Art of Procurement

We’re all positive that digital automation is the right way forward for procurement, but why? Are we pursuing progress for its own sake or to achieve an expanded range of procurement contributions? Put more simply, what do you plan to do with the time freed up by smart automation? I’m joined today by Jens Hentschel, Founder and CEO of THE FIVIS PARTNERSHIP, a consultancy and training company based in London. With the FIVIS team, Jens focuses on the importance of customer-centricity in procurement transformation and skills development. According to Jens, much of procurement is missing the big picture – toiling away in tactical isolation when a mindset shift is critically needed. Rather than trying to carve out a bigger role by taking on more tasks, Jens advocates for procurement to make an investment in meaningful connections. While we know the raw materials being purchased, if we do not also understand the needs of the end consumer, our impact is limited. In this interview, we discuss why customer centricity is so important, and why it is also so difficult and likely to be overlooked by ‘too-busy’ procurement teams.

This month, AOP revives and reimagines ‘This Month in Procurement’ as an informal monthly discussion of podcasts, news and trends. In this episode, AOP Host Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner (AOP Content Director and Owner of Buyers Meeting Point) share their secrets for surviving the unceasing onslaught of procurement content and discuss their major take-aways from the month’s podcast episodes. In January’s podcasts, we heard from Charlotte de Brabandt and Yannick Blattler about generational differences while Sarah Scudder addressed entrepreneurship and category expertise and Joanna Martinez gave us positive food for thought that is much needed in today’s disruptive world. January also brought news of an innovative new approach being implemented by the State of California: Procurement Innovation Sprints. Will this change allow procurement to focus on objectives rather than specifications in the supplier evaluation process? Only time will tell.

We constantly read about disruptive change affecting companies and entire markets. The source of that disruption is always positioned as the hero - but what about the other characters in each of those stories? What if you are living through change that is not of your own making? I’m joined today by Joanna Martinez, Founder of Supply Chain Advisors, LLC and author of the new book, A Guide to Positive Disruption: How to Thrive and Make an Impact in the Churn of Today’s Corporate World. Joanna is hardly new to Art of Procurement. She has appeared with me twice before, in Episode 59, ‘An Introduction To Value Based Procurement’ and again in Episode 66, ‘Where To Look To Generate Procurement Driven Value’. Between those two conversations and the one you’ll hear today, there is no denying that Joanna’s vision for procurement (and, in fact, life as a whole) extends far beyond tactical methods and measurements. In this interview, we discuss the difference between change and disruption, look at the simple ways you can make a positive difference in your own career, and face the fact that each and every one of us must learn to “embrace the churn”.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are highly prized in today’s business environment, but has procurement managed to deliver its fair share of either? I’m joined today by Sarah Scudder, President of the Real Sourcing Network (RSN), a company that provides clients with print management software that allows them to manage the print category in-house. In our conversation we discuss a wide range of topics, including healthy risk taking for the sake of career development, how to make the most of modern procurement events, and print category best practices. Sarah shares her unmatched perspective on this $77B U.S. industry, and how procurement can leverage technology to get the best total value by combining large dominant players and smaller, niche market entrants in this labor-dependent, capital intensive space.

How can procurement leaders create the environment necessary to attract the next generation of talent into the profession - and help them fulfill their potential? I’m joined today by returning guest Charlotte de Brabandt - ISM’s 2018 30 Under 30 Winner - and Yannick Blattler, the Managing Director of NeoViso, a consulting firm that helps companies more effectively engage with Gen Z. In our conversation, we discuss common misconceptions about Millennial and Gen Z workers, while Charlotte and Yannick share tips and strategies that will help organizations attract and engage the next generation of procurement leaders.  

Are you ready for 2019?  In today's podcast - the last of 2018 - I reflect on what has changed for procurement this year, and what hasn't!  I then share a couple of predictions for 2019, including my recommendations for areas of technology investment next year.  Finally, I leave 2018 with three questions to consider over the holiday break that will help you kick-start your change journey in 2019. 

Out of the 232 podcasts to date, today is the first time that we dig into GPO’s - or Group Purchasing Organizations. And as I planned out this topic, I invited today’s guest, Jay Black, to join me. Jay is Vice President at Insight Sourcing Group and has significant experience in the GPO space, selling and operating services under a number of different GPO delivery models. I’ll be honest and say that, prior to today’s discussion, I have always felt that a GPO fit a very specific market niche of small companies. However, our conversation opened my eyes, especially to the use of GPO’s in larger organizations as part of a multi-dimensional approach. Jay and I explore the nuts and bolts of GPO’s - when and how to use them, what to look for, and how to continue to benefit once any initial one-time savings have been exhausted.

Today on the show I am joined by Mike Morsch. Mike is the Vice President of Global Procurement and Supply Chain at CDK Global. Mike shares more about CDK in our interview, but to give you some context, CDK Global is a $2B+ revenue company that provides technology and digital marketing solutions to the automotive dealership industry. They were formally the Dealer Services division of ADP before being spun off into an independent company back in 2014. In today’s conversation, we discuss Mike, and CDK’s journey to transform procurement within CDK after the spin-off. As is often the case after a spin-off like this, the new company - in this case CDK Global - has to rebuild a large part of its organization from the ground up. Either the infrastructure that comes over from the former parent company is not suited for a smaller company that the spun-off entity now is, or there is no infrastructure that comes across at all! I question Mike about the three phases of transformation that typically occur in a situation like this: steadying the ship post the spin-out, rebuilding capabilities and more fundamental technical infrastructure, and then looking forward to bringing in new technology to evolve the procurement value proposition. As you will hear, Mike has deep IT experience outside of procurement, and so I wanted to tap into this to understand how he looks at technology and developing a business case for investments in technology.

My guest is Edmund Zagorin.  Edmund in the founder and CEO of BidOps, and I hope he won’t mind me saying, but a technology geek when it comes to procurement. Our conversation today focuses on the application of emerging technology to the sourcing process - particularly complex sourcing events - and the subsequent negotiation process. Of particular interest to me was Edmund’s quest to automate the negotiations process. I dug into the what, the why and the how as I explored if negotiations can be completely automated, or if automation in the negotiation process helps the human ultimately seal the deal.

This week is Thanksgiving here in the US… a time when most people are thinking about spending time with their families rather than listening to a procurement podcast! So with that in mind, I thought I’d wait until next week to release another interview. I’m going to be spending a lot of my week planning for 2019; for Art of Procurement, and for our CatalystCo product and service roadmap. As I do that, I want to ask you for your help...