In this episode, AOP Host Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner (AOP Content Director and Owner of Buyers Meeting Point) discuss their major take-aways from February’s news, industry topics and podcast interviews.
In February, Andrew Daley (Edbury Daley) described the importance of conquering risk aversion when we scope out and fill open positions. Jens Hentschel (FIVIS Partnership) reminded us of the danger of “toiling away” at a tactical level while missing the big picture. Finally, Matt Clark (Corcentric) described the positioning challenges being faced by accounts payable organizations as well as the company’s recent acquisitions: Source One Management Services and Determine.
Don’t miss out on upcoming opportunities to connect with us in person at ProcureCon and Ariba Live, or the latest on the AOP Live schedule – including the free download on Building a Procurement AI Game Plan based on February’s session with Sievo.
This month’s discussion topic was driven by the findings of The Hackett Group’s 2019 CPO Agenda Report: Building Next-Generation Capabilities. The existing gaps between what procurement believes is important from a skills development perspective and what the enterprise values (and why) may be a quick read, but it deserves a lot of thought.
The Accounts Payable team play a key role in the success of procurement.
The data that they extract from supplier invoices determines the accuracy of our spend analytics (and therefore our strategic insights) and the capture of the cost savings we claim (and thus procurement's ROI).
Today's guest on the show is Matt Clark, President and COO of Corcentric. Corcentric's research shows that, despite the importance of Procurement and Accounts Payable alignment, the vast majority of groups still operate in silo's. And this is costing a typical company up to 60% in savings leakage.
In today's conversation, I seek to better understand what keeps an AP Leader up at night, and how a procurement leader can translate this understanding a more collaborative relationship that elevates the impact of both groups.
We recorded our discussion just a couple of days after Corcentric entered into an agreement to purchase procurement SaaS provider Determine. In our interview, I also ask Matt to share details behind Corcentric's strategy to continue to grow their end-to-end procurement capabilities.
Recruiting and strategic sourcing actually have a lot in common – even beyond the role that risk appetites play in decision making. In both cases, the sooner you get a specialist or expert involved, the better stated your requirements will be, and the better the outcomes you can achieve. It can also be hard to break free from historical approaches to meeting needs, whether that means escaping the pull of an incumbent supplier or looking beyond a traditional candidate profile.
I’m joined today by Andrew Daley, a founding Director, and leader of the procurement practice at Edbury Daley, a recruiting company specializing in the spend management, spend analytics, payments and supply chain finance markets. Andrew has shared his talent and recruiting insights with us in several AOP pods, including Episode 8, The Strategies & Tactics You Need to Secure Your Dream Job in 2016, and Episode 76, The Rules of (Procurement) Attraction.
In this interview, we discuss how the risk-averse nature of hiring managers is limiting the potential impact of procurement organizations and why our role definition and hiring processes need to be rethought.
We’re all positive that digital automation is the right way forward for procurement, but why? Are we pursuing progress for its own sake or to achieve an expanded range of procurement contributions? Put more simply, what do you plan to do with the time freed up by smart automation?
I’m joined today by Jens Hentschel, Founder and CEO of THE FIVIS PARTNERSHIP, a consultancy and training company based in London. With the FIVIS team, Jens focuses on the importance of customer-centricity in procurement transformation and skills development.
According to Jens, much of procurement is missing the big picture – toiling away in tactical isolation when a mindset shift is critically needed. Rather than trying to carve out a bigger role by taking on more tasks, Jens advocates for procurement to make an investment in meaningful connections. While we know the raw materials being purchased, if we do not also understand the needs of the end consumer, our impact is limited.
In this interview, we discuss why customer centricity is so important, and why it is also so difficult and likely to be overlooked by ‘too-busy’ procurement teams.