Author

Nell Walker

Published

14 November 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

There were many inspiring themes on peoples’ lips at DPW Amsterdam 2024, including collaboration. One of the major reasons procurement…

There were many inspiring themes on peoples’ lips at DPW Amsterdam 2024, including collaboration. One of the major reasons procurement professionals flock to DPW is the opportunity to learn from their peers, strategise with them, and make connections in order to partner up and grow. We sat down with Dr Matthias Dohrn and Sudhir Bhojwani, business collaborators of several years who prove the benefits of coming together for growth.

Dohrn is the CPO of BASF, a global chemical company, making him responsible for direct, indirect, and traded goods. Prior to this role he headed up a business unit – and things weren’t going well. It got to the point where the question of how to drive performance became a priority. The business needed to consistently drive value, not just be, in Dohrn’s words, a “one-hit wonder”. 

“I’ve been in a lot of meetings where people come together and say, ‘we should do something’ – but the next month, you have the same meeting and nothing has changed,” Dohrn explains. “Structuring an organisation in a manner that really drives and extracts value, that’s key.”

This eventually led to meeting with ORO Labs and asking how it could help BASF build a solution that enabled the growth it needed. Sudhir Bhojwani, CEO and Co-Founder of ORO Labs, knew Dohrn already from his SAP Ariba days He even credits him with explaining what ‘supplier management’ means. When he co-founded ORO Labs, his team wanted to focus on being a procurement orchestration platform and build smart workflows. 

“When Matthias was running his business unit, as he mentioned, he had this Excel-based process where he was running thousands of measures,” Bhojwani explains. “It was an interesting process. We let him know that our workflow could solve his problems way more efficiently. So we worked with this business unit at that time and saw some positive results. Roughly a year later, Matthias took over as CPO and wanted to bring in the same structure that we’d implemented at the business unit, but on a bigger scale.”

Kicking off the project

Getting this project off the ground meant having a business case, first and foremost. This required actually sitting down with the people who do the ordering, because procurement needed to understand the options it had. “So, with every plant in BASF – all approximately 150 of them – we had to talk to them, and look at the individual spend of each plant,” Dohrn explains. “This included direct procurement of raw materials, energy, logistics, indirect spend for services, and so on. Then we had brainstorming workshops, generating between 30 and 50 improvement measures per workshop.

“Then, because it’s bottom-up, you bring in the performance management tool to prioritise the measures. Then you go through the business case and confirm the value. As these measures go through the implementation levels, it’s very satisfying because you can see how you’re making progress in driving value every day. The people who own the measures set the timeline themselves, and there are incentive schemes behind the best ideas.”

Driving value to motivate people was a priority from the start, and something BASF discussed with ORO Labs early on. People are able to see the status of their measures thanks to ORO Labs, which means they’re able to see the results and also see other peoples’ great ideas. “You create a wave of people who are driving value, much faster,” Dohrn adds. 

Addressing the challenges

From Bhojwani’s perspective, there were multiple challenges when approaching BASF’s requirements. Fundamentally, ORO Labs was building a brand new workflow, as BASF required a very different take on what that means. ORO understanding how that translated to what BASF needed was the first challenge.

“We needed to understand the structure Matthias has, and what the work streams should look like,” Bhojwani explains. “We had to figure out how to model these work streams within our tool in a way that made sense. An indirect work stream is not the same as something in direct material; those things are very different. So here’s where our workflow tool worked quite well. We could customise how direct material work streams should behave, compared to indirect work streams, how country A should behave compared to country B, and so on.

“It was important that we could bring flexibility, and that we could solve workflow problems in innovative ways. Another challenge was the user experience part. We had to make sure that the system worked for everybody, otherwise nobody would participate in the system. We had to keep working on it, keep fixing it, and that took a good 18 months of tweaking. The biggest thing has been understanding how BASF actually generates value, and how a workflow can help. It’s been very interesting.”

Identifying the value

Collaborating with ORO Labs has unlocked an enormous amount of value for BASF. Dohrn has seen the business come together thanks to the work that was put into communicating and collaborating with every site across businesses and functions, and BASF is continuing to conduct workshops for further improvement. There’s also, of course, the EBIT being gained from the business cases, putting BASF on track to generate sustainable savings.

“There’s been a real mindset change,” Dohrn states. “We’re now really focused on value, and we’re using this ORO Labs tool to hold each other accountable. You can see the progress every day. We call it the iceberg because you can see below the implementation levels. Everything starts off below the water line – no value created yet, just potential. Then you see it moving beyond the zero line into the positives, and every day I can see the difference between now and yesterday with just a click. It’s so fulfilling to see what we have created.

“We’re able to see the interaction with the plants, the interaction between people, and interaction with the requisitioners, and we can create something positive together. I think that’s huge. It’s only going to bring more and more value over the next few years. People are used to the tool now, they find it easy. It has created value and everyone’s happy because the cost pressure on the plants has gone down.”

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Tonkean is built differently. Tonkean is a first-of-its-kind intake and orchestration platform. Powered by AI, Tonkean helps enterprise internal service…

Tonkean is built differently.

Tonkean is a first-of-its-kind intake and orchestration platform. Powered by AI, Tonkean helps enterprise internal service teams like procurement and legal create process experiences that transform how businesses operate. The transformation hinges on four key functionalities, intake, AI-powered orchestration, visibility, and business-led configuration (no-code), which internal teams leverage to use existing tools better together, automate complex processes across teams and tools, and empower employees to do better, higher-value work. 

Jennifer O’Gara is the Senior Director of Marketing, Director People and Talent at Tonkean. O’Gara’s route into procurement came when Tonkean became active within the space. “While we initially focused on solving complex process challenges across entire enterprises, we quickly realised how much procurement could benefit from this approach,” she explains. “Procurement processes are inherently complex and collaborative and cross-functional, making them a perfect fit for Tonkean’s orchestration capabilities. We were right. Since we entered the market, we’ve been blown away by how enthusiastically process orchestration has been received. That’s keeping us excited about procurement.”

This year, DPW Amsterdam 2024’s theme was 10X, with a focus on the importance of companies aiming for a moonshot mindset instead of an incremental approach. As far as O’Gara is concerned, achieving 10X improvements in performance is within reach for procurement, but it requires a shift in how the function thinks about growth. “It’s not just about doing more of the same faster—it’s about fundamentally rethinking the processes that drive your business,” reveals O’Gara. “Your processes are like your company’s infrastructure. When you optimise at the process level, you don’t just create incremental gains; you can fundamentally transform the way you operate at scale. You can remove bottlenecks permanently, facilitate easier collaboration org-wide, and drive true, reliable automation across all your teams and systems. The result is exponential performance improvements that can be sustained over time. Aiming for 10X isn’t just a lofty goal—it’s achievable. The key is focusing your improvement efforts at the process level.”

However, the journey to 10X isn’t straightforward. Some organisations believe they can just layer new technology on top of old processes. According to O’Gara, this won’t unlock 10X growth and will still leave your company lagging behind. “Getting to 10X starts, instead, with building better processes—and moving away from the idea that any one technology will do the trick,” she says. “For example, AI. AI is powerful, but it’s just a tool, and it’s only valuable if used strategically. To truly unlock 10X improvements in performance, you need to integrate technologies like AI into your core processes in a way that’s structured, strategic, and scalable. You will only ever be as innovative or adaptive or as effective as your processes are dynamic, dexterous and dependable. How do you build better processes? That’s where process orchestration comes in.”

Process orchestration refers to the strategy — enabled by process orchestration platforms — of coordinating automated business processes across teams and existing, integrated systems. These processes can facilitate all procurement-related activities. Importantly, they can also accommodate employees’ many different working preferences and styles.

Instead of simply adding to an organisation’s existing tech stack, process orchestration allows companies to use their existing mix of people, data, and tech better together. One promise of process orchestration is to finally put internal shared service teams like procurement in charge of the tools they deploy.

This goes a long way towards solving one of the enterprise’s most vexing operational challenges: the inefficiency of over-complexity born of too much new technology. It also allows procurement teams to truly make their technology work for them and the employees they serve. As opposed to making people work for technology. Process orchestration breaks down the silos that typically separate working environments. No longer do stakeholders have to log in to an ERP or P2P platform to submit or approve intake requests, just for example. The technology will meet them wherever they are.

“It helps you create and scale processes that can seamlessly connect with all of your existing systems, databases, and teams, while accommodating the individual needs of your employees and meeting them in the tools they already use,” adds O’Gara. “Orchestration allows you to automate processes across existing systems—like ERP, P2P, and messaging apps—so data flows automatically between them. It allows you to surface technologies like AI when and where they’re most impactful for stakeholders.”

Speaking of AI, it remains one of the biggest buzzwords in procurement. Indeed, anything that offers Chief Procurement Officers cost savings and efficiency will prick their ears, but the question remains: can the industry fully trust it? O’Gara believes it is ‘overhyped.’ “When it first emerged, it wasn’t just seen as a new tool—it was almost treated like magic,” she explains. “The hype still hasn’t died down, and that’s been a problem. It’s created unrealistic expectations and skewed perceptions of what innovation with this sort of technology actually entails; I can’t tell you how many procurement leaders have admitted to us that they’re getting pressure from the C-suite to invest in AI-powered tools just because they have ‘AI’ in the name.”

While clear with her scepticism regarding generative AI’s current place in the market, O’Gara recognises its potential. “Generative AI’s potential is huge—especially if it’s deployed strategically at the process level,” she reveals. “It could truly transform procurement, shifting teams from transactional roles to strategic partners who are involved early in the buying process and appreciated for their unique expertise—and for the unique business value procurement alone can deliver. But AI on its own isn’t going to save procurement. The reality is, many organisations jumped into the AI hype without a real strategy, and that’s why they haven’t seen its full value yet. The key is integrating AI thoughtfully into core processes—that’s when we’ll start seeing its real potential.”

With an eye on the future, O’Gara expects the next year to continue to revolve around AI adoption, but in ways that deliver real value. “I think we’ll see procurement truly stepping into a more strategic role, with businesses recognising procurement as a key partner, not just a back-office function,” she says. “This shift will be driven in part by new technology, especially process orchestration and AI, helping procurement bridge gaps in communication and collaboration across teams. Another big trend will be the rise of personalised, consumer-like experiences in procurement—making buying and approval processes smoother, more intuitive, and better tailored to the needs of individual users. It’s an exciting time, and we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

It’s impossible not to be inspired by the energy at a DPW event. DPW Amsterdam 2024 was buzzing with that…

It’s impossible not to be inspired by the energy at a DPW event. DPW Amsterdam 2024 was buzzing with that same energy, its attendees soaking in information and inspiration from speakers, peers, other experts. We caught up with Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip, at the event to dive into the procurement landscape and chat about the specific qualities DPW brings to the sector.

Zaparde is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zip. At the beginning of Zip’s journey, Zaparde and his fellow founder, Lu Cheng, based the company around their own experiences as end-users of the procurement process. They took their lived confusion around having multiple intakes for a contract, for the purchase request, and all the different complicated components of the process, and created a solution.

“And so, we started Zip and created the category of intake and procurement orchestration. We’re very grateful to have been named the leader in the category,” says Zaparde, in reference to having just been named a category leader in IDC’s first ever Marketscape for Spend Orchestration.

So, as is often the case, procurement is something Zaparde fell into. In this case, he got involved with procurement specifically to solve pain points. Prior to Zip, he was a Product Manager and Cheng was an Engineering Leader, both at Airbnb; they knew very little about procurement. “We were just end-users,” he explains. The upside of this was that they were able to come into the industry fresh, without the baggage and legacy issues that can come with being in a sector for a long time.

UX first

“At Zip, we really try to take a user experience first approach,” Zaparde continues. “What we found is the highest leverage change you can make in any procurement organisation is to make it easier for your employees to actually adopt and follow whatever the right process is. If you do that, then all of finance, procurement, accounting, and even IT find that they’re suddenly swimming with the current, not against it. And you can’t do any of that unless you solve for user experience.”

Taking away problems, the way Zip does, also takes away a barrier to ambition. The theme of DPW Amsterdam 2024 was 10X, a term on the lips of many across all sectors. Once immediate issues and pain points are addressed, 10X is something businesses can aspire to, with many talks and workshops during DPW Amsterdam focusing on how to approach this.

Getting the mindset right

For Zaparde, 10X thinking is a necessity for growth. “You have to aim for 10X to even end up at something X,” he explains. “That requires ambition. I also think that when you think in terms of 10X, and your mindset is angled towards incremental change, you’re much more open to thinking of solutions that are perhaps a little more risky. It changes your perspective.” 

A mindset shift needs to happen before anything else. This involves considering the needs of procurement and the wider company, having a north star in mind, and then breaking changes down to an incremental level. 

“Then you can start to think about the steps you need to take to get there,” Zaparde explains. “A big component of this is bringing along your peers and stakeholders across every function that’s tangential and critical to the core procurement workflow and path.”

Innovating for good

The work Zip does is indicative of the shift towards continuous improvement and advanced technology that procurement has been going through in recent years. There are things that are possible now that weren’t possible even a year ago, thanks to the vast innovations being made. One of the hot topics right now is generative AI, something that’s opening up a world of possibilities.

“It’s the elephant in the room right now,” says Zaparde. “With the capabilities that gen AI unlocks, you can automate a lot more. That allows you to cut down a lot of the transactional and operational work that procurement and sourcing organisations are doing. Procurement is tired of the status quo. It’s been an underserved function for over 20 years, and I’m glad that’s finally changing. I feel privileged for myself and Zip to be part of the conversation, and that we’re seeing all these amazing changes happening.”

Zaparde believes we’re already seeing the benefits of the major changes that have occurred over the last couple of years in procurement. In fact, he knows this, because Zip has helped its customers save around $4.5bn of spend over the last two years, which is an astonishing statistic.

“One customer of ours, Snowflake, achieved over $300m in savings alone,” Zaparde continues. “We’ve seen tangible benefits already. The way procurement is evolving isn’t a hypothetical thing – it’s really happening.”

Fragmentation on fragmentation

The key, again, is overcoming base level issues for the sake of evolution. This is precisely what Zip provides, after all. But sometimes, the issue is at a data level. Unclean data is something that technology leaders are talking about a great deal right now, with some feeling that it holds them back from implementing new technology. Zaparde believes that businesses should be questioning why their data isn’t clean from the start, rather than worrying about trying to cleanse existing data.

“You don’t just clean your data – the real question is why is your data not clean in the first place?” he muses. “You have to have a clean entry point for it. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to a Fortune 500 CPO that said they had clean data. I think it’s because of the upstream processes in intake and orchestration. If all the cross-functional teams – the IT review, the legal review, the finance – are being manually shepherded by the procurement operations organisation, then how can you possibly end up with clean data?

“People are keying the same information into multiple systems, which might mean they answer in similar – but different – ways. So you end up with fragmentation on fragmentation. But if you have one single door to that data, you’ll be able to drive only clean data, because it’s a funnel. If you let everyone have different swim lanes that never intersect, you won’t have clean data.”

As 2025 approaches, Zip has multiple product capabilities and features coming up that Zaparde and his team are very excited about. This includes leveraging gen AI, something we’re seeing incredible utilisation of across the sector.

For Zaparde, attending events like DPW Amsterdam to talk about what Zip does and interact with peers and clients alike is a joyous part of his job. “DPW is really accelerating the rate of change in the procurement industry. That’s very much needed, and it’s energising to see so many incredible people from the procurement world in one place. I love spending time with these forward-thinking procurement leaders at this event.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Whether we’re talking about gen AI, 10X, or any other kind of advanced tech solution, data is at the core…

Whether we’re talking about gen AI, 10X, or any other kind of advanced tech solution, data is at the core of the discussion. And when data isn’t clean or ready for the implementation of something being built on top of it, businesses can end up significantly held back. Mithra-Ai is an organisation that helps its customers to build trust in their data, which is a core issue for many. 

“That sets us apart,” says Christophe Frère, Co-Founder of Mithra-AI. “We help procurement leaders and category managers create, execute, and realise their strategies. This is backed by reliable, comprehensive data, both internal and external, tailored specifically for their categories.

“Maintaining high-quality data is crucial as it influences the accuracy and reliability of AI-driven insights and recommendations. That’s where Mitha-AI comes in. Our cleansing, enrichment, and auto-classification engines ensure that procurement stakeholders, including data scientists, begin with a reliable data foundation.”

Cleaning and classifying data

Mithra-Ai is an AI-native SaaS solution, which starts off by proposing a meaningful spend hierarchy for every category. What’s key is that this is paired with an automated cleansing and classification engine. This is so important because the only way to achieve truly clean data is to make sure it enters the system clean in the first place. 

“Clear visibility into categorised spending eliminates uncategorised expenses and wrong assumptions,” says Frère. “When supplemented by relevant external data intelligence, category managers are empowered to negotiate with confidence, achieve greater savings, and monitor initiatives effectively.”

A world beyond cost savings

When launching Mithra-Ai in 2021, the company’s founders rightly foresaw that the role of procurement would evolve beyond focusing merely on cost savings, and become the central hub of every organisation. Because of that, they knew that accurate, reliable information was needed – hence the necessity for Mithra-Ai.

As procurement has shifted, the status quo is no longer good enough. It’s an exciting time for the sector, but also one of high demand in the race to adopt increasingly advanced technology. But it’s necessary for efficiency and growth.

“Tesla and Nvidia exemplify the power of embracing change over maintaining that status quo,” says Frère. “Procurement is facing intense pressure to evolve with organisational needs. Those organisations can opt for incremental changes, which will likely slow them down, or pursue a 10X leap to maintain competitive advantage. The latter requires bold and decisive leadership from heads of procurement.”

The road to 10X thinking

The way to drive 10X thinking, Frère believes, is through having a clear vision of your goals. Sometimes businesses, especially ones which are going through major change or those navigating outdated legacy systems, are at risk of losing sight of their goals. But having that vision is a foundational necessity, regardless of what stage you’re at.

“Set aspirations high, and question existing norms,” says Frère. “Procurement leaders can draw inspiration from startups by fostering a culture of innovation through small-scale initiatives that can rapidly expand. Reevaluate the skills and team structure necessary for future success.”

Another important aspect to bear in mind when considering these things is the level of risk you’re willing to undertake when setting goals and aspirations. “That’s often overlooked,” Frère continues. “Determining the acceptable level of risk is crucial. It significantly influences partner selection and the outcome of RFPs.”

Thinking big, starting small

While ambition is vital to 10X thinking and beyond, businesses must also make sure they don’t bite off more than they can chew. Launching into adopting huge volumes of advanced technology can lead to overwhelm and can make a business stall rather than evolving. A more careful approach is required.

“Think big, start small,” says Frère. “Prioritise high-impact, low-effort initiatives over those requiring significant effort. Many transformation projects fail to deliver the expected benefits and incur high costs during the program.” This is another reason to decide on the appropriate risk level early on, in order to guide prioritisation decisions and transformation pace. 

It’s an incredibly exciting time for procurement, and that includes Mithra-Ai. In a very short time, it’s developed several foundational modules for its data-driven category management solution. This includes the Collaborative Initiative Tracker that was launched during DPW Amsterdam 2024 – just one of Mithra-Ai’s inspiring undertakings as we approach 2025.

“The tracker means that procurement teams can now involve multiple stakeholders in collaboratively tracking and enhancing the impact of key initiatives, such as cost-saving measures,” says Frère. “Exciting times lie ahead.”

DPW Amsterdam is the perfect stage for launching a solution like this. It’s an event that inspires a culture of innovation, bringing procurement professionals together to teach, learn, and shout about their latest additions to the procurement landscape.

“DPW stands out as the premier procurement tech event of the year,” says Frère. “Practitioners can explore and engage with procuretech suppliers, showcasing valuable use cases and personal stories across multiple stages. DPW is a catalyst for ideation, creating trust and confidence in the benefits of applying cutting-edge technologies to improve business outcomes. This year’s event felt even more international than previous years. I look forward to seeing it continue to grow.”

Frère’s main takeaway from DPW Amsterdam this year is that a solid data foundation is essential – something he was well aware of as part of Mithra-Ai. “Without it, transformation projects and new technologies will struggle to succeed,” he concludes. “In the past two years, there has been increased focus on sustainability and risk intelligence, driven by numerous new solution providers. However, during the DPW Amsterdam 2024 conference, we observed new trends coming up and, again, more focus on data quality, which works to our advantage.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

When we’re talking about technology in procurement, the importance of partnership is a major component for success. No business is…

When we’re talking about technology in procurement, the importance of partnership is a major component for success. No business is an island, and joining forces with experts is, increasingly, the direction many move in for the sake of growth. 

At DPW Amsterdam 2024, we met many businesses who were looking around at the procurement sector in search of either what direction to move in next, or who they can help. The event is one that brings people together to learn, to teach, to discover the cutting edge of procurement, and be inspired by it. So when we sat down with the CEO of Fairmarkit, Kevin Frechette, it wasn’t surprising that he brought Nick Wright, who leads bp’s Procurement Digital Garage, into the conversation.

For Frechette, one of the best things about working in the advanced procurement technology sphere is joining forces with other businesses to help them keep improving, and vice versa. “Having the chance to work with people like Nick, who are pushing the envelope when it comes to autonomous sourcing, is amazing,” he explains. “We’re fired up to be at DPW, absorbing this atmosphere.”

While it’s something of a running joke in the procurement world that most professionals in the sector don’t deliberately choose it, Wright actually did. “I went to university and thought ‘wow, I fancy a career in procurement or vendor management’. I know a lot of people don’t have that story, but I’ve been doing something I’m passionate about from the beginning. I love making deals, whether I’m buying a car, a house, or something for BP.” The Procurement Digital Garage he leads exists to look at problems being faced across procurement, and figuring out possible solutions. 

For Frechette, the intention wasn’t to start a company in the procurement space, but his team quickly saw the opportunities within it. “We had this ‘aha’ moment,” he says. “It was a tough pivot. There was a lot of debate, a lot of late nights. I’m super glad we made it because we got to be in a space where people can be forgotten about, and we’re able to give them centre stage.”

The realistic approach to 10X

DPW itself exists to put procurement under the limelight. Each event is themed in a way that gets conversations flowing around the next big thing in procurement. For Amsterdam 2024, this theme was 10X – something Frechette believes isn’t achievable right off the bat.

“It’s something to strive towards,” he says. “It’s something where you work on getting a little better every single month, every quarter. You keep getting those small wins, and you build credibility. There’s no silver bullet. You just have to start the journey and learn as you go.”

For Wright, it’s about not getting caught up in the hype, but figuring out what’s realistic. “There’s a lot of hype out there, and the beauty of something like my team at the Procurement Digital Garage is to weed out that hype, because what’s right for us might not be right for someone else. Having a team that’s out there in the market, testing and figuring out what’s real, will put you in good stead.”

“There’s a leap of faith element that can be challenging to achieve, before you can really strive for 10X,” Frechette adds. “It’s like Amara’s Law: humans typically overestimate the value of technology in the short term, but underestimate it in the long term. So the hype is needed. We have to help people on that journey and sometimes, a leap of faith is needed. For the people that risk it, it’s exciting, and they’re then well positioned for the future.”

However, again, managing expectations is important. “People might be on the sidelines expecting a 10X solution,” says Wright. “But the reality is, you’re going to get 5% here, 10% – smaller pockets of improvement.”

The benefits of advanced technology are absolutely being seen at this stage, but being realistic about the future outcomes is important. “The benefits are there – not at the scale of 10X – but if you just make a start, you’ll achieve wins,” says Frechette. “You broadcast those wins across the organisation. That generates excitement, and then you can work on the next thing because you have ground swell.”

How ‘the future’ has changed

What’s interesting is that this 10X focus, this drive towards incremental wins, has reframed the way businesses plan for the road ahead. ‘The future’ used to mean having a three or five-year plan. Now, the future is only 12 months away.

“The thought process right now is ‘what can we do that’s super optimistic in just 12 months’?” says Frechette. “Then you can put in realistic time frames and set off on a sprint to get there. You have to be able to move fast. We have launches every two weeks now, and we have to be flexible with our roadmap along the way. But we always know where we’re going – we have a north star.”

“To me, that’s the only way to do it,” Wright adds. “I don’t have a crystal ball. Nobody knows what’s going to happen in two or three years. So what’s the point of creating a plan that’s going to get you to a certain point in those two or three years? You have to work on small iterations, make adjustments, change direction as necessary.”

It’s part of what makes Fairmarkit and BP an active partnership – the ability to be flexible and open up discussions at every point. It’s all about real-time feedback and trust-building, to the extent that both parties feel like they’re on the same team. 

The right people in the right places

Because ultimately, it’s the human element that makes transformation happen. Having the right people in place is one of the elements that’s key to making sure implementing advanced tech for the sake of business strategy works at all. “It’s about access to talent and making sure you’ve got a capable user group that can make the most of that technology,” says Wright. “You don’t need to be a data scientist, but you do need to have the right mindset to take advantage of the tools you’ve got.”

“I agree – you have to get the right people on the bus,” adds Frechette. “You all have to be committed to going on the journey together. Prioritise where you start and where you’re going to have the most value with the lowest risk, and have people on your side who can give suggestions and ideas.”

While the much-discussed talent shortage can create challenges there, DPW as an entity proves that not only does procurement keep becoming more appealing and exciting, but where there are gaps, there are digital tools. “I’ve noticed a lot of folks under 30 who are here at DPW Amsterdam, and they’re genuinely interested in procurement,” says Wright. “We’re at a tipping point that makes me really excited about the profession I’m in.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

‘Digitalisation is just the beginning’ according to Crowdfox, a business which aims to improve procurement by bettering the ordering process…

‘Digitalisation is just the beginning’ according to Crowdfox, a business which aims to improve procurement by bettering the ordering process while lowering costs. That tagline speaks to Crowdfox’s dedication to advancing procurement using the exciting tools the sector now has at its disposal, and this push to innovate is being driven, in part, by Martin Rademacher, Crowdfox’s CSO. We sat down with Rademacher at DPW Amsterdam 2024, the exciting vibe of the event spreading far and wide around us. 

Rademacher is responsible for everything to do with Crowdfox’s customers. From sales, to marketing, to customer onboarding and success, and everything in between – that’s Rademacher’s wheelhouse. His background is in management consulting, with a focus on procurement and supply chain. So, while he started out in sales, he soon decided that procurement was the direction to move in.

“During my time as a consultant, I found procurement very interesting because it’s so versatile,” explains Rademacher. “Of course, it’s about the transactional phase with suppliers – but also you’re so connected with R&D, production, logistics, and so on. You have so many fields of application.”

10X thinking

At DPW Amsterdam, the overall theme of the two-day event was 10X. The concept of the 10X rule is around taking a goal you’ve set for yourself and multiplying it by 10. It’s an aspirational tool, coaxing all of us to aim higher. In procurement, that means innovating.

“In the last two years we’ve seen tools like ChatGPT trigger some big adaptations in the procurement world,” says Rademacher. “I think there is the opportunity now to achieve 10X in terms of efficiency gains. Especially when it comes to making better decisions, more quickly, in order to analyse data. We’re now finding out what AI can really do, and focusing on how that can help with strategy.”

For Rademacher, he believes people have the right tools to achieve 10X – it’s now about implementing those tools properly, and having the right culture.

“In the last couple of years, implementing tools has become much easier than it was a decade ago,” Rademacher continues. “They’re so well designed that they fit into large procurement systems, and can connect with other best-of-breed tools. I’d say implementation should be the focus, but it’s not that complicated anymore. AI tools especially are really intuitive. As a result, you don’t need much in the way of change management. People just intuitively cooperate with AI.”

The question of security

The big challenge, Rademacher believes, is data protection. When it comes to barriers preventing a 10X approach, concerns around data privacy are among the biggest issues. As a result, organisations have to take the necessary precautions before plunging into making major technological changes, or risk falling at the first hurdle.

“In the EU, it’s all about data protection,” says Rademacher. These concerns led to the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) coming into force in the EU in August 2024. It was created in response to the rise in generative AI systems, and ensures that there’s a common regulatory framework for AI within the European Union. “Companies are very concerned about their data, but I wouldn’t call this an obstacle – more like a challenge.

“The key is making sure you have a protected environment. Start with a pilot in a limited space, for instance, and then make sure you can find a solution you can control in a safe environment that suits your operations.”

Shooting for the stars

With these measures in mind, it’s never been easier to implement new technologies and aim for that ambitious 10X goal. Certainly, advanced tools have never been more accessible, or more straightforward for businesses to educate themselves about. Even as recently as two years ago, integrating multiple elements of advanced tech – like genAI – wasn’t really possible.

“It definitely wasn’t easy to combine sources the way we can now,” says Rademacher. “Now, you can provide a much better user experience experience not only for procurement professionals, but for anyone who takes advantage of what procurement introduces to the company. Finding the supply to fulfil your demand is so much easier now. You no longer have to have difficult conversations starting with an email to your procurement professional to identify whether you’re allowed to purchase from a certain vendor, and whether they’re vetted or not. Streamlining processes like that makes that information quick and easy to identify.”

Additionally, we’re at a point with advanced technology where the tools we have access to are capable of handling more and more volumes of data at an extremely fast pace. “In consulting, for example, every project started with an analysis of the status quo of a firm,” says Rademacher. “We’d figure out who the vendors are, the categories, and the spend. Depending on the workforce, this could take one or two weeks. Now, with the tools we have access to, you can gather this information in 24 hours.”

The evolution continues

While we’re seeing many of the benefits that come with genAI and other advanced technologies already, it’s only the beginning of what we can achieve using these tools. GenAI is at a peak right now, but according to Rademacher, it might take another five years to achieve its full productivity level. “There’s also this ambitious idea going around of fully autonomous procurement, and it’ll likely take a good 10 years to reach that level of productivity,” he adds. “On the other hand, nobody is talking about robotic process automation anymore because we’re almost there with that already.”

Another challenge is data quality. The cleanliness of an organisation’s data can make or break its use of advanced technology, which is where making the right connections with service providers comes in. “It’s a good example of when to find the right partner,” says Rademacher. “Find someone from the innovative tech space who you think you can rely on. Don’t try to do it all on your own – that’ll just hold you back more and more. Be bold; find the right partner to make the most of your data and that helps you constantly improve. There’s a lot of talent out there, a lot of solutions that are really helpful for organisations of all sizes. You’ll improve step by step.”

There’s no doubt that it’s an exciting time for procurement. The atmosphere at DPW Amsterdam 2024 was electric for that exact reason. The event, in Rademacher’s words, has “a really strong influence on the sector and enables attendees to learn about how the landscape is developing in real time”.

“The AI-driven future is already a reality for us,” he states. “We’re beyond the pilot phase with our AI tool, ChatCFX, and now we really want to drive market share. 2024 going into 2025 sees us in a good position with high user visibility, and now we’re adding ChatCFX to the game, pushing it into the European market. We’re at DPW Amsterdam to meet the players who are looking for a solution exactly like ours, making it an invaluable place to be.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Certain procurement pain points can prove debilitating for a business, freezing it in its tracks when it’s trying to grow…

Certain procurement pain points can prove debilitating for a business, freezing it in its tracks when it’s trying to grow and improve. This is where companies like Candex are able to step in and turn a headache into something so simple, it requires no further thought. 

Danielle McQuiston is the Chief Customer Officer at Candex. She’s been with the fintech startup for five years, spending two decades prior to that working in procurement at Sanofi. Candex is a technology-based master vendor that allows customers to engage with and pay one-off or small suppliers without setting them up in their system. This means that the system doesn’t get clogged up with suppliers that are rarely or never going to be used again. 

“We’re primarily used for what companies consider tail spend, and we typically deliver it as a punchout catalogue for a really simple user experience,” McQuiston explains. That ability to support lots of customers was what drew her to the role. “Coming to Candex, I was very excited about what they were doing and wanted to help as many companies as possible.”

Addressing tail spend

That ability to address tail spend in a unique way is the main thing that differentiates Candex. It’s an enormous problem for procurement professionals. The way Candex delivers it is through a digital plug-and-play solution, removing the need to be dependent on human intervention. “It’s a horizontal solution for any good or service, and it’s available in over 45 countries now,” says McQuiston. “It becomes part of the customer’s ecosystems and leverages the P2P process. It’s super compliant, and allows a lot of control.”

With this tool in place, Candex’s customers are able to gain much better control over their smaller purchases, defining what is allowed to be purchased. For many, this tool allows them to put tighter restrictions on purchases than their e-procurement systems are able to do. Additionally, Candex runs suppliers through screenings every day, which generally doesn’t happen for small, rarely-used suppliers.

“We run really detailed compliance and sanction screening against all those vendors, taking away a really daunting task from customers,” McQuiston states. “Customers probably check those suppliers once when they’re being set up, but then they never look at them again. Every day, we’re checking them, and keeping an eye on them when our customers can’t.”

Candex’s reporting is extremely detailed, and provides customers with the kind of real-time visibility they wouldn’t normally get – even in their own systems. Reports are generated weekly or monthly, including the diversity status of suppliers. This is data that a lot of clients then feed directly into their Power BI tools and data lakes, meaning they’re able to integrate it seamlessly into their other data.

Cleaning up the data

The whole purpose and aim of Candex’s tool is to make life easier for its customers, streamline its processes, and improve efficiencies. To that end, standardisation is key when it comes to business improvements, and that includes preparing data prior to implementing new technologies and processes. When it comes to ensuring a business’s data is healthy –  before launching into major tech changes – accepting the necessity of making foundational change is key. 

“Data cleansing processes are ugly, cumbersome, and long – and everyone has to do them,” McQuiston comments. “But you have to accept that you’re going to have to do something, if you want to get a handle on your spend. First and foremost, you need to standardise the way you name things, the way you put data in the system, and you need a really strict discipline around that. All of those things will make backend processes a lot easier.”

It’s just one of many considerations CPOs need to bear in mind when seeking out technology solutions and implementation. Modern procurement departments have a seat at the wider business table now, and what they do impacts the entire business. So when it comes to utilising solutions for the sake of the business at large, there are many factors to think about.

“As with any data or technology, it’s all about garbage in and garbage out,” says McQuiston. “Any advanced technology should be used with caution and viewed with a critical eye. You have to start with knowing what you want out of it. 

“A lot of times, people put technology in place because it looks interesting, but you need to start with the problem and work backwards. If the issue is user experience, you need to make sure that whatever you’re implementing focuses on a positive UX. If the problem is unclean data, you need to make sure you’re putting in place all the foundational elements you need to make that better. Always start from the perspective of implementing a technology based on a problem, rather than the other way around.”

Improving UX in 2025

It’s a seriously dynamic time to be involved in procurement right now, as evidenced by the intense buzz around us at DPW Amsterdam as we sit with McQuiston. As we look ahead, she envisions that procurement will have an increasingly powerful impact on user experience. This is particularly important at a time when tasks are becoming increasingly automated, with less and less direct human interaction.

“We’re also seeing a pretty big leap forward in terms of best practice sharing amongst our clients,” says McQuiston, something that events like DPW also encourage. “For Candex, a big theme of 2024 has been getting our clients together to share best practices and information, helping them to develop further expertise in the field. 2025 will have more of the same, but there’s now a higher level of maturity out there in the way customers are considering tail spend. As people continue to onboard solutions, it will be interesting to see how that impacts the UX in relation to Candex. We’re always looking for ways to make our tool more user-friendly and add better functionality.”

All of this is why Candex’s customers love the company. On a base level, Candex takes a complex pain point and makes it simple. In a broader sense, the reason Candex is becoming so popular is the way it works with people. “The most common feedback we get from customers and suppliers is that we’re great to work with because we’re so flexible,” says McQuiston. “We hired a team of procurement experts, so our team is made up of people who really understand the pain of our clients, and can anticipate their fears, their needs, and cater to those.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

The buzz of DPW Amsterdam draws in the most innovative minds across the industry. They’re there to have riveting conversations…

The buzz of DPW Amsterdam draws in the most innovative minds across the industry. They’re there to have riveting conversations with their peers, to inspire, to teach and learn in kind. And they’re there to keep an eye on an industry that doesn’t stop changing for the better.

This is a big part of the appeal for Fraser Woodhouse. Woodhouse leads the digital procurement team within Deloitte in the UK. His team historically focused on large-scale transformations, providing a backbone for suite implementation. Increasingly, however, it’s turning its attention to helping clients navigate a plethora of technology solutions. The goal is to help them build and scale, and take advantage of some of the more niche functionalities available. These are things that can be highly daunting for many customers, which is why Deloitte is there for support.

“We’re helping clients ask the big questions,” Woodhouse explains as he sits down with us at DPW Amsterdam 2024. “How do you connect the technology in a way that allows data to flow from one system to another? How do you deal with processes that are connected to solutions which all have their own release cycles? How do you approach change management? That underpins so much of where the value is going to be achieved, and a lot of the providers will be focusing on it. They just might not have the same capability that Deloitte can provide.”

For Woodhouse, getting involved with procurement was a total accident. He even left the sector at one point, but his strong foundational knowledge – and the exciting landscape procurement is enjoying right now – lured him back in. “It changes faster than I can get bored with it, that’s for sure,” he explains. “Procurement is fascinating.”

Aspiring to greatness

Especially now, with constant conversations around genAI, 10X, and beyond. Procurement is only becoming more interesting, more enticing, drawing young professionals in to fill gaps in the talent pool. 10X was actually the theme of DPW Amsterdam this year, a notion that’s on everyone’s lips. And for Woodhouse, it’s absolutely something to aspire to.

“Aiming for 10X is sensible. You just have to consider your timescale. I’d caution against running before you can walk, but a culture of experimentation is important. Running small-scale pilots can help you hone in on where you really want to see value, or where value is likely to be generated. Starting with requirements is a fundamental thing at the moment, but you shouldn’t underestimate how long that will take. And it’s a continuous consideration, because requirements change. Just keep trying to refine your solution in order to take advantage of everything that’s out there right now.”

Fotograaf: MichielTon.com

Having the wrong mindset is one of the major barriers to adopting 10X thinking. It all starts with the company’s culture, and whether that’s one of growth or not. “I imagine most of the people here at DPW Amsterdam have already made that mental shift,” says Woodhouse. “Last year, people were still trying to understand how they, as big companies, could utilise startups. That’s changed now, and it’s amazing to see companies that were startups three years ago working with all these big enterprise customers. 

“They have scaled and grown in partnership with those customers. Mindset is so important, and having the wrong one will only create barriers and missed opportunities.”

Always improving, never slowing down

When it comes to the advantages that technology has brought to procurement in the last few years, the list is endless. Procurement has gone from an overlooked segment of any given organisation, to having a seat at the table and helping make major business decisions. 10X thinking – whether it goes by that name or not – has been spreading across the segment and fuelling businesses to aim higher.

“The layers of automation have really improved,” says Woodhouse. “A year or so back, there were a handful of use cases that you could truly automate, but now you can do it at a much larger scale. Another big change is around security concerns. There are more tried and tested case studies to draw upon now, and solutions are more readily available. You don’t necessarily have to be a pioneer, because someone else has already taken that first step.”

The question of data

Something else that holds businesses back, despite the innovation at their disposal, is an element that can be harder to change: poor quality data. When trying to implement advanced technology solutions, bad data can make or break their success.

“It’s always useful to focus on that and have a dedicated work stream,” Woodhouse advises. “You need someone who really understands data. I think there’s a tendency to try to boil the ocean before you even get going in your transformation, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cleaning up your data before you start, and having a fresh foundation will help you make decisions on what to implement on top of that good data. 

“Doing all of that is obviously hugely beneficial, but it’s going to slow you down, in many cases. There are ways around that, like embedding the cleanup of data within the new processes. Data is important – we shouldn’t underestimate that – but there are different approaches to solving the issue of poor quality data, like buying it or using genAI to restructure your data into something more powerful. Either way, you need a strategy.”

Novel thinking 101

Some businesses fall into the trap of thinking that they can’t achieve specific things because their data isn’t in the right position, but novel thinking around data can allow them to still drive forward. “You’ve just got to focus on it. You can’t assume the data’s going to fix itself,” Woodhouse adds. 

Novel thinking is certainly something that can be seen at DPW events, and DPW Amsterdam 2024 was no exception. People congregated there to learn, to share stories, to inspire. For Woodhouse, the magic of the digital procurement sector right now is that everybody recognises that their journey has no end. While that may be daunting, it’s a positive thing and keeps procurement professionals striving for more.

“It’s a continuous improvement journey, and I think the best-performing organisations will recognise that, and invest in the business capability to continue that journey,” Woodhouse concludes. “That’s how you get proper value. I love hearing about how people frame problems differently, and how they approach the solutions.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Making procurement slicker, more streamlined, is the name of the game right now – and this is precisely why Globality…

Making procurement slicker, more streamlined, is the name of the game right now – and this is precisely why Globality exists. It’s an organisation which leverages advanced, native-built AI to make sourcing more autonomous for Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, meaning it has a finger on a pulse of the technology tools procurement now has access to as the industry shifts and evolves.

Keith Hausmann is the Chief Customer Officer at Globality. He has been working in procurement since the early 90s, both in industry as a service provider, and now, at a technology company. He came to Globality from Accenture, where he ran the operations business. During his first real job after college, Hausmann was also part of a training program at a major Fortune 500 company, working closely with a COO. At some point they got into a conversation about salespeople seemingly having an advantage over procurement people due to their access to information, knowledge, and training. The COO suggested that they launch a company to help support procurement. For Hausmann, it was a serendipitous entry to the industry.

“I came to Globality because I saw the business was struggling with how to scale, automate, and deliver a differentiated user experience. Ultimately, I found it really compelling, and joined about five years ago.”

Achieving 10X thinking

Hausmann admits that the concept of what procurement is has only been defined relatively recently, and he’s been in the industry long enough to have seen the shift happen and suddenly accelerate over the last few years. Now, procurement professionals are in a position where they’re able to think big, and they have the tools to support that way of thinking. One of the most-discussed topics right now is 10X, whereby businesses are setting targets for themselves that are 10 times greater than what they can realistically achieve.

“There continues to be, and always has been, so many mind-numbing manual activities that go on in procurement spaces,” says Hausmann. “We’ve built small armies of teams to handle those things. I think 10X has prompted us to take a step back and ask if there’s now technology that can uplift the role of people in the function and take on some of those automatable tasks. Whether that’s writing RFPs, discovering suppliers, or analysing proposals – these are all things that can be automated in today’s technological world. With 10X thinking, you can imagine the many, many, many things that can be automated and just go after them. 

“There are barriers, of course. The biggest one is not being able to convey a compelling vision of what we want people to do in the new world. It’s not necessarily about making them go away – it’s about making their daily jobs, lives, and work more valuable. There are so many things around category thinking and strategy that don’t get done because people are spending so much time on tasks that could be automated. So I think the barrier is creating that vision and that plan to shift the operating models, roles, and the skill sets to something new and different.”

People power

Hausmann believes that if roles are reshaped and honed in response to automation, it’s less likely that there will be resistance to change because employees will know exactly what they’re doing, rather than being concerned about their future. “They have to know what they’re doing before they jump on board. It just requires a mindset change and good change management.”

Hausmann believes it’s down to the CPO to drive that change management by conveying the activities, impacts, roles, and operating model they envision. If they can paint a picture of how humans can impact things in a new way, alongside the new technology rather than against it, suddenly it’s an exciting prospect and people are keen to make a bigger impact. 

CFOs and CPOs joining forces

While CPOs now have a long-deserved seat at the table to help push change business-wide, CFOs’ roles are also expanding and having an increased impact on procurement. “I think they’ve always influenced what’s going on in procurement,” says Hausmann. “CFOs are the champions of many things, but certainly improving the bottom line of the company. They’re also champions of using technology to make the organisation more resilient, more scalable, and more efficient. There was a time when people thought that the CTO or CIO would be doing that, but more often than not, the CFO is the ultimate owner of improving business impacts. More and more, we’re seeing our customers leaning on the CFO to help them make decisions about investments that have a big impact through technology and AI. 

“These days, the relationship between the CFO and CPO is wildly different to what it once was, and CFOs are showing more interest in procurement as a function than ever, making a difference to the bottom line. It makes sense because, in theory, procurement controls one of the biggest cost line items in a company, besides raw headcount.”

Matching the pace of technology

The fact that we still need to focus on change management and relationships confirms that the way procurement is changing isn’t just about the technology. Far from it. However, technology is moving at an incredible pace and needs to be taken seriously. There are things that are possible now which couldn’t be done even one or two years ago.

“A few years ago, technology couldn’t write an RFX document for you,” Hausmann says. “Technology could not instantaneously bring to light the most relevant suppliers from within a customer’s supply base, or in the broader market. It couldn’t write a contract, or an SOW, or a work order. It can now. Those are things that are near and dear to my heart that were impossible 3-5 years ago.”

With these tools in mind, procurement professionals are able to think about the future in short-term stints. Five-year plans are no longer good enough when it comes to the way procurement is shifting – a year is now the maximum for putting plans in place. 

“I’ve always thought that procurement, from the perspective of technological advancement and investment perspective, should sit under a broader business umbrella,” says Hausmann. “I’d guess that probably 50% of companies in the world right now have some kind of program in place to save money or improve agility by investing in technology. And speed to market is more important than ever, so sourcing can’t be a bottleneck.”

Looking ahead, Hausmann expects to see many of the unique, differentiated technology providers becoming interoperable together, because big enterprises want services that operate and scale well in combination with others. 

“We’re seeing that a lot, and working with our customers on how we improve interoperability and integration,” he says. “Tools will become more seamless, more easy-to-use, more scalable. Another big thing is, and will continue to be, analytics. It’s a hot topic in procurement, and I think there are profound opportunities to be deployed. For Globality, we’ll continue to endlessly innovate on user experience, ease of use, and beyond.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

7Mins

“I’m overwhelmed,” are Matthias Gutzmann’s first words when asked about DPW Amsterdam 2024. At the end of the bustling two-day…

“I’m overwhelmed,” are Matthias Gutzmann’s first words when asked about DPW Amsterdam 2024. At the end of the bustling two-day event, we sat down with Gutzmann, the company’s founder, and Herman Knevel, DPW’s CEO, for a debrief. Gutzmann also quite rightly pointed out that the final word on summarising those 48 hours is in the hands of the sponsors and attendees, but if the countless conversations we had with said sponsors and attendees are anything to go by, it was the best DPW event yet. And Gutzmann and Knevel agree.

“I really think that’s the case,” says Gutzmann. “We almost doubled the number of exhibiting startups, we had over 120 sponsors, more startup pitches than ever, and all the feedback I’ve heard so far has been amazing. There are always things you can do better, but I’m absolutely happy.”

Across the 9th and 10th of October, DPW Amsterdam welcomed over 1,300 attendees through its doors at Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam. Those attendees arrived from 44 countries across 32 industries, and the event itself featured 72 sessions with 140 speakers across five stages. It’s abundantly clear that people are deeply passionate about DPW.

“On day one, it was already packed at 8:30 in the morning,” Knevel states. “The energy in the room was contagious, and the numbers speak for themselves. The startups, the innovators, the corporates, the mid-market – everybody who’s here has a genuine interest in what these guys are bringing to the procurement space.”

Reconnecting with the vision

Gutzmann describes that intangible energy as “bringing a little bit of joy back to procurement”. For many years, procurement was a very ill-defined concept – almost as ill-defined as the role of CPO. The shift has been a quick one, accelerated further by the COVID-19 pandemic, and events like DPW Amsterdam are part of the reason why. CPOs having somewhere to go, to meet, to learn about the procurement landscape is vital, hence that inspiring energy that permeates every DPW event.

“A lot of people are missing that vibe,” Gutzmann continues. “It’s why I founded DPW. I was inspired by Mark Perera [Chairman of DPW], who I worked with at Vizibl, and had great technology while also being so inspiring. I realised we needed to connect founders with CPOs. I think every CPO should talk to one startup founder per week, at least. It’s important that we listen to their vision.”

Striving for 10X

The core of those visions for the 2024 event revolves around the concept of 10X, the idea being that you set targets for your business that are 10 times greater than what you think you can realistically achieve. It keeps people ambitious, always striving for greatness, and it’s especially prevalent in startup culture – hence Gutzmann’s belief that CPOs should be connecting with them more.

“Deciding on 10X for this year’s theme was serendipity,” says Knevel. “The term came along and Matthias said, ‘this is it – this is what we need in procurement’. This is what the industry needs, and we’re exploring it, diving deeper.”

“Last year’s theme was ‘Make Tech Work’, which was all about getting the basics right in order to scale,” Gutzmann continues. “This year we said, ‘how can we take it further?’ We are entering the biggest wave of AI yet. That technology is giving us the opportunity and the possibility to scale outcomes. The world around us is changing so fast, so we need to be more agile, scalable, and faster in procurement. It’s a very ambitious, maybe lofty theme, but it’s a mindset more than anything else.”

“It’s the mindset that drives innovation and speed,” Knevel adds. “That’s really important in this age of procuretech and supply chain tech.”

When it comes to honing that 10X mindset, it’s all about having a purpose in mind. A lot of the procurement professionals we spoke to at DPW Amsterdam called this a ‘north star’, which is the phase Gutzmann uses too. “That’s where it starts. There’s so much procurement can do. There are so many problems in the world, and I believe procurement can be the solution to many of those. So I think it starts with the CPO and their leadership, their vision. You also have to embrace startup innovation, be more experimental in the way you work, instigate new ways of working, and be bold in your thinking. You also have to remember it’s okay to fail.”

Growing DPW

Something that’s particularly impressive about DPW Amsterdam 2024 is that it’s actually the second of the year. Back in June, DPW ventured into the North American market with an intimate summit held in New York City, which CPOstrategy was fortunate enough to be invited to. Planning one wildly popular event a year is one thing, but venturing into a whole new part of the world with an additional one is incredibly dedicated.

“I’m a bit more conservative when planning ahead, so there probably wouldn’t be a New York event without Herman encouraging me,” says Gutzmann. “I’m glad he said ‘let’s go for it’. It was a short-term plan, but it was ultimately very successful and the right decision.”

Knevel adds: “The feedback we got from sponsors and delegates was quite impressive. They were asking for more. And it’s not just Matthias and myself – we have a great team here. This is a massive production, but we made the jump and it’s paid off.”

Inspiration for 2025

When it comes to the lessons Gutzmann and Knevel have learned in response to this event, it’s more about narrowing down the influx of ideas DPW gives them. By the time we spoke with them at the end of the Amsterdam 2024 event, their heads were spinning with inspiration.

“I have so many ideas,” says Gutzmann. “Every year we reinvent the show, so we never rest. We’re always asking what we can do better. How can we improve? I think this year we maxed out the number of sponsor stands that are possible to have. We doubled the number of under-30 attendees. There’s the potential to go a little deeper on the talent side, connecting students with the corporates and building a proper program around that.”

There was also the Tech Safari this year. The idea was to make the expo hall easier to navigate, since it was more crowded than ever this year. Members of the DPW team acted as ‘super connectors’ to help attendees find the right solutions and help startups find new customers. The aim was to simply make it easier for everyone involved to find what they’re looking for in small groups,enabling them to find who they wanted, talk to them, and ask questions. It turned out to be an amazing interactive experience for people, making sure they felt thoroughly looked after and valued.

“Plus there’s an opportunity to cater more to the corporates coming in,” Gutzmann continues. “Perhaps we will build a custom program for them around the event. Some of them are already coming in with teams and doing annual leadership meetings outside of the venue, but I think there’s scope to show them solutions and do some workshops within the event. We can also do more with day zero, where we have site events. There’s much more we can do.”

Giving CPOs what they want

As for the broader future of the event, DPW’s heart lies in Amsterdam and will continue to do so. The organisation is building its team even further and putting strategies in place for future events, allowing it to move forward. “We follow the demand of what our customers want,” Knevel says. That’s what really drives DPW and how the event is themed and set up. The organisation listens to CPOs so it can give them exactly what they need, and what will help the industry level up further and further. 

“There are things we’re still developing,” says Gutzmann. “For example, the podcast studio [something introduced in its current form for 2024] is something Herman is very passionate about, so it was great to test it out here. There’s more we can do with that. We have so many ideas and it’s important to engage our amazing team on these ideas and see what they think along the way.”

“We’re ideating a lot,” Knevel adds. “And we’re asking our ecosystem what we should do more of.”

“Ultimately, we’re bringing in the voice of the customer to make sure we’re giving them what they want and need,” Gutzmann concludes. “That’s the whole purpose of DPW.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

28 August 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

We caught up with Shachi Rai Gupta from ORO Labs to discuss the importance of orchestration in procurement.

Simplifying procurement in smart ways is the ultimate goal for ORO Labs. Utilising the best of AI, ORO Labs aims to implement procurement orchestration across sectors, creating an experience that is simultaneously automated, augmented, and humanised.

Shachi Rai Gupta is VP Strategy at ORO Labs, with a wealth of transformation and technology experience behind her. Rai Gupta’s sharp eye on procurement has allowed her to witness the rise and fall of various trends, and understand what the sector needs as it – along with technology – evolves. 

We caught up with Rai Gupta at the DPW NYC Summit back in June, a special North American version of the event. Procurement trends, especially AI and orchestration, were very much the theme of the day, prompting lively conversations amongst some of the world’s most influential procurement leaders.

Procurement as a net positive experience generator

For Rai Gupta, the trends right now are guided by the fact that procurement has more of a  strategic and evolved role than ever, giving the function the opportunity to have a great impact on the enterprise bottom-line and the environment and community at large 

“Procurement is morphing into a function where one of its biggest responsibilities is to be a net positive experience generator,” she explains.

“Procurement really is a service function for the whole business stakeholders. We, as procurement professionals, need to see things through the lens of the business. This includes what issues the business is trying to solve, and meeting the business where it’s at for good collaboration.

“It’s also important to make this experience as easy as possible, rather than cumbersome and time intensive. That needs to be catered and customised to the individual business segments.”

Prioritising the planet

Another area Rai Gupta is seeing talked about a lot is sustainability. This topic has, for some, been sidelined a little in favour of advanced technology. But it’s just as important as it’s always been, and it’s vital to keep the discussion alive – especially in procurement.

“More and more, companies are realising the impact they’re having on the environment,” Rai Gupta explains. “It’s an increasing priority on all our agendas. The technology is still nascent in that space, in the sense that there aren’t good ways to do benchmarking or tracking. That’s going to be an interesting space to watch out for.”

The next generation

Another hot topic of the DPW NYC Summit was the talent shortage. We at CPOstrategy discuss this topic a lot with procurement professionals, and there’s no one answer for fixing the issue.

“There’s a dearth of good digital talent,” Rai Gupta states. “The skillset you need today in procurement is very different from what we’ve had before. To be able to leverage that, to really make use of the procurement teams you have and the operational model you want, it’s a different challenge. The structure of your team is more important than ever. 

“While that shortage is there, when you do have the right people in place in procurement, that’s where the department shines,” Rai Gupta adds. “That’s where procurement becomes a group of trusted advisors for the business, providing proactive opportunities. We wear a lot of hats in procurement, and we’re stepping up to a new level of evolution.”

Advanced tech for good

And, of course, AI and orchestration are terms on everyone’s lips right now – procurement included. AI is, in Rai Gupta’s words, “a solver”. Many of the blockages and challenges procurement is experiencing as it evolves can be solved, or at least aided, by AI and orchestration. “There’s so much tech out there,” Rai Gupta states. “AI is one such possibility. Every segment of procurement comes with its own risks and requires its own expertise and tool sets. 

“To manage that whole ecosystem is where that orchestration comes in. There’s a real beauty in this because it’s collaborative. It makes the whole bigger than its parts.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

15 August 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

We chatted with Johan-Peter Teppala from Sievo about why procurement needs to use technology wisely.

When CPOstrategy attended the DPW NYC Summit back in June, one of the buzzwords of the day was trends. Trends in procurement, trends in technology, and how to combine the two. The event was filled with productive discussions around how procurement can benefit from data and advanced technology. This led to a hopeful vibe throughout the day, despite and because of acknowledgements of procurement’s shortfalls. 

We caught up with Johan-Peter Teppala, Chief Customer Officer of Sievo, at the NYC conference. For Teppala, that hopefulness is something he took away from the event. “It is great to see so many companies out there with keen interest in adopting new securities and technologies,” he says. “Procurement has increasing demand to do more with less, which explains also the need for technology to drive efficiency and to deliver more. I think it’s just inertia that’s slowing us down.”

However, advanced technology is helping shift the inertia that’s so prevalent across procurement. “Developments in GenAI have been exceptionally fast, especially recently,” Teppala adds. “With an increasing amount of practical Gen AI use cases, this has become a topic that touches each and everyone in procurement. At Sievo, we are dedicating R&D budgets to AI innovations. We have quickly been able to ramp up many practical use cases for our clients to deliver business value in this area.”

Using data and technology wisely

Teppala continues: “Sievo strives to withhold our position as the leading Procurement Analytics partner for large enterprises. We are driven by the goal to close the data-to-action gap. We believe analytics alone has zero value, it’s the actions that we take that drive the value.” This was a topic that was repeated several times during the DPW NYC Summit.

“As a result, SIevo’s goal is to ensure our customers can use their time most efficiently. We help them make business-impacting decisions and best use their expertise, whilst Sievo automatically surfaces insights that they can take action on. First and foremost, our work is about carving out insights. And once you have those insights, how do you automate those actions to create opportunities? That’s definitely one thing we’re keen to solve.”

Sievo is also focusing its attention on gen AI – how it can be adopted and what the use cases are. “AI for data cleansing has been around for a while,” says Teppala. “Right now, Gen AI is getting really good traction from a technology point of view. It’s not just insights, but adopting AI into chat interfaces, and reaping the benefits with implementable actions. It’s amazing.”

The changing talent landscape

The increased adoption of AI is going to also change the talent landscape within procurement. Another heavily-discussed topic during DPW NYC was the talent shortage and how it has the potential to slow procurement down. However, advanced technology may be the thing that accelerates it once again.

“The talent you need is changing,” says Teppala. “The procurement mandate has widened  beyond delivering cost savings. Now, it’s also about driving sustainability initiatives, emission reductions, increasing diverse spending, and preventing supply chain risks. Procurement has to be creative and resource-effective for reaching ideal outcomes. This is a big challenge but also a big opportunity and also impacts the talent needed in procurement. 

“You don’t necessarily need to hire superstars who know everything. It’s about teamwork. Building a procurement team out of people who possess all these modern talents, who can support each other. I can’t know whether this is going to solve the talent shortage, but at least we’re shifting towards a different kind of talent as capabilities change. 

Teppala concludes: “We need to be thinking more about what kind of team we actually want to build – not just what kind of really good, talented individual we can find.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

13 August 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

For a company like TealBook, data is king. The organisation helps businesses to navigate the complex supplier landscape by offering…

For a company like TealBook, data is king. The organisation helps businesses to navigate the complex supplier landscape by offering a foundation of high-quality data. This is something that’s often sorely missing in procurement.

“We have a data problem,” Stephany Lapierre, CEO and Founder of TealBook, told us when we caught up with her at the DPW NYC Summit in June. “It’s always been my view that we don’t have a software or people problem – it’s data. If we could achieve better data – no matter the data stack, no matter the maturity, no matter the vertical – it would be truly transformative.”

Creating a data foundation

Lapierre has watched procurement’s attempt to tackle advanced technology without good data. Simply buying software is the easy part. Some have even tried to build their own architecture around that software. However, that’s often unsuccessful and highly manual. This is what led to the creation of TealBook.

“We’re in this pursuit of how we can deliver to the market,” Lapierre states. “We’ve been building a trusted data foundation for eight years.” More recently, the second version of TealBook’s service is significantly more powerful than the first. This allows it to ingest data at speed and set up new data sources within a couple of hours. “The more data sources, the more suppliers we’re covering, the more attributes per supplier. And, the more signals to improve the TrustScore and the confidence behind the quality of our data.”

Never ignore the fundamentals 

The fact that quality data is all too often overlooked in procurement in favour of advanced technology was something of a theme at the DPW NYC Summit. The opinion of Lapierre is that there’s little point in implementing advanced tech without first having usable data in place. Many others at the event felt the same.

“It’s like buying a house because you love the house, but paying no attention to its foundation, plumbing, or electrics,” she explains. “Procurement has been buying up technology solutions, wanting to see the workflow, the UI, what it can do. However, people aren’t asking where that data comes from. How is it being evaluated? What about the compliance side of having suppliers populating a portal?

“Procurement has more and more requirements to get more and more data, so filling the gaps becomes more difficult. There are also increasing demands for transparency, and for regulators to have better quality information. When you’re reporting something, you have to really trust that information. That’s how you give confidence to your board or leadership team.”

A shift in focus

The upside of this disconnect is that Lapierre fully expects the pursuit of better data to be a key trend in procurement over the next few years. “I’ve found that no-one talks about the data layer in procurement,” she states. “They brush it under the rug or underestimate how critical it is to use data to feed large language models for better insights. As data becomes more accessible, the need for a trusted data foundation becomes more important. You need good data posture.”

With this very topic being discussed openly at prestigious events like the ones DPW hosts, procurement professionals and leaders are actively working towards solving this blockage. “The problems have to be solved in order to leverage the exponential value of Gen AI, automate workflows, and bring intelligence in across all these functions,” Lapierre continues. 

“Consider: what would it mean to your business if you could actually solve that data problem, drive better outcomes, and truly digitise the procurement function?”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

8 August 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

We caught up with Danielle McQuiston from Candex to discuss why procurement is risk-averse, and how the business can help.

Candex, a B2B fintech company, has been going through some exciting changes recently. In the five years that Danielle McQuiston – its Chief Customer Officer – has been with the business, it’s gone from its venture round to A series in 2021 and into B series, which it closed out in 2023. Its goal is to make life easier for procurement professionals across sectors. This is because having trusted services at their disposal is one step towards changing procurement’s risk-averse reputation.

Candex’s value proposition is as a tech-based master vendor that helps enterprise buyers engage and pay small and irregular vendors through an easy, quick, streamlined process. The obvious ‘low-hanging fruit’ use case at most enterprise organisations is to use Candex to avoid setting up new vendors for small, infrequent purchases. 

While tackling this low-hanging fruit demonstrates an immediate benefit, Candex is now taking it a step further. It’s helping enterprise clients understand the additional benefits and value that they can get from the solution. We caught up with McQuiston at the DPW NYC Summit in June, an event which featured innovative solutions in procurement. In particular, AI.

Creating and avoiding risk

“The companies that only go for the easy wins still have tens of thousands of suppliers that they hold in their vendor master. They don’t closely manage them and really don’t know them,” McQuiston says. “At some point, these companies have onboarded a supplier to make a small purchase. When they do, they do minimal checks on the vendors since the purchase is small or one-time only. But now that ‘small’ vendor is in the company’s system for anyone to engage with – sometimes forever. These companies are left with little-known and unmanaged vendors taking up 80% of their vendor master. This, in turn, creates risk for the enterprise.” 

Candex can mitigate this risk and empower companies to focus more on strategic relationships. It does this by helping companies offboard their non-strategic vendors, and engage vendors only as needed. Businesses can do this with the confidence that Candex applies robust compliance screening and third-party diligence to all vendors as part of its standard processes. 

As a result, Candex has started helping clients realise how they can reach their initial objectives of deriving more value by lowering risk exposure. By helping them focus on strategic suppliers, they can increase their working capital, accelerate the speed of doing business, and support their supplier diversity programs.

“All those aspects are where my focus is currently,” McQuiston explains. “Along with that, over the next few years, we will continue to make the process even more user-friendly. We’ll also further develop our solutions to meet the ever-changing commercial, compliance, and security landscapes. We can make the system even more intuitive, and help our customers streamline internal processes so things are faster and more cost-effective.”

The roadblocks

Implementing technology solutions to improve procurement is the name of the game across the sector, after all. It was talked about extensively at DPW NYC in June, where we spoke to McQuiston about Candex and trends. Unfortunately, there’s a roadblock for the sector, which is that procurement is risk-averse.

McQuiston explains. “We work primarily with Fortune 2000 companies, and I can’t tell you how many I’ve met up with who have outright told me they’re risk-averse. They all think that’s unusual, but they all say it and most of them are the same. It doesn’t matter if you’re in pharmaceuticals or consumer goods or banking – everyone is in the same boat regarding risk.”

This is because, as a function, procurement was created to ensure security of supply, controlling both quality and cost. “Procurement was born out of the supply chain world with a focus on direct spend. Out of the need to make sure prices don’t go up – and, in fact, go down,” McQuiston continues. 

“Procurement has always been the enforcer of the financial rules. That’s the only way they were able to have an impact on the business initially. Now, procurement wants a seat at the table and is able to more broadly bring value to the business. In return, businesses are asking procurement to ease their role as the enforcer in order to have that seat. This is tough for procurement because, by nature, they’re nervous about losing control since that is how they have added value in the past.”

Hope is here

This may be a challenge, but the march of change isn’t stopping. There’s hope in the air. This is thanks to companies like Candex, as well as the arrival of new technologies. For example, artificial intelligence, which the business world is increasingly looking to leverage.

“AI is the whole theme of this conference,” McQuiston said of DPW NYC. The event spawned many fascinating conversations, not to mention encouraging ones. As the business world utilises technology better, procurement is only going to get better. And AI can help support procurement teams as they look to calibrate their solutions and right-size their approach to risk, efficiency, and value-add for the business. 

“I’m very interested to see how innovative solutions like Candex, as well as AI solutions, become disruptors – in a good way,” says McQuiston. “A lot of other solutions that have tried to enter the procurement space have struggled to really break in and push for significant change. 

“However I believe that if you solve a real problem and have good technology, you will be successful. AI may be able to really help further support technology solutions in their mission to simplify the procurement stack and positively address user experience challenges,” McQuiston concludes.

Author

Nell Walker

Published

29 July 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

We chatted to Gabe Perez from RiseNow about prioritising humans during technological transformation.

RiseNow, as a procurement and supply chain strategy and design firm, is firmly plugged into the needs of the sector’s functions as they evolve. Its growth has been organic thanks to customers demanding exactly what they want. They can’t simply implement tech with the goal of ‘go live’ anymore. They need expert help to define the real outcomes. 

RiseNow provides end-to-end guidance for customers. This ensures that when they implement new systems, they explore the whole picture from the beginning. It was a topic discussed in detail at DPW NYC in June, where we met up with Gabe Perez, Chief Strategy Officer.

“What we’re seeing in the market is that people are asking for guidance around operating models,” says Perez. “Our focus right now is trying to keep up with demand. There are a lot of different service providers out there.

“We’re showing RiseNow’s clients how to design, execute, and operate. So we’re really focused on helping customers end-to-end, whether they’re optimising what they currently have, or starting from a new platform.”

Humans first, then technology

As procurement continues to digitise, roadblocks that hinder technology’s effectiveness and promise of value become more apparent. One of these is implementing technology for technology’s sake. Or, simply using tech to digitise already-existing processes versus examining the why behind those processes. 

“As David Rogers from Columbia Business School said, the best technology is not the most important part of digital transformation,” says Perez. “People are at the core of it. Procurement has to start focusing more on outcomes and let that drive technology. People are running to technology for answers, but they don’t have the right operating model set up by the right people. Plus, there’s a huge talent shortage.”

Addressing the talent shortage

Outside of technology, the talent shortage across procurement was a repeated topic of conversation during DPW NYC. Just as it is during CPOstrategy’s general conversations with leaders. Procurement has been too vague a concept for too long, and overlooked in the grand scheme of many businesses for decades.

“One of the issues is making roles attractive,” Perez states. “I recommend proposing the problems you’re trying to solve and asking whoever you’re interviewing: ‘how would you solve this?’ Because with all the cool tech we now have at our fingertips, they’re going to come up fresh ideas. The talent exists – they’re just not being engaged and attracted. That’s where tech comes into play.”

And technology moulded by a people-centric focus was another major theme of the day at DPW NYC. “While AI in procurement is a huge topic right now, creativity is still going to come from humans – not artificial intelligence,” Perez points out. 

“You need human minds to see the value of things. This is to figure out how money can be driven out of the bottom line and into the top line. Humans are still needed for proving that procurement needs to take risks to be better. AI is a great tool, but it still needs us.”

You can read our full rundown of DPW NYC here.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

23 July 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Our cover story this month features a fascinating discussion with Rebecca Howard, Head of Supplier Relationship Management at Coventry Building…

Our cover story this month features a fascinating discussion with Rebecca Howard, Head of Supplier Relationship Management at Coventry Building Society who talks operational transformation, ESG, and procurement as a creator of social value and community engagement… 

Social values

The role of procurement has changed. Today, the function has become a driver of so much more than cost reduction and business continuity. In the past few years—especially since the pandemic—procurement’s potential to not only support sustainable practice, digital transformation, and supply chain resilience, but to champion the values of the business as a whole has become increasingly evident.  

Coventry Building Society touches the lives of millions of people across the UK. We help them save and borrow to support their goals and livelihoods. “We’re owned by our members and our core belief is that we put our members first,” says Rebecca Howard, Coventry Building Society’s Head of Supplier Relationship Management. “Our members want us to keep their money safe and have an impact on people’s lives. That’s why our purpose is making people better off through life.”  

Read the full story here! 

Innovation

Elsewhere, we also have an exclusive interview with Deputy Chief Procurement Officer of IDEMIA’s Smart Identity division, Mark Janssen who discusses his procurement journey with IDEMIA. It’s a role that’s putting trust at the heart of his approach to partnership, procurement, and innovation…

For governments, trust in a company like IDEMIA to deliver reliable identity solutions is vital. Vital not only to the wellbeing of their citizens and institutions, but for national security. Mark Janssen, Deputy Chief Procurement Officer of IDEMIA’s Smart Identity division, emphasises this: “If a government runs out of identification documents, it triggers an immediate crisis.” Without valid forms of ID, he continues, citizens can’t travel, buy a house, or register a newborn child. 

Read the full story here! 

Plus, we have exclusive content from Amazon Business, Tonkean and much, much more! 

Read the latest issue here! 

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Shelley Salomon, VP of Global Business at Amazon Business, discusses her company’s commitment to fostering gender diversity in procurement… Procurement’s…

Shelley Salomon, VP of Global Business at Amazon Business, discusses her company’s commitment to fostering gender diversity in procurement…

Procurement’s gender imbalance isn’t new.

Traditionally, the function was regarded as a male-dominated profession. But change is afoot, in more ways than one. While a digital transformation amidst technological innovation is well-publicised, another evolution is underway within the workforce.

Gender diversity has become an important component of many company strategies globally. While progress to encourage more women into procurement has already started. There still remains an imbalance, particularly among those holding leadership positions. With current statistics suggesting around one in four leadership positions are held by women, there is still room for improvement.

So, is progress happening quickly enough? Shelley Salomon, VP of Global Business at Amazon Business, discusses her organisation’s commitment to fostering gender diversity and how women can reach parity in procurement. 

In your opinion, where is procurement today in terms of women’s representation in 2024?

Shelley Salomon: “Women’s representation in procurement has seen progress these past few years, but there remains room for further improvement. Gartner’s data shows that women comprise 41% of the supply chain workforce. It’s encouraging to see greater gender diversity within the industry.

“While these statistics are encouraging, they also highlight ongoing challenges. Particularly at the leadership level. Only 25% of leadership roles are held by women. This disparity underscores the need for sustained efforts to promote gender diversity and support women’s ascension to senior positions within procurement.

“My perspective on this trend is one of cautious optimism. The progress we see is promising, reflecting a growing recognition of women’s unique contributions to procurement roles. Diverse perspectives and gender equity are vital for effective decision-making and problem-solving. Additionally, multiple credible studies show that companies with the greatest gender balance in the C-suite are likelier to achieve above average financial results. However, much work must be done to ensure these advancements translate into lasting change.”

While progress to encourage more women into the workforce seems to be underway, there is still a major disparity in the number of women leaders in procurement. What is the best way to go about rectifying this? 

Shelley Salomon: “I believe there’s a significant opportunity to welcome more women into procurement leadership roles. By establishing robust mentorship and sponsorship programmes, organisations can provide invaluable guidance, support, and networking opportunities. Thus empowering women to thrive in their careers and gain visibility within the organisation. Investing in inclusive leadership development programmes is essential. These initiatives focus on building inclusive skills and readiness for leadership roles, continuing to foster a more inclusive and dynamic workforce.

“In my opinion, implementing inclusive hiring practices that actively promote gender diversity, such as using diverse hiring panels and conducting blind recruitment processes, is essential to minimising biases. 

“Lastly, setting clear, measurable goals for increasing the number of women procurement leaders and regularly reporting on progress to hold leadership teams accountable can drive meaningful change. By taking these proactive steps, organisations can create a more equitable environment that supports the advancement of women into leadership roles within procurement.”

Read the full story here!


Author

Andrew Woods

Published

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Sagi Eliyahu, Co-Founder and CEO at Tonkean and Alejandro Fernandez, Head of Global Procurement at Semrush, discuss the power of…

Sagi Eliyahu, Co-Founder and CEO at Tonkean and Alejandro Fernandez, Head of Global Procurement at Semrush, discuss the power of intake orchestration and procurement’s rise to the top of the agenda in the c-suite…

In a world with almost endless possibilities, why waste time on manual or outdated processes?

Technology is an enabler in everyday and business life. It is there as a vehicle of change and a weapon of efficiency. When used correctly, AI can help people focus on higher-value and more fulfilling work – which is what an entire generation of people crave today. The problem is, technology is not leveraged as efficiently or as strategically as it could be today — especially in enterprise back-office operations, like procurement. 

This is where Tonkean comes in. Tonkean is a first-of-its-kind intake orchestration platform. Powered by AI, Tonkean helps enterprise internal service teams like procurement and legal create process experiences that transform how businesses operate. In part by changing how internal teams leverage smart technology to empower the employees they serve to do better, higher value work.

Process orchestration

Process orchestration refers to the strategy — enabled by process orchestration platforms — of coordinating automated business processes across teams and existing, integrated systems. These processes can facilitate all procurement-related activities. Importantly, they can also wrap around an organisation’s existing systems and accommodate employees’ many different working preferences and styles.

Instead of simply adding to an organisation’s existing tech stack, process orchestration allows companies to use their existing mix of people, data, and tech better together. The true promise of process orchestration is to finally put internal shared service teams like procurement in charge of the tools they deploy.

This goes a long way towards solving one of the enterprise’s most vexing operational challenges: the inefficiency of over-complexity born of too much new technology. It also allows procurement teams to truly make their technology work for them and the employees they serve. As opposed to making people work for technology. Process orchestration breaks down the silos that typically separate working environments. No longer do stakeholders have to log in to an ERP or P2P platform to submit or approve intake requests. The technology will meet them wherever they are.

All in one place

Enter Sagi Eliyahu, Co-Founder and CEO at Tonkean. He explains that over the past few years, Tonkean has focused more on procurement specifically. In part because the challenges the procurement function faces day-in and day-out represent perfect orchestration use-cases. Procurement processes touch so many different teams, tools, and departments. Poor procurement performance can often be traced back to the fact that all these moving parts otherwise aren’t able to communicate easily with each other. Tonkean was built to address exactly that problem. 

“We saw that our procurement customers were having great success with it, but the market started to heat up as well,” he reveals. “It made sense because it happened for us on the procurement and legal side. They are teams that are very central to an organisation and their process is never just siloed into their tools and department. You need that idea of orchestrating all the different moving parts for it to have high adoption, faster cycles, better quality and compliance.”

Tonkean and Semrush partnership

One of Tonkean’s biggest customers is Semrush. Semrush, in turn, understands the potential of orchestration in procurement well. As a result of Tonkean’s intake orchestration capabilities, they’ve almost halved cycle times for intake requests — from 19 days to just 10. Alejandro Fernandez, Head of Global Procurement at Semrush, works closely with Eliyahu and Tonkean and couldn’t be happier about the collaboration…

Read the full story here!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

18 June 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Our cover story this month…  Marriott International Inc: A more sustainable supply chain  With science-based targets approved, Marriott is accelerating…

Our cover story this month… 

Marriott International Inc: A more sustainable supply chain 

With science-based targets approved, Marriott is accelerating work to help make its supply chain more sustainable. We speak to Stéphane Masson, Senior Vice President, Procurement, Marriott International, Inc. – for our exclusive cover story this month – to find out how… 

“Like many global companies, Marriott recognises that serving our world helps the communities where we operate and is also good business,” Masson tells us. “This Earth Day, we announced the approval of our near-and-long-term science-based emissions reduction targets by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), with a goal to reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by no later than 2050. Approval of these targets is bringing heightened focus on our work to embed sustainability in our operations.  

Specifically, the company has committed to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 46.2% by 2030 from a 2019 base year. Marriott also commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel and energy-related activities, waste generated in operations, employee commuting, and franchises 27.5% within the same timeframe.  

Importantly for our team and the suppliers we work with across the globe, Marriott’s targets include 22% of our suppliers by emissions—covering purchased goods and services, capital goods, and upstream transportation and distribution—which will have science-based targets by 2028. 

In the longer term, Marriott also aims to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 90% by 2050 from a 2019 base year and reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions 90% within the same timeframe.  

Our Global Procurement organisation plays an important role in setting up Marriott as we work to achieve the targets within this timeline. And it will require an evolution in how we engage Marriott associates, our suppliers, and other members of the industry.” 

Read the full story here! 

Grupo Modelo: Procurement and sustainability in action! 

We speak to Soqui Calderon, Regional Director of Sustainability for Grupo Modelo and the Middle Americas Zone, to see how the beverage giant is tackling sustainability from a procurement perspective… 

Grupo Modelo is a giant. A leader in the production, distribution and sale of beer in Mexico, Grupo Modelo is part of the Middle America Region (of the AB InBev Group) and boasts 17 national brands, among which are Corona Extra, the most valuable brand in Latin America, as well as Modelo Especial, Victoria, Pacífico and Negra Modelo. The company also exports eight brands and has a presence in more than 180 countries while operating 11 brewing plants in Mexico. 

Through more than nine decades, Grupo Modelo has invested and grown within – and with – Mexico, generating more than 30,000 direct jobs in its breweries and vertical operations, located throughout the country. 

Grupo Modelo, like many forward-thinking companies, is currently focused on a drive towards establishing a truly sustainable business. This endeavour is best exemplified in the Middle Americas Zone (MAZ), where sustainability efforts have been led by for the past five years by Soqui Calderon Aranibar, Regional Sustainability and ESG Director. Ambitious targets have been established for the region, but some remarkable achievements have already been made. As Calderon says: “For our team, sustainability is not just part of our business, it IS our business.” 

Read the full story here! 

SDI International: Delivering tail spend excellence 

SDI International’s Brendan Curran and Joaquín Morales discuss empowering procurement innovation, the importance of effective tail spend management, and how its Master Vendor programme transforms the function 

In a world of greater complexity and risk, technology adoption and digitalisation, and an ever-evolving compliance and regulatory environment, procurement teams still grapple with a perennial challenge: cost reduction. Which is why tail spend management – often overlooked and unmanaged while procurement focuses its attention on strategic, high-spend categories – is so important. Indeed, for many organisations, taking effective control of costly, one-off buys and high-volume, low-value purchases involving numerous suppliers can deliver as much as 5% to 10% of cost savings, according to Boston Consulting Group. 

But tail spend, by its nature, is complicated. It requires significant focus to effectively manage high volumes of data, often has a perceived lack of strategic importance within both procurement and the wider organisation, lacks visibility, involves vast numbers of transactions, many product categories, and a largely anonymous supplier base, and can bring potential compliance risks because of poor onboarding processes or inconsistent terms and conditions.  

Tackling the problem can be daunting for procurement teams. But, according to SDI International, it doesn’t have to be. The organisation, one of the world’s largest diversity and woman-owned procurement outsourcing and technology providers, delivers industry-leading holistic tail management solutions based on a successful formula: simplify, digitalise, innovate. Its Master Vendor programme provides procurement teams looking to tackle their tail with a one-stop solution for tail spend that leverages the latest and most efficient technologies to handle supplier onboarding and on-time payment, and manage the entire tail supply chain, stakeholder servicing, and escalations. The result is a procurement department better able to drive cost saving, efficiencies, and more strategic outcomes.  

Read the full story here! 

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

8 May 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Satya Mishra, Director, Product Management at Amazon Business, discusses how CPOs have become an important voice at the table to drive digital transformation and efficient collaboration.

Harnessing efficiency is at the heart of any digital transformation journey.

Digitalisation should revolve around driving efficiency and achieving cost savings. Otherwise, why do it?

Amazon is no stranger to simplifying shopping for its customers. It is why Amazon has become a global leader in e-commerce. But, business-to-business customers can have different needs than traditional consumers, which is what led to the birth of Amazon Business in 2015. Amazon Business simplifies procurement processes, and one of the key ways it does this is by integrating with third-party systems to drive efficiencies and quickly discover insights. 

Satya Mishra, Director, Product Management at Amazon Business, tells us all about how the organisation is helping procurement leaders to integrate their systems to lead to time and money savings.

Satya Mishra: “More than six million customers around the world tap Amazon Business to access business-only pricing and selection, purchasing system integrations, a curated site experience, Business Prime, single or multi-user business accounts, and dedicated customer support, among other benefits.

“I lead Amazon Business’ integrations tech team, which builds integrations with third-party e-procurement, expense management, e-sourcing and idP systems. We also build APIs for our customers that either they or the third-party system integrators can use to create solutions that meet customers’ procurement needs. Integrations can allow business buyers to create connected buying journeys, which we call smart business buying journeys. 

“If a customer does not have existing procurement systems they’d like to integrate, they can take advantage of other native tools, like a Business Analytics dashboard, in the Amazon Business store, so they can monitor their business spend. They can also discover and use some third-party integrated apps in the new Amazon Business App Center.”

Why would a customer choose to integrate their systems? Are CPOs leading the way?

Satya Mishra: “By integrating systems, customers can save time and money, drive compliance, spend visibility, and gain clearer insights. I talk to CPOs frequently to learn about their pain points. I often hear from these leaders that it can be tough for procurement teams to manage or create purchasing policies. This is especially if they have a high volume of purchases coming in from employees across their whole organisation, with a small group of employees, or even one employee, manually reviewing and reconciling. Integrations can automate these processes and help create a more intuitive buying experience across systems.

“Procurement is a strategic business function. It’s data-driven and measurable. CPOs manage the business buying, and the business buying can directly impact an organisation’s bottom line. If procurement tools don’t automatically connect to a source of supply, business buying decisions can become more complex. Properly integrated technology systems can help solve these issues for procurement leaders.”

Satya Mishra, Director, Product Management at Amazon Business

Beyond process complexity, what other challenges are procurement leaders facing?

Satya Mishra: “In the Amazon Business 2024 State of Procurement Report, other top challenges respondents reported were having access to a wide range of sellers and products that meet their needs, and ensuring compliance with spend policies. 

“The report also found that 52% of procurement decision-makers are responsible for making purchases for multiple locations. Of that group, 57% make purchases for multiple countries.

“During my conversations with CPOs, I hear them say that having access to millions of products across many categories through Amazon Business has allowed them to streamline their supplier quantity and reduced time spent going to physical stores or trying to find products they’re looking for from a range of online websites. They’ve also shared that the ability to ship purchases from Amazon Business to multiple addresses has been very helpful in reducing complexity for both spot-buy and planned or recurring purchases. Organisations may need to buy specific products, like copy paper or snacks, in a recurring way. They may need to buy something else, like desks, only once, and in bulk, at that. Amazon Business’ ordering capabilities are agile and can lessen the purchasing complexity.”

How should procurement leaders choose which integrations will help them the most? 

Satya Mishra: “At Amazon Business, we work backwards from customer problems to find solutions. I recommend CPOs think about what existing systems their employees may already use, the organisation’s buying needs, and their buyers’ typical purchasing behaviors. The buying experience should be intuitive and delightful. 

“Amazon Business integrates with more than 300 systems, like Coupa, SAP Ariba, Okta, Fairmarkit, and Intuit Quickbooks, to name just a handful. With e-procurement integrations like Punchout and Integrated Search, customers start their buying journey in their e-procurement system. With Punch-in, they start on the Amazon Business website, then punch into their e-procurement system. With SSO, customers can use their existing employee credentials. Our collection of APIs can help customers customise their procure-to-pay and source-to-settle operations. This includes automating receipts in expense management systems and track progress toward spending goals. 

“My team recently launched an App Center where customers can discover third-party apps spanning Accounting Management, Rewards & Recognition, Expense Management, Integrated Shopping and Inventory Management categories. We’ll continue to add more apps over time to help simplify the integrated app discovery process for customers.

“Some customers choose to stack their integrations, while others stick with one integration that serves their needs. There are many possibilities, and you don’t just have to choose one integration. You can start with Punchout and e-invoicing, for example, and then also integrate with Integrated Search, so your buyers can search the Amazon Business catalog within the e-procurement system your organisation uses.”

Are integrations tech projects?

Satya Mishra: “No, integrations should not be viewed as tech projects to be decided by only an IT team. Integrations open doors to greater data connectivity and business efficiencies across organisations. Instead of having disjointed data streams, you can connect those systems and centralise data, increasing spend visibility. You may be able to spot patterns and identify cost savings that may have gotten lost otherwise. 

“It’s not uncommon for me to hear that CPOs, CFOs and CIOs are collaborating on business decisions that will save them all time and meet shared goals, and integrations are in their mix of recommendations. 

“One of my team’s key goals has been to simplify integrations and bring in more self-service solutions. In terms of set-up, some integrations like SSO can be self-serviced by the customer. Amazon Business can help customers with the set-up process for integrations as well.”

How has procurement transformed in recent years?

Satya Mishra: “Procurement is no longer viewed as a back-office function. CPOs more commonly have a seat at the table for strategic cross-functional decisions with CFOs and CIOs.

“95% of Amazon Business 2024 State of Procurement Report respondents say the purchases they make mostly fall into managed spend. Managed spending is often planned for months or years ahead of time. This can create a great opportunity to recruit other stakeholders across departments versus outsourcing purchasing responsibilities. Equipping domain experts to support routine purchasing activities allows procurement to uplevel its focus and take on higher priorities across the organisation, while still maintaining oversight of overarching buying patterns. It’s also worth noting that by connecting to e-procurement and expense management systems, integrations provide easy and secure access to products on Amazon Business and help facilitate managed spend.”

What does the future of procurement look like?

Satya Mishra: “Bright! By embracing digital transformation and artificial intelligence to form more agile and strategic operations, CPOs can influence the ways their organisations innovate and adapt to change.”

Read the latest CPOstrategy here!

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

Estimated Read time

8Mins

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX, tells us how working collaboratively with suppliers on sustainable procurement practices could act as an organisation’s competitive advantage.

Sustainability isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ anymore – businesses don’t have much of a choice in the world of 2024.

With ESG regulations now locked in place, organisations must comply or risk significant penalties. In order to achieve sustainability objectives more effectively and efficiently, collaborating with suppliers represents a real opportunity to get there faster.

When businesses work with suppliers to reach sustainability goals, they need access to the most accurate supplier data possible. However, obtaining this data isn’t necessarily straightforward. Ultimately, suppliers own it and need to provide it.

This means it is in a business’s interest to form and maintain a great working relationship with suppliers.

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX, the supplier experience platform, discusses the benefits of being supplier-centric and how giving brands a better experience adds value to organisations.

Anthony Payne: “There is a direct link. A good supplier experience makes it easier to communicate with suppliers because it allows for collaboration, whereas the opposite can harm communication efforts. For example, when businesses need ESG information, many will survey a broad group of suppliers even though the questions don’t apply to everyone. This is easier for the business. But it means every supplier who receives the survey must investigate whether it applies to them. The experience is more likely to frustrate suppliers than to help them offer the best information.

“Rather, we can help suppliers to help us by communicating better. The way forward is to segment suppliers into groups and send them only relevant requests. This creates a more positive experience in which suppliers are better able to provide helpful information.”

What about their motivation to help sustainability efforts – does this also rely on supplier experience?

Anthony Payne: “Yes, because if the culture of the business-supplier relationship is one in which each party looks out for themselves, then suppliers won’t be terribly motivated to offer the most helpful ESG information. It’s just human nature. Whereas if a business creates an environment in which suppliers can collaborate with them, then they’re more likely to become a customer-of-choice. This is a status worth having. A recent HICX survey showed that while 49% of suppliers would go the extra mile for their biggest customer, as many as 73% would make the effort if this was a customer-of-choice.

“Ultimately, if businesses give their suppliers a good experience, then more suppliers should be willing to provide helpful ESG information – even if it means spending a bit more effort.”

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX

What are some of your most effective strategies and best practices to building a future-proof ESG framework?

Anthony Payne: “Businesses can futureproof their ESG frameworks by viewing suppliers as value-adding partners. This principle suggests three ways to engage suppliers…

“First, have a corporate mindset in which every employee views every supplier as a valued partner. If COVID-19 taught us anything it’s how much we rely on suppliers. When the pandemic hit, non-strategic suppliers such as providers of IT equipment and protective personal equipment suddenly became as central to operations as those who supplied the main ingredients. If we take the view that ‘all suppliers matter’, then it becomes easier to treat them all as partners in the same eco-system and we can work together towards common goals.

“Then, through this lens, we can market to suppliers. In customer marketing, a business would require a certain action from customers – such as getting them to buy a product, read a newsletter or attend an event – and so would motivate this behaviour. Similarly, in procurement, we can appeal to suppliers in a way that encourages them to participate in ESG activities, for instance, by providing helpful carbon emission information. 

“One way to encourage the desired behaviour with suppliers is to segment them into the appropriate categories and send them only necessary messages. This is what a marketer would do with customers. By viewing suppliers as partners and introducing supplier marketing and segmentation, you can improve suppliers’ experience and get the most from them.”

What are the biggest barriers that organisations face to delivering more sustainable practices within their organisations?

Anthony Payne: “Once supplier data has been captured, however, the challenge continues because it must be maintained as a golden source of truth. Not having accurate supplier data is a major barrier to delivering sustainable practices because it means that businesses cannot see who all their suppliers are and what they’re doing. 

“Thankfully, with robust onboarding and data management in place, businesses can keep their supplier data up-to-date and accurate so that it can inform good sustainability decisions.”

What is the best way for procurement teams to assess and prioritise the suppliers they work with? How do you juggle environmental impact vs value to company?

Anthony Payne: “The best way to assess and prioritise suppliers is to have visibility. Businesses need to know who all their suppliers are and what they’re doing, at any given time. Only once leaders are informed, can they make the best environmental decisions.

“It’s imperative to manage environmental impact with suppliers, regardless of how much value they bring a company. Apart from the moral obligation to protect the environment, businesses also have their reputations to consider. An environmental infringement that gets exposed – no matter how deep in the supply chain it might occur – is very likely to cause reputational damage, which can have a knock-on effect on sales and share price. 

“In addition to brand reputation, businesses can also face expensive fines, if their suppliers are found to fall short of environmental regulations.”

Anthony Payne, Chief Marketing Officer of HICX

What are the challenges and opportunities when it comes to supplier diversity?

Anthony Payne: “The challenge is to source the right suppliers in the first instance and then be able to report on their activity. We know that finding diverse suppliers in the UK can be difficult. While the US market is more mature, supplier diversity is growing here. Considering this, many suppliers that could qualify as “diverse” are not yet certified. Additionally, when diverse suppliers are indeed certified, there is no guarantee that their skillsets will match your needs. 

“Thankfully there are ways in which businesses can proactively grow their networks of diverse suppliers. For starters, leaders can equip people within the organisation who work with suppliers, to find diverse suppliers by educating them and putting policies in place. Further, there are practical steps one can follow – such as defining the criteria for what qualifies a supplier as diverse in various territories and then finding the right businesses by searching online directories, desktop research and asking for recommendations.

“Once suppliers that are considered to be diverse are indeed found, they bring much value. Apart from being able to make a positive sustainability impact, the expectations of regulators, shareholders and consumers can be met. The by-product of this is a positive reputation which has economic benefits. 

“The opposite logic also applies, and failing to capture supplier diversity value becomes a missed opportunity. For instance, when third-party expectations to support supplier diversity are missed, this can damage brand reputation which hurts sales figures and share price. Also, the unique offerings that diverse suppliers can offer will be missed, and with it the chance to make an impact. Therefore, it’s sensible to make the most of the diverse suppliers that you worked so hard to find.”

Do you have any tips for readers who want to make the most of the diverse suppliers they have sourced?

Anthony Payne: “Yes, you can start by knowing that it’s possible to make the most of the diverse suppliers you find. You can do this by following a stepped approach. 

“Start by onboarding new suppliers who are considered ‘diverse’ with processes that reliably capture their information. This way, your diversity programmes can be well-informed. It’s hugely valuable to be able to tell, at the touch of a button, where a particular supplier might be based. Also, what qualifies them as ‘diverse’? And while they might hold diversity status today, how can we be sure it still applies tomorrow? 

“With all the right information collected at the start of each relationship, then it’s a good idea to instill processes that drive everyone who works with suppliers to spend more with those who are considered as diverse. As more diverse suppliers join the organisation, then you need to keep their data accurate. Do this by digitally transforming the procurement landscape to make master data a priority. With robust processes, it’s possible to maximise your relationships with all suppliers.”

How optimistic are you about the future of ESG within procurement?

Anthony Payne: “I am very optimistic about the future of ESG within procurement, because, we’re seeing the supplier experience movement grow in the UK and the US. For instance, we’re seeing new job roles come out in this area as the principle is popularised. And we know that having good Supplier Experience Management programmes in place sets up business to procure in the most ESG-friendly way possible. 

“And so, with Supplier Experience Management becoming increasingly popular, we believe that the future for sustainability is bright.”

Read the latest CPOstrategy here!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

Estimated Read time

3Mins

DHL Group’s Erik-Jan Ossewaarde discusses the power of partnerships in the transition towards a green supply base, and how proactively fostering supplier relationships contributes to a more sustainable ecosystem…

It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the 50-issue landmark. It’s been such an incredible journey and thank you to every single person who has helped us along the way! And our 50th issue has a suitably fitting cover story with which to mark this moment.  

Read the latest issue here!

DHL: The power of sustainable partnerships 

DHL Group’s Erik-Jan Ossewaarde discusses the power of partnerships in the transition towards a green supply base. And how proactively fostering supplier relationships contributes to a more sustainable ecosystem 

Procurement has an important role to play in applying supplier sustainability initiatives in most organisations. We all know that. But, if you want to understand what that looks like in practice and how you transform the function to deliver on that promise, you could do a lot worse than spending time with Erik-Jan Ossewaarde and his strategy, sourcing, and procurement colleagues in his global cluster, as we were lucky enough to. Their job is to play a crucial role in delivering on the near-unmatched sustainability commitments set out by world-leading logistics company DHL Group to reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.  

DHL: how proactively fostering supplier relationships contributes to a more sustainable ecosystem 

Read the full story here!

Aquila Group: Purposeful procurement in mind 

We speak to Özer Ergül, Group Head of Procurement at Aquila Group, about the way the business is leveraging its position to influence suppliers and improve ESG across the board 

Investment and asset development company, Aquila Group, is one that takes sustainability seriously. It invests in and develops clean energy and sustainable infrastructure assets, meaning a focus on ESG is baked into the business with more than 15 years’ experience focused on climate change. And for Özer Ergül, Group Head of Procurement at Aquila Group, it’s the perfect canvas for his passions and expertise to come together. 

Ergül’s background is a mixture of aerospace, automotive, and for the last two decades, energy. He started off his career as an Air Force officer and moved into the automotive world in the 1990s, just as the sector was undergoing huge and exciting changes. “Those early roles shaped my way of working, my way of thinking,” Ergül explains. “They showed me how to solve problems collaboratively, and I still use those tools and that knowledge to this day.” 

Read the full story here!

Plus, we have fascinating exclusives with procurement leaders at Amazon Business Services, HICX and many, many more. Plus, all the latest news and events affecting procurement and its practitioners. 

Here’s to the next 50 issues! 

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

7 March 2024

Estimated Read time

2Mins

CPOstrategy cover star this month is Kristina Andric, Supplier Manager IT at Tetra Pak and recent CIPS Young Talent winner, who discusses the procurement landscape from her perspective and how Tetra Pak is nurturing young procurement leaders like her… 

This month’s cover star is Kristina Andric, Supplier Manager IT at Tetra Pak and recent CIPS Young Talent winner, who discusses the procurement landscape from her perspective and how Tetra Pak is nurturing young procurement leaders like her… 

As a household name in food processing and packaging, Tetra Pak stands by having a customer-centric, strong, and competent procurement function.

As a result, it’s always working hard to evolve, which includes seeking out new procurement talent wherever possible. This is how Kristina Andric, Supplier Manager IT, became part of the team and kick-started an exciting career. 

Read the latest issue here!

Andric started working at Tetra Pak in 2018 via a trainee programme called Future Talent. The programme lasted two years and gave trainees the opportunity to understand Tetra Pak from multiple perspectives. Andric was rotated throughout different parts of the organisation and across different geographies, the idea being to give young people a holistic view of the company before taking on a permanent role.  

“Embracing change marked my career since the beginning,” she reflects. “My curious nature thrives on the opportunity to engage in diverse experiences and continuous learning. Challenges motivate me and develop my potential, so every change has been to my benefit. I’ve enjoyed it all.” 

Elsewhere, we also have fascinating insights into procurement hot topics such as optimising tail spend with Simfoni and Kearney, amplifying procurement’s influence with Arkestro, while Box looks at The Art Of Procurement As A Change Agent. Plus, we detail 5 ways of tackling procurement’s talent shortage and discuss being prepared for future pandemics…

Enjoy! 

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

31 January 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Timothy Woodcock, Director of Procurement at CordenPharma, discusses the new wave of change following acquisition and amid transformation

We have a bumper issue of fascinating exclusives this month!

Corden Pharma: Powering Change

Timothy Woodcock, Director of Procurement at CordenPharma, discusses the new wave of change following acquisition and amid transformation 

Change is here, get busy. Indeed, some organisations are further along a transformation journey than others.
For CordenPharma, a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) partner, they are right on track. 

CordenPharma supports biotech and pharma innovators of complex modalities in the advancement of their drug development lifecycle. Harnessing the collective expertise of the teams across its globally integrated facility network, CordenPharma provides bespoke outsourcing services spanning the complete supply chain, from early clinical-phase development to commercialisation. Recognised as a key partner to the pharma industry, CordenPharma provides state-of-the-art know-how, an integrated product offering end-to-end capabilities from early-stage development to commercial large-scale manufacturing. 

A closer look 

Timothy Woodcock has been the Director of Procurement at CordenPharma since October 2022 and is based in Basel, Switzerland. He explains that since joining over a year ago, while it was a “good start”, he admits to discovering some surprises after closer inspection. “There was a lot of information to get to grips with at the start and it was spread wide and thin,” he tells us. “But the team is certainly key and they have helped me pull it together through solid collaboration and engagement. Of course, there were a few surprises in the process realm, but that’s what makes this challenge so interesting to me.”

Read the full story here

carbmee: Carbon management for complex supply chains

Prof. Dr. Christian Heinrich, Co-Founder at carbmee, discusses his organisation’s journey to being the trusted solution provider for carbon management.

​​carbmee means carbon excellence for complex supply chains. It is the carbon management solution for automotive, manufacturing, chemical, pharmaceuticals, medtech, hi-tech, logistics, and FMCG industries. Whether to assess emissions holistically throughout the entire company, product or suppliers, carbmee EIS™ platform can create the transparency required for uncovering optimal emissions reduction potential and at the same time, stay compliant with upcoming regulations like CBAM.

carbmee’s journey

Christian Heinrich has been the Co-Founder at the organisation since January 2021. While some executives end up in procurement and supply chain by mistake, for Heinrich he affirms it was “always” the industry for him. As far as he’s concerned, collaboration is a big piece of the puzzle and Heinrich points to his diverse experience in a range of different industries and sectors which have helped him along the way to forming carbmee. 

“This was actually one of the reasons my co-founder Robin Spickers asked me to leverage my supply chain knowledge,” he says. “Robin had expertise in sustainability areas like Product LifeCycle Assessments and I had that in procurement and supply chain. We connected together and created carbmee to have scope 1, 2 and 3 solutions for carbon accounting and carbon reduction, which also combines the lifecycle analysis.”

Read the full story here!

Hemofarm: Strength through glocal procurement

 Zorana Subasic, Director SEERU & PSCoE Cluster Procurement at Hemofarm A.D. reveals how a glocal approach is transforming procurement at the pharmaceutical… 

Zorana Subasic is all about people. She heads up procurement for Hemofarm, the largest Serbian exporter of medicinal products, with a share of more than 70% of the total pharmaceutical. It sells pharmaceutical products on four continents in 34 states and, since 2006, has been part of the multi-national pharmaceutical giant STADA Group. 

Meeting the challenges

Zorana explains that her priority is focusing on people, both within her team and in the wider company, a priority that has been even more important during the last few challenging years and has impacted her leadership style.  ”These are areas that were new for me – managing people in ‘business as usual’ times is completely different to what we’ve been through in the last two or three years. It has affected people, and how it was for me to manage people in difficult times – understanding the challenges around us and making sure that people also understand the challenges.”

Read the full story here!

Elon: Procurement as a strategic partner

Onur Dogay, CPO at Elon Group, reflects on a year of procurement evolution and making the function an indispensable partner to the organisation…

A lot can happen in a year. Just ask Onur Dogay. In late summer 2022 he arrived in Sweden from his native Turkey to take the helm of a complex and evolving procurement environment at Elon Group AB, the Nordic region’s leading voluntary trade chain for home and electronic products. That he joined just a month after a significant merger that cemented the company’s market-leading position was no coincidence. Rather, Dogay was brought on board with a specific mission: use his industry experience and passion for transforming procurement to sustain the company’s market status while spearheading growth in new areas of retail and electronics. 

And he hasn’t slowed down since. In little over 12 months, Dogay has overseen a procurement evolution that includes setting a new data strategy that’s aligned with the broader company vision, shifting procurement’s role to be less transactional and more of a strategic business partner, improving communication and partnerships both internally and externally with suppliers, and overseeing the greater use of data and technology to enhance forecasting and planning capabilities. 

A seasoned procurement professional

A glance at Dogay’s CV to date leaves little surprise at his success. He is a seasoned procurement professional, with more than 20 years’ experience in procurement leadership positions working across internationally dispersed teams in Europe. “My background is particularly strong in retail, consumer electronics, telecom, and IT business units,” he explains, “including at Arcelik, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, and also for one of the biggest retailers in Europe, MediaMarkt. At the time of the merger in 2022 here at Elon Group, this experience, as well as the good relationships I had with many of the suppliers and brands we work with now, was the perfect match for the company.” 

Read the full story here!

Microsoft: A sustainable supply chain transformation

In the past four years, Microsoft has gained more than 80,000 productivity hours and avoided hundreds of millions in costs. Did you miss that? That’s probably because these massive improvements took place behind the scenes as the technology giant moved to turn SC management into a major force driving efficiencies, enabling growth, and bringing the company closer to its sustainability goals. 

An exciting time

Expect changes and outcomes to continue as Dhaval Desai continues to apply the learnings from the Devices Supply Chain transformation – think Xbox, Surface, VR and PC accessories and cross-industry experiences and another to the fast-growing Cloud supply chain where demand for Azure is surging. As the Principal Group Software Engineering Manager, Desai is part of the Supply Chain Engineering organisation, the global team of architects, managers, and engineers in the US, Europe, and India tasked with developing a platform and capabilities to power supply chains across Microsoft. It’s an exciting time. Desai’s staff has already quadrupled since he joined Microsoft in 2021, and it’s still growing. Within the company, he’s on the cutting edge of technology innovation testing generative AI solutions. “We are actively learning how to improve it and move forward,” he tells us. 

Read the full story here!

Click here to read the entire magazine!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

15 November 2023

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Our exclusive cover story this month centres around Versuni, home to some of the world’s most renowned home appliance brands

Versuni: Procurement excellence to drive growth 

Our exclusive cover story this month centres around Versuni, home to some of the world’s most renowned home appliance brands. Versuni is a company with a rich history, dating back to 1891, albeit under a different name. Philips Domestic Appliances was renamed Versuni after the Netherlands-based giant sold the business to China-based global leading Private Equity company Hillhouse Capital in September 2021. And so began a process of disentanglement as Versuni embarked on its journey to becoming a successful and independent entity with a simple yet clear purpose of turning houses into homes. 

Read the new issue here!

“We refer to ourselves as a 130-year-old company with a scale-up mentality,” explains Hugo Sparidans, Chief Procurement Officer, Versuni. “We combine the legacy we have with Philips with all the goodies here in this new, agile environment where things can happen much faster and with a different mindset fully focused on growth.” 

Versuni is now operating under private equity ownership following its separation from Philips two years ago. “My boss called me and said, ‘So, we’re going to spin off Domestic Appliances. Do you have the interest to lead the transition for Procurement within that spin-off, and then potentially after?’ That was an interesting question for me,” Sparidans explains. “I’d had a great career within Philips working for a successful business, but I was now facing the idea of leaving that behind for a trip into the unknown.” 

Read the full story here!

Mars LATAM: Shaping the world of tomorrow  

Mars Pet Nutrition LATAM is changing the sustainability game within the pet food sector. Gabriel Guzman, VP Procurement LATAM, and Ana Milena Zambrano, Climate & Sustainable Sourcing Head LATAM, explain how…

Gabriel Guzman, VP Procurement LATAM, and Ana Milena Zambrano, Climate & Sustainable Sourcing Head LATAM, are leading a major ongoing evolution within Mars Pet Nutrition LATAM. Guzman has worked in some of the world’s largest organisations over 25 years, spearheading many high-profile projects during this time. Zambrano’s career spans 15 years across consumer goods and supply chains, with sustainability as a core lifelong passion. 

A focus on sustainability and the environment is nothing new for Mars – it’s part of the culture. It’s a business with firm ESG pillars and a clear concept of what sustainability means to the organisation. “We believe the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today,” says Guzman. “It is the vision at the heart of our Sustainable in a Generation Plan – one where the planet is healthy, people and their pets are thriving, and society is inclusive.”

Read the full story here!

EMCS: A small fish making a big impact 

We sit down with Trevor Tasker, CEO of EMCS, for the second time to discuss partnership, leadership, and the state of the industry 

EMCS Industries is one of the best-kept secrets in its sector. An innovator from day one, EMCS Industries invented the world’s first electrolytic marine growth protection system (MGPS). This set the basic standard for the field, to the extent that everybody else now uses the same or similar technology based on the EMCS Canadian engineered and manufactured antifouling system. Trevor Tasker is the CEO of the company, and he’s not only passionate about what EMCS does, but his rich background in leadership puts him in excellent stead as head of an industry-leading company. 

Tasker’s first job at the age of 16 was as a self-employed wedding DJ. Since then, he has honed his entrepreneurial spirit on an international scale in industries such as financial, large scale digital signage, steel manufacturing, and others. He has experience in both building his own businesses, and being an employee, giving him a good foundation of what it means to both lead and be led. 

“It allows you to get a good mix of what you like, what you don’t like, how you’d like to be treated, and how that shapes the way you treat others as you move through your career,” says Tasker. He’s worked across a variety of industries but the common denominator has been that he’s always either been in a leadership position within a company or running his own company. He’s conducted business all over the world and collected the tools he’s needed to be the best leader he can. 

Read the full story here!

AlphaSense: Making procurement a priority 

Joaquin Rivamonte, Director of Procurement at AlphaSense, talks about how he’s bringing scalability to the organisation, and the benefits of procurement working hand-in-hand with the wider business 

Joaquin Rivamonte has enjoyed a rich and varied career, one which taught him numerous lessons in preparation for his role with market intelligence platform, AlphaSense. He cut his teeth in the financial service sector; he was the Director of Procurement for some medium-sized investment banking companies in San Francisco, helping support Silicon Valley before the businesses he worked for were bought by bigger banks. One was acquired by JP Morgan Chase, where Rivamonte became VP of Procurement. He was then asked to move to New York, just as Silicon Valley was experiencing the dotcom boom.  

Office photos at AlphaSense, 24 Union Square East in New York City.

Rivamonte’s background in building procurement departments from the ground up continued, and eventually, Microsoft took him on. He moved to Seattle to be part of the Microsoft team in 2005, and this was the beginning of his education in how very large procurement departments work. “I did have experience in large groups of people reporting to me already,” Rivamonte says, “but at Microsoft, I had $2-3bn dollars of category responsibility under me. 

“I was responsible for putting together the consulting category, which was almost $1bn, and the outsourcing category of about $1.2bn, plus the web development category and a lot of different IT contracts.” 

Read the full story here!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

17 October 2023

Estimated Read time

4Mins

This month’s cover story features Fiona Adams, Director of Client Value Realization at ProcurementIQ, to hear how the market leader in providing sourcing intelligence is changing the very face of procurement…

It’s a bumper issue this month. Click here to access the latest issue!

And below are just some of this month’s exclusives…

ProcurementIQ: Smart sourcing through people power 

We speak to Fiona Adams, Director of Client Value Realization at ProcurementIQ, to hear how the market leader in providing sourcing intelligence is changing the very face of procurement… 

The industry leader in emboldening procurement practitioners in making intelligent purchases is ProcurementIQ. ProcurementIQ provides its clients with pricing data, supplier intelligence and contract strategies right at their fingertips. Its users are working smarter and more swiftly with trustworthy market intelligence on more than 1,000 categories globally.  

Fiona Adams joined ProcurementIQ in August this year as its Director of Client Value Realization. Out of all the companies vying for her attention, it was ProcurementIQ’s focus on ‘people power’ that attracted her, coupled with her positive experience utilising the platform during her time as a consultant.

Although ProcurementIQ remains on the cutting edge of technology, it is a platform driven by the expertise and passion of its people and this appealed greatly to Adams. “I want to expand my own reach and I’m excited to be problem-solving for corporate America across industries, clients and procurement organizations and teams (internal & external). I know ProcurementIQ can make a difference combined with my approach and experience. Because that passion and that drive, powered by knowledge, is where the real magic happens,” she tells us.  

To read more click here!

ASM Global: Putting people first in change management   

Ama F. Erbynn, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at ASM Global, discusses her mission for driving a people-centric approach to change management in procurement…

Ripping up the carpet and starting again when entering a new organisation isn’t a sure-fire way for success. 

Effective change management takes time and careful planning. It requires evaluating current processes and questioning why things are done in a certain way. Indeed, not everything needs to be changed, especially not for the sake of it, and employees used to operating in a familiar workflow or silo will naturally be fearful of disruptions to their methods. However, if done in the correct way and with a people-centric mindset, delivering change that drives significant value could hold the key to unleashing transformation. 

Ama F. Erbynn, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at ASM Global, aligns herself with that mantra. Her mentality of being agile and responsive to change has proven to be an advantage during a turbulent past few years. For Erbynn, she thrives on leading transformations and leveraging new tools to deliver even better results. “I love change because it allows you to think outside the box,” she discusses. “I have a son and before COVID I used to hear him say, ‘I don’t want to go to school.’ He stayed home for a year and now he begs to go to school, so we adapt and it makes us stronger. COVID was a unique situation but there’s always been adversity and disruptions within supply chain and procurement, so I try and see the silver lining in things.”

To read more click here!

SpendHQ: Realising the possible in spend management software 

Pierre Laprée, Chief Product Officer at SpendHQ, discusses how customers can benefit from leveraging spend management technology to bring tangible value in procurement today…

Turning vision and strategy into highly effective action. This mantra is behind everything SpendHQ does to empower procurement teams.  

The organisation is a leading best-in-class provider of enterprise Spend Intelligence (SI) and Procurement Performance Management (PPM) solutions. These products fill an important gap that has left strategic procurement out of the solution landscape. Through these solutions, customers get actionable spend insights that drive new initiatives, goals, and clear measurements of procurement’s overall value. SpendHQ exists to ultimately help procurement generate and demonstrate better financial and non-financial outcomes. 

Spearheading this strategic vision is Pierre Laprée, long-time procurement veteran and SpendHQ’s Chief Product Officer since July 2022. However, despite his deep understanding of procurement teams’ needs, he wasn’t always a procurement professional. Like many in the space, his path into the industry was a complete surprise.  

To read more click here!

But that’s not all… Earlier this month, we travelled to the Netherlands to cover the first HICX Supplier Experience Live, as well as DPW Amsterdam 2023. Featured inside is our exclusive overview from each event, alongside this edition’s big question – does procurement need a rebrand? Plus, we feature a fascinating interview with Georg Rosch, Vice President Direct Procurement Strategy at JAGGAER, who discusses his organisation’s approach amid significant transformation and evolution.

Enjoy!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

12 September 2023

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Read in brochure format

Welcome to issue 43 of CPOstrategy!

Our exclusive cover story this month features a fascinating discussion with UK Procurement Director, CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS), Catriona Calder to find out how procurement is helping the leader in worldwide real estate achieve its ambitious goals within ESG.

As a worldwide leader in commercial real estate, it’s clear why CBRE GWS has a strong focus on continuous improvement in its procurement department. A business which prides itself on its ability to create bespoke solutions for clients of any size and sector has to be flexible. Delivering the superior client outcomes CBRE GWS has become known for requires an extremely well-oiled supply chain, and Catriona Calder, its UK Procurement Director, is leading the charge. 

Procurement at CBRE had already seen some great successes before Calder came on board in 2022. She joined a team of passionate and capable procurement professionals, with a number of award-winning supply chain initiatives already in place.

With a sturdy foundation already embedded, when Calder stepped in, her personal aim focused on implementing a long-term procurement strategy and supporting the global team on its journey to world class procurement…

Read the full story here!

Adam Brown: The new wave of digital procurement 

We grab some time with Adam Brown who leads the Technology Platform for Procurement at A.P. Moller-Maersk, the global logistics giant. And when he joined, a little over a year ago, he was instantly struck by a dramatic change in culture… 

Read the full story here!

Government of Jersey: A procurement transformation journey 

 Maria Huggon, Former Group Director of Commercial Services at the Government of Jersey, discusses how her organisation’s procurement function has transformed with the aim of achieving a ‘flourishing’ status by 2025…

Read the full article here!

Government of Jersey

Corio: A new force in offshore wind 

The procurement team at Corio on bringing the wind of change to the offshore energy space. Founded less than two years ago, Corio Generation already packs quite the punch. Corio has built one of the world’s largest offshore wind development pipelines with projects in a diverse line-up of locations including the UK, South Korea and Brazil among others.  

The company is a specialist offshore wind developer dedicated to harnessing renewable energy and helps countries transform their economies with clean, green and reliable offshore wind energy. Corio works in established and emerging markets, with innovative floating and fixed-bottom technologies. Its projects support local economies while meeting the energy needs of communities and customers sustainably, reliably, safely and responsibly.  

Read the full article here!

Becker Stahl: Green steel for Europe 

Felix Schmitz, Head of Investor Relations & Head of Strategic Sustainability at Klöckner & Co SE explores how German company Becker Stahl-Service is leading the way towards a more sustainable steel industry with Nexigen® by Klöckner & Co. 

Read the full article here!

And there’s so much more!

Enjoy!

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

1 August 2023

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Read in brochure format

Welcome to issue 42 of CPOstrategy!

This month’s cover story sees us speak with Brad Veech, Head of Technology Procurement at Discover Financial Services.

CPOstrategy - Procurement Magazine

Having been a leader in procurement for more than 25 years, he has been responsible for over $2 billion in spend every year, negotiating software deals ranging from $75 to over $1.5 billion on a single deal. Don’t miss his exclusive insights where he tells us all about the vital importance of expertly procuring software and highlights the hidden pitfalls associated.

“A lot of companies don’t have the resources to have technology procurement experts on staff,” Brad tells us. “I think as time goes on people and companies will realise that the technology portfolio and the spend in that portfolio is increasing so rapidly they have to find a way to manage it. Find a project that doesn’t have software in it. Everything has software embedded within it, so you’re going to have to have procurement experts that understand the unique contracts and negotiation tactics of technology.” 

There are also features which include insights from the likes of Jake Kiernan, Manager at KPMG, Ashifa Jumani, Director of Procurement at TELUS and Shaz Khan, CEO and Co-Founder at Vroozi. 

Enjoy the issue! 

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

23 June 2023

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Read in brochure format

Welcome to issue 41 of CPOstrategy!

This month’s exclusive cover story features a fascinating insight into the procurement function at lighting giant, Signify.

A forward-thinking enterprise constantly reevaluating and adapting its operations against an ever-changing landscape, Signify has recently transformed its procurement function. And so we join Luc Broussaud, Global Head of Procurement/CPO and Arnold Chatelain, Transformation Program Director for Signify’s Procurement Organization to see why, and how, they have evolved procurement at the company.

Signify is a global organisation spread over all continents and Luc heads up the procurement function. According to Luc, he and his team no longer engage in traditional transactional procurement, but instead leverage digitalisation to deliver competitive prices as well as what they call ‘concept saving’, “Which is how we redesign or improve our product; leveraging the knowledge of our suppliers to make it cheaper, more efficient, easier to manufacture and install, and more sustainable for the planet.”

CPOstrategy - Issue 41

Luc joined Signify in 2018, after being the CPO of Nokia (based in Shanghai) and has always been working within procurement. He joined Signify with a broad skillset and a wealth of experience. “I joined because the people I talked to, from the COO to the CEO and CFO were all incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about procurement,” he reveals. Read the full story here!

Not only that, but we also have some incredible insights from procurement leaders at Heijmans, Datadog, HICX, DPW, ProcureCon Asia and SourcingHaus Research! Plus, the very best procurement events of 2023.

Enjoy the issue!

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

17 May 2023

Estimated Read time

1Min

We explore the transformation of sustainability in procurement & visions of a future where sustainability & procurement are fully integrated.

Dr Carsten Hansen, Founder of SourcingHaus Research and Consulting Group, explores the transformation of sustainability in procurement and envisions a future where sustainability and procurement are fully integrated and mainstreamed.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

3 May 2023

Estimated Read time

2Mins

STADA graces the cover of CPOstrategy this month!

Our exclusive cover story this month features Alan Rankin, Chief Procurement Officer at STADA, who discusses his company’s journey to offering a best-in-class procurement function.

Few industries can say that statement with certainty. But for the pharmaceutical industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding a solution quickly was non-negotiable.  

Indeed, Alan Rankin, Chief Procurement Officer at STADA, acknowledges the role his sector played in helping to combat one of the biggest health crises of all time. He says the COVID-19 period made him “extremely proud” to be part of the industry. “The pharmaceutical industry worked hard to come up with a solution during a time when governments struggled to cope with what happened,” he recalls. “The industry had a real impact on the world being able to handle the situation and not going into financial meltdown. That alone makes me so proud to be in this space.” 

Read the latest issue here!

Today, STADA stands as a renowned manufacturer of high-quality pharmaceuticals. The firm operates with a three-pillar strategy consisting of consumer healthcare products, generics and specialty pharmaceuticals. Its consumer healthcare brands such as Hedrin, Nizoral, Grippostad and Zoflora are among the top sellers in their respective product categories…

Not only that but we also have fascinating discussions involving all the hot topics around the procurement function at the moment, with George Schutter, Former Chief Procurement Officer at the District of Columbia, Noemie Chetty, Director of Procurement of the Seychelles’ Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) and Trevor Tasker, CEO at EMCS Industries. Plus, Bob Booth Senior Partner, Finance & Supply Chain Transformation at IBM Consulting details how AI could affect the procurement function. “We are now witnessing a tipping point in the application of AI at real scale, and CPOs are wondering how this impacts them and their colleagues. This article aims to equip CPOs and their teams with some ideas to consider and some pointers on applying AI in a professional capacity to their company,” he reveals.

All this and lots, lots more!

Enjoy!

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

2 May 2023

Estimated Read time

1Min

Nicolas Walden, The Hackett Group, discusses today’s landscape & what procurement’s future could hold amid a turbulent time for the industry.

Nicolas Walden, Associate Principal at The Hackett Group, discusses today’s landscape and what procurement’s future could hold amid a turbulent time for the industry.

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

17 April 2023

Estimated Read time

1Min

Diana Monterrubio, Procurement Global Strategic Leader, Teleperformance talks with us about the way forward for women in procurement roles.

Diana Monterrubio, Procurement Global Strategic Leader at Teleperformance talks with The CPOstrategy Podcast about her opinions on technology, AI and the way forward for women in procurement roles.

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

5 April 2023

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Procurement is in a state of flux. Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, the procurement landscape is volatile and requires…

Procurement is in a state of flux.

Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, the procurement landscape is volatile and requires agility to navigate turbulent waters. But, despite significant disruption could there still be opportunity?

Simon Whatson, Vice President of Efficio Consulting, is optimistic about the future of digital procurement and despite a challenging few years he is confident of a successful bounce back. He gives us the lowdown on the direction of travel for digital procurement in 2023. 

As an executive with considerable experience in the space, we’d love to learn more about your background and how you ended up in procurement. Why was this the specialism for you and how did you get involved to begin with?

Simon Whatson (SW): “I think the one-word answer of how I came into procurement was accidental. I studied maths at university, with a year in France, before I began looking for different roles to apply for.

“Eventually, I was offered a position with a big plumbing and heating merchant with global operations. I worked in that supply chain team for two and a half years. Although it was called supply chain, a lot of the work was procurement, which involved negotiating with suppliers. It was after that stint there, that I discovered consulting and joined a boutique procurement consultancy. Now I am onto my third consultancy and I’m very happy here!

“In terms of why I’ve stayed, one of the success factors in procurement is being able to work cross-functionally. Procurement doesn’t own any of the spending that it is responsible for helping to optimise. It must work with other functions and the spend owners. I quite like the people side of that, building relationships, almost selling internally to bring teams together. That really appeals to me and is a key reason why I’ve been very happy in procurement.”

As we move into exploring procurement today in 2023. The space is filled with challenges and complexities. You only need to look at the last few years. Covid, war in Ukraine, inflation – how would you describe the world’s recent challenges and their effect on the industry and what do you feel CPOs and leaders can do to combat these issues?

SW: “I would flip it around and say that these are not so much challenges but rather opportunities for procurement. When I started my career 18 years ago, procurement was often fighting to get a voice and there were complaints that procurement was not represented at the top table, but the war in Ukraine, inflation, COVID and ESG, these are things which are now on the C-suite agenda and procurement is ideally positioned to help companies face those challenges. If you think about COVID and the war in Ukraine, procurement is in a privileged position to help with this.

“I see some procurement functions that prefer to do what they know, which focuses on the process and transactional side. However, there are also many forward-thinking CPOs and procurement professionals out there, that have really seized this opportunity of being on the C-suite agenda and drive the thinking and the solutions to some of these big challenges we’re seeing.”

Although new technology in procurement has been around for well over a decade, digitalisation has become so much more of an important topic. How would you sum up where procurement and supply chain are in terms of digital transformation today?

SW: “It’s a bit laggard, but digital transformation is difficult, and we have to recognise there are some real trailblazers. There are some firms doing some fantastic things in digital to produce better outcomes. If you contrast your experience when you’re buying something in your private life, it’s much easier than 20 years ago. You can get access to a wealth of pre-sourced things, whether it’s food, a holiday, a car, or a book. You can see reviews of what other people think of these things.

“But when you go into your workplace as a business user and you want to buy something, it doesn’t quite work like that yet. You often have to fill in a form, send it off and wait for them to come back to you. They might come back a little bit later than you were hoping and might tell you that they don’t have that part on the supply frameworks. I think people sometimes get confused about how it can be so easy to buy something as large as a car or a holiday on their sofa at home, but when they want to buy something at work, it seems to be quite cumbersome. Digital can help a lot with that, but it is incumbent on organisations and procurement functions to figure out how to recreate that customer experience that we’ve become accustomed to in our private lives.”

With a new generation of leaders growing up with technology, some might say that it could be a key driver in helping to speed the adoption in procurement along. Is this something you would agree with or what would you point to as a key driver?

SW: “I do think that it will act as one of the catalysts for further digital transformation in organisations, because if procurement doesn’t manage to recreate that customer experience that the new generation expects, then they won’t use procurement going forward and will look to bypass it.

“The analogy that I’ve used previously in this case is one of travel agents. I remember as a child, my parents were able to take us on holiday and I remember the whole process. We would walk into town to the travel agent, and look at some of the brochures of options. They often then had to phone the various airlines or resorts on our behalf. They might not be able to get through, so we’d have to come back the next day. I remember as a child being quite excited by the whole process but actually, thinking back, it was quite cumbersome. You compare that to now, with being able to review online, and you can get instant answers to your questions. It’s not a coincidence that travel agents don’t really exist anymore.”

How much of a challenge is it to not get caught leveraging technology for technologies sake? How important is it to stay true to your approach and be strategic?

SW: “We conducted a study of many procurement leaders and CPOs a few years ago, and one of the things that we found was that about 50% of procurement leaders admitted to having bought technology just on the basis of a fear of missing out, without any real understanding of the benefits that technology was going to bring. That was a real shock and a revealing find because technology is not cheap, and its implementation is quite disruptive. If you’re purchasing a system because everybody else is using it, then there could be some pretty costly mistakes. It is really important to make sure that when buying technology, it is because the benefits are fully understood.

“My advice to companies when looking to digitalise is own your data, visualise that data, and manage your knowledge. If you can focus on getting those things right in that order, and make your technology decisions to support that goal, then that’s a much better way of thinking about it rather than just jumping in and buying a piece of technology.”

It’s clear that the procurement space is an exciting, but challenging, place to be. What do you think will play a key role in the next 12 months to push the digital conversation further to take procurement to the next level?

SW: “Looking forward, one thing that procurement needs to do and continue to do is attract the best people. Ultimately, people are what makes an organisation, and it is what makes a function successful. I think procurement has often not looked for the right skills in the people that it employs. Traditionally, it’s looked for people with procurement experience and while they are valuable and required, we also need leadership potential. People who think a bit more outside the box and aren’t so process driven. A lot of what procurement has done in previous years has been process driven, so if you’re just limiting your search of people to those that have had procurement experience, you’re inevitably going to end up with a lot of people who are process driven.

“I think being bolder and recruiting people from different backgrounds with different skill sets is the way to go. If procurement can ‘own’ the ESG space, that will help with the younger generation see procurement make a difference. I think that’s one thing that will be key to success going forward.”

Check out the latest issue of CPOstrategy Magazine here.

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Paul Farrow, Vice President of Hilton Hotels’ Supply Management, sits down with us to discuss how his organisation’s procurement function has evolved amid disruption on a global scale

The hospitality industry has endured a rough ride over the past few years.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic which stopped the world in its tracks and now with millions facing a cost-of-living crisis, it’s been a period of unprecedented disruption for those involved in the space and beyond.

But it’s a challenge met head-on by Paul Farrow, Vice President of Supply Management at Hilton Hotels, and his team who have been forced to respond as the world continues to shift before their eyes.

Farrow gives us a closer look into the inner workings of his firm’s procurement function and how he has led the charge during his time with Hilton Hotels.

Could we start with you introducing yourself and talking a little about your role at Hilton Hotels? 

Paul Farrow (PF): “I’m the Vice President of Hilton’s Supply Management, or HSM as we call it. I’ve been with Hilton Hotels for 12 and a half years, and my role is to head the supply chain function for our hotels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Over the past few years, Hilton has grown rapidly and has now got 7,000 hotels in over 125 countries globally. What is really exciting is Hilton Supply Management doesn’t just supply Hilton Hotels and the Hilton Engine because we also now supply our franchisees and competitive flags. While we have 7,000 hotels globally, Hilton Supply Management actually supplies close to 13,000 hotels. That’s an interesting business development for us, and a profit earner too.”

You’re greatly experienced, I bet you’ve seen supply chain management and procurement change a lot in recent years? 

PF: “The past two to three years have been tremendously challenging on so many industries but I’d argue that hospitality got hit more than most as a result of the Covid pandemic. Here at Hilton, supply management was really important just to keep the business operational throughout that tough time, but I’m delighted to say we’re fully recovered now.

“Looking back, it was undoubtedly difficult, and you only have to look at the media to see that we’re now going through a period of truly unprecedented inflation. On top of the normal day job, it’s certainly been a very busy time.”

Hospitality must have been under an awful lot of pressure during the pandemic… 

PF: “Most of our teams as a business and all functions have worked together far more collaboratively than ever before through the use of technology and things like Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Trying to work remotely as effectively as possible changed the way we all had to think and the way we had to do. Now we’re back in the workplace and in our offices, we’re actually looking to take advantage of that new approach.”

Inflation, rising costs, energy shortages, as well as drives towards a circular economy means it’s quite a challenging time for CSCOs and CPOs right now, isn’t it?

PF: “Those headwinds have caused and created challenges of the like that we’ve not seen before. The war in Ukraine and Russia has meant significant supply chain disruption and supply shortages of some key ingredients and raw materials. China is a significant source of materials and they’re still having real challenges to get their production to keep up with demand.

“All the local and short-term challenges are around energy and fuel pricing, so throughout the supply chain that’s been a major factor to what we’ve had to deal with. On top of that is the labour shortages. We rely heavily throughout the supply chain and within our business to utilise labour from around the world. In my region, particularly from say Eastern Europe as well as other businesses all fighting for a smaller labour pool than we had before. We are fighting with the likes of the supermarkets, Amazon’s, not just other hotel companies to capture the labour pool we need both in our properties but also within our supply chain supplies themselves.

Hilton operates a rather unique procurement function, doesn’t it?  

PF: “We trade off the Hilton name because our brand strength is something that we are able to utilise and we’re very proud of, but we’ve also got additional leverage by having that group procurement model.

“We’ve got essentially two clients. We’ve got our managed estate which is when an owner chooses to partner with Hilton, they’re signing a management agreement because they want the benefit and value of the Hilton engine. That could be revenue management, how we manage onboarding clients and customers through advertising, as well as the other support we give in terms of finance, HR, marketing and sales as well as procurement.”

HSM is a profit centre and revenue driver through its group procurement model but how does this work?

PF: “Our secret sauce is our culture. It’s our people and that filters across all of our team members and indeed all of our functions. The key strategic pillars are the same for health and supply management around culture, maximising performance and so on as they are across the overall global business.

“Across our 7,000 plus hotels, the majority are actually franchised hotels because that’s the legacy of what still is the model in the US. When I joined Hilton 12 and a half years ago, the reverse is true where nearly all of our hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and indeed in Asia Pacific, were and are managed. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions right now we’re building up close to a 50/50 split between managed, leased and franchised.”

What has pleased you most about the roll-out of the HSM?

PF: “It’s certainly not been easy because we’ve got 70 countries that sit within our region here in EMEA and Hilton’s penetration in those individual countries is very different. We may have 100 hotels in one of those markets and only one or two in specific countries. Our scale and our ability to get logistics solutions is different by market.

“Getting everyone on board to what we want to achieve to our guests and to our owners means we have to pull different levers. We have very effective brand standards. If you’re signing up to Hilton, you’re signing up to delivering against those brand standards that we believe are right for our organisation.”

What kind of feedback have you had from your clients? 

PF: “Integrity is in our DNA, and we work very closely with our suppliers who we value as partners. These are long-term relationships, and we work hand in hand because we have to see that they’re successful so that we can be successful – it’s really important to what we do and we constantly look for feedback.

“With our internal and our external customers, we’ll have quarterly business reviews and so we’ll get that feedback through surveys where we are asking them to tell us what we do well and what we could do better. Our partners are now asking what additional value can you do to bring support to our organisation through ESG? So that’s what’s on the table now when it wasn’t before. But it’s not just that – it’s about the security of supply competitiveness, competitiveness of pricing, and a whole bunch of other very important things as well.”

Looking to the future, what’s on the agenda for the next few years?

PF: “We’re out there meeting and greeting people in person and there’s always new opportunities that make things exciting in what we do and how we work. Innovation’s very high on our agenda and we’re very proud of what we do in food and beverage. In non-food categories, it’s about how we support our owners and our hotel general managers to find that competitive edge and do the next big thing ahead of our competitors.”

Anything else important to know?

PF: “One thing we’ve been able to take full advantage of is how we’ve been able to grow our business by bolting on new customers. I think it’s fantastic that our competitors choose to use Hilton Supply Management because they benchmarked what our capabilities are and how competitive we are.

“Another key part of the agenda is environmental, social and governance (ESG) sustainability. Responsible sourcing and everything that sits within that is front and centre of what we do. Within that you’ve got human rights, animal welfare, single use plastics as well as general responsible sourcing like managing food waste. The list is very long, but they’re all very important.”

Check out the latest issue of CPOstrategy Magazine here.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

Estimated Read time

2Mins

CPOstrategy catches up with Sam de Frates, who has been leading procurement transformation at Mars, Incorporated, to discover how one of the world’s largest enterprises has put people at the heart of its plans…

Our exclusive cover story this month, sees us catching up with Sam de Frates, Vice President, Commercial – Europe, CIS & Turkey at Mars, Incorporated, and the leader of procurement transformation at the company, to discover how one of the world’s largest enterprises has put people at the heart of its plans…

Read the latest issue here!

CPOstrategy Magazine cover - Issue 39

Talk of technological change and digital transformations often excludes the most vital tools in delivering meaningful value within an enterprise: the people. Because new tools, processes and capabilities only truly maximise their value if they are shaped by the very people that require their services. The adoption of technology without the human touch can be an expensive opportunity missed.

An experienced procurement leader who has worked at some of the largest companies on earth, de Frates joins us for a chat from his London office to discuss how digital procurement at Mars has evolved under his guidance, whilst the company undergoes cross functional changes at scale – a hugely significant transformation with Mars Associates and its suppliers at its heart…

Elsewhere, we also we discuss the hottest topics within the procurement function, with Paul Howard, Chief Commercial Officer at New Zealand Defence Force and Manuele Burdese, Sr Director, Head of Business Insights & Analytics Strategic Sourcing & Procurement, Bristol Myers Squibb. Plus, we have some incredible insights from Efficio, Ivalua and Hilton Supply Management.

Enjoy the issue!

Andrew Woods

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

31 March 2023

Estimated Read time

1Min

Global procurement executive Fadi El Mouallem discusses the value of talent in procurement in today’s world.

Global procurement executive Fadi El Mouallem discusses the value of talent in procurement in today’s world.

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

20 March 2023

Estimated Read time

1Min

Sanja Cancar-Todorovic, eMBA, MM., discusses gender imbalance in procurement and the benefits of organisations reaching parity in the industry.

Sanja Cancar-Todorovic, eMBA, MM., Head of Enterprise Procurement, Outsourcing and Third-Party Risk Management Leader, discusses gender imbalance in procurement and the benefits of organisations reaching parity in the industry.

If you enjoyed our podcast and would like to read or hear more from Sanja, her new book ‘BE BOLD and Brilliant: Unlocking your Personal and Professional Potential’ is available to purchase from Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format.

Author

Tracey Harris

Published

8 March 2023

Estimated Read time

1Min

Digital procurement functions and leadership styles are changing as the pace of technology adoption accelerates.

The CPOstrategy Podcast: Unleashing the opportunity of procurement

Simon Whatson, Vice President of Efficio Consulting, speaks to us about the changing digital procurement function.

We also discuss how leadership styles are changing as the pace of technology adoption accelerates.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

26 January 2023

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Sara Malconian, Chief Procurement Officer at Harvard University & Jim Bureau, CEO of JAGGAER explain how ESG & the Circular Economy is changing the evolution of procurement.

We speak to Sara Malconian, Chief Procurement Officer at Harvard University and Jim Bureau, CEO of JAGGAER to see how ESG and the Circular Economy is changing the evolution of procurement…

Sara, how have you seen your role evolve as a procurement leader over the years as ESG and supplier diversity come into focus? 

Procurement leaders have gone from ‘cost cutters’ to ‘problem solvers’ within their organisations. Our core mandates used to be to drive cost savings and efficiency. We were hyper-focused on getting the most out of the organisation’s spend and supplier relationships. Those priorities haven’t gone away, especially in today’s inflationary environment, but the expectations of the procurement function are significantly higher and broader today. 

Procurement functions saved their companies during COVID and the confluence of disruptions that followed. We showed we are a strategic linchpin. We are now looked upon to drive value and impact and strategically guide our organisations to achieve broader goals, including diversity and environmental, social, governance (ESG). Internal stakeholders realised the benefits of procurement and sought help with advancing their department’s agendas or solving their challenges. We listen to their needs, allocate the right resources, and ultimately enable them and the overall organisation to be successful.  

I’ve been in procurement for over 20 years, and I can honestly say you’d be hard-pressed to find a more rewarding and exciting career. Procurement professionals have a real opportunity to make a tangible difference within their organisations, communities, and the world through the way we source products and services. 

What is Harvard doing to have a positive impact on society? Can you share some examples, Sara?

Across the Harvard community, students, alumni, faculty, and staff are advancing scholarship and teaching on the world’s most significant challenges, and everyone wants to do their part to address inequities. Supplier diversity and inclusion have been a priority for Harvard for years, but we wanted to make even more of an impact and really invest in the growth and development of diverse businesses, especially as the pandemic highlighted inequities and disparities within our communities.

In 2021, we formed the Office for Economic Inclusion & Diversity (OEID), which is dedicated to reaching out to diverse suppliers, giving them opportunities, and providing them with tools, training, and resources to be successful. The office also encourages the use of underrepresented business enterprises (UBEs) in the purchasing of all goods, services, and construction at Harvard and standardises procurement practices with these businesses across the university. 

We’re proud of the work this office is doing. We’re actively training suppliers on Harvard’s policies and how they can work with us. We’re creating a central location for them to access bid and RFP opportunities. UBEs can also apply to be mentored by Harvard Business School students.

We’ve created a dashboard to track and analyse spend with diverse suppliers across all of Harvard’s schools and measure progress over time. Everything we’re doing is aimed at increasing spend with our existing diverse suppliers, as well as the number of diverse suppliers that work with Harvard, and helping these suppliers grow their businesses.

Jim, why is prioritizing ESG and supplier diversity important and what steps can companies take today to progress in their journey? 

Beyond being the right thing to do, investors, boards, regulators, customers, and employees now expect organisations to prioritise ESG and diversity initiatives and walk the talk. There’s also a clear business impact. Supplier diversity drives competitive bidding processes that lead to cost savings. Working with partners who are sustainable and have different ideas and perspectives fuels innovation and creates a competitive advantage. Sourcing from a sustainable and diverse supplier pool also reduces risk by broadening organisations’ access to multiple resources for various materials, products, and services. 

One of the most critical steps companies can take to progress on their ESG journey is to make it clear to suppliers that environmentalism is a priority for their organisation. They will attract suppliers with higher levels of ESG maturity and provide suppliers who are earlier on in their ESG journey with sustainability toolkits and training to help educate them on eco-friendly best practices and sustainability innovations.

This step avoids having to overhaul their supply chain to account for ESG. Strategically managing suppliers by leveraging third-party data, scorecards, and supplier audits are crucial for understanding the ESG risks that suppliers pose and minimizing disruptions by working with them to correct these issues. 

Successful supplier diversity programs start with a top-down culture shift. If a company’s culture isn’t diverse, inclusive, and supportive for all its stakeholders, they won’t be able to drive supplier diversity in a meaningful way. Supplier diversity strategy should map back to company goals and include an executive-level champion to sponsor the program internally and help bring in the resources they need.

Outside of leveraging technology to identify diverse suppliers and build a program, businesses can talk with people who have been in their shoes. They can collaborate with like-minded companies at industry events, engage in relevant LinkedIn groups, and connect with organisations such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council.

Once diverse suppliers are on board, organisations can create a supplier diversity policy that clearly outlines how many diverse suppliers need to be invited to bid for each event to ensure teams are executing on the strategy. Leading supplier diversity programs go beyond simply spending with diverse suppliers to providing mentorship and training them on how to respond to RFPs correctly, as well as creating environments where it’s easier for them to engage. 

Jim, what role does technology play in helping organisations achieve ESG and supplier diversity goals?

Technology is a key enabler of ESG and supplier diversity initiatives. One of the biggest obstacles to supplier diversity and ESG is a lack of reliable supplier data. Suppliers don’t always keep their information up to date in self-service portals. The data procurement teams have isn’t always enriched to the level they need, with insights on diversity status, certifications, and proof of ESG compliance.

Researching and assessing suppliers is tedious and time-consuming, which leads many organisations to skip the verification step. Without this information, organisations don’t have a true picture of the inclusivity and sustainability of their supplier network, which makes it impossible to identify the right partners to source from to meet their ESG and supplier diversity goals and make an impact.

Technology addresses this challenge by automatically collecting, enriching, validating, and integrating the supplier data needed to obtain this level of supply base visibility and make decisions that drive ESG and diversity. AI-powered tools are available to match buyers with specific diverse suppliers who also have the capabilities to help drive ESG objectives and meet broader procurement criteria.

Software that segments the supply base and helps visualise spending with small and diverse suppliers across a variety of classifications is critical for setting benchmarks and measuring progress and ROI. 

Jim and Sara, how do you expect the ESG and diversity conversation to shift and where should procurement leaders focus for the future?

Sara: I expect we’ll see the conversation shift to emphasise measurement. It’s not enough anymore to say you’re committed to ESG – you need to prove it and show demonstrable progress and ROI. Maintaining the momentum on ESG initiatives is hard. Technology is key for setting benchmarks and goals, ensuring accountability for hitting key milestones, and measuring progress and return in a credible way. 

Jim: In a declining economic environment, choices inevitably need to be made. I expect the conversation around ESG will center around where companies can focus to maintain progress on ESG initiatives as financial and economic pressures come to the forefront. While some companies may need to scale back in some areas to preserve cash and resources to navigate a downturn, I’d advise them to be careful about slowing ESG down too much as it will be much harder to catch up to current levels after the economy bounces back.

I’d argue that when ESG is done right it can be a strategic lever for navigating a down economy, saving organizations money and resources, driving innovation, and helping them achieve broader business objectives and resilience. 

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Here are five of the biggest procurement events happening during 2023 that chief procurement officers won’t want to miss.

Procurement Futures 

London, UK  |  1-2 February 2023 

Held at the QEII Centre in central London, Procurement Futures is a new conference, launching in 2023. It promises delegates the chance to find out how to make supply chains more resilient, with thought-provoking and presentations and discussions designed to inform and inspire.

There is a flexible programme of content that can be tailored to attendees’ preferences, with networking opportunities throughout and a huge variety of sessions to attend and take part in.

This CIPS event has three streams of content: Insights, Ignite and Interact. Insights will showcase presentations and panel discussions from leaders, Ignite will consist of hands-on workshops to help delegates optimise their procurement strategies and Interact will be smaller groups taking part in interactive roundtables and debates.

Speakers across the two days will include Ross Grierson, Director of Procurement, Primark; Patrick Dunne, Director of Group Property, FM & Procurement (CPO), Sainsburys Plc; Rebecca Simpson, Procurement and Supply Chain Director, Balfour Beatty; and Nick Jenkinson, Chief Procurement Officer, Santander. In addition, delegates are ablew to book a one-to-one career workshop, where they’ll get advice on professional development from coaches covering a variety of specialisms. 

Tickets are £795 for CIPS member, £995 for a non-member and £2240 for a supplier/solution provider, and there is a discount of 30% for tickets purchased before 30 November 2022. 

Find out more

3rd World Digital Procurement Summit 

Berlin, Germany  |  2-3 March 2023 

The third World Digital Procurement Summit is aimed at procurement directors, VPs, managers and other industry specialists. The two-day event will focus on accelerating procurement processes, adopting emerging technologies, finding the right talent, overcoming the barriers to progress and embarking on a journey of transformation. It’s a hybrid event, bringing together procurement experts from various industries, which will maximise knowledge exchange opportunities. The event organisers list five key learning points for delegates: 

  1. Exploring the latest advances in data and cognitive technologies to gain greater insights and improve procurement processes 
  1. Overhauling the procurement ecosystem with new technologies and strategies to drive business value 
  1. Sharing the best practices of monitoring and managing a range of risks to hedge against future disruptions 
  1. Developing capabilities and skillset required for the digital transformation of procurement 
  1. Defining ESG metrics of the procurement strategy to ensure business continuity 

Speakers will include Paul Harlington, Group Procurement Director at TUI Group and Patrick Foelck, Head of Strategy and Transformation Procurement at Roche. 

Click here to check out a video from a previous event. Tickets cost €1495. 

find out more

Women in Procurement & Supply Chain 

Sydney, Australia  |  6-8 March 2023 

Returning for its 8th annual event, Women in Procurement & Supply Chain will deliver two days dedicated to leadership and the future of procurement. The event will feature a series of exclusive panel discussions and keynote addresses examining career development, overcoming imposter syndrome, working with confidence, developing an unbeatable talent pool, mentoring, diversity and inclusivity.

It will also address risk mitigation, digital disruption, ESG, sustainability, economic development, ethical sourcing, category management, cultural diversity, strategic sourcing, supplier relationships, procurement with purpose, and supply chain resilience. There are two pre-conference masterclass options on 6 March – that can be booked separately – covering either contract law or leadership skills. 

Some of the reasons to attend include: 

  • Discover the path to taking your procurement career to a new level while elevating your organisation with dedicated days on leadership and the future of procurement 
  • Learn best practice strategies to facedown supply chain vulnerabilities and reduce risk exposure 
  • Get ahead of the game with insights into the future of procurement and the impact of globalisation on modern supply chains 
  • Put yourself at the cutting edge of ESG and procurement with the latest updates and trends in procurement with purpose 

Speakers for the main two-day conference include Michelle Richard, Director of Procurement, Thales; Karina Davies, Chief Procurement Officer, icare NSW; and Kylie McKinlay, Procurement Partner – Property and Business, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

Tickets start at $3,495 with discounts available until 25 November 2022. 

FIND OUT MORE

Americas Procurement Congress 

Miami, USA  |  21-22 March 2023 

The Americas Procurement Congress will feature the region’s most progressive CPOs sharing their expertise

With a focus on what makes CPOs tick, the Americas Procurement Congress will feature the region’s most progressive CPOs sharing their expertise in keynote presentations and working groups.

Giving delegates the tools to stay on the cutting edge of procurement developments, there are also sessions aimed at those with responsibilities over governance, procurement capabilities and quantifying data. Unsurprisingly, sustainability will also be a key theme in 2023, and attendees will hear from a diverse range of sustainability leaders about how to transition from traditional metrics to a purpose-driven function. 

The agenda for Americas Procurement Congress 2023 will include: 

  • Sustainability of the future  
  • How to transition from traditional metrics to a purpose-driven function   
  • Harnessing the power of digital transformation  
  • Utilizing data as a driver of sustainable value, supply continuity and transparency   Agile procurement  
  • New approaches and skills that facilitate speed and agility   
  • Frictionless procurement  
  • Removing friction from the procurement process to support high-velocity sourcing   
  • Beyond Just in Time 
  • Designing future-fit supply networks for an age of chaos and conflict 

Tickets start at $3649. 

FIND OUT MORE

Americas Procurement Congress 

Orlando, Florida  |  8–10 June 2023 

Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2022 addressed the most significant challenges that chief supply chain officers and supply chain leaders face as they mitigate risk and navigate uncertainty in an increasingly dynamic and challenging environment.  

At the conference, the top 5 sessions that CSCOs and supply chain leaders met on included: 

  • Signature Series: The Future of Supply Chain 
  • What the Pivot to Sustainable Profit Means for Procurement Leaders 
  • The Art of the New Age One Page Dashboard: Why Your Current Perfor-mance Measures May Be Doing More Harm Than Good 
  • Manage Supplier Risk With Technology 
  • Procurement Role Redesign: Stop Fitting Square Pegs Into Round Holes 

Tickets start at $4725. 

FIND OUT MORE

Author

Sean Galea-Pace

Published

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Here are five of the best procurement schools in Europe.

As procurement becomes an increasingly vital and strategic function within many organisations, people are beginning to realise the full potential of turning it into a career for themselves.

This has subsequently led to many universities noticing the demand in the industry and offering courses which equip students with the relevant qualifications and skills needed to succeed in the supply chain space.

With this in mind, here are five of the best procurement schools in Europe.

1. CIPS

Course: Various
Where: Across England

procurement schools

Run by Oxford College of Procurement and Supply, there are 10 Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply centres in England offering several different qualification levels to choose from. The courses are recognised throughout the world as harnessing leading edge thinking and professionalism across the procurement and supply chain management space.

CIPS offers courses such as level three, four, five and six in procurement and supply with each qualification created to reflect current, emerging and best practice in procurement and supply chain management. Classes focus on exploring legacy purchasing and supply methods as well as techniques and theory to the application in a business environment.

CIPS doesn’t just offer in-person studying as courses are designed to suit individual lifestyles with virtual classrooms, part-time and weekend options to choose from.

2. Politecnico di Milano

Course: MSc in Supply Chain and Procurement Management
Where: Milan, Italy

Politecnico di Milano
Politecnico di Milano offers an extensive portfolio of programmes

Renowned as being one of the best scientific and technological universities in the world, Politecnico di Milano offers an extensive portfolio of programmes in a variety of different spaces. Its supply chain master’s degree is a 12-month course aimed at equipping students with vital knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the industry.

The course also includes a number of practical activities in the programme such as lessons with international lectures, workshops on soft skills, company presentations, projects with companies, company visits and an international study tour in Rotterdam.

According to Politecnico di Milano, 86% of students were employed three months after graduation while 55% were also working abroad during the same period.

The course was ranked third in the TOP 2021 Eduniversal Best Masters Ranking (Global) and eighth in the QS Supply Chain Management Masters Rankings for 2023.

3. SKEMA Business School

Course: MSc (and MS) Supply Chain Management and Purchasing
Where: Lille and Paris, France

Skema offers two supply chain management (SCM) and procurement masters: The premium international MSc Global Supply Chain Management in Lille taught in English, and the MS in SCM and Purchasing in Paris and Lille mainly taught in French. France’s highly-rated supply chain and procurement program has been designed with a progressive shift from theory to practice. The degree covers the entirety of supply chain activities from planning, purchasing, receiving, production, storage to delivery through nine compulsory and six elective courses.

The global MSc has a new cooperation with the leading prestigious business school, MIT in the US, plus another cooperation with Politechnico from Milano. The MSc master’s degree provides soft skills in supply chain and purchasing management as well as going into future trends in digitalisation, AI, sustainability, ethics, globalisation, risk management and agility. The course’s primary goal is to find future leaders who are seeking to make a positive impact on the world of supply chain management and procurement. The MSc is a full time program, complemented by paid internships in the area of the student’s choice, while the MS alternates weeks of classes with professionals at the forefront of their fields.

4. Audencia Business School

Course: MSc in Supply Chain and Purchasing Management
Where: Nantes, France

Audencia Business School

Created in 2009, Audencia Business School’s programme will cover topics such as procurement, global sourcing and supply chain strategies. Other topics to feature includes green logistics, Big Data, digital transformation, negotiation and commercial law. The course will provide expertise from industry insiders as business executives visit and share professional insights during the programme.

The school works closely with the corporate world and is recognised for its responsible management practices. Audencia is triple-accredited, highly ranked and internationally oriented and according to its website, 79% of course graduates are employed before graduation. The course is available as a one-year or two-year master’s programme.

In autumn 2024, the course is set to be renamed to the MSc in Responsible Procurement and Supply Chain Management.

5. Cranfield School of Management

Course: MSc in Procurement and Supply Chain Management
Where: Cranfield, United Kingdom

Cranfield School of Management provides students with specialist knowledge and skills in procurement needed to progress their careers

Cranfield’s Procurement and Supply Chain Management course has been co-designed with senior industry executives. This purchasing postgraduate course provides students with specialist knowledge and skills in procurement needed to progress their careers. Possessing one of the largest facilities in Europe, the course places considerable emphasis on how to overcome real-world challenges.

Students will gain an in-depth understanding of supply chain strategy and sustainability, procurement strategy, supplier selection and evaluation, negotiation and contact management. They will also be taught how to use data, models and software to solve problems and inform decisions, inventory and operations management and how to design effective supply chain operations.

Students will have the opportunity to attend a study tour and experience a different supply chain perspective elsewhere in Europe.

The course was ranked 11th in the world on the QS Supply Chain Management Masters Rankings for 2023.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

25 January 2023

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Our exclusive cover story this month features Sangram Bhosale, CPO at Xcel Energy.

Our exclusive cover story this month features Sangram Bhosale, Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Xcel Energy. Sangram Bhosale is a highly experienced CPO with an impressive track record of delivering procurement excellence within the energy sector for some of its biggest names.

When the former TransAlta and Husky Energy CPO joined Xcel Energy as Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) in 2020, he wasted no time devising a procurement transformation plan to advance the function to the top quartile. One that would capacitate the rest of the organization to meet and overcome the many technical and tactical challenges to meet current and future needs.

Read the latest issue now!

What attracted Bhosale to Xcel Energy was its visionary leadership team and an opportunity to catalyze the profound shift in how energy is generated and consumed.

“One of the things that I love, and a big part of why I joined Xcel Energy, is that we are a purpose-driven organization with a bold vision of being an industry leader in clean energy. The fast-evolving and innovation-driven utility industry also attracted me,” he tells us from his Denver office.

“Today, utilities are no longer the stodgy beast of yesteryears where not much had changed for decades. New technology is being explored and adopted, with billions invested in grid expansion and strengthening to meet reliable, cleaner, and increased energy demand. To be at the forefront of and lead that clean energy transition aligns closely with my values and beliefs and makes my role at Xcel Energy very exciting.”

Elsewhere, we also feature exclusive interviews with Vice President of Procurement, Anna Barej, and Director, Procurement Center of Excellence, Shawn Calabrase from Best Buy, Alessandro Gaiati, CPO at Fedrigoni, Norian Wasch, Director Procurement at EuroFiber, David Latten, Head of Global Indirect Procurement at Logitech, as well as Heath Nunnemacher, VP Global Electronics Sourcing, TTI and Mark Brady, Global Supply Chain Director at McPherson’s. It’s a bumper issue!

Enjoy!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

11 January 2023

Estimated Read time

5Mins

The Top Procurement Events for the first quarter of 2023.

Top Procurement Events for 2023

Hear from industry experts and keep up-to-date with the latest innovation in procurement by adding these upcoming, must visit, procurement events to your calendar in the first quarter of 2023.

ICSCM2023, 4th International Conference on Supply Chain Management

Macau, China | 13-15 January 2023

This academic conference – co-located with the International Conference on Computers in Management and Business – describes its main purpose as providing an international platform for presenting and publishing the latest scientific research outcomes on supply chain management. There will be opportunities for delegates to exchange new ideas, and to network with others, alongside the conference sessions. There is an optional tour, still to be confirmed, on the third day of the event.

Keynote speakers include Fugee TSUNG, Professor, HKUST (Guangzhou), Hong Kong, and Kwong Meng Teo, Senior Scientist, Huawei Technologies, 2012 Research Labs, China.

FIND OUT MORE

8th Annual Strategic Sourcing & Procurement MENA Summit

Dubai, UAE 24-25 | January 2023

Another hybrid event, the Strategic Sourcing & Procurement MENA Summit will offer delegates information on addressing current procurement challenges, focusing on areas such as category management, cost optimisation and risk mitigation. There will be case studies and discussions on e-procurement, plus solutions-based sessions on leadership in procurement.

Speakers will include experts from leading banks, telecoms, airlines, hotels, retailers, and other cross-industry companies, such as Emmanuel Augustin, Vice President Supply Chain Management | CPO, Dubai Airports and Kazim Duman, Director of Procurement, Rixos Hotels.

The agenda will cover:

  • Building a Sustainable Future
  • Risk Mitigation and Management
  • Prioritizing ESG: Procurement’s Role in Standardizing Sustainability
  • Cost Reduction and Value Generation
  • Talent Development and Acquisition Role in Strategic Sourcing and Procurement
  • From Good to Great in Digital Transformation
  • Leadership in Procurement Management
  • The Future of the Strategic Sourcing and Procurement
FIND OUT MORE

Procurement Futures London

UK | 1-2 February 2023

Held at the QEII Centre in central London, Procurement Futures is a new conference, launching in 2023. It promises delegates the chance to find out how to make supply chains more resilient, with thought-provoking and presentations and discussions designed to inform and inspire.

There is a flexible programme of content that can be tailored to attendees’ preferences, with networking opportunities throughout and a huge variety of sessions to attend and take part in. This CIPS event has three streams of content: Insights, Ignite and Interact. Insights will showcase presentations and panel discussions from leaders, Ignite will consist of hands-on workshops to help delegates optimise their procurement strategies and Interact will be smaller groups taking part in interactive roundtables and debates.

Speakers across the two days will include Ross Grierson, Director of Procurement, Primark; Patrick Dunne, Director of Group Property, FM & Procurement (CPO), Sainsburys Plc; Rebecca Simpson, Procurement and Supply Chain Director, Balfour Beatty; and Nick Jenkinson, Chief Procurement Officer, Santander.

In addition, delegates are able to book a one-to-one career workshop, where they’ll get advice on professional development from coaches covering a variety of specialisms.

FIND OUT MORE

3rd World Digital Procurement Summit

Berlin, Germany | 2-3 March 2023

The third World Digital Procurement Summit is aimed at procurement directors, VPs, managers and other industry specialists. The two-day event will focus on accelerating procurement processes, adopting emerging technologies, finding the right talent, overcoming the barriers to progress and embarking on a journey of transformation. It’s a hybrid event, bringing together procurement experts from various industries, which will maximise knowledge exchange opportunities. The event organisers list five key learning points for delegates:

  1. Exploring the latest advances in data and cognitive technologies to gain greater insights and improve procurement processes
  2. Overhauling the procurement ecosystem with new technologies and strategies to drive business value
  3. Sharing the best practices of monitoring and managing a range of risks to hedge against future disruptions
  4. Developing capabilities and skillsets required for the digital transformation of procurement
  5. Defining ESG metrics of the procurement strategy to ensure business continuity

Speakers will include Paul Harlington, Group Procurement Director at TUI Group and Patrick Foelck, Head of Strategy and Transformation Procurement at Roche.

FIND OUT MORE

Women in Procurement & Supply Chain

Sydney, Australia | 6-8 March 2023

Returning for its 8th annual event, Women in Procurement & Supply Chain will deliver two days dedicated to leadership and the future of procurement. The event will feature a series of exclusive panel discussions and keynote addresses examining career development, overcoming imposter syndrome, working with confidence, developing an unbeatable talent pool, mentoring, diversity and inclusivity. It will also address risk mitigation, digital disruption, ESG, sustainability, economic development, ethical sourcing, category management, cultural diversity, strategic sourcing, supplier relationships, procurement with purpose, and supply chain resilience. There are two pre-conference masterclass options on 6 March – that can be booked separately – covering either contract law or leadership skills.

Some of the reasons to attend include:

  • Discover the path to taking your procurement career to a new level while elevating your organisation with dedicated days on leadership and the future of procurement
  • Learn best practice strategies to facedown supply chain vulnerabilities and reduce risk exposure
  • Get ahead of the game with insights into the future of procurement and the impact of globalisation on modern supply chains
  • Put yourself at the cutting edge of ESG and procurement with the latest updates and trends in procurement with purpose

Speakers for the main two-day conference include Michelle Richard, Director of Procurement, Thales; Karina Davies, Chief Procurement Officer, icare NSW; and Kylie McKinlay, Procurement Partner – Property and Business, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

FIND OUT MORE

Americas Procurement Congress

Miami, USA | 21-22 March 2023

With a focus on what makes CPOs tick, the Americas Procurement Congress will feature the region’s most progressive CPOs sharing their expertise in keynote presentations and working groups. Giving delegates the tools to stay on the cutting edge of procurement developments, there are also sessions aimed at those with responsibilities over governance, procurement capabilities and quantifying data. Unsurprisingly, sustainability will also be a key theme in 2023, and attendees will hear from a diverse range of sustainability leaders about how to transition from traditional metrics to a purpose-driven function.

The agenda for Americas Procurement Congress 2023 will include:

  • Sustainability of the future
  • How to transition from traditional metrics to a purpose-driven function
  • Harnessing the power of digital transformation
  • Utilizing data as a driver of sustainable value, supply continuity and transparency
  • Agile procurement
  • New approaches and skills that facilitate speed and agility
  • Frictionless procurement
  • Removing friction from the procurement process to support high-velocity sourcing
  • Beyond Just in Time
  • Designing future-fit supply networks for an age of chaos and conflict
FIND OUT MORE

Author

Tracey Harris

Published

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Explore the top procurement trends in 2022 in detail.

The pace of evolution of the procuretech ecosystem continues to inspire the industry and we have seen digital procurement leaders rise in challenging times. So, what were the top procurement trends in 2022?

Last year’s ProcureTech100 cohort has outperformed their peers with over 40% growing exponentially, introducing new innovation, new partnerships and alliances. The 2022 ProcureTech100 cohort continue this drive with the most significant growth rate compared to their peers being in companies under 100 employees in size. Over 60% of the digital procurement ecosystem is made up of companies with under 50 employees with there being a clear step up required to building teams with over 50 employees. This correlates with the level and pace of funding within procuretech too and the step up to Series A.

Sign-up now to receive the FREE 2022 Yearbook, full of more useful insights.

Agility, decision making, risk and collaboration drive the digitisation of procurement

65% of companies see digitalisation as being important to achieve their company and procurement objectives.

The key drivers for this digitalisation are process agility and decision making (79%), transparency, compliance and risk (78%), and supplier or partner collaboration (70%).  Leaders see optimising cost and cash flow as well as improving compliance and risk as key drivers to digitalise, priorities that mirror the current 2022 global challenges.

Whilst we are living in post pandemic times and in the middle of supply chain shortages,  digitalisation to help secure supply, is not seen as significant driver. Immediate issues have been addressed through the application of corporate and supplier talent. We would anticipate that this will change in the next 12-18  months through the introduction of new digital solutions to help solve these issues.

For large companies, with over 5,000 people, the digital drivers are focused on increased decision agility and risk compliance, whereas for smaller companies, less than 200 people, the drivers were stronger supplier or partner collaboration and improved transparency.

Driving revenue growth and optimising product/service demand were also evaluated as relatively low reasons to digitise. For future leaders addressing demand management will increase the importance of optimising product or services demand through greater access to data and application of digitalisation.

1 – New digital procurement categories and capabilities are emerging

As procurement’s scope continues to expand both across the company and through the supply chain, the great ‘unbundling’ of procurement continues too. This unbundling is characterised by the application of digital to either existing or new capabilities and skills. As a result we have seen the rapid emergence of point solutions to digitalise these areas from Candex for tail spend transactions to Scoutbee for supplier discovery. Their success is driven through the simplicity of the user experience which is enabled by advanced technology (which the user never sees). The application of point solutions extends to enablement through data too, for example Keelvar’s sourcing optimisation solution uses ocean and air freight benchmarking and market analytics from Xeneta, and Lytica is a standalone solution for electronic component spend analytics and risk intelligence enabled by real customer data.

The unbundling and digitalisation continues into existing and new categories too, with many new category specific solutions evolving. As companies digitalise their buying and supply channels it is possible to apply point solutions (if the volumetrics work) to most categories. Globality’s approach to services shifts the whole delivery model addressing both capacity and capability constraints. Niche solutions like Lightyear for Telecoms procurement and Zluri for SaaS procurement go deep within subcategories, often combining software with services to provide a point of differentiation and extending from the buying to management of solutions too.

“ We have spent the last decade creating toy boxes, now we have to create toolboxes that have the process, skills and culture integrated. My favourite tool box is for adoption.” Amanda Davies, Mars

2 – From interface to database

Traditionally, there is much focus by procurement on the ‘app layer’ that delivers the end to end capability. It is essential for procurement to be aligned with corporate digital and IT teams to design and deliver the whole procuretech stack. At the top of the stack the ‘interface’ and starting point of the user journey for buyers, suppliers, business users, chat bots and functional experts should be defined. Beyond a simple portal, Kore.  ai can provide this conversational interface as a multichannel interface into procurement.

Often this also integrates your procurement process orchestration and intelligence layers which are either embedded or connected to your app layer. There are significant improvements in user experience through the deployment of tools like ZIP and UIPath which provide this orchestration and have established integration.

The ‘middleware’ layer that connects apps including your ERP system to data can be provided by solutions like HICX, apexanalytics and Oro. Into this advanced companies are augmenting their data layer and foundation with AI and ML from solutions like Creactives and TealBook

Get started defining your procuretech stack and fungible data fabric!

3 – Best of All ecosystem of solutions

Fact: There is no equivalent of ERP for all of procurement. There is no equivalent of PLM for procurement.

As procurement’s role has expanded so have our digital and data needs. Each and every procurement team has an accountability to define their own digital procurement operating platform. This platform should consider ALL solutions, from the capabilities provided by traditional ERP and finance solutions to the latest process workflow, apps and data solutions. From this your own ‘Best of All’ solutions ecosystem will emerge.

This trend is happening across procurement and also within individual capabilities with procurement too. Especially those areas with multiple user journeys and many data feeds. This is creating ‘micro’ platforms.

“There is no one-stop shop to cover risk management end-to-end, we will likely require an ecosystem within an ecosystem, including one for risk apps within the broader digital ecosystem. The market is moving away from one solution does it all to ecosystem suites with central management and focussed solutions for specialist areas such as: Supply Chain Visibility, Mapping or Traceability; Cyber; Finance Etc. This is reflected in the spread of different solutions here across the ProcureTech100. The ‘winners’ will likely be the ones who best integrate in this ecosystem, and also transparently with ESG, ERP and other ProcureTech areas.” Tim Perry-Ogden

4 – Digital supply and demand more in balance

Over the last 10 years the supply of digital procurement solutions has rapidly increased. If you had asked for a blockchain solution to help with the provenance of goods 10 years ago you would not have been able to find a solution – now you can. For most of the current and new use cases you can now find the digital procurement solutions that you need. Moreover, in many areas there are now multiple digital procurement solutions providing companies with choices for their digital procurement operating platform. Where digital solutions don’t quite meet what you need then many digital solutions are prepared to flex their product roadmap to align with those needs.

Top 10 countires investing in procurement

Fuelled by investment

The venture investment into procuretech continues to grow, there are over 1,000 venture capitalists with single investments and increasing numbers of B2B investors that have multiple investments into procuretech.

Procurement teams are also clear on the investment required, the ROI and how quickly this needs to be achieved.

“We must go on this investment journey … we may need to tighten our belt in other areas but digitalisation is not one of them.” Marielle Beyer, Roche

📢 Sign-up for full access to the ProcureTech100 2022 Yearbook for the full report and more insightful articles!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

16 December 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

The latest issue of CPOstrategy is LIVE!

This month’s cover story is an exclusive and compelling insight into the procurement strategy at Vodafone New Zealand.

This month’s cover story is an exclusive and compelling insight into the procurement strategy at Vodafone New Zealand.

“For me, the future of procurement is two things: digital and sustainability,” says Rajat Sarna, Chief Procurement Officer and these two themes are the thread that runs through everything he’s put into place since he took over the reins of the procurement function at Vodafone New Zealand in October 2020.

The role was a huge one to take on, too – the telco employs 2,000 people, serves 2.4m customers and is a $2bn revenue company. The scale of its operations is huge with customers consuming over 3 billion minutes, 4,500 terabytes of mobile data and 55,000 terabytes of fixed line data every month.  A key part of his mandate was to transform procurement into a market-leading operating partner to the business that would “ultimately improve the value that we deliver to our customers”.

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Sarna went back to basics initially, thinking about what the future capability of Vodafone New Zealand would look like, and what its procurement operation needed to be to support this. He says: “It was very critical for me to have a purpose and it cannot just be better savings or improved cost position. That’s not purpose; purpose is: what are we doing in terms of how we align with the future of procurement?”

Elsewhere, we have exclusive interviews with procurement strategists Lawrence Kane, a SIG Sourcing Supernova Hall of Fame member and Nirav Patel, CEO of Bristlecone. Plus, a ProcureTech exclusive and a guide to the best procurement events over the next 12 months and much, much more.

Enjoy!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

11 November 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

CPOstrategy speaks exclusively to Kathy Golding, Procurement & Supplier Ecosystem Services Leader at EY Global Services Limited, to see how a range of transformative initiatives have evolved the functions at the Big Four organization.

CPOstrategy speaks exclusively to Kathy Golding, Procurement & Supplier Ecosystem Services Leader at EY Global Services Limited.

This month’s cover story sees us speaking exclusively to Kathy Golding, Procurement & Supplier Ecosystem Services Leader at EY Global Services Limited, to see how a range of transformative initiatives have evolved the functions at the Big Four organisation, in a bid to benefit its operational excellence, its people experience, and the wider global community.

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The global EY organization has over 350,000 employees across many countries, providing consultancy, assurance, tax and transactional services that “help solve EY clients’ toughest challenges and build a better working world for all.”

Kathy Golding is the Procurement & Supplier Ecosystem Services Leader at EY Global Services Limited and has been with the company for over 10 years, having spent her entire EY career in Supply Chain Services. Working under the guidance and leadership of Larry Phelan, Chief Supply Chain Officer at EY Global Services Limited and recognized by Procurement Magazine at no. 7 in the Top 100 Leaders in Procurement 2022, Golding helps manage the procurement and supplier relationship management of the Talent, Technology, and Brand, Marketing & Communications (BMC) categories across EY Global, with approximately US$5 billion annual spend. Golding is a highly experienced force at EY, and we were delighted to meet her at the company’s Canary Wharf office to discuss how procurement is evolving at one of the biggest enterprises on earth.

Kathy Golding, Procurement & Supplier Ecosystem Services Leader at EY Global Services Limited
Kathy Golding, Procurement & Supplier Ecosystem Services Leader at EY Global Services Limited

Not only that, but we also catch up with Vodafone NZ’s Rajat Sarna to see how procurement is being transformed at the telco through a start-up mentality.

And… there’s lots, lots more…

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

21 October 2022

Estimated Read time

1Min

How can businesses cope with persistent, global supply chain issues and what are the concerns looming on the horizon?

The Digital Insight speaks to Nirav Patel, CEO of Bristlecone (a supply chain company of the $19bn Mahindra group), who discusses how businesses can cope with persistent, global supply chain issues – and outlines the concerns looming on the horizon.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

14 October 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

The latest edition of CPOstrategy is live, featuring exclusive articles on Coupa, Just Eat Takeaways, Friesland Campina, DPW and ProcureTech

This month’s exclusive cover story centres around the Coupa App Marketplace, the digital ecosystem transforming procurement functions the world over.

We speak to Nigel Pegg, Vice President and General Manager of the Coupa App Marketplace and CoupaLink to find out more about the roll-out one year on.

Read the latest issue now!

The evolution of procurement into a true strategic business enabler is fuelled by technological advances. The ability to dig deep into data with true visibility into an enterprise’s entire spend and supplier network has been provided through ever-evolving platforms, such as Coupa’s highly successful Business Spend Management (BSM) platform. In BSM, Coupa has created a digital ecosystem that brings suppliers, vendors, and partners together in the same room with a single ‘source of truth’. 

 
Elsewhere, we discuss how strategic procurement is the way forward at a rapidly growing enterprise, with John Butcher, Group Procurement Director Just Eat Takeaway.com. Plus, we grill Maximillian Tan, Director Business Procurement Asia at FrieslandCampina, one of the largest dairy companies in the world with a cooperative tradition going back 150 years, on how he is unlocking value at the enterprise.

We also have features on DPW and its NEXT100, the CIPS Awards 2022 and revisit the winners of ProcureTech100 2021.

Enjoy the issue!

Andrew Woods

Editorial Director

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

12 September 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

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CPOstrategy’s cover star this month is procurement transformation expert, and CEO and Co-Founder of Tropic, David Campbell…

Right now, procurement excellence is blooming. Experts determined to create change are coming to the fore and aligning procurement with SaaS to bring an end to the do-it-yourself way of working that decimates technology budgets. Tropic is one such game-changer, providing the tools to navigate software procurement’s complexities for competitive advantage.

Read the latest issue here!

The CEO and Co-Founder of Tropic is David Campbell, a born entrepreneur. He grew up on a cattle ranch in California and has always had at least one side-hustle on the go. Even as a child, he was running some form of money-making venture at any one time – but he didn’t necessarily consider that entrepreneurial pursuits were his calling until later.

CEO and Co-Founder of Tropic, David Campbell
CEO and Co-Founder of Tropic, David Campbell

Campbell studied English at UC Berkeley, and on graduating assumed he’d go into the arts. He’s a lifelong musician and writer, and he moved to a cabin in the woods to write the ‘next great American novel’. This venture, while it didn’t have the exact results he had hoped for, planted the seed in his mind that perhaps entrepreneurialism was for him because he loved setting his own hours and vision, creating a strategy, and executing that…

Elsewhere, we have exclusive interviews with supply chain and procurement leaders at the City of Edmonton and QSC, as well as the results of our first Sustainable Procurement Champions Index. We also have some exciting news from DPW too, ahead of its conference later this month.

Enjoy the issue!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

29 June 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

There is an urgent need for the digitalisation of the procurement function, according to a new report from leading smart sourcing solutions organisation Globality

There is an urgent need for the digitalisation of the procurement function, according to a new report from ProcureTech and leading smart sourcing solutions organisation Globality.

The report, which can be read in full here, states that 9/10 of global procurement leaders are committed to the urgent transformation of their operations and processes to become more resilient, agile and future-proofed in these uncertain and volatile times.

The report, which surveyed 170 global procurement leaders, claims that innovative and emerging technologies are being harnessed in order to better arm CPOs as they face global inflation, COVID-19 and geo-political crises such as the war in Ukraine.

Those surveyed also cited the growing need to fully digitalise operating processes in order to improve efficiency and boost cost reduction, while enhancing agility, resilience and value. 90% expected operational transformations within the next three years.

The report covers:

  • Digitalisation drivers
  • Future procurement operating models
  • Digital work in the future
  • Procurement process digitalisation
  • Digital supplier management
  • Challenges to progress
  • Value of digital adoption
  • Change manifesto

“Everyone recognises this shift, 99% of companies plan to make changes to their operating model over the next three years,” says the Globality report. “In 2020 and 2021, change has been thrust upon us all. In 2022 and beyond companies are owning the shift. In our research, we have seen the procurement leaders outperform their peers through a focus on resilience and cost in the short term. However, to maintain this competitive advantage in the long term, they need to adopt a new digital-led operating model.”

That said, 81% cited a lack of organisational support with regards to digitalisation, indicating a need for further engagement at some enterprises. 68% say that digitalisation will continue to increase business self-service, while 50% of organisations aim to move to a business procurement-centric organisation, acting as advisors and business partners versus executing transactional processes.

Content Credits: Globality & ProcureTech

Designed By: CPOstrategy

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

23 June 2022

Estimated Read time

1Min

EyeCare Partners works in partnership with clinicians and healthcare leaders to achieve the best patient and business outcomes and this…

EyeCare Partners works in partnership with clinicians and healthcare leaders to achieve the best patient and business outcomes and this has had dramatic results, such as a 1,500% revenue growth since 2015.

EyeCare Partners is growing through acquisitions, by providing strategic capital and operational support to its network of partner practices in 680 locations across 18 states. In February 2020, this growth was boosted when Swiss private equity firm Partners Group acquired a controlling stake in EyeCare Partners. “They’re a very interesting group,” he says. “They’re very heavy on investment, plus they have a very, very impenetrable and robust sustainability platform too, which is very near and dear to my heart through my time at Unilever,” This level of growth is fuelled significantly by increasing demand for eye care over the longer term, driven by an ageing US population and an increased incidence rate of eye diseases. But this level of growth requires an agile and resilient operational enterprise.

Author

Veronika Straosova

Published

14 April 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Procurement channel optimisation is a holistic approach to maximising the performance of, and value from, companies’ external spend and digital…

Procurement channel optimisation is a holistic approach to maximising the performance of, and value from, companies’ external spend and digital assets.

The CPO has one of the hardest jobs in the company managing spend with suppliers. She or he has to work with people who think they are expert shoppers (many of us are Amazonaholics, or equivalent) following processes alongside their day job, and who need to be convinced to buy from suppliers who may not be their personal preference.

The impact of taking the wrong process steps, using suboptimal channels or ill-suited suppliers can be consequential. To illustrate, for a $10bn spend company with $1bn indirects whose procurement team saves 8% a year on average, a compliance of 60% compared to best in class of 95% compliance equates to almost $30m lost bottom line benefits each year.

Non-compliant shoppers are also often adding supplier risk, accounts payable complexity and costs. Often the reason for people’s failure to use the correct process and vendors is that contracts are not enabled and user experiences are poor. Procurement channel optimisation touches the core areas of procurement and external spend management and ensures that all assets are interconnected with no value leakage.

Contract, buying channel and content data are loaded correctly allowing buyers to use correct suppliers and negotiated prices, while also streamlining operations, driving compliance and generating spend insights. The procurement function can then realise the full value for their business. After all, underperformance can hide in plain sight unless all channels are fully utilised and optimised.

Read the full article in CPOstrategy – Issue 30

Written by Veronika Strausova
Procurement Transformation Lead, IBM Consulting, UK & Ireland

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

11 April 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

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Our cover story reveals a massive procurement transformation programme at Zendesk

Procurement transformation is the hot topic this month as we speak to Rendi Miller, VP of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at Zendesk. Miller is a procurement evangelist and transformational leader who is clearly energised as she delivers meaningful change to the function at Zendesk.

“What I’ve always enjoyed about procurement is the visibility into what the entire company is buying, from Marketing creative services to IT and Engineering technology to office furniture and everything in between.”

“Procurement has insight to trends before they become mainstream that gives us the ability to research new partners, technologies and solutions to start addressing the needs of the business early on. Being in procurement offers an awareness to nearly every aspect of the company.”

Read the latest issue here!

According to Miller, trust is absolutely critical to success because without that, “there is no reliability, there’s no confidence and there’s no relationship”, says Miller. “That’s something I emphasise with my team. Trust must be earned, but trust is also given. I empower them to be the leaders that I’ve hired them to be…”

Elsewhere, we sit down with Procurement Excellence Lead at Antofagasta Minerals, Christophe Le Flech, to discuss the state of procurement in the South America mining industry, and the work he’s doing to make a difference. We also talk to Convex Insurance’s Head of Procurement & Tactical Change, Vivek Pai… and discuss diversity in the workplace with Silvia Simon, LATAM Procurement Senior Manager at Mercedes-Benz Brazil. Plus, we look at 10 ways to optimise your digital procurement scouting approach with ProcureTech.

Enjoy the issue!

Andrew Woods

Author

Winston Yong

Published

25 February 2022

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Sustainable and ethical procurement practices increase trust and confidence.


Winston Yong, Blockchain leader at IBM Consulting, reveals how blockchain can be a great tool for organizations to move towards more sustainable and ethical procurement practices.


Confidence in your procurement promise through trust and traceability

As enterprises, and their connected ecosystems, move toward more sustainable and ethical practices, the procurement function has been placed under even greater scrutiny.

On the front line of assuring the sustainable and ethical practices of its suppliers and partners, and by proxy itself, the procurement function needs to demonstrate providence by accessing greater transparency within the supply chain to establish the provenance of the goods and services they are purchasing.

What is Blockchain technology?

At the forefront of technologies that are providing a new level of transparency and traceability is blockchain. The concept of blockchain is very simple. Every ‘event’ has a block of information associated with it as it occurs.

As other related events occur subsequently, the associated event also has another block of information connected to it. If we were to chain all of this up cryptographically, you would be able to trace the history of the event to a high level of assurance. That is the basic concept of blockchain, which is shared, secure, INSIGHTS Confidence in your procurement promise through trust and traceability immutable, and configurable; changing the way that provenance and traceability in the supply chain has been determined, with incredible granularity.

Supply chain implications

A great example of how blockchain is increasing transparency and provenance in the supply chain is seen in the seafood industry. The seafood industry faces several challenges; primary amongst them is reputational: how fish is farmed. Trust is paramount with consumers that buy seafood. They want to know what the fish has been fed, for example, and this trust requires ever more information.

The Seafood Network is a blockchain-based network for the seafood industry. By joining the network and utilising the blockchain transparent supply, seafood companies can be more open about how the food is produced so the consumer will have a greater knowledge and understanding of that product.

The natural predisposition of blockchain to independently validate and securely track the provenance of products has seen companies, quietly and assuredly, apply blockchain technology to record events along many diverse distribution chains.

CPOstrategy – Issue 29

Read the full article from Winston Yong in Issue 29 of CPOstrategy.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

21 February 2022

Estimated Read time

1Min

Bringing a wealth of experience to the table, Kuvesh Ayer, CPO for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority discusses procurement transformation and being prepared for anything…

Bringing a wealth of experience to the table, Kuvesh Ayer, CPO for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority discusses procurement transformation and being prepared for anything…

Tell us about yourself and your current role…
I’m currently the chief procurement officer for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The MTA embarked on a huge transformation effort across all its operating divisions to transform the organization into a more efficient, effective one.

I got a call one day asking if I’d be interested in this position and I decided, “Okay, it sounds interesting and very challenging,” and decided to throw my hat in a ring. Lo and behold, it’s two years down the line – it’s gone like a flash. Overall, my responsibilities include managing the MTAs procurement and sourcing operations, which also include the logistics, warehousing, and distribution aspects...”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

8 February 2022

Estimated Read time

6Mins

What is excellence in procurement – and how we can encourage it? We chat to Olivia Brown, a Managing Consultant…

Olivia Brown, a Managing Consultant with Rowe Advisory UK.

What is excellence in procurement – and how we can encourage it? We chat to Olivia Brown, a Managing Consultant with Rowe Advisory UK…

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I spent the first 16 years of my career as an employee with oil and gas operators, both here in the UK and internationally, so I have a solid foundation in working in contracts and procurements. Later in my career, I became focused more on general management roles. Those roles combined led me to understand what good business looks like, and the things to avoid – not just within the function, but more broadly within the wider business context. I started working as a consultant with Rowe Advisory in 2017, initially working in support of clients in overseas, in Australia.

Give us some background on Rowe Advisory.

Rowe Advisory was established in 2013 by a very inspirational lady called Jody Rowe. I started to get involved with some of the Australian clients in 2017, working remotely from here in the UK to support them in redefining, updating, reviewing their procedures and their processes.

Typically, what we find is that a client will have a particular requirement for an area of concern, so we will go in and start to address that and help support them. From there, we often get involved in other areas for improvement as a consequence. 

In 2020, Rowe Advisory set up a branch here in the UK. It was difficult timing because we were launching it during lockdown. We had the challenge of the pandemic which was also compounded by the oil price crash. However, it was a real opportunity for us to reestablish some individuals within our network and reconnect with previous colleagues to tell them who we are and what we do, and make them aware of how we can help as in when the need arises.

What does ‘procurement excellence’ mean to you?

For us, it’s about aligning the strategy and the delivery of third-party spend with the needs of the business. It’s really connecting the department’s activity with the business priorities. To best achieve that, we see a focus on the overall procurement operating model. As previously mentioned, often there are areas of concern already which CPOs recognise can improve.

Generally, when we get involved with a new client, we will review the whole operating model to be more holistic in the review and understand how joined-up the department can be in providing that functional excellence back to the business. It’s really about the department adding value back to the business and establishing credibility through delivery of value to the business. 

We’ll look at the people, the process, the systems, and the tools to really focus on how the department can manage risk, provide clear strategic planning, align with the business objectives, be innovative, be creative, and also collaborative internally and externally. 

We’re working to elevate the role of the procurement department. It has the potential to provide significant benefits to the business, and they extend far beyond the P&L impact. The events of the last 18 months have really proven the importance of procurement departments and non-financial performance incentives; those non-financial performance metrics have become more integral to the priorities for procurement. That being said, we recognise the need to get the basics right first so it’s about having clarity on rules and responsibilities, both within the department and the business. 

What have you seen by way of sector differences or trends?

The most interesting thing for me, having come from a strong background in oil and gas, is that a lot of the areas of focus that I’ve talked about – specifically identifying areas of improvement and what functional excellence can look like – are very much sector agnostic. The tactical interventions do vary depending on each client, so the areas of focus will always vary – but that’s true within any sector. We’ve seen that transcend into others. The fundamentals of what good looks like in procurement are, we’ve observed, sector agnostic. 

That’s been very interesting. It’s allowed us to provide diversity of thought into new sectors. If you think about demand planning and category management, we’ve seen with some clients where it works very well, and we’ve been able to translate that knowledge and experience in working with them in embedding that, sustaining it, and building on it. We’ve been able to translate that into other sectors that are less familiar with the concepts of category management and category planning, and the importance of that in the upfront strategic planning where real value can be set for procurement.

One thing we do find in some sectors more than others is that the procurement department is seen as a transactional function, and there is absolutely a strong requirement for there to be good transacting within any procurement team. But in the context of functional excellence, what we try to do is to explain the value that can be delivered through moving beyond that phase of the department into the strategic, and doing that in an appropriately segmented way so that it is differentiated based on value and risk – and other relevant factors – but ensures that both the department and the business are focused on those contracts that are key to the delivery of the business.

How do you support your clients by driving change within their procurement departments?

We work on ensuring that the focus is in the right place to deliver value, getting the transacting right and then also, of course, post-award. The contract is then executed, and it’s not about necessarily just putting it on the shelf and leaving the business to manage it. Certainly, for a number of contracts, it’s about managing those contracts for delivery and being clear on the role that the procurement department plays in that process. A further development on that is, again, how many of those need to be strategically managed? How do you strategically manage the relationship with key suppliers to, again, further leverage the value through innovation, being creative, and working together to further enhance the value that can be achieved?

The case for change is important because people’s response will be, “What’s in it for me? We’ve done it like this for years and it’s been fine, so help me understand.” And you need to kind of take people on that journey of change. Clarity on single-point decision making, understanding that when a decision is taken, that’s not the start of a conversation on the matter – it clarifies the need to move on. 

Tell us about your sister company, Promitheia Procurement.

Promitheia Procurement was established 2020. It is an online platform for procurement templates and also advisory services. It’s a web-based system so anyone can go on and buy, and download the whole series of procurement templates across the whole life cycle. It ranges from demand planning, strategy setting to people and competencies, and skills matrices, development planning, and performance management, through the procurement life cycle itself, through the transacting, into post-award, and supplier relationship management. So, they’re documents which can become available to companies at the click of a button, which is fantastic. It allows us to diversify further into new sectors who may otherwise not be able to come to us for the full suite of consultancy services. 

What do you enjoy most about your work? 

We have that real passion for procurement and want to really be ambassadors for what good can look like – and we want the clients to feel that as well. It can never really be implemented and sustained based on a consultant coming in and telling you how to do it. It’s very much about working alongside the client in their particular environment to understand how best to do that.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

7 February 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

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Procurement transformation is at the heart of our chat with Tod Cooper, Director Procurement at the Department of Corrections in New Zealand

This month’s exclusive cover story features Tod Cooper, Director Procurement at the Department of Corrections in New Zealand, who reveals all regarding the strategic restructure of the procurement function.

Read the latest issue here!

Procurement transformation is at the heart of our chat with Tod Cooper, Director Procurement at the Department of Corrections in New Zealand
Procurement transformation is at the heart of our chat with Tod Cooper, Director Procurement at the Department of Corrections in New Zealand

Most of us like to think that if we were presented with the chance to do something positive and societally significant for our country and its indigenous people, in particular, we would.

And that’s exactly the opportunity Tod Cooper, Director Procurement at the Department of Corrections in New Zealand, has grasped with both hands, with the department’s dedication to supporting Māori. 

Business transformation through leadership has been a major part of Cooper’s working life, preparing him for the challenges he’s faced at the Department of Corrections.

“It’s a big personal passion for me,” he says. “I’m not a guy who likes to sit still. Continuous improvement is a big thing. I’m always asking myself how we can make things better, looking at new ways of re-engineering, and getting good people around me who can enact my vision of things.

I’m a typical extrovert who’s easily distracted by the next thing, so it’s really important to have a good leadership team around me that understands the vision and can pull me back in.”

Elsewhere, we also speak with Dean Bennett, VP of Procurement, and Mike Cowling, VP of Global IT at BeiGene, about the benefits of a strong collaboration between procurement and technology, and what makes the company so special. Plus, we have an exclusive ‘provenance in the supply chain piece’ from IBM’s Blockchain Leader, Winston Yong.

Enjoy the issue!

Andrew Woods, Editorial Director

Author

Sheri Hinish

Published

31 January 2022

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Featuring in the ProcureTech100 Digital Yearbook, sponsor IBM provides an insight into why data is key for ESG and procurement…

Featuring in the ProcureTech100 Digital Yearbook, sponsor IBM provides an insight into why data is key for ESG and procurement partnerships.

ESG

Sheri Hinish, IBM

Sheri Hinish, Executive Partner and Offering Leader for IBM’s Sustainable Supply Chain, Finance and Circularity, gives her verdict on how technology is facilitating change across procurement so organisations can become more sustainable, which has become a significant priority.

ESG

Sustainability is a significant priority right now, across every enterprise and its entire operations, particularly with regards to procurement – representing a massive challenge, as well as numerous opportunities, to CPOs and CSCOs alike. And technology is enabling much of this dramatic change.

Technology is a force for good, helping organisations in key areas of their supply chains, such as responsible sourcing, risk management, calibrating SDG (sustainable development goals) ambitions with ESG (environmental, social and governance) action and green operations, while building intelligent supply chains for sustainable decision orchestration.

“IBM has been a steward in sustainability for over 50 years now,” IBM’s Sheri Hinish explains. “We also possess deep research through our Institute for Business Value (IBV) that marries the convergence of tech with ethical innovation to improve the world we share as well as the human condition. IBM works closely with the IBV, our ecosystem and how we protect the organisation’s social license to operate by creating resilient communities and impact through sourcing and procurement. These concerns are front of mind for CPOs and CSCOs right now.”

Sheri Hinish, IBM

Delivering ESG through Tech IBM’s partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Scope 3 emissions leverages its blockchain solutions to track, measure and report on net-zero commitments.

“Zero carbon is an interesting focus, as we’re actually seeing net-zero being challenged, particularly in agriculture and industry consumer packaged goods,” she explains. “However, having a regenerative and climate restorative mindset, while thinking about creating shared-value and equity are, in my opinion, just as vital to our planet’s needs when you imagine this through the lens of supplier engagement, particularly with diverse suppliers and SMBs, supplier development, sharing best practices, building a longer table in educating responsible partner sourcing, creating safe and supportive work environments, and fundamentally creating social impact through community building and investment. Social values of brands show up in supplier relationships, experience, access and development.”

ESG

CPOstrategy – Issue 28

Read the full article from Sheri Hinish in Issue 28 of CPOstrategy.

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

11 January 2022

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Read in brochure format

Welcome to the first CPOstrategy of 2022! We decided to kick off the new year in style with our best…

Welcome to the first CPOstrategy of 2022!

We decided to kick off the new year in style with our best issue yet!

Our exclusive cover story features a fascinating discussion with Sean Park, CPO of software organisation Splunk, talks us through transforming the procurement function from one that was deliberately immature, to the powerhouse of efficiency it’s now becoming.

Read the latest issue here!

When Splunk brought Park in to join the team, he knew it was time to make a change and get serious about the bottom line. The decision was made to put in place a more centralised procurement and sourcing function; Splunk was rapidly growing, and it didn’t want friction, but rather controls and guardrails in place to scale the company. It was very much a natural evolution for the business – a pattern Park has watched occur before. This put him in an ideal position to push the new vision forward.

“The first step was to undertake an assessment of the function,” he says. “What are our strategic objectives? How does that fit in with the corporate objectives, or those of the finance team? What are our processes and policies? How are we resourcing the organisational structure? How do we source? Do we want a category management structure or a business unit focus?”

Elsewhere, we have an incredible rollcall of equally fascinating articles on Atotech, Beeline, Delivery Hero, plus an engrossing selection of Procurement Leaders’ procurement transformation success stories. Plus, much, much more.

Enjoy the issue!

Andrew Woods, Editorial Director

Author

Nell Walker

Published

11 October 2021

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Procurement Leaders’ CPO Compass report – the indispensable navigational document for today’s CPO – is published this week

Procurement Leaders’ CPO Compass report – the indispensable navigational document for today’s CPO – is published this week. One of its many insights focuses on the drive for new capabilities within the procurement ecosystem.

The past few years have been nothing short of transformational for procurement, while the road ahead looks just as challenging as it has ever been. Supply chain issues dominate the headlines, and with sustainability affecting every way in which an enterprise operates, procurement teams are at the centre of a massive global slipstream. Of course, within every challenge there is also opportunity for more growth and change, and the CPO Compass report is an indispensable device for today’s CPO navigating these massive operational and technological shifts.

The 2022 CPO Compass report has been split into three major trends within the procurement space to address the current concerns of procurement leaders, globally: volatility, sustainability and new capabilities. Ahead of its publication this month, CPOstrategy has gained a sneak preview of the report to reveal a little of the focus on new capabilities just to whet your appetite…

46% of CPOs are creating new roles and responsibilities in 2022.

“The next step for us is to focus on creating a procurement ambassador role. They will be able to better able to sit within business units and bring the right cast of characters from category management ranks to focus on the business units’ needs.” CPO, technology company

The CPO Compass report delves into the operational revolution that has redrawn the physical and virtual maps of every enterprise and how that has affected procurement in particular, as companies harness new technologies and remote working set against constant disruption. ‘The Call For New Capabilities’ looks at how procurement has emerged as a key partner in driving new ethical transformations, focusing on critical areas such as working practices, and how environmental impact and community engagement can only be meaningfully addressed if organisations have full visibility of their supply chains. The function has an opportunity to play a pivotal role in coordinating value-chain partners around these strategic priorities.

“This opportunity requires a transition in procurement’s role from a tactical, back-office function to a leading business partner. This transition is already driving a transformation in processes, skills and digital capabilities within mature procurement functions. It continues a longer-term trend towards CPOs seeking to deliver a more strategic value proposition which delivers value beyond cost-minimisation. This enhanced value proposition is built from enhanced supplier partnerships, with leading practitioners pushing a culture of collaborative relationships beyond simply delivering on cost savings.”

It’s obvious that with the massive operational changes hitting procurement and beyond, CPOs are going to need to recruit and upskill existing talent so that enterprises can “adapt at pace to create a more collaborative, connected and nimble function”. And these new roles will need to take advantage of digital solutions to automate and provide services and data to the rest of the business, as well as providing stakeholder-facing capability.

The report cites a new breed of specialists needed to meet these new responsibilities. “These new roles often involve coordinating activities around emerging priorities, with these individuals often representing specialist expertise; around risk, supplier-enabled innovation, sustainability and diversity. A second set of specialist roles are also evolving around enablement, building out capabilities which, whilst not directly associated with these areas, support the function on overall execution.”

The unprecedented times we live in, whether it’s the effects and risks of a global pandemic or the drive to a more sustainable way of living and working, have placed an incredible amount of pressure onto the procurement function and this has a direct influence on the types of supporting and innovative technology that CPOs require. “CPOs are looking for supporting technology and the demand is on technology providers to offer deeper, more flexible and more focused capability. The challenge for CPOs and digital procurement leads is optimizing their mix of digital solutions to support a growing breadth of organisational objectives. While for some that means focusing on best-of-breed providers, others see value in becoming more comfortable moving beyond the bounds of established providers and working with start-up technology, while others look to platforms and big-name providers to provide more versatility and leverage their scale to greater effect.”

The full report outlines many solutions to these challenges and much, much more… so register here to make sure you don’t miss out!

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

30 September 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

A major recent step for Philips has been casting aside traditional indirect procurement and implementing a new-and-exciting approach under the umbrella of Spend Management. We take an exclusive look behind the scenes…

Our exclusive cover story this month takes an in-depth look inside the procurement function at Philips; the leading Netherlands-based health technology company, which is improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation.

Read the latest issue here!

To achieve the company’s aim to improve 2.5 billion lives per year by 2030, Philips has been through a major transformation in the past decade. Besides overhauling the business, the functions – including indirect procurement – also needed to adapt.

A major recent step for Philips has been casting aside traditional indirect procurement and implementing a new-and-exciting approach under the umbrella of Spend Management. Alexander Visser is the Leader of Spend Management, and the architect of this change and he takes us through this incredible transformation…

Plus, we speak exclusively to CPO of Ooredoo Algeria, Saber Chrigui, who describes how he took the branch from struggling to a shining example for the entire group, through managing waste and costs, and dramatically repositioning procurement. We also catch up with Gudrun Gunnarsdottir, Procurement Manager at Vodafone Iceland, about how being based on a tiny island is no barrier to procurement excellence and keeping a finger on the pulse of technological advancement…

And another great exclusive this month, focuses on RHI Magnesita (RHIM); the global leader in refractories – its refractory products are used in all the world’s high-temperature industrial processes. The creation of RHI Magnesita (following the merger of RHI and Magnesita in 2017) saw the continuing transformation of procurement from a cost-saving function into a strategic business partner gather pace. We speak to RHI’s Michael Leitner, VP Procurement Europe & CIS & Turkey…

Enjoy the issue!

Andrew Woods

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

3 September 2021

Estimated Read time

3Mins

Majority of European suppliers not being asked to prove they protect against labour violations, while 76% of UK suppliers are unprepared for new changes to the Modern Slavery Act…

Research from Ivalua, a leading global spend management cloud provider, has revealed more than half (58%) of European suppliers said buyers rarely or never include responsible labour practices in contracts or agreements. The report also identified a lack of consistent monitoring of labour standards. Just half (50%) of European suppliers said they are frequently asked by their buyers to provide proof that they protect against unsafe working conditions. These figures were even lower for other labour standards such as child labour (47%), modern slavery (45%), and below minimum wage pay (42%).

The study, conducted by Coleman Parkes Research, surveyed 300 suppliers across the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland to explore labour standards throughout the supply chain. The findings show that buyers are not enforcing standards for responsible labour practices, with over three quarters (78%) of European suppliers reporting they don’t have fully implemented plans in place to detect and eliminate modern slavery in their supply chains.

In the UK, organisations are facing more pressure to identify unethical labour practices. The UK government has proposed new amendments to the Modern Slavery Act, to include fines and even prison sentences for the most serious cases of unethical labour practices in the supply chain. However, most organisations are unprepared for this, with over three quarters (76%) of UK suppliers not implementing plans to mitigate the risk of fines due to the proposed changes.                        

“Combatting poor labour practices must not be treated as a “box-checking exercise”. As regulations get tougher, organisations must keep track, as the business impact of unethical labour standards can be extremely damaging,” commented Alex Saric, CMO at Ivalua. “The responsibility to tackle unethical labour practices extends to the entire supply chain, from buyers all the way to downstream suppliers. But change starts at the top, and buyers need to start the conversation with suppliers early to make it clear that poor labour practices will no longer be tolerated. Incentives could be offered, but the message should be clear: we will only work with suppliers that have certifiable labour standards.”

With regulations becoming tougher, and responsible labour becoming a more pressing concern for policy makers, investors and consumers, organisations are increasingly recognising the need to work alongside suppliers to improve their labour standards. This means collaborating with immediate suppliers – as well as their suppliers’ suppliers – to drive long-term positive change.

However, the majority of suppliers are not fully prepared to root out unethical labour practices. According to the report, suppliers currently do not have plans in place to eliminate below minimum wage pay (77%), child labour (76%), unsafe working conditions (75%) or unreasonable working hours (78%).

“The responsibility to identify and eliminate unethical labour falls on every tier of the supply chain. But buyers must bolster their ESG strategies to drive meaningful change and reduce the risk of non-compliance,” notes Saric. “To make this a reality, procurement must get smarter. Crucially, organisations must have adequate data to identify and avoid partners with unethical labour practices. They require 360-degree visibility of their immediate suppliers, sub-tier suppliers, and subcontractors. To do this, organisations must have the right tools in place to ensure the reliability of data, and facilitate timely and effective decision-making. Otherwise, instances of poor labour standards can easily slip through the net.”

To download the Ivalua 2021 Responsible Labour Report, “Combatting unethical labour: How organisations can collaborate with suppliers to uphold working standards”, please visit: https://info.ivalua.com/uk/report-responsible-labour

Author

Nell Walker

Published

4 August 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

Read in brochure format

As reported by Printweek, Critiqom – an omnichannel comms specialist – has secured a multi-million pound contract with Scottish Procurement,…

As reported by Printweek, Critiqom – an omnichannel comms specialist – has secured a multi-million pound contract with Scottish Procurement, for the provision of postal services. The agreement will last four years.

This partnership will make a big difference to organisations across Scotland, including central government, fire, health, local authorities, police, universities and colleges, and more. It will mean that Critiqom is able to bring more channel choice to businesses receiving transactional and business-critical documents.

This will also improve and modernise access to Scottish Procurement’s services.

“This is a transformational agreement. It is an opportunity to look at the bigger picture and to use our knowledge to accelerate change for public sector organisations in Scotland,” said Critiqom director Gerry Crawley.

“We know that we can deliver greater efficiencies and cost savings by encouraging the public sector in Scotland to adopt a new approach that embraces digital technologies. 

“As a Scottish-based operation, where possible we want to provide the shortest distance between manufacturing and recipient. We want to change the way that organisations think and showcase how hybrid mail and digital communications can deliver huge benefits and economies of scale.

“Our focus during this process was always on delivering the greatest value to the customer. With access to a portfolio of omnichannel services, we can improve the way that public sector organisations communicate, making the preferences of the recipient a priority.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

2 August 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

The UK government has approved continuation of a key contract for engineering design and safety case services provided by a…

The UK government has approved continuation of a key contract for engineering design and safety case services provided by a joint venture at Sellafield site in West Cumbria.

The Design Services Alliance (DSA), a 15-year contract with a total sanction value of £1.5bn, will continue into its third five-year tranche from 2022 to 2027.

The DSA was originally set up in 2012 with Sellafield Ltd as a partner working as one team, alongside AXIOM (a four-entity joint venture comprising Assystem, Jacobs, Mott MacDonald and Progressive (Aecom and Cavendish Nuclear)).

Working with the broader supply chain, the alliance has since delivered cashable, non-cashable and future benefits totalling more than £220m.

The DSA has also helped to make Sellafield safer sooner by cutting 744 months from hazard reduction schedules.

Paul Adams, head of the DSA, said: “This announcement is just reward for a lot of hard work by the people involved in the alliance. It recognises how we value each other across the alliance and our shared commitment to perform with passion, pride and pace.

“We are committed to continuous improvement and our belief that we can deliver even better results between now and 2027.

“The DSA makes a real difference at Sellafield by challenging accepted ways of doing things, removing unnecessary scope, making procurement smarter, and reducing project costs with radical new technologies and lean techniques.”

Ian Belger, head of design engineering and safety case at Sellafield Ltd, added: “This is great news for the individuals and teams working in the DSA and a recognition of their contribution and effort.

“Our alliance with the DSA partners gives Sellafield Ltd access to a range of key capabilities and reach back into some of the world’s largest and most capable nuclear industry contractors.

“This has enabled Sellafield Ltd’s design engineering capability to deliver significant value over the past nine years.

“Our challenge now is to build on this by doing even better and delivering on our digital, sustainability and carbon targets.

“This latest sanction from government will allow the alliance to continue providing benefits as it concludes its 15-year mission.”

Author

Andrew Woods

Published

28 July 2021

Estimated Read time

5Mins

The Digital Insight team decided to find out more about procurement’s relationship with data, intelligence and its maturity…

Modern procurement has undergone so much change in recent years, it is finally achieving recognition as a true strategic business enabler. Empowered by data-driven insights and digitised systems and tools, procurement occupies a unique position at the heart of an enterprise’s operations, supply chains and growth.  How are leading companies creating sustainable digital capabilities and how do companies do this at scale?

The Digital Insight team decided to take a deeper dive into this fascinating area and assembled an incredible panel of digital procurement CEOs to find out more and share procurement’s relationship with data, intelligence (and its maturity), as well as the opportunities emerging from these insights and the technology that captures them too. You can watch the full video discussion here…

The panel covered…

Data in procurement

  • With more access to data in procurement than ever before, how does this differ from 5-10 years ago?
  • Where is this data coming from?
  • What does this mean for the role of procurement?

Evaluating and dealing with risk

  • Is there more risk in the supply chain now than ever before?
  • How has evaluating risk changed for better or for worse?
  • Are the risks becoming increasingly dynamic and changing?

Opportunities in procurement

  • With the capturing and understanding of data, is this now a unique opportunity for procurement, to act as an “intelligence hub” across multiple domains from risk to sustainability and cost to innovation?
  • How do we capitalise on this opportunity?
  • What role will ProcureTech vendors/players have in this?
  • How important is it for business to adopt a continuous approach with respect to the data that they gather on their vendors and how do they feed this data into their digital procurement platforms?

Joining The Digital Insight were…

Ilya Levtov (CEO Craft)

Craft serves large companies (Fortune 100, FTSE 100) and government entities with comprehensive insight and intelligence on their supply chains.

Success doesn’t happen overnight

“…the challenge and struggle that a lot of enterprises are finding themselves in is how to filter down and get to the right answers. The only thing we’ve seen reliably successful is to take a spirit of experimentation and curiosity and not to be hell bent on getting the answer or a positive ROI for the CPO next month, but to say, it’s going to take some back and forth. That’s the way we personally love to work with clients. We say: there’s a ton of stuff you know, there’s a ton of stuff we know, but we’ve got to work together and iterate with different data sets, different models, different risk models, in order to come to the right answers. It’s going to take some time, but we will make progress if you take a medium to long-term view. That’s when you’re going to get those answers and those models working… not overnight.” Ilya Levtov (CEO Craft)

Aleksandr Yampolskiy (CEO Security Scorecard)

Security Scorecard pioneered the way in which it collects all kinds of data points from all over the world and how it uses those data points to reduce them to a score representing the likelihood of a company to suffer a data breach. Security Scorecard is utilised by over 1,500 plus top enterprises all over the world to hold their suppliers and third-party vendors accountable, and to make insurance underwriting decisions.

Now is the time for procurement!

“Now is actually a great time to be in procurement. Procurement is being disrupted through the proliferation of new types of information and data that enable us to make better decisions. For the first time, it makes it possible for procurement to move from being a support function, to being a business enabler and a value creator at the forefront of the innovation. It’s a very exciting time to be in the procurement space today.” Aleksandr Yampolskiy (CEO Security Scorecard)

Cynthia Figge (CEO CSRHub)

CSRHub is a big data platform and one of the largest aggregators of structured ESG data, covering companies worldwide.

Risk in the supply chain

“…risk has gone up dramatically in the supply chain, at least from an ESG or sustainability perspective. Some of the data has been backward looking, in other words, if there is some great disruption or something bad happens, then there are news ripples and that is important. But now where I’m seeing companies shifting is they really want to know about a company’s performance across all these dimensions of environment, social and governance, so that there can be some sense of predictability and an ability to screen across actual performance issues in advance of some kind of a bad event. We’re seeing a demand for that data and that understanding of the suppliers in the value stream: are they really measuring up? Are there some risks there in terms of what we can see around performance and benchmarking?” Cynthia Figge (CEO CSRHub)

Lance Younger CEO of ProcureTech

ProcureTech are building the digital future of procurement. Solving the most pressing social, environmental and economic challenges requires new thinking and a new platform for procurement leaders, entrepreneurs and the digital procurement ecosystem.

ProcureTech is home to the ProcureTech100 – the definitive global 100 pioneering digital procurement solutions.

Together with ProcureTechSOURCE and ProcureTechEXPERTS, they will accelerate, smarter solution selection and digital procurement ecosystems that will empower procurement transformation.

The tipping point of procurement

“…We’re at a tipping point for procurement in terms of a transformation, which began at the start of this decade. Most procurement functions, if you were to assess them from a digitalisation or data perspective, will score three to four, maybe five (out of ten). You have one or two that are leading lights, but I think that procurement overall is struggling to keep up with the changes in data access and data proliferation and not because of the technology, but because of the people. We don’t have enough people with the right skills to be able to help procurement transform at the pace at which we need it to change.”

Author

Nell Walker

Published

26 July 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

According to Spend Matters, CIPS (the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain) and Hays Procurement and Supply Chain have…

According to Spend Matters, CIPS (the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain) and Hays Procurement and Supply Chain have released their annual salary survey support, showing big increases in salaries for procurement professionals in 2020 – way above the national average of professions (3.3%).

For North America, the salary increase was 4.6%; in the UK, it was 5%; in Europe, 6%, in the Middle East, 7.9%; and in sub-Saharan Africa, a huge 9.7% increase.

CIPS and Hays compiled its research by surveying over 6,000 procurement professionals. Its aim is to provide a benchmark for salaries and bonuses across the industry.

“The CIPS/Hays report is about much more than salaries,” said Bill Michels, VP of CIPS Americas, in a press release. “It’s a valuable read for any executive who leads a team, as it offers an insightful profile of the environment in which procurement professionals work.”

The findings show that procurement is becoming increasingly vital to the way in which businesses operate – something that has been highlighted by the global pandemic.

One interesting statistic in the study is that 71% of respondents said the perception of procurement improved in the last year.

“It is very gratifying to see the strong recognition of the value procurement teams bring to an organization,” Michels said in the release. “For more than a year, supply managers have overcome tremendous challenges to keep organizations safe and producing the goods and services the world needs. We can expect that recognition to continue as procurement pivots from a need to ‘keep us going, whatever the cost’ to ‘keep us going, and manage our costs.’ “

Author

Nell Walker

Published

16 July 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

According to The News, Pakistan’s largest oil refinery – Byco – has signed an agreement to implement SAP Ariba DSN…

According to The News, Pakistan’s largest oil refinery – Byco – has signed an agreement to implement SAP Ariba DSN (Digital Supplier Network) and Sourcing Suite – the first in its nation.

Byco stated: “The initiative will automate the procurement process enabling a paperless process, significantly eliminating errors and unnecessary delays, as encountered in traditional procurement to the payment process.”

Fayaz Ahmad Khan, Vice President Commercial Byco Petroleum, added: “Byco has always been at the forefront of innovation and implementation of processes that are in line with global best practices.

“The deployment of SAP ARIBA DSN and Sourcing Suite will be another first by Byco as an industry leader in Pakistan.”

Fayaz Ahmad Khan, Vice President Commercial Byco Petroleum

He stated that, not only will this move improve efficiency in procurement, but also create better transparency and visibility across the business for all stakeholders.

Author

Dale Benton

Published

5 July 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Welcome to another bumper issue of CPOstrategy magazine…

Our cover star this issue, Willem Mutsaerts, is both the CPO and CSO of Givaudan, a global industry leader creating game-changing innovation in food and beverages, and inspiring creations in the world of scent and beauty. The duality of his role is quite unique and makes for a fascinating discussion as to how procurement makes all the difference for Givaudan’s sustainable ambition. It’s a revealing insight…

Read the latest issue here!

Will also dive deep into Procurement Leaders’ latest report Procurement as a Growth Engine (partnered by Ivalua), which explores how procurement can bring new opportunities for growth, as forward-thinking business leaders become increasingly aware of the huge potential that exists in the upstream supply base.

Elsewhere, we move away from what procurement can do in the private sector to what it can do for the local communities of the world, specifically, procurement in West Mercia Police. We peek behind the curtain of a major procurement transformation that will see the local UK police force empower its officers to protect and serve their local communities.

There are also fascinating insights from Lance Younger, Dr Elouise Epstein and many many more..

Enjoy the issue!

Dale Benton

Author

Dale Benton

Published

10 June 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

The latest episode of the Digital Insight welcomes Sam Achampong, Head of CIPS MENA…

The latest episode of Digital Insight welcomes Sam Achampong, Head of CIPS MENA as we discuss procurement maturity and how the Middle East is on a journey towards being recognised as a procurement benchmark for the rest of the world.

“Procurement, in the Middle East was still a developing function and to some extent it still lagged behind other parts of the world in terms of overall maturity and recognition of the function itself. That’s where we were pre-COVID and I think everyone involved in the profession at any level recognizes that. Significant efforts were being made to improve that and they have been going on for many years to try and elevate procurement. The efforts to bring the full procurement supply chain really to the fore in the region had been going on for a while. COVID has accelerated those efforts significantly.

Can the Middle East become THE global benchmark for procurement? 

Undoubtedly. I think, it’s the old cliche of “it’s not a question of if, but when”. You have is organizations out here who are very ambitious, innovative and very keen to be at the forefront of business operations and not only maturity but performance.

When it comes to procurement, they’re very ambitious, very keen to have the best systems in place. Those that have that ambition, in this day and age, are very blessed that there is an abundance of technology that serves procurement and supply chain that they’re able to utilize, and there’s a huge adoption of technology relevant to procurement and supply chain, in this region. For that reason alone, I can really see the organizations out here really leapfrogging others around the world and fulfilling that ambition to be world-leading where it comes to procurement and supply chain.

You see a real adoption of all sorts of solutions, whether it’s dashboards, eSourcing systems, supplier relation management systems, or a whole gamut of solutions that allow practitioners to be a lot more strategic and less transactional.

The added benefit that organizations have here is that, at the point that they are fully versed and fully engaged with procurement at the very highest level, they already have these tools at their disposal. They don’t have to learn them. They don’t have to unlearn anything. So ,they’re perfectly placed to really be world-leading.”

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE BELOW:

Author

Dale Benton

Published

7 June 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

With procurement taking its rightful place in the limelight it has opened the door for incredible opportunities for procurement, but…

With procurement taking its rightful place in the limelight it has opened the door for incredible opportunities for procurement, but only if we work to capitalise on them. Dr Louise Epstein (Partner, Kearney) and Lance Younger (CEO & Founder, ProcureTech) return to look at what we can do right now to seize this moment, one of the most important moments in the history of procurement.

Author

Jim Bureau

Published

4 June 2021

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Why supplier data can make or break procurement

Supplier data is the lifeblood of procurement and leaders rely on the strategic insights they get from data analysis to make decisions that reduce risk, boost cost savings and drive performance. 

Even so, if the data is faulty, the insights will also be faulty, and a surprising 81% of companies say they are not completely confident in their supplier data. There are a variety of reasons for this:   

  • Suppliers may not always keep their data fully updated in self-service portals.
  • Information isn’t enriched with independently verified data to the level procurement teams need, to include diversity status, proof of compliance, data protection policies and more.
  • Researching, assessing and auditing suppliers can be tedious and time-consuming. This means organizations make decisions on incomplete or unreliable data or skip the process altogether.

These challenges have long plagued the procurement function. The issue has come to the forefront of procurement discussions over the past 18 months for many reasons, but most notably because organizations have had to make rapid decisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, have increased concerns about business integrity, and face calls from government and civil society for greater diversity and equality of opportunity. 

Supplier financial health also remains a top concern. According to riskmethods’ new report, the biggest supplier risks aren’t directly related to COVID. In fact, several key indicators of supplier financial instability increased over the last half of 2020, including ownership structure, field issues such as product safety risks and force majeure warnings. Reliable supplier data is instrumental in meeting these challenges and building supply chain resiliency, agility and diversity. 

WATCH NOW: Why reliable supplier data matters

Here are three ways reliable supplier data supercharges procurement:

Drives agility with deeper visibility.  

One of the most important lessons we’ve learned from COVID is the criticality of supplier diversification. When production slowdowns, closed borders and fluctuations in customer demand caused global supply shortages, organizations had to adapt quickly and find alternatives. Outdated or incorrect supplier data prevents procurement from confidently deciding on the fly which supplier is the next best to tap. 

Total visibility and a deep understanding of the supplier base – capabilities, current orders, past performance, financial risk indicators, whether they’re third-party risk certified, have been audited for cybersecurity vulnerabilities and more – are critical for being able to respond and bounce back from unexpected supplier events. Without this 360-degree view, how do you know if your backup supplier can deliver? What if they can deliver, but are out of compliance or close to bankruptcy, which opens you up to new risk?

Disruptions are inevitable. Reliable data puts procurement in a position to effectively navigate change, reduce risk and take advantage of new opportunities.

Boosts supplier diversity with detailed insights.

Increasing spend with diverse suppliers is the right thing to do because it contributes to social and economic value by helping traditionally underrepresented groups that typically encounter barriers to growth. Diversity is also good for business. According to a study by The Hackett Group, nearly all diverse suppliers meet or exceed buyers’ expectations. Companies that also allocate 20% or more of their spend to diverse suppliers attribute 10-15% of their annual sales to supplier diversity programs. A diverse supply base supports marginalized groups and advances innovation, opens more channels for goods and services, drives prices down and ultimately contributes to bottom line success. 

Poor data quality is often a roadblock to reaping these benefits. Organizations don’t always have clear insight into supplier diversity status and which companies are considered historically underutilized vendors — minority, women, veteran, LGBT-owned or Small Business Administration-defined small business vendors. This makes it incredibly difficult to understand the inclusivity of the supplier network and where to boost representation and spend. Reliable supplier data equips organizations to confidently identify and fill gaps and invest in the suppliers that directly support company values and initiatives, whether that’s diversity and inclusion, corporate social responsibility, sustainability or another important cause. 

Strengthens supplier relationships with one source of truth.

If data is the lifeblood of the function, supplier relationships are the heart. Strong, collaborative partnerships drive product quality, risk reduction, competitive advantage, growth and more. Cultivating that type of relationship with strategic suppliers requires intentionally managed insights. 

Reliable and centralized data helps procurement get an intimate and complete understanding of suppliers – procurement history, supply categories, financial stability, purchasing and contract records and any other signs of the supplier’s relationship to the organization. This insight enables teams to segment out business critical partners, identify any risky partnerships and move forward mutually beneficial opportunities that establish trust and unlock new value. The better you know, communicate and work with your suppliers, the more likely these partners are to help you address your own needs.

The bottom line

Not having reliable data to guide procurement decisions is like driving to an unfamiliar destination without a map or GPS. You might eventually get there, but you’ll likely have taken a wrong turn or two, and spent more time and gas money than needed, in the process. In fact, Gartner research found that poor data quality can cost businesses, anywhere between $9.7 and $14.2 million a year. 

With access to stronger and more reliable supplier data, procurement organizations can broaden their supplier network in a meaningful way that supercharges strategy, maximizes effectiveness and speeds the path to achieving critical objectives. 

Jim Bureau, CEO of JAGGAER

About the author

Jim Bureau is CEO of JAGGAER, which celebrated 25 years in business last year. Jim is responsible for the company’s overall vision to transcend customer experience by providing intuitive and intelligent spend management solutions that allow clients to transform their supply chain. 

Author

Dale Benton

Published

2 June 2021

Estimated Read time

2Mins

Issue 23 of CPOstrategy is now live!

Procurement transformation is very often the name of the game in the pages of CPOstrategy, but what happens when that transformation acts as more of an enabler towards greater sustainability in the supply chain?

What does sustainability really mean to an organisation and how can procurement accelerate the conversation? Well, Renee Leong, CPO of Engie NA. says it’s a question of how we actually measure the value of procurement that’s important before looking at how it can help a company significantly improve its impact on the environment around it. We caught up with Renee as she discussed procurement and the company’s ongoing move away from fossil fuels.

“We have the power to actually influence how the product is being made and how the services are being offered to us so we can really help drive positive change to society,” she says.

We also caught up with Mahmoud Al Alawi, HCT Director of Procurement & Contracts, two years after launching a significant procurement transformation to see how the organisation continues to take procurement to new heights even during the challenging COVID19 pandemic. 

And finally, we speak with Douglas Klimak, CPO of Banco Bradesco, as he walks us through a procurement journey that will see an institute of Brazillian banking define a new age of procurement maturity. 

Enjoy the issue below

https://b2e.media/magazines/cpostrategy-issue-23

Author

Dale Benton

Published

27 May 2021

Estimated Read time

1Min

Opportunity knocks for digital procurement…

The Digital Insight podcast welcomes Dr Elouise Epstein, Partner at Kearney, and Lance Younger, CEO and Founder of ProcureTech to discuss the continued evolution of digital procurement.

Are we witnessing one of the most significant moments in the history and future of procurement?

“I could spend hours talking about this. Where we are is a great place and we need to take the opportunity, because it may not come again, for another 20 years,” – Dr. Elouise Epstein, Partner at Kearney.

“I’d hate to look back and for people to not to have taken the opportunity. It’s not just the leader, it’s anybody who works in and around the procurement space. There’s so many different things to capitalize on, you just need to decide on which one it’s going to be and make the most of it,” – Lance Younger CEO & Founder of ProcureTech

Author

Dale Benton

Published

29 April 2021

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Control towers are the key to end-to-end visibility of the supply chain…

This year, supply chain organisations have faced unparalleled levels of disruption as consumer demand changed overnight. Yet, despite many of these businesses having already begun their digital transformation journey, the majority found themselves ill-equipped to respond to sudden changes, with research from InterSystems discovering that this was largely due to data silos and disparate systems causing a lack of flexibility and visibility. 

As supply chain businesses continue to experience significant and sudden changes in demand, increasing resilience, visibility, and agility in the supply chain is critical with the control tower emerging as one of the most effective ways to achieve this. 

What is a control tower?

The concept of a control tower is simple, if not yet widely implemented. According to Gartner control towers combine people, processes, data and organisation, supported by a set of technology-enabled capabilities, for transparency and coordination. In practice, this means that supply chain businesses can use a control tower to gain a real-time, comprehensive view across different parts of the organisation, as well as of data silos and applications both within their enterprise and those of their partners, such as manufacturers and distributors. 

In short, a control tower removes data silos to provide a real-time, trusted view of the supply chain, and consequently offers businesses more visibility. In turn, this gives supply chain organisations a better foundation from which to make more accurate and insightful business decisions to respond to changes in demand and circumstances in real-time.

Getting the most from control towers

Gaining comprehensive control tower functionality isn’t something that can be achieved with an off-the-shelf solution – after all, every organisation has a unique set of processes, partners, and technology, as well as a custom set of goals and thresholds. Therefore, the most effective approach is to implement a control tower by implementing and customising a data management platform to create an environment within which businesses can connect all data sources and harmonise that data so that it’s consistent. In doing so, businesses can continue to leverage existing infrastructure, rather than ripping and replacing existing solutions. 

Using a data platform-driven approach to implementing a control tower also allows supply chain businesses to incorporate intelligence such as business rules, machine learning, and self-service analytics. As well as allowing them to gain more actionable insights from the data, it ensures that if a business analyst sees a potential problem, for example, that they can interrogate the data in a multitude of ways and visualise the data to understand the core drivers behind it. 

Ultimately, a successful control tower implementation enables organisations to diagnose an issue, notify relevant stakeholders, and then enable them to introspect and analyse the issue. Armed with this information, the analyst can then make smarter decisions and continuously learn from the solution. This approach offers supply chain businesses the simplicity and speed they need to be agile and resilient, so that they can make necessary changes to respond to fluctuations in demand and any problems that occur.

Gaining resilience and agility 

For supply chain organisations, this resilience and agility is vital not only to cope with the ongoing pandemic and unexpected surges in demand that it has brought for products such as bicycles and vitamin D, for instance, but also to ensure they futureproof their business. 

End-to-end supply chain visibility will help to ensure supply chain organisations are able to maintain adequate stock levels, while early warning alerts will allow them to identify and rectify any issues in terms of supply and demand before they occur. Meanwhile, advanced analytics allow organisations to make better predictions to foresee which products might be popular and when to better prepare for changes in the types and quantities of products that are needed.

Futureproofing the supply chain

Currently, the vast majority of supply chain businesses have the underlying data needed to gain the right insights to improve supply chain resilience, but they just don’t have the capabilities to make them visible and actionable. Control towers provide this functionality by breaking down data silos and helping supply chain organisations gain a comprehensive and real-time view of their organisation. However, like digital transformation, increasing resilience in the supply chain is a virtuous cycle, therefore, long-term success will only be achieved if businesses also have the right people, processes, infrastructure, and architectural approach, in place. 

Author

Dale Benton

Published

15 April 2021

Estimated Read time

4Mins

How do we inspire, mentor and lead?

What does being a leader really mean to an individual and to an organisation?

We learn from a young age about the significance of mentorship and role models, people who can guide us, teach us and inform our development both in life and in our careers. 

But do we talk about them enough? When it comes to dealing with transformation, evolution and change, what then becomes of the leader, the mentor and the role model? 

Rachel Lemos, Director of procurement at Canadian Western Bank, joins Dale Benton to discuss how role models, mentors and leadership has and continues to defined her own professional journey. 

“Success is borne out of  the people surrounding you. You cannot think of success by looking to one person, one leader – that’s a failure right there”

In times of great change, the responsibility to lead and to inspire now rests upon her shoulders. In her journey, Lemos has come up against the barriers and the challenges of being a woman in largely male dominated industry space. These are a crucial part of hers and any female procurement professional’s story. 

“We’re far away from where we should be. But we see that there is a change, there’s a trend and there’s willingness for organisations to develop more and more women into leaders,” says Lemos. “My personal experience has shown that the more you progress in your career, the more challenges you face because you’re dealing with something that people are just not comfortable with. You have to be prepared to deal with the discomfort they may be experiencing with a lot of diplomacy and be prepared to start difficult conversations sometimes, and touch on the discomfort of other people when you are sitting at that leadership table.”

Enabling positive change for an organisation is the key for any leader and Lemos recognises the duality of her role; to enable positive change for a business from a procurement perspective, but also to enable positive change as a female leader and to open the doors to future female leaders. “I have a responsibility to coach, to inspire, to mentor,” she says, “I take personal time to do that. It’s not only with my team. Very often I get people asking me to help them and be their mentor. Interestingly enough, I have also received a few invites from men in procurement for mentoring too, which I’m always happy to provide.”

“It is a responsibility. You can’t just dismiss that. You’re not here just to look into your career path, but what you do in your career influences others. My advice for females is this: come with an open heart and with a winning attitude. Give your best, be humble to learn, step back when you need to and be ready to advance when the opportunity presents itself. Results are not gender based and they speak for themselves and they speak loud many times. So if you present results, if you do your best, you’re in the right place and you will succeed.”

Lemos also stops to take a moment and invest time assessing her teams in order to understand and support their career goals. Talent is crucial and when change is constant it can be easy to lose that talent as you focus too much on what can be, rather than what it is. “You should always keep an eye on and review what type of talent you have and how you are working to retain those talents,” she says. “It’s really the responsibility of the leader to assess, understand, see what the gaps are in your people. Can we build in time to develop? Do those individuals want to develop? Because you can’t just assume they are open to change.”

Rachel Lemos

“Results are not gender based and they speak for themselves and they speak loud many times”

This isn’t the sole responsibility of Lemos, or other CPOs, alone. It’s a shared responsibility of all levels of the leadership team to get together and have what she describes as “mature and honest” conversations that identify what the endgame is, what’s needed to get there, and identify any gaps in our teams that need to be addressed.

“Success is borne out of the people surrounding you. You cannot think of success by looking to one person, one leader – that’s a failure right there,” she says. “It’s becoming rare to see leaders taking interest in people’s journeys and career goals. You need to be candid. You need to be honest, and you need to be having those conversations and that’s how you grow your team and achieve any form of success.” 

Author

Dale Benton

Published

9 April 2021

Estimated Read time

5Mins

What does it mean to be a leader?

How important is it, when undergoing a transformation journey, to focus on your role as a leader of people in order to deliver meaningful change? 

It’s certainly a key question for any procurement professional and in issue 22 of CPOstrategy, Rachel Lemos, Director, Procurement, Canadian Western Bank, tells us how she has spent the best part of her career looking to answer it. She sits down to tell us how procurement leaders are often guilty of losing sight of what we really need or what we are trying to solve in transformation.

“We’re looking to ride that wave of procurement transformation and say ‘Let’s do something about it!’, which ends up with us just breaking things that were working instead of solving problems,” she says. 

Stephany Lapierre, CEO of Tealbook, walks us through the 2021 Supplier Information Study, produced by Tealbook and Wakefield Research. After surveying 200 Procurement and Sourcing Executives (Director-level or higher), we have a clear picture of the current procurement and supplier data landscape.

Lance Younger, CEO and Founder of ProcureTech, joins us to explore where we are on the procurement technology maturity curve and what we can be doing to push the needle further. Hint: it includes the way we work with tech vendors! There’s also part two of our discussion with Michael Pleuger and Detlef Schultz, and insight into how the control tower is one of the most effective ways to achieve resilience, visibility, and agility in the supply chain.

Enjoy the issue!

Author

Steph Charbonneau

Published

26 March 2021

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Governments around the world have highlighted supply chains as an area for urgent attention in tackling cyber risk in the coming years…

Business ecosystems have expanded over the years owing to the many benefits of diverse, interconnected supply chains, prompting organizations to pursue close, collaborative relationships with their suppliers. However, this has led to increased cyber threats when organizations expose their networks to their supply chain and it only takes one supplier to have cybersecurity vulnerabilities to bring a business to its knees. To this point governments around the world have highlighted supply chains as an area for urgent attention in tackling cyber risk in the coming years.

Looking beyond your own perimeter

Over the last few years, many organizations have worked hard to improve their cyber defenses and are increasingly “harder targets”.  However, for these well-defended organizations, now the greatest weaknesses in their defenses are their suppliers, who are typically less well-defended but with whom they are highly interconnected. 

At the same time, the cyber threat landscape has intensified, and events of the past year have meant that security professionals are not only having to manage security in a remote working set up and ensure employees have good accessibility, they are also having to handle a multitude of issues from a distance whilst defending a much broader attack surface.  As a result, points of vulnerability have become even more numerous, providing an attractive space for bad actors to disrupt and extort enterprises.  Threats have escalated, including phishing and new variants of known threats, such as ransomware and Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, as well as increases in supply chain attacks.

But where supply chains are concerned, it is nearly impossible to effectively manage this risk unless you know the state of your suppliers’ defences and continually ensure that they are comparable to your own.  Organizations must deeply understand the cyber risks associated with the relationship and try to mitigate those risks to the degree possible.

However, that’s easier said than done. With the sending and receiving of information essential for the supply chain to function, the only option is to better identify and manage the risks presented.  This requires organizations to overhaul existing risk monitoring programs, technology investments and also to prioritize cyber and data security governance.

Ensuring the basics are in place

At the very least organizations should ensure that both they and their suppliers have the basic controls in place such as Cyber Essentials, NIST and ISO 27001, coupled with good data management controls. They should thoroughly vet and continuously monitor supply chain partners. They need to understand what data partners will need access to and why, and ultimately what level of risk this poses. Likewise, they need to understand what controls suppliers have in place to safeguard data and protect against incoming and outgoing cyber threats. This needs to be monitored, logged, and regularly reviewed and a baseline of normal activities between the organization and the supplier should be established.

As well as effective processes, people play a key role in helping to minimize risk. Cybersecurity training should be given so that employees are aware of the dangers and know how to spot suspicious activity. They should be aware of data regulation requirements and understand what data can be shared with whom. And they should also know exactly what to do in the event of a breach, so a detailed incident response plan should be shared and regularly reviewed.

IT best practices should be applied to minimize these risks. IT