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.

This week we are featuring a special crossover episode from The Sourcing Hero podcast, a collaboration with our partners at Una. Hosted by our own Kelly Barner, The Sourcing Hero brings together professionals from a broad range of roles to share their stories of  business heroism and optimism.

In this episode, Kelly welcomed Ashley Sieb, a creative, energetic marketing and communications specialist who knows her way around procurement. She also knows how to get - and keep - people’s attention… and then (to use her personal mantra) “find a way forward” that works for everyone.

Listen in as Ashley shares her tips and perspective on how anyone can drive higher levels of engagement from different types of audiences:

• The components of her personal model for driving engagement: the REAL model
• Whether all personality types are equally effective at doing what needs to be done to drive engagement
• When and how engagement and communication are the same, and when communication is a channel for driving others’ engagement

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 teams often struggle to connect their business case for S2P and the systems-related work and change required to deliver ROI. Platforms are chosen for the wrong reasons, system administrators turn over, catalog setup work becomes a secondary priority, and hastily made configuration choices add friction over time.

This episode is based on an AOP Live webinar titled “Digital Procurement Is Not Easy: Don’t Go It Alone.” Host Philip Ideson was joined by Anthony Mignogna and Claire Sexton from Corcentric who shared their advice for getting the most out of a source to pay technology investment. 

Anthony and Claire answered questions on implementation-related topics such as:

• How to strengthen the connection between your S2P business case and your S2P business benefits
• Why post go-live maintenance and configuration will either enable or prevent continuous improvement
• How managed services can help procurement seize the upside potential of digitization by driving adoption and utilization

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In the fourth and final episode in this series, he is joined by Sushant Adhikari, Director, and Sanjeev Singh, Director of Capabilities and Solutions, both at WNS Denali. 

In this interview, Sushant and Sanjeev focus on the procure to pay process:

• Why it is a mistake (and a lost opportunity) to think of procure to pay as a tactical process
• The critical role that data quality plays for organizations that are trying to maximize the ROI of their procure to pay capabilities
• The most important challenges that leading procurement organizations are overcoming through mature procure to pay

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In the second episode, he is joined by Lynn Rideout, Vice President of Global Category Advisory, and Sanjeev Singh, Director - Solutions both at WNS Denali. 

They focus on taking an ecosystem approach to the category management process:

• What does true category management entail and how does it benefit when procurement takes an ecosystem approach?
• What are the common pain points companies work to overcome? 
• What role do digital transformation, investments in talent, and business alignment play in category management success?

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In this first episode, he is joined by Satyen Pathak, Vice President Solution and Capabilities, and Lynn Rideout, Vice President of Global Category Advisory, both at WNS Denali. 

They take this opportunity to discuss how to start the planning process for taking an ecosystem approach to procurement: 

• What do we mean when we talk about an “ecosystem approach to procurement?”
• Should procurement organizations start with a process similar to baselining?
• How can decision makers determine what should be changed, especially to ensure ‘fit’ over time?
• What factors determine a ‘best fit’ solution?

In this Art of Procurement special series, host Philip Ideson asks members of the WNS Denali team: How do you design an end-to-end ecosystem based procurement operating model? Throughout the four parts of this series, they provide their insight about the basics of an ecosystem approach, and then each set of guests digs into specifics across category management, source to contract, and procure to pay processes.

In the third episode, he is joined by Sushant Adhikari, Director, and Sanjeev Singh, Director of Capabilities and Solutions, both at WNS Denali. 

Their conversation focuses on the source to contract process:

• Which stakeholders should be involved in source to contract vs. procure to pay?
• How can procurement work with the leadership team to achieve better alignment?
• The approach to talent - whether through hiring or upskilling - and how it positions procurement for sustained success

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.

Most of the improvements procurement has achieved over time have been incremental. And while there is nothing wrong with incremental change, the challenges presented by today’s economy and global supply disruptions demand more.

This is procurement’s “hour of change and challenge” as J.F.K. said in the famous speech quoted above.

During the last 20 years or so, procurement has operated within a narrow band of capabilities and strategies. And while we have certainly had to contend with external limiting factors, many of the guardrails that constrain us are ones that we put in place for ourselves.

If procurement wants to reach the next level, we have to break free from those guardrails and break down traditional notions of what procurement is and what we can deliver to the business. 

From day one of Art of Procurement, our intent has been to help procurement organizations become and remain relevant. To meet the demands of this moment of change and challenge, we have chosen to embark on a mission to 10X the impact of procurement.

In this special podcast, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner share the philosophy behind 10X:

• Where did the idea originate, and how is the Art of Procurement team holding themselves to a 10X standard on a daily basis?
• What are the six principles that we must balance in order to achieve the mission’s end goal?
• How are we challenging the Art of Procurement community and our brand partners to join us on the mission?

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.

Although most corporate conversations about data focus on quality, data utilization is also a critical concern. 95% of data never gets used, and since the useful life of data can be as short as a few days or weeks given the industry, value is being lost every day. 

Fortunately, new data is being created at an even faster rate; the decision to get started is ours to make.

This episode is based on an AOP Live session focused on the results of the fifth annual Data Quality and Governance Study conducted by The International Association for Data Quality, Governance and Analytics (IADQGA). 

Kelly Barner was joined by Joseph Yacura and Vishal Patel to answer live questions related to data quality and actionability:

• How to get started on a data quality journey despite the complexity of today’s business environment
• Best practices and rules of thumb about the lifespan of corporate data
• What procurement should be doing differently and/or better with the system-generated data to which they already have access

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 understands that suppliers offer critical opportunities for advantage and risk resilience - but does the rest of the company? A recent book, Profit from the Source: Transforming Your Business by Putting Suppliers at the Core, makes the case for more involvement and understanding from CEOs.

In this episode, Philip Ideson is joined by two of the four authors of that book, Daniel Weise, a Partner and Managing Director in Boston Consulting Group’s Dusseldorf office, and Dr. Wolfgang Schnellbächer, a Partner and Managing Director based in BCG’s Stuttgart office. Their combined expertise in procurement and game-theory-based negotiations are evident in the book, which was written with their colleagues Christian Schuh and Alenka Triplat.

Philip takes this opportunity to draw out addition thoughts from Daniel and Wolfgang about:

• Their firsthand experience working with some of the world's leading companies to drive bottom-line and top-line growth 
• How procurement leaders can help increase the profile of procurement across the C-suite and demonstrate the ROI for additional procurement investment 
• The importance of deliberately putting suppliers at the heart of procurement strategies

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.

If procurement were based upon comic book rules, sales professionals would be the arch nemesis. The funny thing is, sales feels the same way in return. If we could just achieve more understanding, everyone would benefit.

This week’s episode uses a roundtable format to dig into the timeless struggle between procurement and sales - more honestly and personally than we’ve ever done before.

Philip Ideson is joined by Donna Donato, CEO Americas at ChainIQ, in the ‘procurement corner,’ and in the ‘sales corner’ he welcomes Chris Donato, Founder & CEO of esellas, a revenue management company, and Megan Dimmer, CRO, esellas. 

And yes, Donna and Chris are married.

They explore procurement and sales alignment and discuss whether there are actually any opportunities to support each other.  As you might expect, they also had some interesting differences of opinion about the tactics and strategies sales and procurement use to make life more difficult for the other. 

Listen as they debate topics such as:

• Why sales needs to feel good about the relationship with their customers and prospects before they can advocate internally for competitive pricing
• How procurement can work with and through sales to gain entry to the buying process when the rest of the business is not actively engaging with them
• The importance of procurement and sales being able to come together to agree upon desired outcomes and what success will ultimately look like

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.

Although the challenge of managing supply chains and supplier relationships has compounded in recent years, most procurement teams are still over-reliant on fragmented internal information that slows their response in a negotiation. What procurement needs is an empowering source of insight that combines internal and external information in one place, providing optionality and agility so they can make changes in response to changing economic and geopolitical conditions.

In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Rajesh Kalidindi, Founder and CEO of LevaData, about his background in electronics direct materials management and why he decided to leave his position to start his own company.

• The opportunity that exists to augment existing human potential with technology that empowers faster decision making
• The requirement to do so at scale, so that procurement can strategically manage spend in all categories without adding headcount
• Why gathering insights alone isn’t enough without a way to ensure they are actionable

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 are multiple ways of looking at every business topic. Provider and practitioner are the ones procurement is most familiar with, but there are also third parties like researchers and academics. When we are trying to master a subject - especially one that we will have to manage cross-functionally - the more perspectives we can compare and synthesize, the better.

Art of Procurement recently had an opportunity to bring multiple perspectives together in one panel-based live event, an AOP Live session focused on connected planning. 

Philip Ideson was joined by three guests, each of whom shared examples from their experience demonstrating how procurement and finance can connect sustainability with financial planning, making everything measurable in the process.

Attendees heard actionable advice from:

• The Practitioner: Nick Wingbermuehle, Sr. Director, Capabilities and Continuous Improvement at Anheuser-Busch
• The Expert: Adrian de Groot Ruiz, Executive Director at the Impact Institute
• The Solution Provider: Bryan Baum, Head of Supply Chain Solutions, Sourcing and Procurement at Anaplan

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 17 United Nations Sustainable Development goals is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, for their own sake and for the sake of economic growth and development. The UN has a number of specific targets that address violence, discrimination, and other harmful practices and there are other third party organizations doing work in this area as well.

Is there something procurement can do to move companies towards global gender equality goals?

That is the topic of this conversation with David Latten, Head of Global Indirect Procurement at Logitech. Not only is he convinced that there is a lot procurement can do to support gender equality, he feels that we are particularly well positioned to do so.

• How a consumer-focused effort to evaluate how “Gender Fair” companies are became his cause internally with B2B suppliers
• The organizations helping with measurement and monitoring of individual companies’ relative gender equality
• His advice for starting a procurement-led effort to emphasize gender equality in your company

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 currently finds themselves at the intersection of many challenges. The war in Europe, inflation (possibly recession?), sustainability, diversity, and the Great Resignation are just a few. All of these need to be balanced with the core deliverables of cost and risk management, making data, digital experiences, and measurement more important than they have ever been.

SAP has recently commissioned a number of research studies with The Economist, IDC, and Harvard Business Review, all looking at different opportunities for procurement to impact the business. In order to get some idea of their findings, Philip Ideson recently interviewed Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP, at SAP Sapphire in Orlando, Florida.

In this conversation, Baber shares his perspective on:

• Why initiatives like sustainability will struggle to have an impact without the measurement and reporting that procurement is already well-suited to provide
• The importance of SAP sponsoring studies on the topics of greatest importance to procurement, and not to support a specific product or functionality rollout
• The two top findings that stood out to him from all of the data and research he has had the opportunity to review

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.