My guest today is Bill Michels. Bill is very well known in the procurement and supply chain professions across the US. He is currently the founder and CEO of Aripart Consulting, following a 23 year career leading ADR North America.

Bill is a sought after speaker, and I was delighted when Bill agreed to be on the show, without hesitation.

With such a wealth of knowledge, it was hard to select a single topic to discuss in today’s show. However, what we decided to focus on is the megatrends – that are outside of our control – but that are impacting both what, and how, he buy.

Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/megatrends

In this episode of the Art of Procurement, I am joined by Dave Hulsen, co-founder of an RFP collaboration platform called RFP 365.

You'll hear Dave talk about the circumstances under which we should be using the RFP, versus other tools that are out there, like an RFI, or frankly just picking up the phone. And then if an RFP is the right tool for the job what do we need to do to make sure that the RFP brings value to the process? That it's just not some burdensome document.

Full show notes are available at: http://artofprocurement.com/rfp

Last week I joined almost 300 procurement peers from around the world at the first Spend Matters ISM Global Procurement Tech Summit in Baltimore, Maryland. As the event came to a close, I spent 15 minutes catching up with Jason Busch – Founder and Head of Strategy at Azul Partners and Spend Matters – discussing what it took to put together an event of this size, and the key takeaways that Jason took from from the conference.

You may have seen during the last week or so that procurement networking site Procurious has issued a call for procurement professionals to record and submit a “Big Idea” in support of their Big Idea 2016 event.  A “Big Idea” being something that has the potential to transform procurement.

I got into the spirit and recorded my own “Big Idea”.  I submitted a 60 second teaser to Procurious, but here is my “Big Idea” in more detail.

Welcome to a Bonus Episode of the Art of Procurement.  In Episode 32, published earlier today, I interviewed Kelly Barner and Jon Hansen, the authors of a new book called Procurement at a Crossroads.  

After my interview with Kelly and Jon, I recorded an audio review.  

To hear my thoughts on the book, and my key takeaways, listen to this bonus episode.

In this episode of the Art of Procurement, I am joined by Jon Hansen and Kelly Barner, authors of a new book called Procurement At A Crossroads  - and we discuss (debate?) what is in the tea leaves for procurement’s future, and what is likely to happen to the winners - and losers.

Listen in to three people deeply passionate about our profession consider the question: what’s next?

Full show notes are available at: http://artofprocurement.com/crossroads 

In todays Episode of The Art of Procurement Friday Show, I discuss 4 Procurement Activities You Should Outsource Today.

The first three activities can be applied to both Indirect and Direct procurement. The fourth is specifically related to Direct Materials Procurement in a manufacturing environment.

For full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/31

On this weeks episode of The Art Of Procurement, my guest is Brian Umbenhauer.

I have read the Deloitte CPO Survey with interest every year to understand the priorities and challenges that CPO’s are facing, and how those priorities change each year. However, the results often left me with as many questions as answers.

I am excited today to share an interview with Brian Umbenhauer, a Principal of Deloitte Consulting, the Head of Deloitte’s Sourcing & Procurement practice, and a co-author of the report that accompanies the survey reports. In this wide ranging discussion we go behind the numbers and discuss what Brian is experiencing in the field in terms of how CPO’s are reacting to the issues raised in the survey.

Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/deloitte2016

In todays Episode of The Art of Procurement Friday Show, I want to talk about procurement and risk management.

It's a topic that I want to cover in some considerable depth on the Art of Procurement over the course of 2016 but today I am going to keep things relatively high level.

For full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/29

Today’s guest is Eliot Knudsen. Eliot’s background is in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics and Machine Learning. As you will hear in the show, Eliot is currently a Field Engineer for Tamr, a leader in procurement data analytics.

I invited Eliot on the show to talk in more detail about data, and how procurement organizations can access and consolidate primary sources of data to allow strategies and decisions to be made with data, rather than a hunch.

Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/data