I am joined today by Julienne Ryan, Principal of J Ryan Partners. Julienne is a former Executive Director of ISM-New York but the majority of her career has been in the world of HR, recruitment, and organizational development.

Her keynote was focused on effective communications, and so I invited Julienne on the show to talk about the art of storytelling and how we can use that technique in our careers and to influence our stakeholders.

I am joined today by a repeat guest and friend of the show David Hearn.  David is a long time procurement executive for companies such as Juniper Networks, Kaiser Permanente and Sun Microsystems.  Today, he is the CEO and Founder of advisory firm CPO Advisement Services.

I caught up with David at the recent ProcureCon Indirect West conference in Scottsdale where he was talking about Machine Learning and its impact on procurement. Our chance to talk came in the midst of the hotel’s garden, surrounded by birds, waterfalls - and a construction site!

With this natural backdrop, we started our conversation about machine learning - the opportunities for procurement and the long term value proposition.

I am joined today by two guests, Jen Warner and Eric Martin.

Jen Warner is the Vice President of Compliance and Chief Development Officer of Ashe Legal Group (a member of the Palambridge ecosystem). Prior to joining Ashe, Jen served as the Chief Compliance Officer of a Fortune 500 multinational company and, in that role, oversaw the company’s global data privacy compliance program.

Eric Martin is the Associate General Counsel and Global Privacy Officer for JELD-WEN in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is responsible for all labor and employment and privacy matters, including GDPR compliance.

Our conversation today is on the topic of GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation, an EU-based regulation that takes effect on May 25, 2018. Once that date arrives, all organizations - regardless of their location - that collect personal data in the EU (including consumer data, customer data, employee data, other third party data) must demonstrate that they are in compliance or face strict penalties.

Today I am joined by Fraz Baig, a long time listener and friend of the show who is a Senior Manager at Ace Hardware, managing all of Ace’s corporate spend including IT, Marketing and Supply Chain.

As Fraz and I have got to know each other, I learned about the successes that he and his team have had at Ace in build strong partnerships with their stakeholders.  One of the fundamental pillars to that success is a Collaboration Model that explicitly lays out the roles and responsibilities of both the procurement team and their stakeholders as they engage in category management and sourcing projects.

And so I invited Fraz onto the show to explain a little bit more about the model, and his learnings from its implementation and evolution.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Today on the Art of Procurement, I welcome back David Bush, the Chief Revenue Officer for SpendHQ.

David joined me back in Episode 139 to share 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.

Today we continue the conversation with a look to the future - how will spend analytics evolve, and what impact are emerging technologies likely to have in the way we understand and gain visibility into the products and services that we buy.

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.

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.

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.

We are in for a treat this week on the show.  I am joined by Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, the inventor of the personal computer, and a serial entrepreneur.  Steve really needs no introduction!

Steve recently keynoted the Coupa Inspire conference in San Francisco that I attended a couple of weeks ago.  Coupa arranged for Steve to spend 15 minutes with me after he got off stage, and so fresh off his fireside chat, we sat down and I recorded the conversation.

As I considered what kind of questions to ask to maximize our 15 minutes together, I focused on areas that have been a key part of Woz’s experiences as an innovator, and from his first-hand experience building the Apple brand with Steve Jobs.

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.

At the Art of Procurement, we get many press releases - usually detailing client wins, technology updates, or company acquisitions.  However, there was one that came across my desk recently announcing the launch of an Indirect Procurement Standard.

With my interest piqued, I reached out to the author of the Standard - Sime Curkovic - to learn more. Sime is Professor of Supply Chain Management at Western Michigan University, and joins me on the show today to share more details about the Indirect Procurement Standard - what was the need, how was it developed, and what does the final output looks like.

There was a time, not long ago, when the only procurement professionals who bought software had responsibility for IT sourcing.

Today, with the explosion of SaaS, and the use to SaaS technology to deliver tradition labor based services, buyers across many categories must now negotiate software licenses, either directly or with the help of their peers in IT.  At the same time, IT sourcing professionals are faced with the increasing supplier requests to move from on-premise to cloud based solutions.

My guest on this episode of Art of Procurement is Randy Roth, the President of Seprio.  Randy helps me unpack the world of software licensing, while providing tips to help procurement build stronger relationships with IT, navigate the move to the cloud, and negotiate with the big boys.

As a procurement leader, how do you balance the needs of your stakeholders with your responsibility to be guardians of third party spend?

That is the challenge being addressed head on by today’s guests on the Art of Procurement.  I’m delighted to be joined by David Natoff, the Head of Procure to Pay at Google, and Dr Bernd Huber, the Head of Google’s Sourcing Center of Excellence.

We focus our conversation on how Google Procurement continues on their journey to become a trusted business partner in a complex and agile organization, while ensuring that they remain strong corporate guardians.  Balancing these two objectives that are often in conflict with each other is Google Procurement’s greatest challenge – one that they are solving through their journey to move their sphere of influence.

I am joined today by Shaz Khan, the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Vroozi, a leading cloud-based business purchasing platform.

Shaz has a deep background in procurement technology, with a particular focus on SAP.

As long time listeners will know, I learn more and more every day about the nuts and bolts of procurement technology, while tending to spend more time looking for trends that I think will impact our profession.

One of those trends is self-service sourcing – empowering the organization to buy directly the vast majority of products and services they need, one the frameworks and governance structures are in place to support it.

And so, the main topic for today’s conversation is that of self-service sourcing.  Is it a threat, or an opportunity for procurement?

Joining me on the show today is Dave Quillin, the manager of procurement for Alliant Credit Union, the seventh largest credit union in the United States.

Dave has specialized in technology procurement with organizations such as Orbitz and Groupon before taking on a new opportunity at Alliant to build a procurement and vendor management office from the ground up.

In today’s Art of Procurement, Dave shares his journey at Alliant.  What I really like is that Dave built his organization by first listening to the needs of the business, and by focusing more broadly on value rather than cost savings alone.

Dave shares the importance of balancing process with agility, particularly in regulated industries such as financial services, along with lessons learned along the way.

For his work at Alliant, Dave was recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive as a member of their 2017 Pros to Know.

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.