Art of Procurement

Ugh, governance I hear you say!  When we think of procurement governance, we think of it as a way to control our end users - as something to measure compliance against.  However, it doesn't have to be like that! I was invited to speak at a conference recently on the topic of procurement governance.  My experience is that governance - if used strategically - can be the cornerstone of a strategy that enables procurement to take on a greater role within our organizations.  In this Art of Procurement Friday Show, I explain why, and what your first step should be. For show notes, including a screencast of the full length presentation, go to http://artofprocurement.com/governance.    

I strongly feel that we can learn as much from people who are outside procurement as inside procurement, and that is definitely the case in today’s show. My guest today is Anna Spady, the Marketing Manager and Inbound Strategist for RFP365. In today’s episode, I explore how procurement can learn from Marketing best practices in terms of how you can build strong relationships, and advocates, from people who may initially resist talking to you. It is the classic problem that we have in connecting with our internal stakeholders, and Anna shares a number of ways to overcome this challenge using methods that a lot of us may not have considered before. For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/marketingtips bg9ftuar  

After a flurry of activity over the past couple of weeks – with the site redesign and then the Big Idea Week series, it is nice to get back into a normal routine this week! And in fact, I don’t intend for today’s show to be very long at all. Rather than diving in to another subject, I would encourage you to go back and pick out a show from the Big Idea week that may not yet have already listened to. Listen in to today's podcast for a summary of the Big Idea Week shows, and for a question that I would like to crowdsource the answer to! http://artofprocurement.com/47 

This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today, I welcomed Martin Chilcott, Founder and CEO of 2degrees, onto the show.  Martin is a serial entrepreneur and a sought after speaker who is passionate about solving our greatest supply chain sustainability challenges.  In our conversation, Martin shares why sustainability is critical as we attempt to accommodate a growing global middle class, and the role that procurement can play in building sustainable supply chains through the power of collaboration. For links and show notes, go to http://artofprocurement.com/sustainability

This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today's guest is Barry Ward, Senior Procurement Brand Manager at IBM.  Barry and I discuss how cognitive technologies have the potential to transform procurement delivery models. Barry shares how IBM is using technology to drive automation across their internal procurement group by levering their IBM Watson platform.  We talk about where this technology is on the maturity curve, and the impact this is likely to have on the procurement skill sets of the future.  For links and show notes, go to http://artofprocurement.com/ibm-watson

This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today's guest is Chris Browne, Chief Procurement Officer of The World Bank.  The World Bank has arguably one of the most complex procurement scope's in the world, covering $44B in project spend across 173 countries.  Chris and his team embarked on a three year journey to reform procurement at The World Bank, and he shares his learnings covering topics such as the impact of culture on procurement practices, where to start when planning a complex procurement transformation, and The World Bank's approach to leading procurement projects in conflict states around the world. For links and show notes, go to http://artofprocurement.com/chris-browne

This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. In today's interview, I talked with Chris Sawchuk.  Chris is a Principal, and the Global Procurement Advisory Practice Leader at The Hackett Group.  Chris and I focused on the findings of Hackett's 2016 CPO Key Issues Study.  As part of the conversation, we touched on CPO priorities, how world class procurement organizations are becoming trusted business advisors, and the need for CPO's to focus on agility in times of rapid change. For links and show notes, go to http://artofprocurement.com/chris-sawchuck-hackett

This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today, I sat down with Gabe Perez, the Vice President of Strategy and Market Development at Coupa.  Gape shares his thoughts on a number of procurement technology issues, including the potential for cognitive computing, the need to focus on the value that technology can provide to all users to ensure its success, and why open platforms are the future of procurement technology. For links and show notes, go to http://artofprocurement.com/gabe-perez-coupa

This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. We start the week with a wide ranging conversation with Tom Derry, CEO of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM).  Tom shares his thoughts on CPO priorities, the talent profile necessary to be successful in the evolving world of procurement, and why the use of social media has now become an imperative for procurement professionals. For links and show notes, go to http://artofprocurement.com/tom-derry-ism.  

In this episode of The Art Of Procurement, it's a little bit of a different show. I want to discuss a couple of items related to the show itself, and then I have some exciting news about some shows that, allbeing well, will be coming out over the next week or so. Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/rebranding