understanding customer needs and driving market trends. In this episode we will look into: What are the best ways for suppliers to contribute value? What does procurement need to improve their collaboration with suppliers? How can organizations establish themselves as customers of choice so suppliers are willing to collaborate and share innovations?

Procurement’s stature has grown during the COVID-19 crisis as costs, cash flow and supply continuity quickly became top priorities and homepage news. To maintain its slot on the boardroom agenda going forward, procurement leaders must show that they can contribute to restoring growth beyond the pandemic and support a longer list of objectives. There are ample opportunities for procurement to contribute to this broad enterprise growth, but unfortunately, few procurement teams have experience doing so. In order to be successful in this new endeavor, procurement will have to expand their influence in the organization through effective engagement of and collaboration with other parts of the business. This podcast is part of a series focused on how procurement can contribute to efforts to restore corporate growth. In this episode we welcome Sylvie Noel, CPO at Covéa Group, the #1 in property and liability insurance provider in France. She has held this role for nearly a decade, and in that time she has led a complete overhaul of Covéa Group’s purchasing process, including new systems implementations and a change effort involving new manager priorities, procedures, and compliance. In this first installment in the 4-part series, we’ll dive into : What are the top opportunities for procurement to contribute to growth? How can procurement leaders effectively expand their influence in the organization? How can you best collaborate with other departments? Key to gaining executive support for required investments? What are the requirements from a people and technology perspective?

Risk management may not always be a formal part of procurement’s scope, but it is a natural extension of our current work. As a result, the difference between procurement’s ability to effectively manage risk may be as simple as officially declaring that it is in scope and embracing all of the activities and metrics that come with it. Canda Rozier is a multiple-time CPO with experience working across a number of leading global organizations and the President and founder of Collabra Consulting. She has always regarded risk management as important as part of the supplier life cycle, but it has risen in both priority and prominence since the start of 2020. In this conversation, Canda speaks with Host Philip Ideson about: How to measure and set expectations for the ROI associated with a formal risk management program How risk management efforts change for product v. service categories Where data security and cybersecurity intersect with more traditional supply chain risk management efforts

Marketing is just one of the functions that procurement has a somewhat ‘rocky’ history of past relationships with. When you extend that existing internal friction into the relationship with creative agencies, the problems and disconnects seem to compound. Leah Power is the EVP, Strategic Operations Consultant at the Institute of Communication Agencies. Prior to this, she served as the COO at Grey Canada and the Finance Director at DDB Canada. Her primary focus is helping agency executives resolve business issues related to new business growth, finances, procurement, and agency remuneration.  In this conversation, Leah speaks with Host Philip Ideson about: Why RFPs are not the best sourcing strategy for creative agency spend Why a ‘price first’ approach drives innovation in standardized product categories but inhibits it in value-based service categories like marketing  How procurement can help determine a good or ‘best’ fit between a company and the capabilities of a range of creative agencies

Despite the fact that the need to manage tail spend is hardly a new idea in procurement, it continues to be one of the greatest challenges we face. Tail spend is messy, risky, hard to analyze, and - if you take the wrong approach - very costly to address. Merck was faced with a huge, global tail spend management problem, but they refused to let it fester or get the best of them. Starting with a U.S.-based pilot in their life science division, they partnered with WNS Denali to get a grip on their tail spend without alienating the business or breaking the bank. Tom Cicale is the VP of Procurement for Merck KGaA, where he is responsible for global plant services consisting of MRO, CAPEX/OPEX, site services, utilities and logistics, and Sameer Sharma is a client engagement leader in WNS Denali’s delivery organization. They have worked together to design and implement a truly unique tail spend management program. In this podcast, which is based on an AOP Live session that one attendee described as “the most impactful webinar I have ever been on in my entire career,” Tom and Sameer candidly answer questions such as: How do you measure the impact and success of your tail spend program in such a way that procurement showed positive ROI and secured finance’s validation for your numbers? Did Merck’s global footprint (and complex technology landscape) present a problem in the wider program rollout and, if so, how did you overcome it? If you had to do something differently, what would it be?

All companies have been affected by the pandemic over the last year, but companies in the healthcare industry - like Kaiser Permanente - have felt the pressure and the change to their operating procedures more than most. Mary Beth Lang is the Chief Supply Chain and Procurement Officer at Kaiser Permanente, an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California. In this conversation, Mary Beth tells Host Philip Ideson: The importance of understanding your suppliers’ supply chains: how they produce or secure volume, whether their demand is met by contracted demand or spot buys, and where they are reliant upon imports to fill orders How Kaiser Permanente revamped its procurement resources and became more agile during the COVID-19 pandemic. What Kaiser Permanente learned from the pandemic about its procurement processes and what will be changed in the future How the Kaiser Permanente procurement team plays an active role in helping drive community impact Tips on how procurement teams can leverage their spending efforts to support their communities through working with diverse suppliers

In the spring and summer of 2020, there were plenty of stories about professionals and teams rallying to get their jobs done while working remotely, in some cases even going above and beyond to achieve levels of performance that no one would have thought possible. As the pandemic stretches on, and reaches a second wave or additional shutdowns, widespread fatigue is starting to set in. In this conversation, Tom tells Host Philip Ideson: How to be an effective leader while moving from an operational focus to one based on preserving and fostering employee engagement The social and lifestyle differences between employees that have been exacerbated and highlighted by the need to work from home in varied personal circumstances The critical role that authenticity and trust play in building professional relationships that are strong enough to overcome situations when people are not okay

Casey’s General Stores is the 5th largest convenience store chain in the United States and owns one of the largest pizza brands in the nation. With 2,200 locations in 16 midwestern states, they have $10 Billion in revenue and a double-digit growth rate. What wasn’t going well for Casey’s? They had no procurement team. When a new CEO came in, one of the first things he did was to bring in Jaime Robles as his Vice President of Procurement and Sourcing. With a career of successes in procurement team building and transformation, he was uniquely qualified to build Casey’s brand new procurement organization from scratch. In this podcast, Jaime tells Host Philip Ideson: What he sees as the top two factors in procurement’s evolution over the last decade How he achieves a balance between procurement talent and technology What he believes procurement should be doing other than strategic sourcing