Art of Procurement

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Procurement is at the point where they’re trying to figure out next steps on digitization, and it will be an immediate priority for everyone in the next couple of years.” - Gordon Donovan, Vice President of Research - Procurement and External Workforce at SAP It is Gordon Donovan’s job to read every single piece of research that’s published on procurement, the workforce, and the supply chain. More importantly, it is his job to figure out what it means. As he told Philip Ideson, “I’ve got the best job in the world.”  All of this information gives Gordon a deep and comprehensive view of the global procurement landscape and the challenges and opportunities that it presents.  In this episode, Philip draws on Gordon’s depth of knowledge to discuss the findings of SAP’s recently published Economist Impact report, as well as what the research tells us about procurement’s vision, priorities, and opportunities for the future.  Listen in to hear Gordon and Phil discuss the report, which included some surprising findings, as well as: Why digitization tops the list of procurement’s most important priorities How procurement can handle increased complexity and workloads, even as headcounts remain stagnant Procurement’s AI maturity journey and where they are on the path to acceptance and adoption compared to other business functions Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Gordon Donovan on LinkedIn Read the 2024 Sap Economist Impact Report Listen to Gordon Donovan in a previous episode: From C-Suite Priority to Procurement  Unpacking SAP’s 2024 Economist Impact Report Strategy: Managing Risk at Scale

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Everyone has an opinion about facility services in your buildings, so you're always trying to accommodate multiple stakeholders and juggle multiple departments.” - Alex Carlson, VP of Facilities Management Services at Fine Tune In the world of indirect spend management, there are few categories as complex - and high stakes - as facilities management. Delivery locations and sometimes provider networks are distributed and fragmented, making selection, implementation, and ongoing oversight especially difficult. It is no wonder, then, that so many companies are tempted over to “the dark side” of convenience-based solutions in this category. Unfortunately, allowing third parties to manage the delivery of services may also give them more control over cost than procurement realizes. In this episode, Kelly Barner is joined by Alex Carlson, former Vice President of Category Management within Wells Fargo’s Corporate Properties division and new VP of Facilities Management Services at Fine Tune.  His experience and advice can help your organization avoid “the dark side” and instead walk towards the many opportunities for value creation associated with this category of spend. Listen in to learn: The benefits of managing costs as well as services through a cost plus model How to navigate the transition from service provider to client Unique facilities management challenges in C-store, big box retail, and office environments In depth category perspectives and stories of managed services survival Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Alex Carlson on LinkedIn Watch Again: Why is facilities management so complex?

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“At the end of the day, we're trying to create this organization from which we have the ability to help the profession move forward with more than ever before. We think in terms of what each trend or change is going to mean to each team and what they can make of the related opportunities and challenges.” - Philip Ideson, Founder & Managing Director, Art of Procurement In this episode of the Art of Procurement podcast, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner take a break from their usual roles interviewing procurement thought leaders and experts to reflect on the year so far in procurement, including emerging trends, economic pressures, election coverage, AI, and the always-evolving needs of the procurement community. Philip and Kelly also discuss the recent results of an AOP survey that reveals procurement’s increasing demand for quality, targeted content, and they share what they’ve been hearing from other procurement leaders about the impact of AI now that the “newness” has worn off and teams are getting serious about implementation, use cases, and business outcomes. In this episode, they reflect on: How economic shifts and policy changes are reshaping procurement strategies and operations AI’s practical applications in procurement and why experimentation and continuous re-evaluation are so important Upcoming events and projects from the Art of Procurement, including a new AOP website in the works, the official launch of AOP’s YouTube channel, and a special series planned for October that will provide a comprehensive analysis of potential policy impacts to procurement and the supply chain from the U.S. presidential election Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Philip Ideson on LinkedIn Kelly Barner on LinkedIn

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“One thing is very clear from our research: the skill sets for procurement are changing. Whatever the skill sets are today, they are not going to be the skill sets that are needed tomorrow.” -Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP SAP recently released the 2024 results of their annual Economist Impact survey. It contains insights into the overall health of procurement and provides a look at C-suite perspectives on procurement’s role and reputation in the business and the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing them today. This year, they surveyed over 2,300 C-suite executives across procurement and other functional areas and C-suite positions. To unpack the survey results, Philip Ideson is joined in conversation by Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP.   In addition to discussing key findings and insights, they talk about: How this year’s responses differ from previous years and what these new trends say about the future of procurement Major factors impacting the procurement operating model, including new reporting structures, compliance demands, and sustainability expectations How digitization is putting pressure on (and opening new opportunities for) traditional procurement organizations Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Read the 2024 Sap Economist Impact Report Baber Farooq on LinkedIn

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

Category management has been around for decades - so why hasn’t it become ubiquitous?  Many of the objectives procurement needs to satisfy - both qualitative and quantitative - can be addressed by a category management program. Taking a more comprehensive approach to spend and supplier management can deliver improved cost flexibility, more leverage in tightly held markets, and a closer alignment with the priorities of the business. Despite all of these benefits, category management struggles to secure broad adoption.   In this solo episode, Philip Ideson speaks about his personal experience with category management and the challenges and opportunities he sees. Listen in to discover: The roadblocks that prevent category management from living up to expectations Advancements in procurement technology that will enable everyone in the company to play a larger role at the category level Why he still believes category management IS the future of procurement Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Philip Ideson on LinkedIn Category Management: How Far We’ve Come, How Far We Can Go featuring Mark Webb What is Category Management? (According to the Experts) Build Your Category Management Framework with Five Evergreen Principles Learn from the 4-step Category Management Process Refined by Novartis