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Art of Procurement

Learn from Procurement Experts. Host Philip Ideson talks with thought leaders who share the trends, strategies and tactics that you can lever to elevate the role of procurement - and your career.
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Art of Procurement
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Now displaying: Category: procurement
Sep 18, 2017

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.

Sep 11, 2017

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.

Aug 28, 2017

Today I am joined on the Art of Procurement by Peter de Heer, a partner at Expense Reduction Analysts.

Before joining Expense Reduction Analysts, Peter enjoyed a successful career with the leading consumer goods company Henkel.  Peter started outside of procurement leading marketing teams, and as a COO of their Mexico operations, before moving over into procurement executive roles.

I invited Peter to join me having read a white paper that he authored discussing the CFO and CPO relationship – and particularly the areas where Finance and Procurement should align, but often do not!

I explore how we can build better relationships with our peers in Finance, and begin by asking: what keeps a CPO up at night. 

Aug 21, 2017

Today, we are doing something a little bit different, and today’s show is for independent procurement consultants or for those considering making the switch to self-employment. 

It is a topic that I am asked about frequently by listeners, either through email or in person at industry events – and is one that I believe we will become increasingly relevant as the nature of work continues to shift.

I’m joined by Anthony English, a business coach focusing on helping consultants and small businesses win new business. Anthony and I focus on some of the mindset shifts necessary to increase your chances, as an independent procurement consultant or small business owner, of maximizing the value of your time.

Aug 14, 2017

My guest today is Nick Seiersen, a Director with the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management, or IACCM for short.

 

Nick is an contracting expert, and it is a topic that I haven't covered on the show in as much detail as I think it deserves! 

In our conversation, I wanted to explore a couple of topics – firstly, what are some of the contracting pitfalls that Nick sees Buyer’s make time and time again that we should be aware of, and then secondly is there such a think as innovation in contracting.

Nick shares innovations taking place both in terms of commercial models, but also contract design and shares one particular example in which a fully illustrated contract was used in lieu of a standard employment contract.

I'm not sure that lawyers will soon be replaced by artists, but it was really interesting to hear what is possible if we think outside of our traditional assumptions of how a contract must be written.

Aug 7, 2017

I am joined on the virtual couch this week by two returning guests and friends of the pod, Greg Tennyson, the CPO of VSP, and Stephany Lapierre, CEO and founder of supplier intelligence platform, tealbook.

You may recall earlier in the summer, I mentioned that I had facilitated a number of roundtables around the US on the topic of supplier intelligence. The roundtables were titled “Exploring the Upside of Accessible Intelligence”

Steph accompanied me at all roundtables, and Greg chaired our session in San Francisco, so I thought I would invite them both on to the show to share some of the key insights that they walked away with - and actions that procurement executives can take - based on the collective input of over 60 procurement leaders.

 

Jul 31, 2017

Joining me today on the show is Pierre Lapree.  Pierre founded Per Angusta, a procurement project pipeline and performance tracking tool, over four years ago following a career within IT, and then procurement, at staffing firm Adecco. 

For regular listeners, you may recall that Pierre was previously one of our revolutionaries at The Procurement Revolution event that I co-founded with Kelly Barner last September.

Today, we talk all about the savings process.  Specifically, what are the actions that we can take to bring trust, transparency and consistency to the savings tracking process. It is widely reported that CFO’s neither trust our reported numbers, nor see the majority of our claimed savings dropping to the bottom line.  So, what can we do to bridge the gap. 

Listen in as Pierre and I discuss the best practices that we have observed and implemented throughout our careers – both as practitioners and service providers.

Jul 24, 2017

Today I am joined by Michael Shaw.  Michael is well known through the Sourcing industry, particularly here in the US, he is currently chairperson of the American Council of Sourcing and Procurement Executives.

The heart of today’s conversation revolves around a concept called 3SI – Supplier Specific Sourcing Intelligence. The premise is that a number of companies struggle to access the supplier market intelligence that they need to really enable them to build win-win relationships with key suppliers.  We tend to focus on win-lose, or leverage when it comes to using market intelligence.  Following the principles of 3SI provides the ability to craft deals with key partners – and Michael provides an example of a Microsoft licensing deal – that provide better results than a typical negotiation would achieve.

Jul 17, 2017

Today I have a really insightful interview to share with Jonathan Grant and Ben Szostek, two senior leaders within the procurement group at Newell Brands.

Jonathan and Ben have been on a journey to bring advanced analytics capabilities to Newell Brands, delivered through a center of excellence model.

In today’s discussion, we talk about some of the tactics they use, from clean sheet costing and cost modelling to negotiation fact packs which is a concept I really like.

You will also hear examples of different sources of data used, the skill sets necessary to build out a team like this, and how advanced analytics are being applied to both Direct and Indirect areas of spend.

If you have an interest in understanding how you can build an advanced analytics capability, this is a must listen!

Jul 3, 2017

It is Independence Day week here in the US, and so what I thought I would do today is to go back into the achieves and replay one of my solo shows that I recorded almost 18 months ago now. 

It is a topic that I remain passionate about – why I think we in procurement should care less about being “best-in-class”, and more about what our internal organization really needs from a procurement function.

Jun 19, 2017

We have all read the blog posts and listened to the talking heads who inform us that Generation X believes this, and Millennials believe that. But are these generational labels actually true, or do we use them as a lazy or misinformed way to try and understand and connect with peers who are not within our own age group.  That is the topic of today’s Art of Procurement.

I am joined in today’s discussion by two experts in the field.  Jim Baehr is group lead for Sourcing Strategies Group and through roles both in consulting and as a procurement leader has helped a number of organizations through procurement transformation initiatives. Joining Jim is Mike Urick. Mike is Graduate Director and Assistant Professor at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.  Both Jim and Mike have joined forces to explore the future of work and the impact of generational labels at they seek to understand how procurement leaders can mitigate the coming talent shortage in our profession.

Jun 12, 2017

Today on the pod I am joined by David Bush, formerly of IASTA and Determine, and now Chief Revenue Officer for spend analytics specialist SpendHQ.

It has been a year since I first met David, and so his appearance on the Art of Procurement is long overdue!

I invited David onto the show discuss the topic of spend analytics.  Spend analytics have always been a bit of a pain for me - I have spent a lot of time playing with pivot tables and searching Google to try and categorize suppliers which leads to lots of errors and a lot of time invested!

But I know that it doesn’t have to be like that.  

I invited David on to the show to hear his advice on the steps that procurement leaders can take to gain greater visibility into supplier spend, which is the foundation of robust procurement strategies.

May 29, 2017

This Month in Procurement returns, and this week Mark and I welcome a special guest, Sigi Osagie.

Sigi is the charismatic author of the popular procurement book, Procurement Mojo, and a has an extensive background driving performance improvement and change across multiple functions and industries - both as a practitioner and business owner.

Mark and I invited Sigi to join us this month to chat about Procurement Mojo, and to hear Sigi’s perspective on some of the actions we can take to create procurement success.

Apr 17, 2017

Today, I'm joined by Tim Meester. Tim is the Senior Director of Procurement and Sustainability for Best Buy, an almost forty billion dollar revenue provider of technology products, services, and solutions.

As I got to know Tim in our pre-interview, I was very impressed by his and his team’s efforts to deliver value beyond savings at Best Buy. We connected to discuss CSR and sustainability, but that is only the start for his team.

In today’s discussion, Tim shares the actions that Best Buy procurement is taking to expand the procurement value proposition and importantly, how Best Buy actually incentivizes their teams to enable them to focus on more than just cost savings alone.

Mar 13, 2017

Today, Kelly Barner (Buyers Meeting Point) and I announced that we have founded a new entity to meet the strategic needs of forward-thinking procurement leaders. Palambridge brings procurement experts, technology, and intelligence together and makes them available on demand via a virtual platform.

In this bonus podcast, I go beyond the press releases to share more details on the Palambridge journey, our ecosystem, the reason behind the name, and much more!

 

After we ran The Procurement Revolution in 2016, we wanted to create a lasting force for change. After much discussion and consideration, Kelly and I realized that nothing held more value than the network of experts and partners we built in preparation for the event - and that became the foundation for Palambridge.

Palambridge is the culmination of a 15-year journey working across the procurement and outsourcing value chain, as a buyer, client and service provider, and the delivery model is one that I first mapped out many years ago.

As a procurement leader, I was always frustrated that my ability to access the subject matter expertise that I needed to solve difficult problems was directly related to my ability - or lack of - to make long term investments in hiring, consultants, contractors or outsourcing firms.  Palambridge solves this problem, by taking advantage of the platform economy.  Our model is built to seamlessly deliver procurement solutions that bring together the best of the best under an on-demand, subscription based, commercial model.

What does this mean for the Art of Procurement?

I am excited about what today’s announcement means for the Art of Procurement.  Log on today and you will see a new site design with upgraded search capabilities.  But that is just the start.  I launched the Art of Procurement as a way of giving the procurement profession a voice, a way for us to work collectively to increase our impact on the organizations we serve. However, my ability to grow and expand the site has always been limited by my own bandwidth.

In addition to co-founding Palambridge, I am honored that Kelly will be joining me on the Editorial team of Art of Procurement as we seek to build and grow a multi-format procurement insights platform.  Stay tuned for more information!

Feb 21, 2017

Today’s guest was the first ever interviewee on the Art of Procurement.  All the way back in Episode 2, Tania Seary, the Founder of Procurious, as well as procurement consulting firm The Faculty and recruitment company The Source, joined me to talk about all things related to the importance of creating a personal brand through social media.

In today’s discussion, we focus on a couple of topics that both intertwine with each other.  First, I ask Tania for an update on how things are going at Procurious, and we both share our own motivations for following the paths that we have – in fact Tania turns the table on me by asking a couple of questions on why I started the Art of Procurement.

We then talk about the notion of Procurement 4.0, which will be the focus of the Big Idea Summit, and the impact it is set to have on the way that procurement organizations of the future will operate.

Areas we cover in today’s conversation include:

  • Why a complete and up-to-date LinkedIn profile is so important – both in creating your own personal brand, and when you are looking to recruit others.
  • Tania’s perspective on how Procurious has evolved over the past 18 months.
  • How the sources that procurement professionals can use to access knowledge, information and thought leadership changing.
  • Why knowledge alone is no longer power for procurement pro’s.
  • The topics are Procurious members most interested in reading about.
  • Procurement’s role in helping leaders think – and then respond to – the unthinkable.
  • How Tania defines Procurement 4.0.
  • Why Tania is motivated to look outside of the procurement profession for insights and inspiration that will help us to continue to grow.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/BIL2017 

Feb 14, 2017

I have always sought out the Deloitte CPO Survey as a leading indicator on the health of the procurement function and just a couple of days ago, Deloitte published the results of their 2017 Survey.  

Today on the Art of Procurement, I am joined by Lance Younger. Lance is the Head of Procurement and Sourcing Consulting in the UK, a Partner of Deloitte’s Strategy and Operations Practice, and a co-author of the report that accompanies this year’s survey findings.

In today’s conversation, we go beyond the numbers to identify some of the trends, challenges and opportunities that look set to shape the procurement profession in 2017.

Areas we cover in today’s conversation include:

  • The headline findings of the report, such as:
    • 79% of procurement leaders continue to focus on cost savings
    • The growing importance of risk management as a procurement priority
    • 60% of procurement leaders do not believe they have the internal capabilities to deliver on their vision
  • The increasing role that procurement is playing in helping organizations deliver top line growth.
  • The juxtaposition between more and more procurement leaders wanting to increase business partnership, while the value levers being used are increasingly short term.
  • Key characteristics of high performing procurement organizations
  • How procurement outsourcing is struggling to maintain traction, and why changing workforce trends and the increase in the freelance economy are providing procurement leaders with new, innovative, delivery models.
  • Why some leading companies are moving back towards a decentralized procurement delivery model.
  • The expanding nature of procurement’s role in an organization.
  • Why the clock is ticking to transform procurement’s value proposition (and why we do have time yet to make the leap).
  • What do C-suite executives look for from their procurement teams today.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/deloitte2017 

Feb 7, 2017

My guest today is Drew Polin.  Drew is the president of OpDecision, a company that helps organizations reduce their wireless spend, specifically without having to go through the upheaval of switching out their service providers.

Our conversation today is split into two parts.  First, we talk about gainsharing. It's a commercial model that I have been very skeptical about in the past, as I think it can incent the wrong behaviors, and can become a way for service providers to take advantage of less sophisticated buyers. OpDecision uses a gainsharing model, but with a twist. I think that if you are considering any time of gainsharing engagement, you should listen in to Drew’s lessons learned.

We then move into wireless, where Drew shares some of the tips and strategies that you can use to make an impact on your wireless spend here in 2017.

Topics that we discuss include:

• Tips on how to structure gainsharing engagements so that they incentivize the right outcomes, and result in win-win deals.

• The major areas of wireless spend, and how the category is evolving • How wireless carriers make their money in 2017.

• Top pain points for out of control wireless costs.

• Why international wireless costs are set to plummet.

• Supplier dynamics in the US wireless market and the impact that has on pricing.

• Why you are leaving money on the table is you only review and agree wireless pricing as part of your contract negotiations.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/wireless2017 

Jan 31, 2017

Today’s Art of Procurement interview is a real treat.  It is chock full of actionable insights on how we can position our careers, and our organizations, to fully take advantage of digitization and its impact on what, and how, we buy.

My guest is Bill Huber.   Bill is an active participant in the procurement community and I have followed his career for some time.  Bill has worked as a practitioner – most recently as Chief Procurement Officer of Wachovia - as a service provider as head of IBM’s procurement outsourcing offering - and as a consultant and advisor.  Today, Bill is a Partner at Information Services Group (ISG), responsible for Digital Platforms and Solutions.

Areas we cover in today’s conversation include:

  • Has Bill’s experience as practitioner, service provider and advisor changed his perspective on the procurement value proposition?
  • Why many procurement organizations have become the enemy of differentiation.
  • What procurement can do to have maximum impact on an organization.
  • Why changing metrics matters – especially to those companies that achieve real transformation… and where procurement can start.
  • What does “digital” really mean?
  • What will the impact of digitization on what and how we buy?
  • Will technology render much of procurement redundant, and where should we focus to change our value proposition?
  • How can procurement align with the digital economy:?
    • New ways of segmenting spend, so that you can focus on what is truly material.
    • Options for accessing capability, so that retained teams can focus only on what makes their business a competitive advantage.
    • Rethink contracts and contractual SLA’s to ensure they are fit for purpose and incent all parties to focus on the delivery of outcomes.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/billhuber

Jan 24, 2017

“We never put our own priorities first. If I save money and diminish my stakeholders ability to succeed, then I am counter productive and they are not going to use me again.” – Greg Antoniono, Anthem

Today on the show, I am joined by Greg Antoniono.  Greg is the Sourcing Director for Marketing at Anthem, one of the giants of the US Health Care industry

Over the course of the last eight years, Greg has taken his marketing procurement group on a journey from having very limited influence to being a key partner with a direct line to the Chief Marketing Officer.

In today’s show, Greg and I discuss the key steps and learnings that he, and Anthem, took on that journey.

Areas we cover include:

  • The major steps that enabled Anthem Marketing to become a trusted partner to their business stakeholders.
  • The importance of executive level support.
  • Why you should never put your own priorities first.
  • Why Greg believes why products or services should not be immediately labelled as commoditized when they historically may have been so.
  • The biggest disruptions impacting marketing stakeholders at the beginning of 2017.
  • Why Anthem embraces small businesses and start up’s – including making direct investments – as a way to identify and facilitate supplier-led innovation.
  • Greg’s biggest learnings on the journey to date – including the need to evolve to remain relevant, align, and recognize where you can add value.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/anthem 

Jan 19, 2017

January 2017 marks the first month of a new collaboration that I am very excited about.  I am co-hosting a new monthly show, imaginatively titled The Month in Procurement, with Mark Perera. 

Mark is the CEO and Founder of Old St Labs, the Founder of Procurement Leaders, and as I have got to know him, I see how passionate he is about levering innovation and technology to help businesses really harness the power of their supply networks.

The show is meant to be a conversation.  We’ll be bringing in other people to join us every month to just chat about the issues of the day and their impact on procurement, and, frankly, anything that we have on our mind!

I’ll be leaving the edit button at home, so what we say, is what you will hear!

This Month in Procurement will have its own podcast channel that you can subscribe to, and I’ll let you know when that is ready to go.

However, for this month, I’m including our conversation in the Art of Procurement feed. 

I hope you like it – let me know what you think.

For more information, visit: http://thismonthinprocurement.com 

Jan 17, 2017

My guest on today’s show is Mark Webb. Mark is the Managing Director of UK based procurement consultancy firm, Future Purchasing.

Following experience as a practitioner and then in consulting with PwC and QP Group, Mark co-founded Future Purchasing, and they have grown from strength to strength since their inception back in 2002.

Future Purchasing undertakes what I think is the leading piece of industry research on the subject of Category Management.

They just put the final touches on their 2017 Global Category Management Leadership Report, a research collaboration with Henley Business School.

What I wanted to do in my conversation with Mark is to pick apart some of the key findings, and understand what differentiates the leaders from followers in terms of their approach to category management, and the subsequent results that they enjoy.

Areas we cover include:

  • Why Category Management should be a business process, not a procurement process.
  • The background behind the development of the Category Management Leadership Report.
  • What differentiates a leader from a follower.
  • A summary of the key recommendations from the report, highlighting areas with procurement control, and those that require stakeholder engagement.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/fpsurvey

 

Jan 10, 2017

Today’s guest on the Art of Procurement is Mark Trowbridge, the co-founder and Principal for Strategic Procurement Solutions, and the former Director of Sourcing and Contracts at Bank of America.

Mark is a published author, and a regular presenter at procurement and supply chain conferences. In fact, it was at the recent ISM Indirect conference in December that Mark and I met. As I got to know Mark I knew that I needed to invite him onto the show, and fortunately he accepted my invite without reservation.

The main topic of today’s conversation is the notion of procurement superheroes – what are their characteristics, how can procurement leaders best deploy, and retain them. 

However, as you will hear in the interview, we discuss much more than that!

Areas we cover include:

  • Why procurement is making a shift back to full value procurement
  • Why CPO’s are being replaced by business leaders, and what procurement leaders can do to stop the trend.
  • Why e-auctions and competitive bidding events do not always lead you to the lowest cost, and what you can do instead.
  • The 6 key attributes of procurement superheroes, and how they are changing as the procurement value proposition evolves.
  • How can a procurement leader build an environment to help all employees act at a superhero level.
  • Mark explains the concept of taking intelligence risks that has had a big impact on his thinking.
  • What are the right ways and wrong ways to position savings reporting?

Mark’s two resolutions for procurement in 2017.

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/sps

Dec 16, 2016

So here we are: The Best of 2016 List.

As the year comes to a close, I sat down to consider which episodes have been the most powerful and impactful in 2016.  Some of these have been my personal favorites, others determined by download numbers.  What I did try to do is to make the list as diverse as possible, and it features interviews with CPO's, CEO's, Founders, Educators and Consultants.  There should be something for everyone here!  

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/bestof16

Dec 13, 2016

Pierre Mitchell was the first supply chain practitioner to become a procurement "industry analyst" with roles at AMR Research (now Gartner) followed by The Hackett Group, and now Spend Matters. There are few people, if any, that cover procurement than understand, and have such passion for, the growth of our profession.

Both Pierre and I were together last week at the ISM Inside Indirect Conference 2016 in Las Vegas, and so we picked up the mic’s and hit record! So, today’s show is an informal chat covering a range of topics.

Areas we cover include: 

  • What challenges in procurement is Pierre motivated to try and help solve?
  • Has procurement evolved over 2016 or as we still in the same position, with the same challenges and questions, as we were 12 months ago?
  • How can we differentiate marketing hype with reality when it comes to potentially game changing technologies?
  • What is the most overused and most underused procurement KPI?

For more information, visit: http://artofprocurement.com/ismindirect 

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