Art of Procurement

This week’s podcast is based on our recent AOP Live session with Pierre Lapree and Jason Treida. They joined us last month to take live audience questions about how procurement can maximize the value potential of automation while ensuring that performance management is not lost in the ‘noise’ of technology. Most of today’s technology focuses on either the transactional aspects of procurement (P2P) or shiny new toys (RPA/AI/Blockchain). It does not necessarily provide a holistic view our activity and performance. And yet, it is those activities and that performance that determine procurement’s impact and influence now and in the future.    In this live session, we discussed: Procurement’s Fascination with ‘Shiny’ Technology The stages of procurement maturity, and how performance should be measured and incentivized as we progress The power and importance of corporate ‘rituals’ How a careful consideration of procurement performance management requires us to approach technology selection and implementation differently

Whether you call it supplier performance management or supplier relationship management, procurement has always understood that we need supply partners at their best for us to realize the maximum ROI from each contract. Usually, however, that boils down to a meeting where we point out where they could be doing better or ask a bunch of questions that imply the same thing and send them on their way to figure out how they should improve. It basically amounts to procurement making a wish list and throwing it over the wall. Needless to say, this delivers questionable results. Procurement doesn’t have the time required to follow up with as many suppliers as we should, and the suppliers don’t have an incentive to put more energy than absolutely necessary into a contract they have already signed. Besides, they’re often not sure exactly what we want from them. In this disconnect, Amanda Prochaska, President and CEO of HPP Coach, and Jonathan Townsley, a Business Transformation and Supply Management Advisor, see an opportunity for procurement to meaningfully and sustainably change the way we manage our suppliers.

Having the opportunity to reflect back on a successful career in its entirety is a gift, and in “A Procurement Compendium”, Peter Smith shares that gift with the whole procurement community. From being found by procurement (either because he could play tennis or because he was lousy at sales), to his time as a consultant and then 8+ years with Spend Matters, he’s experienced nearly everything. Peter shares stories from his career that capture the things he’d done differently. He wishes he’d insisted upon having better talent. He would fight for the budgetary resources to get his team the resources they needed. He would be less cautious and spend more time connecting on a personal level with fellow executives. In this conversation, Peter talks about: · The importance of competition and the dangers of supplier dependence · Why procurement is not in decline (yet) · What new CPOs should do to succeed early on

In this episode, AOP Host Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner (General Manager of AOP and Owner of Buyers Meeting Point) discuss their major take-aways from November’s news, industry topics and podcast interviews. Note: This is a special - early and shortened - version of our This Month in Procurement podcast due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. We would like to thank you, our listeners and followers, for sharing your time and energy with us during the year. The procurement community is amazing. We continue to be enthusiastic about being part of your network and having you in ours!   

In this week’s podcast, Philip Ideson is joined by two members of the Procurement Leaders team, David Rae, their Chief Product Officer, and Geraldine Craven, Head of Research. They recently completed a study in cooperation with Bain Consulting to understand what is changing in advance of the arrival of 2020 and what remains the same. In this conversation, David and Geri talk about the key recommendations in Procurement Leaders’ 2020 CPO Planning Guide, including: • The need for procurement to connect with the broader C-suite agenda • The organizational differentiation that Procurement Leaders is seeing among companies that focus the customer experience, innovation or risk management • Whether it is easier to drive transformation when change is already underway or when a team is at the beginning of their journey • The skills that leadership teams need to make sure are in place within procurement, and why it is critical that procurement recruit from outside the function

“A good procurement person has two qualities: One is they're curious. They want to know how things are made. How did we get it here? Why is the supplier doing that? What is the price? What is the cost? So, curiosity is the number one thing and the number two thing is emotional intelligence. Do they have the capability to build relationships inside and outside the business?” In this week’s podcast, Philip Ideson is joined by Bill Michels, Vice President of Operations Americas at CIPS. They discuss the global nature of today’s supply chains and the impact that shift has had on the professional procurement community: specifically, they discuss the ongoing impact of trade tariffs around the world, and the proactive actions that can be taken to prepare for economic recession. In this conversation, Bill talks about: • Why procurement needs to start focusing on influencing buyer behavior, not their spend • The destabilizing impact of tariffs, and whether it is possible for them to represent an opportunity as well as a challenge • How procurement leaders can begin to proactively plan for an economic recession. • How procurement skills development is being impacted by the very different interests and needs of the four different generations making up the current workforce

In this episode, AOP Host Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner (General Manager of AOP and Owner of Buyers Meeting Point) discuss their major take-aways from October’s news, industry topics and podcast interviews. In October, we heard a total of seven podcasts: A solo show from Philip Ideson on Getting Executive Buy-in for a Procurement Change Initiative A five-part series with leadership team from Efficio, titled “A CPO’s First 100 Days” An interview with Ryan Flynn, a Principal at Deloitte Consulting, about their 8th annual CPO Survey  This month’s discussion topic is one that most procurement professionals – most people, in fact – think about this time of year… How can I set myself up for success in the new year? With less than 60 days remaining in 2019, there isn’t a minute to waste. The AOP team is already actively engaged in the planning process, and we are positive 2020 is going to a much brighter – and bolder – year!

“The ‘complexity masters’ have taken the transactional side of procurement and turned it into a well-oiled machine, a combination of operating models and digital strategies, so that they can focus on those areas where they can drive the most value.” The annual Deloitte Global CPO survey is one of the most anticipated reports of the year. In this year’s report, the 11th annual, the authors took a different approach than they have in the past, calling out a single word of focus: complexity. Ryan Flynn is a Principal at Deloitte Consulting with 14 years of experience helping global companies improve their sourcing and procurement efficiency and effectiveness. Despite the fact that so many things seem to remain the same in procurement year after year, Ryan observes that his team is seeing movement – and fortunately, we are moving in the right direction. Procurement’s scope is shifting, as is our attitude towards ‘good’ risk. Of course, there is still plenty of work to be done, and nothing ever remains the same.

You have just been appointed to a new CPO position. Your executive leadership team is looking at you to make an immediate impact while setting up procurement as a driver of sustainable, long term value. You know that your first 100 days in the role may make or break your career. What do you do? Where do you start?  In this special 5-part series, made possible through a partnership with Efficio, we will provide you with the roadmap you need to hit the ground running.  In the fifth - and final - episode of the series, I spoke with Shirin Tomlinson, head of The Efficio Academy, about the importance of investing in skills development, starting with how a new CPO can attract the best talent into procurement. In addition, Shirin and I discussed: What skills CPOs should look for in their teams now and in the future How companies should approach the training and upskilling of current team members The risks associated with not focusing on the team and their skills in the early days of a procurement change effort

You have just been appointed to a new CPO position. Your executive leadership team is looking at you to make an immediate impact while setting up procurement as a driver of sustainable, long term value. You know that your first 100 days in the role may make or break your career. What do you do? Where do you start?  In this special 5-part series, made possible through a partnership with Efficio, we will provide you with the roadmap you need to hit the ground running.  In this fourth episode of the series, I spoke with Peter Wetherill, a Principal at Efficio, about where to start with the new technology that you are expecting enable your elevated procurement value proposition. In addition, Peter and I discussed: The legacy of wasted time and resources associated with technology implementations How important procurement’s technical ‘literacy’ is to the realization of post-implementation ROI Where to begin in a non-digital procurement organization How to evaluate technology that is already in place