Today I am joined by Fraz Baig, a long time listener and friend of the show who is a Senior Manager at Ace Hardware, managing all of Ace’s corporate spend including IT, Marketing and Supply Chain.

As Fraz and I have got to know each other, I learned about the successes that he and his team have had at Ace in build strong partnerships with their stakeholders.  One of the fundamental pillars to that success is a Collaboration Model that explicitly lays out the roles and responsibilities of both the procurement team and their stakeholders as they engage in category management and sourcing projects.

And so I invited Fraz onto the show to explain a little bit more about the model, and his learnings from its implementation and evolution.

Software has always been one of those categories where on the surface, cost savings appear hard to find. Often the vast majority of spend is with software industry giants over whom the majority of procurement teams have little negotiating leverage.

In today’s show, I focus on how to identify savings opportunities across your entire portfolio of software suppliers.  And when I say cost savings, I don’t mean relying on getting a better rate, but partnering with IT to look more holistically across your entire software category spend.

My guest to take us on this journey is Mohammed Faridy, the CEO of OneView, a contract management tool. I met Mohammed through a mutual acquaintance, and Mohammed is also an experienced technology sourcing consultant and practitioner.

After a week hiatus for Labor Day here in the US, we are back with another great interview (and I mean great!) Joining me today is my good friend Naseem Malik, Managing Partner of MRA Global Sourcing.

If you are attempting to retain or hire procurement talent, and you are in a location where the market is tight, then this show is for you!

Our conversation is split broadly up in to three parts.  First, I hit Naseem with a number of questions related to the procurement job market today – what is the current state, what signals would suggest the market is changing, and what are the most in demand skill sets. 

Naseem then shares his perspective on what a procurement leader can do to not only retain the A-level talent that they have in their team today, but also how to attract the professionals needed to take their organizations to the next level.