“There are not many functions, if any, other than procurement that sit in a position to both positively and negatively have such an impact on organizations, on strategy, on direction.” - Gordon Donovan
In an era of increasing uncertainty and existential angst over AI, Gordon Donovan has a refreshingly optimistic view of procurement’s future. In fact, he says, procurement might just very well save the world.
While this may be a hyperbolic statement, it’s not that far off the mark, as Gordon explains to Philip Ideson in this episode of Art of Procurement.
As Gordon sees it, procurement is one of the only functions that holds the power – or privilege – to directly impact almost every corner of the business, well beyond cost. As such, how procurement approaches things like relationship building, crisis management, volatility, risk assessment, digital disruption, and strategic planning will play a huge role in determining just how successful they are in ‘saving the world.’
In this episode, Philip and Gordon also discuss:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“No matter how strong or how solid your foundations might be, the environment in which we operate is changing at such a pace that if we do not evolve with it, we will become obsolete.” - Sebastien Bals, EVP, Chief Procurement Officer at Merck Group
As technology – AI in particular – continues to transform the way we work and live, the future of procurement hangs in the balance.
In this episode, Philip Ideson and Sebastien Bals, EVP and Chief Procurement Officer at Merck Group, talk about the “two roads” facing procurement: one, defined by opportunity, innovation, and transformation, and the other marked by disruption, outdated roles and practices, and far more uncertainty.
They confront the larger, existential questions that keep many procurement leaders up at night, while recognizing that procurement’s willingness to adapt and adjust could be the very skills that keep them from traveling down the path to extinction.
They also discuss:
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“The visionary leaders can see the opportunities but also recognize that, while traditional skills in procurement still remain very, very important, they need to evolve to realize the true value of technology.” - Andrew Daley, Managing Director, Digital Procurement & Supply Chain, Edbury Daley
The skills and operating models procurement prioritizes are key to their success whether they are facing a single, large-scale transformation or if they are on a steady, continuous digitization journey.
Philip Ideson recently spoke with Andrew Daley, Managing Director, Digital Procurement & Supply Chain at Edbury Daley, in-person at SAP Spend Connect Live in Las Vegas.
Along with discussing insights from a recent research report on procurement technology skills, they explore the importance of centers of excellence, upskilling, and automation. Andrew also shares his views on:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“You have to build a business case and be mindful and purposeful about your continuous improvement and your education around the art of what is possible.” Joël Collin-Demers, Consulting Principal at Pure Procurement
The rapid expansion in the procurement technology landscape in recent years has left many procurement leaders feeling overwhelmed by choice and complexity and second-guessing themselves about how to successfully take advantage of all the opportunities that technology provides.
In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Joël Collin-Demers, Consulting Principal at Pure Procurement, about why continuous improvement, rather than transformation, might be the key to successful procurement digitization.
Joël explains how the tendency to view transformation as a means to a clearly defined endpoint often leads to overwhelmed teams and unrealized value. Instead of a one-off digital transformation overhaul, he advocates for a measured, strategic approach that starts with understanding business processes and builds technology capabilities incrementally over a sustained period of time.In this episode, Joel and Philip explore:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
In the final part of this four-part special series, we compare and contrast the actual policy positions of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Candidate Former President Donald J. Trump.
With less than two weeks until election day, procurement and supply chain professionals must have plans in place for the eventuality of either candidate being voted into office, focusing on the areas where they agree as much as where they differ.
Listen in as Kelly Barner describes where the two major party candidates actually differ (and where they have a lot in common) based on their own campaign websites, policy platforms, and statements from publicly available interviews:
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In part three of this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Republican Candidate former President Donald Trump.
Former President Donald Trump is 78 Years old, and a former businessman/real estate developer as well as the former host of The Apprentice. He became the nominee on July 18, 2024 when he accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention
Listen in as Kelly Barner explores his policy positions and platform:
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In part two of this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
Vice President Kamala is 60 Years old and a former Senator and Attorney General from the State of California. She became the presumptive Democratic nominee on July 21, 2024 when President Biden suspended his campaign for re-election, and the official nominee on August 22 when she accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
Listen in as Kelly Barner explores her policy positions and platform:
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There are two weeks to go until the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Interest, speculation, and tension have been building all year.
Most news coverage of the election is intended to sway voters, hyperbolic to a fault, and not tailored to the specific information needs of procurement and supply chain professionals. What we really need to know is what each major party candidate has said and what likely outcomes that would lead to.
In this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Candidate Former President Donald J. Trump as well as how they compare.
Listen in as Kelly Barner kicks off the series by explaining:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“What we are seeing is companies have made the decision that they believe being more sustainable is good business. Therefore, that is the number one priority.” - Daniel Dorr, VP of Marketing at Supplier.io
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations are core components of a strong supply chain, but these initiatives can also expose the business to unexpected areas of risk.
In this episode, based on an AOP Live session, hosts Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner talk with Daniel Dorr and Laura Noonan from Supplier.io and Alexandra Di Fabrizio from Impak Analytics to discuss the findings of over 200 in-depth ESG risk assessments that provide an unparalleled look into the current risks of supplier sustainability performance.
They break down the highest risk areas associated with ESG, share mitigation best practices, and elaborate on the opportunities procurement has to strengthen their role in the business by neutralizing ESG risk.
In this episode, Daniel, Alexandra, and Laura discuss:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“Procurement teams face increasing pressure to demonstrate value and drive business outcomes, but sometimes there's a disconnect between the skills that they have and the skills that they need to deliver at the highest level.” - Philip Ideson, Founder & Managing Director at Art of Procurement
A robust capability framework is the heart of procurement team development. It’s a powerful tool that teams can use to enhance their performance, better align with the business, and ultimately drive better outcomes across all initiatives, big and small.
In this solo episode, Philip Ideson explains why capability frameworks have emerged as a critical part of building stronger, more impactful teams.
Specifically, he explains:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“When you have the ability to connect data and collaborate with teams, that collective intelligence you’re able to surface at different places is what causes generational change.” - Shachi Rai Gupta, Vice President of Strategy at ORO Labs
Procurement is in the midst of a transformational shift when it comes to technology and data, and many teams are now looking to procurement orchestration to unify their processes, improve spend and risk management, and position themselves as innovative and strategic leaders in the business.
In early 2024, Art of Procurement and ORO Labs partnered to conduct a study into the factors that are making procurement orchestration a top area of focus. The study also made it possible to gain a better understanding of how teams can use strategic orchestration to increase their visibility, effectiveness, and influence.
In this episode, Shachi Rai Gupta, Vice President of Strategy at ORO Labs, and Martin Ward, Digital Procurement Transformation at Roche, discuss the results of the survey and key insights learned about procurement orchestration, including:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“I’m madly passionate about procurement because I think it’s a hidden gem of the corporate world, and it’s a magical field for problem solvers.” - Natasha Gurevich, Founder and CEO of Candor Procurement
Natasha Gurevich, Founder and CEO of Candor Procurement, has a long track record of procurement leadership under her belt. Most recently, she was the first Chief Procurement Officer at Nike, and, before that, VP of Global Procurement at Salesforce. She has also enjoyed procurement leadership roles at McKesson, Paypal, Gap, and Visa.
In this episode, Philip Ideson talks with Natasha about her journey to becoming one of procurement’s most well-known change agents and how her decades of experience in leadership roles have shaped her approach to driving change at scale.
Natasha shares her perspectives on:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“Procurement is at the point where they’re trying to figure out next steps on digitization, and it will be an immediate priority for everyone in the next couple of years.” - Gordon Donovan, Vice President of Research - Procurement and External Workforce at SAP
It is Gordon Donovan’s job to read every single piece of research that’s published on procurement, the workforce, and the supply chain. More importantly, it is his job to figure out what it means. As he told Philip Ideson, “I’ve got the best job in the world.”
All of this information gives Gordon a deep and comprehensive view of the global procurement landscape and the challenges and opportunities that it presents.
In this episode, Philip draws on Gordon’s depth of knowledge to discuss the findings of SAP’s recently published Economist Impact report, as well as what the research tells us about procurement’s vision, priorities, and opportunities for the future.
Listen in to hear Gordon and Phil discuss the report, which included some surprising findings, as well as:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“Everyone has an opinion about facility services in your buildings, so you're always trying to accommodate multiple stakeholders and juggle multiple departments.” - Alex Carlson, VP of Facilities Management Services at Fine Tune
In the world of indirect spend management, there are few categories as complex - and high stakes - as facilities management. Delivery locations and sometimes provider networks are distributed and fragmented, making selection, implementation, and ongoing oversight especially difficult.
It is no wonder, then, that so many companies are tempted over to “the dark side” of convenience-based solutions in this category. Unfortunately, allowing third parties to manage the delivery of services may also give them more control over cost than procurement realizes.
In this episode, Kelly Barner is joined by Alex Carlson, former Vice President of Category Management within Wells Fargo’s Corporate Properties division and new VP of Facilities Management Services at Fine Tune.
His experience and advice can help your organization avoid “the dark side” and instead walk towards the many opportunities for value creation associated with this category of spend.
Listen in to learn:
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Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement.
Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.
“At the end of the day, we're trying to create this organization from which we have the ability to help the profession move forward with more than ever before. We think in terms of what each trend or change is going to mean to each team and what they can make of the related opportunities and challenges.” - Philip Ideson, Founder & Managing Director, Art of Procurement
In this episode of the Art of Procurement podcast, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner take a break from their usual roles interviewing procurement thought leaders and experts to reflect on the year so far in procurement, including emerging trends, economic pressures, election coverage, AI, and the always-evolving needs of the procurement community.
Philip and Kelly also discuss the recent results of an AOP survey that reveals procurement’s increasing demand for quality, targeted content, and they share what they’ve been hearing from other procurement leaders about the impact of AI now that the “newness” has worn off and teams are getting serious about implementation, use cases, and business outcomes.
In this episode, they reflect on:
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