Some categories of spend are dependable and constant. Their reliability makes them seem like they’ve been the same forever, which gives procurement a comfortable opportunity to manage them with equally consistent strategies and results. It is hard to think they will ever change; until they do.

How can you stay ahead when disruption strikes your spend category?  How can procurement introduce the required flexibility while continuing to achieve steady results?

In this episode, we’re sharing a session from Categorypalooza 2022 during which SpendPro and marketing category expert Steve Trussell shares the core approaches that will serve you well during times of change. He also describes the strategies he uses to stay on top of evolving categories while continuing to deliver value.

Listen to the conversation facilitated by Kelly Barner to learn:

• About the current state of marketing: what has changed and what has remained the same?
• Time-tested approaches that will serve you well during times of volatility and change, regardless of what category of spend you manage
• How to ensure that procurement’s strategies and execution align with what the business really needs

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Many of us work in what we consider ‘global’ organizations, but we do it from the comfort of our home or at a local office. Actually going global, relocating to an entirely different part of the world may not be for everyone, but the opportunities to broaden your perspective and have a lasting impact are second to none.

Steve Ashcroft is the Director of General Services and Procurement for the African Development Bank Group. He has spent many years in the world of procurement, including time as a consultant, an educator, and a practitioner. 

Most interestingly, Steve has vast global experience, and is currently based in Cote d'Ivoire, a country on the coast of Western Africa. 

In this episode, Philip and Steve discuss:

• Working successfully across cultures
• The opportunities that exist when building a procurement capability that spans 44 countries across Africa 
• Why anyone thinking about a career in procurement should take the leap

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

One of the industries most impacted by the pandemic was travel, and while leisure travel has rebounded in many parts of the world, how companies and employees see business travel has undergone a change as a result of multiple overarching trends. 

In this week's episode of the podcast, Philip Ideson interviews Martin Biermann, Chief Product Officer at the HRS Group. HRS is a global tech company with a focus on business travel and one of the top hotel travel partners in the world. 

Martin and his team are keeping a close eye on the megatrends affecting business travel today, looking for ways to optimize travel spend while protecting traveler safety and experience.

In particular they focus on:

• Why leaders of corporate programs such as risk management and ESG/sustainability that are taking a closer look at business travel
• Why traditional hotel booking methods fail to leverage available data on security, sustainability, safety, and satisfaction 
• How AI can be applied to reduce the ‘paradox of choice’ during the purchase decision making process

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Many highly-praised books are written every year. And yet, this week’s guest quotes one that we’ve never had come up in an Art of Procurement podcast before: The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. Even at 635 words, there are five characters, heroes and villains, danger, hope, an escape, and a happy feel, good ending. Not a word is wasted.

And that’s when you realize this is not a typical episode of AOP.

Philip Ideson is joined for this unique conversation by Simon Geale, Executive Vice President at Proxima. They recently had the opportunity to sit down - face to face - and have a wide ranging exchange about some of the bigger picture dynamics at play in our professional lives.

The discussion opened with a focus on the art of storytelling, something Simon knows a great deal about. He has been telling stories to influence executives for years, making appearances on media outlets like the BBC, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, and many more.

But their conversation went a lot deeper than that. They also discussed

• The health of the procurement profession: what is exciting and where frustration persists 
• The vulnerability associated with being an introvert or speaking publicly, and potential ways to overcome those fears
• Why it is so important to try and see a story through our audience’s eyes - long before we tell it

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

It’s easy to think that in this world of access to information, being able to forecast, anticipate and (most importantly) RESPOND to changes is a straightforward task.

Just Google search the category or read articles from credible news sources and off you go. Right?

If the last few years have taught procurement anything it is that casual, high level research is not enough.  We need to understand what changes are coming and develop the insight required to help the company prepare for that change.

Because of the importance of market intelligence to procurement’s work, we kicked off Categorypalooza 2022 by talking about how it can be used to generate insight that offers actionable value to the business. In this session, Host Philip Ideson speaks with ProcurementIQ’s Embry Davis and Ben Kempenich about how all of us can be prepared for the uncertainty and disruptions to come:

• How to know which data is the most reliable
• How the speed of business is impacting the shelf life of intelligence
• Which stakeholders and suppliers procurement should turn to as potential sources of category insights

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

This week we are featuring a special crossover episode from The Sourcing Hero podcast, a collaboration with our partners at Una. Hosted by our own Kelly Barner, The Sourcing Hero brings together professionals from a broad range of roles to share their stories of  business heroism and optimism.

In this episode, Kelly welcomed Ashley Sieb, a creative, energetic marketing and communications specialist who knows her way around procurement. She also knows how to get - and keep - people’s attention… and then (to use her personal mantra) “find a way forward” that works for everyone.

Listen in as Ashley shares her tips and perspective on how anyone can drive higher levels of engagement from different types of audiences:

• The components of her personal model for driving engagement: the REAL model
• Whether all personality types are equally effective at doing what needs to be done to drive engagement
• When and how engagement and communication are the same, and when communication is a channel for driving others’ engagement

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Procurement teams often struggle to connect their business case for S2P and the systems-related work and change required to deliver ROI. Platforms are chosen for the wrong reasons, system administrators turn over, catalog setup work becomes a secondary priority, and hastily made configuration choices add friction over time.

This episode is based on an AOP Live webinar titled “Digital Procurement Is Not Easy: Don’t Go It Alone.” Host Philip Ideson was joined by Anthony Mignogna and Claire Sexton from Corcentric who shared their advice for getting the most out of a source to pay technology investment. 

Anthony and Claire answered questions on implementation-related topics such as:

• How to strengthen the connection between your S2P business case and your S2P business benefits
• Why post go-live maintenance and configuration will either enable or prevent continuous improvement
• How managed services can help procurement seize the upside potential of digitization by driving adoption and utilization

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In the fourth and final episode in this series, he is joined by Sushant Adhikari, Director, and Sanjeev Singh, Director of Capabilities and Solutions, both at WNS Denali. 

In this interview, Sushant and Sanjeev focus on the procure to pay process:

• Why it is a mistake (and a lost opportunity) to think of procure to pay as a tactical process
• The critical role that data quality plays for organizations that are trying to maximize the ROI of their procure to pay capabilities
• The most important challenges that leading procurement organizations are overcoming through mature procure to pay

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In the second episode, he is joined by Lynn Rideout, Vice President of Global Category Advisory, and Sanjeev Singh, Director - Solutions both at WNS Denali. 

They focus on taking an ecosystem approach to the category management process:

• What does true category management entail and how does it benefit when procurement takes an ecosystem approach?
• What are the common pain points companies work to overcome? 
• What role do digital transformation, investments in talent, and business alignment play in category management success?

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In this first episode, he is joined by Satyen Pathak, Vice President Solution and Capabilities, and Lynn Rideout, Vice President of Global Category Advisory, both at WNS Denali. 

They take this opportunity to discuss how to start the planning process for taking an ecosystem approach to procurement: 

• What do we mean when we talk about an “ecosystem approach to procurement?”
• Should procurement organizations start with a process similar to baselining?
• How can decision makers determine what should be changed, especially to ensure ‘fit’ over time?
• What factors determine a ‘best fit’ solution?

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In the third episode, he is joined by Sushant Adhikari, Director, and Sanjeev Singh, Director of Capabilities and Solutions, both at WNS Denali. 

Their conversation focuses on the source to contract process:

• Which stakeholders should be involved in source to contract vs. procure to pay?
• How can procurement work with the leadership team to achieve better alignment?
• The approach to talent - whether through hiring or upskilling - and how it positions procurement for sustained success

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Most of the improvements procurement has achieved over time have been incremental. And while there is nothing wrong with incremental change, the challenges presented by today’s economy and global supply disruptions demand more.

This is procurement’s “hour of change and challenge” as J.F.K. said in the famous speech quoted above.

During the last 20 years or so, procurement has operated within a narrow band of capabilities and strategies. And while we have certainly had to contend with external limiting factors, many of the guardrails that constrain us are ones that we put in place for ourselves.

If procurement wants to reach the next level, we have to break free from those guardrails and break down traditional notions of what procurement is and what we can deliver to the business. 

From day one of Art of Procurement, our intent has been to help procurement organizations become and remain relevant. To meet the demands of this moment of change and challenge, we have chosen to embark on a mission to 10X the impact of procurement.

In this special podcast, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner share the philosophy behind 10X:

• Where did the idea originate, and how is the Art of Procurement team holding themselves to a 10X standard on a daily basis?
• What are the six principles that we must balance in order to achieve the mission’s end goal?
• How are we challenging the Art of Procurement community and our brand partners to join us on the mission?

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Although most corporate conversations about data focus on quality, data utilization is also a critical concern. 95% of data never gets used, and since the useful life of data can be as short as a few days or weeks given the industry, value is being lost every day. 

Fortunately, new data is being created at an even faster rate; the decision to get started is ours to make.

This episode is based on an AOP Live session focused on the results of the fifth annual Data Quality and Governance Study conducted by The International Association for Data Quality, Governance and Analytics (IADQGA). 

Kelly Barner was joined by Joseph Yacura and Vishal Patel to answer live questions related to data quality and actionability:

• How to get started on a data quality journey despite the complexity of today’s business environment
• Best practices and rules of thumb about the lifespan of corporate data
• What procurement should be doing differently and/or better with the system-generated data to which they already have access

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

Procurement understands that suppliers offer critical opportunities for advantage and risk resilience - but does the rest of the company? A recent book, Profit from the Source: Transforming Your Business by Putting Suppliers at the Core, makes the case for more involvement and understanding from CEOs.

In this episode, Philip Ideson is joined by two of the four authors of that book, Daniel Weise, a Partner and Managing Director in Boston Consulting Group’s Dusseldorf office, and Dr. Wolfgang Schnellbächer, a Partner and Managing Director based in BCG’s Stuttgart office. Their combined expertise in procurement and game-theory-based negotiations are evident in the book, which was written with their colleagues Christian Schuh and Alenka Triplat.

Philip takes this opportunity to draw out addition thoughts from Daniel and Wolfgang about:

• Their firsthand experience working with some of the world's leading companies to drive bottom-line and top-line growth 
• How procurement leaders can help increase the profile of procurement across the C-suite and demonstrate the ROI for additional procurement investment 
• The importance of deliberately putting suppliers at the heart of procurement strategies

Procurement 6 is a new short podcast from Art of Procurement that will be published in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode will have 6 short segments that summarize this week in procurement.  

Segments will range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that have captured our attention this week.

If procurement were based upon comic book rules, sales professionals would be the arch nemesis. The funny thing is, sales feels the same way in return. If we could just achieve more understanding, everyone would benefit.

This week’s episode uses a roundtable format to dig into the timeless struggle between procurement and sales - more honestly and personally than we’ve ever done before.

Philip Ideson is joined by Donna Donato, CEO Americas at ChainIQ, in the ‘procurement corner,’ and in the ‘sales corner’ he welcomes Chris Donato, Founder & CEO of esellas, a revenue management company, and Megan Dimmer, CRO, esellas. 

And yes, Donna and Chris are married.

They explore procurement and sales alignment and discuss whether there are actually any opportunities to support each other.  As you might expect, they also had some interesting differences of opinion about the tactics and strategies sales and procurement use to make life more difficult for the other. 

Listen as they debate topics such as:

• Why sales needs to feel good about the relationship with their customers and prospects before they can advocate internally for competitive pricing
• How procurement can work with and through sales to gain entry to the buying process when the rest of the business is not actively engaging with them
• The importance of procurement and sales being able to come together to agree upon desired outcomes and what success will ultimately look like