277: A CPO’s First 100 Days - Achieving Quick Wins through In-Year Savings w/ Sushank Agarwal

You have just been appointed to a new CPO position. Your executive leadership team is looking at you to make an immediate impact while setting up procurement as a driver of sustainable, long term value. You know that your first 100 days in the role may make or break your career. What do you do? Where do you start? 

In this special 5-part series, made possible through a partnership with Efficio, we will provide you with the roadmap you need to hit the ground running. 

In the third episode of the series, I spoke with Sushank Agarwal, a Principal at Efficio, about the tactics that help maintain the delicate balance between delivering quick savings and preserving long term relationships with stakeholders and suppliers. 

In addition, Sushank and I discussed:

• Whether quick-win savings require you to start off with an unhappy supply base
• The value that procurement teams already have within their reach but often overlook
• The common pitfalls experienced by procurement teams in pursuit of quick-win savings
• The critical role the executive leadership team has to play in building stakeholder support