It is not easy to strike a balance between the need for speed, control, and compliance.
Get it right and you’ve unlocked the X factor. Get it wrong and the customer experience will suffer.
The business wants more convenience but procurement is wired to ensure control. Can procurement satisfy both at the same time?
In this session from Mastermind LIVE 2022, Radhika Samant, VP of Finance and Head of Global Procurement at Optimizely, and Lalitha Rajagopalan, Co-founder and Head of Strategy & Marketing at ORO Labs, share their thoughts on the procurement X factor and why it is so critical to transformation.
They shared their perspectives about:
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.
The procurement talent landscape has always been complex, and the last few years have accelerated the rate of change and amplified the impact on companies of all sizes.
First there was the pandemic, and the transition to working from home. This gave way to the Great Resignation, which saw people leaving their jobs in droves. Some exited the workforce altogether, others switched jobs or industries, and many decided to take the opportunity to dabble in entrepreneurship.
Now, with trouble looming on the economic horizon, the pendulum is starting to swing back in the other direction, and news of large scale layoffs is making people think twice about leaving a secure position.
In this episode, based on an AOP Live session, Joe Payne, SVP of Source-to-Pay, and Jennifer Ulrich, VP of Advisory, from Corcentric answered a range of questions about these employment trends and how they are impacting procurement talent:
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.
What does it take to formulate an ambitious vision and then go hands-on to bring it to fruition?
Tony Uphoff is a growth advisor, tech mentor, and turn around expert. He was the President and CEO at Thomas (formerly ThomasNet), and personally drove the effort to transform the 100 year old business into a modern media enterprise, what he calls a “125 year old startup.”
This week’s episode is from the first session of Mastermind LIVE 2022. Tony joined Kelly Barner to kick off the two day event by sharing his experiences with driving organizations towards a big goal or vision - despite enterprise inertia in a challenging market.
Listen to hear Tony share his point of view on:
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.
The last few years have seen an explosion of new investment and startups to serve leading procurement organizations. While procurement is certainly worthy of such attention and enablement, they are also the ‘innovation gateway’ for the company as a whole. Keeping them inspired is a critical job - one that this week’s guest takes personally.
Matthias Gutzmann founded DPW in 2019 to deliver against an unmet need that he recognized in the procurement community. He didn’t want to host another conference, but rather to create an event, one that would bring together the most diverse community of professionals possible.
In this conversation, Matthias joins host Philip Ideson to share his founder’s story and talk about where his attention is focused right now:
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.
Professional athletes represent the top 1% in their sport. While talent will take an athlete a long way, the key differentiator between those that reach the top and those who come close is mindset: the ‘athlete's mindset.’ This powerful but intangible way of thinking makes it possible to achieve seemingly insurmountable goals - no matter what arena you compete in.
In this week’s episode, we are sharing the final session of Mastermind LIVE 2022. Philip Ideson was joined on the virtual stage by Lou Alexander, a former NFL and Division 1 football player who now works with procurement teams daily as part of his role at ProcurementIQ.
Join Philip and Lou to hear how the determination required to build an athlete’s mindset is critical for anyone who wants to embark on their own journey to 10X the impact of procurement:
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.
According to research done by Globality, "90% of global procurement leaders are committed to the urgent transformation of their operating models and processes to be more resilient and agile.” And yet, committing to an idea does not necessarily guarantee that it will gain operational traction. For that, procurement needs to change the way they engage with the business.
During this fireside chat moderated by Philip Ideson as part of Mastermind LIVE 2022, BP Director of Digital and Innovation Sourcing Nicholas Wright and Global Category Manager for Talent and Consulting Ben Weston were joined Globality’s Graham Moore to discuss how agile sourcing can deliver increased efficiencies and ROI by moving more spend to a self-service process.
In this session, they explored topics such as:
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.
In this episode, Philip Ideson is joined by Helen Mackenzie, Art of Procurement’s Head of Community and Events. They recently had the opportunity to attend ProcureCon EU in Barcelona, Spain.
Not only was the conference a great place to meet with colleagues face to face, it also presented an opportunity to consider today’s key economic, geopolitical, and business challenges from a uniquely European perspective.
During the conversation Philip and Helen discuss:
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’s role in integrations and separations is often overlooked – and understandably so. Corporate development teams and M&A professionals are chartered with identifying, negotiating, and closing the deal. Execution on the investment thesis is paramount.
However, the untapped potential in procurement represents an opportunity to ‘sweeten the deal’. At its core, procurement is chartered with the management of third party spend and partner relationship oversight. The inherent supply base influence on profitability and risk is only magnified in a M&A environment. Thus, sidelining procurement in inorganic activities such as acquisitions or divestitures could mean missing the opportunity for deal upside and value acceleration.
This episode of the podcast is based on an AOP Live session with Chris McCarney and Marcos Cortes from KPMG, LLP.
Chris and Marcos joined host Philip Ideson to explore…
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.
There has been a lot of talk about ‘experience’ in procurement during the last couple of years, but how important is it really? Could it be that improving the employee experience is the only way for procurement to fully leverage their ability to drive value?
We wanted to know more, so we partnered with the team at Zip Intake-to-Procure to run a survey that looked at how the procurement-created employee experience impacts procurement performance. The findings were really compelling, as you will hear.
In this episode, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner share their perspectives on the report findings as well as the changes procurement can make to improve experience and results in parallel:
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.
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:
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:
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:
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