Art of Procurement

AOP Host Philip Ideson starts each interview with a question about what brought that particular guest to procurement. With this week's guest, business consultant and coach Juergen Scherer, it might have been better to ask what brought him THROUGH procurement, because he has held influential roles across procurement, supply chain, sales, and operations. While he isn't in procurement today, Juergen's doctoral thesis on Procurement Marketing received the Scientific Award of the German Industry Association for Purchasing and Supply Management. His knowledge of the function has unquestionably improved his ability to excel in each of his other roles, as well as in his current coaching practice. Today, Juegen splits his time between Germany and the US West Coast as a business consultant and coach, leading his business called BXB-Exchange. He reached out to Art of Procurement in response to our podcasts about the flywheel effect and its applicability to procurement. We took that opportunity to probe deeper into his thoughts about how procurement can better align with the business as a whole. In this conversation, Juergen shares examples from his extensive background that illustrate the key part of his business philosophy: How procurement can push suppliers to deliver more value while investing in them so that their capabilities are developed at the same time. Why, despite the fact that every buyer/seller relationship is unique, there are common success factors that have to be consistently present: trust, open communications, and mutual respect, to name a few. How procurement can develop and effectively communicate a "USP," or unique selling proposition, to both suppliers and internal stakeholders.

Although procurement professionals don't usually think of ourselves as making 'cold calls,' we do it all the time. If you've ever sat down with a stakeholder for the first time and immediately realized they either don't understand procurement's role or don't particularly care for our processes, you've survived a cold call. In that moment, you can either explain or listen, and although listening is the better way to build understanding and rapport, most procurement professionals aren't prepared to structure this kind of conversation. In this week's podcast, Host Philip Ideson discusses how to master this type of first meeting using an approach that sales professionals use - and have no doubt used on you - called the discovery call. He explains: Why discovery calls are important and how they set the tone for the long term success of the relationship The three components of a typical discovery call: the planning, the call itself, and then the follow up How to prepare in advance to ensure your discovery calls are productive for procurement and for your stakeholder(s)

One year ago, all procurement could talk about was digital transformation. Enter the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of those plans were thrown overboard. We may not be doing what we expected to be working on as we approach the final quarter of 2020, but that doesn't mean there isn't still a strong appetite for procurement change, both at the executive level and within the procurement community. The difference is that we are now trying to lead transformation in the midst of a disrupted landscape without the benefit of any forward-looking certainty. Christopher Eyerman is the Head of Procurement Innovation at Denali - A WNS Company and David Clevenger is their Director of Procurement and Operational Excellence. They are focused on the factors that influence digital maturity and readiness for change in the context of the entire procurement ecosystem. In this podcast, which is based on an AOP Live session made possible by Denali, Christopher and David share their point of view on: How procurement can get the digital journey started - in reality, not just in theory The types of change management investments procurement will need to make in order to ensure that transformation is successful and sustainable What additional trends we should be preparing for as we close out 2020 and attempt to ready ourselves for the new year

Technology is an extremely broad spend category and it is expanding by the day because of our emphasis on digital transformation. Nearly every function and category has an IT software or services component to it. Technology truly forms the foundation, or "lifeblood" as Rene Mathis put it, of corporate initiatives. Rene Mathis is an Associate Director at Corcentric where he specializes in technology category spend. He is currently working side by side with companies that are reevaluating their IT contracts, redefining their uptime definitions and service level agreements, and attempting to put plans in place - despite the fact that no one knows what the next 6-12 months will hold. In this interview, Rene shares his point of view with Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner on: The current state of IT sourcing, including what has (and has not) changed because of the COVID-19 shutdowns The health of procurement's relationship with in-house IT, and some suggestions for building collaborative bridges while still achieving spend-related objectives Trends in emerging technologies and automation that procurement should be prepared to address in cross-functional sourcing projects

For the rest of August, I'm taking a roadtrip across the United States, and so because I'm out of the recording studio, I'm going to dip into the archive all the way back to 2016 to share some of my favorite episodes from that year with you that are still just as relevant as today - and if you found the podcast after 2016, there's a good chance that you haven't yet heard these conversations. Today's I rewind to a conversation that I had with Tim Jones, Head of Sourcing at Google. Our conversation documents Google's journey to become a trusted advisor. Google's approach includes tactics around stakeholder engagement that I often recommend to procurement teams who are on their own journey from tactical to strategic, regardless of the size of your company.

For the rest of August, I'm taking a roadtrip across the United States, and so because I'm out of the recording studio, I'm going to dip into the archive all the way back to 2016 to share some of my favorite episodes from that year with you that are still just as relevant as today - and if you found the podcast after 2016, there's a good chance that you haven't yet heard these conversations. Today's I rewind to a conversation that I had with Jack Miles. There are few, if any, leaders in the procurement profession with the depth and breadth of experience as Jack. Jack has enjoyed multiple CPO roles at some of North America's largest companies and has served as Secretary of the Florida Department of Managed Services. He serves, and has served, on a number of corporate boards, and has become a key advisor and friend to me personally, and to Art of Procurement. In today's show, Jack shares seven of the key lessons that he has learned from his career in both the private and public sectors. If you have any interest in growing your procurement career at any level, this episode is a must listen!

For the rest of August, I'm taking a road trip across the United States, and so because I'm out of the recording studio, I'm going to dip into the archive all the way back to 2016 to share some of my favorite episodes from that year with you that are still just as relevant as today - and if you found the podcast after 2016, there's a good chance that you haven't yet heard these conversations. Today's is a conversation with former procurement practitioner Sylvain Mansottee, now the CEO and Co-Founder of Whispli. It is a story about procurement fraud. As a practitioner, Sylvain received the call from the newly appointed CPO of a large Australian based construction company to assist in building a new procurement function. Within 2 months, he had uncovered a $20M fraud that spanned 12 years and led to the perpetrator admitting to the crime, and ultimately being sentenced to 15 years prison. Today's Art of Procurement is Sylvain's story. Sylvain discusses how he uncovered the fraud, and the decisions he had to make in blowing the whistle. We then talk more specifically about procurement fraud. Sylvain shares a number of fraud red flags and provides tips on how you can ensure you have an environment where a whistleblower feels safe in coming forward if they have information to share. Sylvain's story is really absorbing, and also, for me, a wakeup call to realize that procurement fraud is real, and that any one of us in procurement may find ourselves in the same position as Sylvain given the nature of our roles.

For a long time, procurement has gotten feedback that our terminology - and, more specifically, our abbreviations - have a distancing or alienating effect on internal stakeholders and budget owners. But if language has the power to push people away, it can also be used to purposefully clarify, align, and collaborate. Steve Wills is the founder and Managing Director of Procurement Central and formerly served as the Procurement Advisor to the 2012 London Olympic Games. He has extensive business experience with blue chip organizations and has worked with leaders in industry and commerce as a CPO to transform complex procurement and supply chain functions. In this interview, Steve outlines: Some of the ways procurement can use language and messaging to bridge the gap between ourselves and the other functions in the organization The more expansive notion of stakeholder management procurement should embrace if we want to build stronger relationships with the business What to do when circumstances call for pragmatism instead of our polished procurement processes

Marketing is one of those spend categories that procurement often has a hard time breaking into. They are less concerned with cost than their counterparts in other functions, and most of the services they contract are not only complex, project-based efforts, they are usually evaluated from a highly subjective point of view. Kathleen Jordan is an Associate Director at Source One, a Corcentric Company, where she has been focused on the marketing category for years. She is familiar with the opportunities in marketing spend as well as the common disconnects that may prevent procurement from bringing marketing spend under management and cost marketing professionals the ability to make their budgets go further. In this interview, Kathleen shares her point of view with Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner on: Some of the most effective sourcing strategies for marketing spend and which specific categories should be looked at by procurement as good starting points The trends and implications hitting the marketing industry and consumers of B2B marketing services as the world transitions from traditional to fully digital marketing Tips and best practices procurement can use to bridge gaps in understanding or priorities between their team and their marketing colleagues

It has been well established that having a diverse and inclusive workforce increases results and employee satisfaction, so why wouldn't' the same be true for companies that invest in building a diverse supply chain? That question is the one that started Jaime Crump down the path to become a supplier diversity expert and consultant. Jamie is the president of The Richmond Group where she provides consulting and coaching services to corporate and certified diversity-owned businesses in the areas of strategic sourcing and procurement strategies, supplier diversity initiatives, and optimizing the leverage of a diversity certification. Although supplier diversity programs are well-intentioned, they also have to be good for business, and as Jaime points out, there is a lot of research highlighting the correlations between a more diverse supply base and quantitative business improvement. The American Sociological Review, Harvard Business Review, and McKinsey have all studied the issue and found strong evidence to support true supply chain diversification. In this interview, Jamie explains: Why the majority of diversity spend is associated with indirect suppliers. How stakeholders (or distributed buyers) are ultimately the ones with the power to make the greatest difference in supplier diversity. The fact that the effort to ensure supplier diversity is never done, and why it can't be put on 'cruise control.'