Art of Procurement

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 January's podcast interviews and announce the official launch of Procurement, Inc., the new Art of Procurement framework for repositioning procurement as a strategic services business.

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Rowena Ludwig, Chief Marketing Officer of TraDove, a social networking platform built to match and connect business buyers and sellers and blockchain payment solution provider. Discussion highlights include: How blockchain tokens can be used to facilitate B2B payment transactions. The security and information storage implications of a B2B blockchain v. a traditional one. Why social network-based technology is the most efficient way for global buyers and sellers to connect.

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Pierre Laprée, Founder of Per Angusta, a procurement project pipeline and performance tracking tool founded in 2012. Discussion highlights include: The importance of investing in - and building up - procurement's internal credibility through detailed performance management tracking. An acknowledgment that procurement teams carry a heavy workload, often multiple projects at one time, including a wide range of task types and activities. Why the challenge of 'savings' needs to be addressed as a process by both procurement and finance, not as an issue with procurement's value proposition.

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Tarmo Saidla, Co-Founder and CEO of ProcurementFlow, a collaboration and work management platform founded in 2019. Discussion highlights include: The challenge of combining consistent purchase approvals and oversight with buyer convenience and speed While a lot has changed in procurement, the need for a centralized team and streamlined processes has not abated How, much like with Excel, companies are unlikely to ever get distributed buyers to stop relying on email for requests and approvals

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Stephany Lapierre, CEO of Tealbook, a master supplier data management platform founded in 2015. Discussion highlights include: The glaring investment between procurement's investment (to date) in technology versus the investment in the data that runs through that technology. How increasing the quality of supplier master data can actually reduce the friction associated with changing procurement software providers. Why machine learning may help procurement make the leap from understanding who their suppliers are to recognizing the total value those suppliers can offer.

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Edmund Zagorin, the Founder of Bid Ops. Bid Ops is a sourcing enablement platform founded in 2018. Discussion highlights include: Where the majority of time is invested in a sourcing process, and how that can be streamlined without sacrificing results Separating 'the market', which is effectively a generalized abstraction, from the effective market that determines a buyer's true optionality How the length of a negotiation can either favor the buyer or the supplier

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Arvid Fredin and Nils Lundgren, the team behind Spendency, the self-proclaimed "easy to use" spend analysis solution founded in 2015. Discussion highlights include: Why 'ease of use' is both the most important and the most difficult sell How their belief in democratizing access to advanced analytics is reflected in Spendency's reflects the commercial model and company structure The advantage associated with embedding process-based thinking into a tool so that workflows do not have to be rolled out heavy-handedly to users

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Alan Holland, the Founder and CEO of Keelvar. Founded in 2012, Keelvar provides the automation procurement needs to achieve speed, while also increasing adherence to best practices. Discussion highlights include: The power and resource efficiency of combining optimization and automation The critical differences between intelligent automation and robotic process automation (RPA) The business case for applying optimization technology to large or analytically complex spend categories

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Paul Gurr, Managing Director at Provalido, an online platform for tracking savings that was founded in 2013. Discussion highlights include: The strategy (and feasibility) of taking a 'best of breed' approach to building a procurement technology portfolio The continued need for procurement to emphasize and invest in clean, high quality data The direct connection between tracking and process/purchasing transparency

Procurement has always been fertile ground for tech entrepreneurs. We have pulled together some of the most compelling – and potentially disruptive – procurement solutions for a Special Startup Series. We will ask each entrepreneur questions about what gap in the market their solution addresses, how they differentiate their technology and what their tools look like in action. In this podcast, we interview Sam Jenks, Chief Marketing Officer at Kodiak Hub, a supplier relationship management platform founded in 2015. Discussion highlights include: Why supplier insight has to be based on both robust scorecards and data analytics. That (believe it or not) Excel continues to be Kodiak's biggest competitor. How this is the time – even according to well-known consulting firms and CTOs – to be an early adopter and partner with a startup