Fine Lines: Walking Procurement’s Double-Edged Sword
Art of Procurement
June 08, 2020
As much of the world takes tentative steps to return to some type of normality in the shadow of COVID-19, procurement’s role is quickly evolving. The past three months have seen our profession help guide our organizations through uncharted waters, securing supply through unconventional means.
Now the dust is settling and our focus can shift to the medium and long term. For many companies (although not all), that means saving money.
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Tags: Digital Disruption, Supply Chain, Procurement
Why In-Country Labor Arbitrage Will Shake Up The Procurement Hiring Market
Art of Procurement
May 24, 2020
In a recent Forbes article, Jack Kelly writes, “This could be an amazing consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and workers will both have the choice of hiring or working for a company anywhere.”
I agree wholeheartedly with this idea. By leveraging the best talent worldwide, regardless of location, companies will be able to hire onshore or nearshore knowledge workers at a lower cost. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean moving all roles to the lowest-cost places on earth. For instance, the Outsource to Detroit program encouraged companies to relocate their IT operations to Detroit rather than offshoring them. The advantage of today’s circumstances and connectivity levels even alleviate the need for investments in physical infrastructure.
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Tags: Procurement, Management, Future of Work
319: Seizing the Opportunity for Quick Wins w/ Brian Seipel
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May 04, 2020
“The real benefit of quick wins is to get the ball rolling. Procurement can take a small set of spend and turn around a good savings percentage within a month...
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Tags: Supply Chain
318: Partnering with the Business for Mutual Success w/ Canda Rozier
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April 27, 2020
“The mark of achievement for myself, for my team members, and for the procurement function as a whole is to be viewed as a valued, trusted advisor and partner to...
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317: 7 Creative Ways to Kick-Start Your Program – Expense Management Special Series Part 5
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April 24, 2020
Sustainable expense management programs should be managed to align outcomes with company objectives. Doing so amplifies their impact, strengthens stakeholder and supplier relationships, and provides real savings that can be...
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316: Demand and Category Management Expense Reduction Tactics – Expense Management Special Series Part 4
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April 23, 2020
Sustainable expense management programs should be managed to align outcomes with company objectives. Doing so amplifies their impact, strengthens stakeholder and supplier relationships, and provides real savings that can be...
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315: Tactics for Use when Sourcing and with Incumbent Suppliers – Expense Management Special Series Part 3
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April 22, 2020
Sustainable expense management programs should be managed to align outcomes with company objectives. Doing so amplifies their impact, strengthens stakeholder and supplier relationships, and provides real savings that can be...
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement
314: Avoiding Common Pitfalls – Expense Management Special Series Part 2
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April 21, 2020
Sustainable expense management programs should be managed to align outcomes with company objectives. Doing so amplifies their impact, strengthens stakeholder and supplier relationships, and provides real savings that can be...
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313: Building an Expense Management Program – Expense Management Special Series Part 1
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April 20, 2020
Sustainable expense management programs should be managed to align outcomes with company objectives. Doing so amplifies their impact, strengthens stakeholder and supplier relationships, and provides real savings that can be...
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312: How to Use AI-Powered Sourcing for Complex Services w/ Keith Hausmann
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April 13, 2020
“When I look back at the last 30 years of how sourcing and contracting have been done, and how they are still done today, I think they are still significantly...
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The Ultimate Guide to Expense Management: Achieving Cost Savings that Stick
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April 06, 2020
Whether your company is in growth mode, protecting what they have on hand, or adapting to a new normal, responsible expense management is never far from an executive’s mind. This...
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311: Leading Procurement in an Economic Downturn w/ Joe Payne
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April 06, 2020
“When you hit a recessionary period, the urgency goes way up. And so companies that maybe don’t always look to procurement as part of a cost reduction solution are now...
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290: The Value of Digital Procurement in the Manufacturing Sector w/ Sundar Kamak
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January 13, 2020
“We are in a very unique position right now, especially in the manufacturing world, that so much globalization has already happened. Every dollar saved is a dollar to the bottom...
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289: Integrating Blockchain into Procurement w/ Remko Van Hoek
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January 06, 2020
“We are not looking to re-live the heyday of RFID when we were going around and saying, ‘this is going to solve all of your technology problems overnight’.” If 2019...
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement
2019 Annual Letter (Part 2): Art Of Procurement In Review
Art of Procurement
December 31, 2019
In our first annual letter last year, I wrote that “the first three-quarters of the year were the most difficult months of my professional career”. So did 2019 fare any better? The short answer – yes! Topline revenue increased 5X and we’re really excited about our plans for 2020. But it wasn’t all roses. 2019 also had an experience that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy!
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Tags: Innovation, Management, Procurement
2019 Annual Letter #1: Procurement In Review
Art of Procurement
December 30, 2019
Last year, I wrote the first Art of Procurement annual letter, following the lead of the many companies who write annual letters to their investors. In a world of hyperbole and social media bluster, my intention is to pull back the curtains annually and share the highs and lows of building the Art of Procurement business as well as some big picture thoughts on the direction of the procurement function.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
2019 Annual Letter (Part 1): Procurement In Review
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December 30, 2019
As someone who engages in Art of Procurement content, I see you as an investor in our community. You invest your time, your mind space and your creativity in your...
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288: Three Procurement Themes for 2020
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December 23, 2019
As we begin to wind down for 2019, Art of Procurement host Philip Ideson shares the three themes that are at the forefront of his mind when considering the health...
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287: Best Practices for Managing Procurement Performance w/ Pierre Lapree and Jason Treida
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December 16, 2019
“Stop the spreadsheet madness!” – Pierre Lapree, Founder of Per Angusta This week’s podcast is based on our recent AOP Live session with Pierre Lapree and Jason Treida. They joined...
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286: Defining and Delivering on Supplier Development w/ Amanda Prochaska & Jonathan Townsley
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December 09, 2019
“If done correctly, supplier development reduces your total cost of ownership. It reduces risk, it increases innovation and it increases agility within your supply chains. It sounds like everything that...
The post 286: Defining and Delivering on Supplier Development w/ Amanda Prochaska & Jon
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285: A Procurement Compendium w/ Peter Smith
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December 02, 2019
“The focus should be on doing a damn good job.” Having the opportunity to reflect back on a successful career in its entirety is a gift, and in “A Procurement...
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284: Escaping Your Traditional Environment – This Month in Procurement
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November 25, 2019
In this episode, AOP Host Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner (General Manager of AOP and Owner of Buyers Meeting Point) discuss their major take-aways from November’s news, industry topics and...
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Data Quality: Critical But Overlooked?
Art of Procurement
November 21, 2019
In the latest edition of our AOP Live series, I had the opportunity to speak to Joe Yacura on the importance of data quality – not only as part of procurement digitization, but for the future of procurement as a whole. Joe is a former CPO of organizations such as Fannie Mae, Bank of America and American Express, and the co-author of the 3rd Annual Data Quality and Governance Study in partnership with Dr. Rob Handfield and the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC) at NC State.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
CPOs Unscripted: Advice on Talent and Transformation
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June 13, 2019
If procurement’s journey to this point has demonstrated anything, it is the importance of people and talent. A high-performing, cohesive procurement team can deliver unexpected results just as easily as an unmotivated, aloof one can do irreparable harm.
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Tags: Procurement
Art of Procurement Meets Art of Procurement
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March 15, 2019
The procurement profession has grown by leaps and bounds, progress that would not have been possible without a constant focus on processes and data. Facts can – or should –...
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When the B-Team Can Beat the A-Team
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March 07, 2019
Those of you who follow me on Twitter will be all too aware of my frustrations with the football team that I love, Bradford City. For a look deep into...
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Are We Focused on the Right Transformation Objectives?
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February 20, 2019
In The Hackett Group’s 2019 CPO Agenda Report, titled Building Next- Generation Capabilities, there is clearly misalignment between what procurement is expected to do and what we are placing an...
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Combating Leadership Fatigue
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February 05, 2019
If you are a regular visitor to Art of Procurement, congratulations! You recognized how important it is to have access to thought leadership. Youre not mired in the ways of...
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Introducing AOP Live – Establishing Your Procurement AI Game Plan
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January 31, 2019
Today we’re launching a new webinar series: AOP Live, where you drive the conversation and we ditch the slides! AOP Live was born out of my frustration with the traditional...
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Can An Information Amnesty Increase Your Procurement Results?
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January 24, 2019
“Companies will perform better if employees are not cowed into silence,” says a recent article in The Economist (registration required). While we don’t often discuss fear in the context of...
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Is California Reinventing the RFP Process?
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January 16, 2019
It isn’t often that a governmental Executive Order catches the eye for its potential impact on procurement. Last week, on his first day on the job, newly elected Governor of...
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Empathy, Alignment and Integration – Transforming the Procurement/IT Relationship
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January 10, 2019
There are many challenges for young procurement departments in rapidly growing companies who are trying to build and scale their impact. One such challenge is integrating into existing IT environments...
The post Empathy, Alignment and Integration – Transforming the Procurement/IT Relationship app
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Art of Procurement: E Pluribus Unum
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January 06, 2019
For small business owners – and this includes me – your brand is your word. AOP has been my brand identity since 2015 when I left my 9-5 job to...
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AOP 2018 Annual Letter (Part 2): Art of Procurement in Review
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December 28, 2018
The end of 2018 marks 3.5 years since I decided to “risk it all” as they say, leaving the confines of comfortable employment with a top tier firm to try and make a difference at scale. It has been an ongoing evolution: AOP1.0: Experiment: Is there a community of like-minded professionals dedicat
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AOP 2018 Annual Letter (Part 1): Procurement in Review
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December 27, 2018
I have never written an annual letter to the Art of Procurement community before, but there is no time like the present. I see you as investors in our community. You invest your time, your mind space, and your creativity in your own development and the development of others. That comes with an oppor
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It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
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September 08, 2018
I have spent a lot of time this summer thinking about the future of procurement. As part of our development of The CatalystCo Platform, we have been contemplating what skills will be critical for procurement professionals as the environment around us evolves; not just today, but over the next thr
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TWIP: “You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned” – Yoda
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March 23, 2018
I spend a lot of time on Twitter. I set out to have a productive purpose (one can always hope!), rather than just go to commiserate with my fellow Bradford City supporters and debate the reasons behind our latest defeat. One of the things I love about traipsing through twitter, is the chance to happ
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Tags: Procurement
TWIP: Plus ça Change, Plus C’est La Même Chose
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March 16, 2018
Happy Friday! Earlier in the month, Deloitte released the results of their 2018 CPO Survey. I always look forward to this report: an interesting check on the pulse and general health of the procurement function. Those of you intrepid Art of Procurement listeners may recall me discussing the results
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BMP Radio: Survey Chair Commentary – The February 2018 ISM-New York Report on Business
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March 02, 2018
The ISM-New York Report is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues. For anyone new to either the ISM-New York Report on Business, or the national or other regional reports for tha
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TWIP: We’re Different
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March 02, 2018
I recently read a book review by my Palambridge co-founder Kelly Barner that really caught my attention. The book in question was Expensive Sentences, by Jack Quarles. So, for this week’s This Week in Procurement, I invited Kelly to share her perspective on the opportunities that exist by ide
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Tags: Procurement
TWIP: Somewhere Over the Gulf of Mexico…
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February 23, 2018
As I write this week’s newsletter, I am en-route home from a productive ProcureCon Indirect East conference in Florida. One of the reasons I started Art of Procurement was to share the experiences, perspectives and lessons learned from events like ProcureCon. Thank you to the team at WBR for their
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Tags: Procurement
BMP Radio: Survey Chair Commentary – The January 2018 ISM-New York Report on Business
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February 04, 2018
The ISM-New York Report is a highly regarded indicator of business conditions in the New York Metro area including a six-month outlook, employment index, and current and expected revenues. For anyone new to either the ISM-New York Report on Business, or the national or other regional reports for tha
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Tags: Procurement
TWIP: Being a Catalyst – Making Choices. Leaving a Mark. Generating Fulfillment.
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February 02, 2018
Dear Catalysts, Happy Friday! This week was a big week for the team at Art of Procurement. Over the past few weeks, both on the pod and here on the pages of TWiP, I have hinted at the continuing evolution of Art of Procurement (AKA AOP 3.0). (Watch this space for upcoming design changes to […]
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Taking on the “Simplicity Challenge”
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January 19, 2018
Dear Catalysts, Happy Friday, from the cold but vibrant Canadian city of Montreal, where I have been spending time with a procurement organization assisting in their long term strategic planning. Being invited to Montreal to participate in catalyzing efforts to enhance the procurement team’s impac
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You Spoke, We Listened
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January 12, 2018
Dear Catalysts, Happy Friday! We were thrilled with your response to our newsletter last week. Thank you! Your feedback reinforces our belief that Procurement Professionals are passionate about being catalysts and see themselves as central to the health and wellbeing of their organizations. As we m
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Summing it Up and Moving it Forward
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January 05, 2018
Making Choices, Leaving a Mark, and Generating Fulfillment Much like red blood cells carry oxygen to all the other cells in the body, Procurement is primed and perfectly placed to aid in the transfer and sharing of knowledge across the entire organization. No other group of professionals touch every
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Tapping into Start-Up Ecosystems for Supplier Enabled Innovation
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December 16, 2017
I was recently working with a client and reflecting on the ways in which procurement leaders can keep their finger on the pulse of supply market innovation - particularly as it relates to innovation from outside the circle of their existing supply base.
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10 Procurement Sins & the Actions you can Take to Avoid Them
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December 01, 2016
I am currently in Las Vegas at the ISM Inside Indirect 2016 Conference, and with Las Vegas also known as Sin City, I thought it would be fun to take a step back and consider a number of "sins" of procurement. What do we do that we really shouldn't?
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20 Must Ask Questions for Procurement Revolutionaries
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October 07, 2016
Over the course of 5 days in September 2016, 40 Revolutionaries from inside and outside of the procurement profession joined together to deliver 5 live webinars and over 50 unique pieces of audio, video, and written content. This collective effort was all focused on being able to answer one central question: how can we challenge the status quo to elevate the role of procurement?
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Five of the Best: Procurement Thought Leader Interviews
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September 19, 2016
I am often asked by listeners who find the Art of Procurement for the first time to recommend a number of my "favorite" interviews as good places to start.
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Going for Gold - Procurement's Role in Delivering the Olympic Games
linkedin
August 11, 2016
As the floodlights were dimmed, and the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games got underway, I couldn't help myself but to think of the scale of the procurement efforts that would have been necessary to get to the startling line of the Games.
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Tags: Procurement, Leadership
Kate Vitasek shares the Art, Science & Practice of Crafting Strategic Supplier Relationships
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July 25, 2016
When you say you want innovation, when you say you want strategic partners, these deals have to be crafted differently than you're buying a pen, or a widget.
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6 (+1) Ways to Develop Your Career Through Low Cost Self-Education
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July 19, 2016
I host a weekly podcast aimed at procurement professionals called the Art of Procurement. However, I often find that the guidance shared by guests transcends procurement, and is relevant across professions. This was definitely the case with a piece of advice shared in today's show by Mark Pollack, the Vice President of SIG University.
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5 Steps to Break Free from a Stalled Procurement Career
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July 14, 2016
Be honest. Has your procurement career stalled? If you have experienced nothing but a consistent upward career trajectory, congratulations! From my experience, you are on the path least traveled.
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Tags: Procurement, Leadership
Brexit: A Chaotic Road to Nowhere?
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July 01, 2016
As you already know by now, the UK electorate opted in a referendum last Thursday to leave the European Union.
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Announcing the Art of Procurement Executive Advisory Board
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June 16, 2016
Today marks an important milestone in the Art of Procurement journey. I am delighted today to announce the formation of the Art of Procurement Executive Advisory Board and welcome the inaugural members John P. (Jack) Miles and Bill Michels.
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Building Your Procurement Digital Roadmap W/ Christopher Eyerman And David Clevenger
Art of Procurement
September 14, 2020
We may not be doing what we expected to be working on as we approach the final quarter of 2020, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a strong appetite for procurement change, both at the executive level and within the procurement community. The difference is that we are now trying to lead transformation in the midst of a disrupted landscape without the benefit of any forward-looking certainty.
Christopher Eyerman is the Head of Procurement Innovation at Denali – A WNS Company and David Clevenger is their Director of Procurement and Operational Excellence. They are focused on the factors that influence digital maturity and readiness for change in the context of the entire procurement ecosystem.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Leadership, Procurement
The Current State Of IT Spend W/ Rene Mathis
Art of Procurement
September 07, 2020
Technology is an extremely broad spend category and it is expanding by the day because of our emphasis on digital transformation. Nearly every function and category has an IT software or services component to it. Technology truly forms the foundation, or “lifeblood” as Rene Mathis put it, of corporate initiatives.
Rene Mathis is an Associate Director at Corcentric where he specializes in technology category spend. He is currently working side by side with companies that are reevaluating their IT contracts, redefining their uptime definitions and service level agreements, and attempting to put plans in place – despite the fact that no one knows what the next 6-12 months will hold.
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Tags: IoT, Management, Procurement
Overcoming The Procurement Language Barrier W/ Steve Wills
Art of Procurement
August 10, 2020
Steve Wills MBA, FCIPS is the founder and Managing Director of Procurement Central and formerly served as the Procurement Advisor to the 2012 London Olympic Games. In this week's podcast, he joins Philip Ideson to talk about the the ways procurement can use language and messaging to bridge the gap between ourselves and the other functions in the organization
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Tags: Leadership, Procurement, Supply Chain
The Current State Of Marketing Spend Management W/ Corcentric Consultant Kathleen Jordan
Art of Procurement
August 03, 2020
Marketing is one of those spend categories that procurement often has a hard time breaking into. They are less concerned with cost than their counterparts in other functions, and most of the services they contract are not only complex, project-based efforts, they are usually evaluated from a highly subjective point of view.
Kathleen Jordan is an Associate Director at Source One, a Corcentric Company, where she has been focused on the marketing category for years. She is familiar with the opportunities in marketing spend as well as the common disconnects that may prevent procurement from bringing marketing spend under management and cost marketing professionals the ability to make their budgets go further.
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Tags: Business Strategy, Marketing, Procurement
Making The Case: The Business Of Supplier Diversity W/ Jamie Crump
Art of Procurement
July 27, 2020
Although supplier diversity programs are well-intentioned, they also have to be good for business, and as Jamie Crump, President of The Richmond Group, points out to Host Philip Ideson, there substantial research highlighting the correlations between a more diverse supply base and quantitative business improvement.
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Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, Procurement, Supply Chain
Applying The Flywheel Effect To Procurement (Part 2)
Art of Procurement
July 20, 2020
In last week’s podcast, Host Philip Ideson described the concept of the flywheel, a consistent pattern of small but deliberate actions designed to build momentum and deliver business results described in the book Good to Great by author Jim Collins.
This week, we apply that idea to procurement directly to ensure our strategies and tactics become (and remain) aligned with the goals and objectives of the enterprise as a whole.
This focus has to permeate every effort we are involved in and the benefit can drive competitive advantage through cost optimization, risk mitigation, revenue growth, regulatory compliance, or operational agility.
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Tags: Leadership, Management, Procurement
Applying The Flywheel Effect To Procurement (Part 1)
Art of Procurement
July 13, 2020
We believe that helping procurement teams effectively align their capabilities and outcomes with the goals of the businesses underpins the transformation of a team from transactional to strategic.
In this podcast, Philip Ideson discusses a concept that is a big part of our Procurement, Inc. approach and a core part of how we manage the Art of Procurement business itself: the flywheel.
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Tags: Customer Loyalty, Procurement, Supply Chain
The Current State Of Facilities Services W/ Arthur Piszczor
Art of Procurement
July 06, 2020
Due to the risks posed by the coronavirus, procurement teams responsible for managing facilities services are currently experiencing quite a change. Services such as janitorial have quickly gone from transactional contracts established based upon cost to highly strategic relationships that must be in place and meet a new high standard for a facility to operate or even open.
Arthur Piszczor is a Consultant at Corcentric, where he has been helping organizations manage their facilities services spend since long before our current elevated requirements went into effect, and he has helped a number of clients manage not only the transition, but the process of planning for the future.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Risk Management
Making The Business Case For Retaining Or Adding Procurement Headcount W/ Alexis Ryan
Art of Procurement
June 29, 2020
It is never easy to request additional headcount, so making sure the timing is right and having a solid business case are critical to protecting procurement's internal reputation and hopefully getting an affirmative response.
In this week's AOP podcast, Alexis Ryan provides her advice about how and when to request additional procurement headcount and how to increase the chances of the request being approved.
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Tags: HR, Management, Procurement
How To Build A Simple Sourcing Governance Process To Align Procurement Impact With Business Needs
Art of Procurement
June 22, 2020
Governance process tend to be burdensome, create mountains of paperwork, and really slow down the process. No wonder stakeholders want to bypass procurement altogether! In this week's podcast, AOP Founder and Host Philip Ideson shares his easy 2-step governance process.
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Tags: Procurement, Risk Management, Supply Chain
How To Identify & Mitigate Risk With A Category Continuity Plan
Art of Procurement
June 15, 2020
For many procurement teams, risk management is now priority #1. If that sounds like your situation, how can you make sense of all the unknowns and ensure that each one of your category strategies is prepared to adapt to whatever may come your way?
In today’s solo show, AOP Founder and Host Philip Ideson shares one way you can balance risk and agility: by taking the business continuity and disaster recovery plans we often ask our suppliers to provide and applying the concept to your category strategy.
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Tags: Procurement, Risk Management, Supply Chain
Leadership & Planning In A Time Of Disruption W/ Tom Graham
Art of Procurement
June 08, 2020
As an Executive Search Consultant, Tom has naturally been focused on how procurement and supply chain’s exposure during the COVID-19 has impacted leaders, individual contributors, and entire teams. In this podcast, Tom tells Host Philip Ideson what he has heard from CPOs and Chief Supply Chain Officers and what he expects to see next as the world continues to adapt to the new normal.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Leadership
AOP Podcast Episode 323: The Current State Of Logistics W/ Joe Lazzerini
Art of Procurement
June 01, 2020
In this week's AOP podcast, Joe Lazzerini, PMP, a Consultant at Corcentric, shares his point of view with Co-hosts Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner about how procurement should approach the #logistics category in today's highly disrupted business environment.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Risk Management
AOP Episode 322: How To Navigate Zero-Based Budgeting & Apply Its Principles To Your Category Strategy W/ David Ward
Art of Procurement
May 25, 2020
According to Harvard Business Review, under Zero-based budgeting (ZBB), “Expenses must be justified for each new budget period based on demonstrable needs and costs, as opposed to the more common method of using last year’s budget as your starting point, then adjusting up or down. ZBB is a straightforward, intuitively simple way to aggressively strip out costs that cannot be rationally justified.”
Sounds wonderful, right? Well, as this week’s guest (and the HBR article referenced above) point out, there is no such thing as a ‘one-size fits-all’ silver bullet, even when it comes to aggressively cutting costs.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Management
Art of Procurement podcast episode 321: Misused And Misunderstood: Reclaim The Power Of The RFP
Art of Procurement
May 18, 2020
Procurement's scope has grown significantly over the last decade, and yet we keep coming back to the ‘good old’ RFP. This one enabling tool often defines our reputation as a function, and not always in a good way. And yet, no other approach has been able to unseat the RFP, and it remains the best way to evaluate supplier costs and capabilities in a standardized and structured way.
Dave Hulsen, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of RFP360, joined us for an AOP Live session on March 31st. His topic – reclaiming the power of the RFP – clearly struck a chord with the procurement community, because we’ve never had so many excellent questions submitted by audience members before.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Episode 320: How To Hire And Be Hired In The Headwinds Of The New Economy W/ Mark Holyoake
Art of Procurement
May 11, 2020
There are a lot of very talented people today that suddenly find themselves un- or under- employed by no fault of their own and companies lift with critical vacancies. How can professionals and hiring managers continue to move careers and operations forward under the current business conditions?
Mark Holyoake is the founder of Holyoake Search, a US East-coast based procurement recruitment firm and someone who always has his finger on the pulse of the procurement recruitment market. The landscape for hiring and being hired in procurement has changed dramatically over the past couple of months, so what does that mean for anyone looking for a new role or for executives looking to hire their next rising star?
In this interview, Mark provides Host Philip Ideson with an honest overview of the current state of hiring, interviewing, and career building.
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Tags: Business Continuity, Management, Procurement
Episode 319: Seizing The Opportunity For Quick Wins W/ Brian Seipel
Art of Procurement
May 04, 2020
“The real benefit of quick wins is to get the ball rolling. Procurement can take a small set of spend and turn around a good savings percentage within a month or two. Even if it’s a small dollar amount, we’re starting to build up credibility within our companies, paving the way for longer term opportunities.”
While the challenges of COVID-19 aren’t completely behind us, many organizations are starting to look ahead to what’s next. For many procurement teams, that means identifying and defining quick wins from a cost savings or expense reduction perspective.
Brian Seipel is a Consultant and Spend Analysis Lead at Corcentric, where he helps organizations perfect their strategic sourcing abilities, manage supplier relationships, and clear away process roadblocks. We asked him about his advice about getting quick wins (that are actually quick) without alienating suppliers or stakeholders.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, COVID19
Episode 310: A CIO’s Perspective On IT & Procurement During A Pandemic W/ Tim Crawford
Art of Procurement
April 01, 2020
“Where we are today, we just need to get the work done and we’ll figure out how to clean it up later. But right now let’s just help people get productive.” - Tim Crawford, former CIO, host of the “CIO in the Know” podcast
We had originally invited Tim to join Art of Procurement for a conversation about how procurement professionals can most effectively support our IT colleagues in the long term, but as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate headlines and agendas worldwide, we decided to pivot and take this opportunity to discuss some of the IT challenges that are top of mind under the current circumstances.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Management, COVID19
Episode 309: Procurement’s Response To COVID-19 Beyond The Next 2 Weeks W/ Christian Heinrich
Art of Procurement
March 30, 2020
“Strategic decisions will need to be made about when companies should try to ramp their production back up again – will it be in two or three or four weeks? Everybody is confronted by what is happening now, especially how we can find backup suppliers for the critical elements of their supply chain, but at some point, we have to look forward.”
As we run this podcast, the entire world is consumed with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Procurement teams have been hit directly in the form of uncertain supply chains and unstable suppliers. While we are naturally consumed with short term risk mitigation, at some point, we will emerge from this crisis. What will our companies face then?
Christian Heinrich is one of the industry professionals splitting his time between the short term and the longer-term view. He is the Co-Founder of scoutbee.com and a Professor of Digital Transformation at Quadriga Hochschule Berlin.
Christian took some time out to share with us what he is seeing on the ground. What tactics and strategies are they taking and how are they starting to scope and plan out the actions they need to take today to prepare for a return to some kind of normalcy once the pandemic is contained.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Supply Chain, Procurement, COVID19
Episode 308: How Procurement Can Help US-Based Suppliers Access Emergency Cash From The SBA W/ Amanda Prochaska
Art of Procurement
March 25, 2020
“Everyone has an opportunity to serve each other right now. If we can go out and serve the suppliers who are in need, we will have more robust relationships with them in the long term.”
Now that procurement professionals and organizations have absorbed the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are stable enough footing to start to serve others – including our suppliers.
Many of the programs procurement has put in place in recent years have incentives partnering with small, diverse businesses. Those disruptive companies are now at high risk of being disrupted by the pandemic, in some cases permanently.
Amanda Prochaska is a long time procurement leader, working for companies like the Kellogg Company, Kraft Heinz, and MGM Resorts International. In 2019, Amanda founded HPP, a company that specializes in helping companies of all sizes achieve operational excellence by supporting the performance of their key suppliers.
HPP has set up a Recovery Program to help suppliers take advantage of assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA).
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Business Continuity, COVID19
Episode 307: Category Spotlight – Uniforms W/ Richard Ham, CEO at Fine Tune
Art of Procurement
March 23, 2020
The uniform industry is valued at $16B annually, and 3 national players account for 55-60% of the revenue in the United States: Cintas, Aramark, and Unifirst. As regional and ‘mom and pop’ players in this industry are gradually being assimilated into the big three, procurement organizations are going to have to completely overhaul their approach to this category.
In this interview, Rich Ham provides insight into the unique approaches and opportunities associated with this specific ‘nuisance expense.’
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Tags: Business Strategy, Management, Procurement
Episode 306: Leading In A Crisis W/ Jan Griffiths
Art of Procurement
March 16, 2020
“It is time for procurement to step up and lead.”
It is safe to say that we currently find ourselves in unprecedented times. Some of us will be impacted by the spread of the coronavirus more than others, but the likelihood is that it will affect all of us in some way.
At Art of Procurement, we are going to be at your side for the duration, helping you prepare for the ‘unknown unknowns’ with practical advice on how you can mitigate the worst of the impact and turn your response into a competitive advantage.
To that end, we arranged for a short-turnaround Sunday morning podcast recording with Jan Griffiths, President & Founder of Gravitas Detroit.
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Tags: Supply Chain, Procurement, Leadership, COVID19
Episode 305: Powering Procurement’s Social Impact W/ Paul Polizzotto
Art of Procurement
March 09, 2020
Everyone wants to have a positive social impact on their community or industry, but doing so also has to be a sound business decision. That is something that Paul Polizzotto instinctively understands. It has fueled and inspired his 30+ years as a social entrepreneur. As the Founder and CEO of Givewith, Paul is combining his desire to have social impact with his knowledge of marketing and advertising to create value for buyers, suppliers, and the world.
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Tags: Procurement, Supply Chain, Sustainability
Episode #304: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do – This Month In Procurement
Art of Procurement
March 02, 2020
In this episode, AOP Host Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner discuss their major take-aways from February’s podcast interviews. This month they also discuss how to manage a healthy ‘breakup’, managing relationships, responsibilities, and results at the end of a project.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Episode #303: How Cimpress Built A Procurement Team That Operates Like A Services Business W/ Evert Karsen
Art of Procurement
February 24, 2020
“We realize that when we negotiate with suppliers, the business is the end customer. We are the function that does the negotiation, but we are not competing with each other. We have different roles. At the end of the process we share the results.”
According to the Cimpress corporate website, “We manage our businesses in a decentralized, autonomous manner so as to ensure we remain close to our customers, focused and entrepreneurial.” Now go back and read that statement again – this time as a member of the procurement team supporting such a collection of businesses.
Evert Karsen is the Vice President of Global Procurement at Cimpress. From his office in Switzerland, he leads a team of procurement professionals that support Cimpress’ multiple autonomous brands, including Vistaprint, Easyflyer, and BuildASign.
They don’t have a mandate to lean on with internal stakeholders, but they don’t have a savings target either. That combination of conditions has made it possible for them to deliver a wide range of value types and build a services-oriented relationship with the business.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Episode #302: Unpacking The Standing Neutral W/ Kate Vitasek
Art of Procurement
February 17, 2020
A “standing neutral” is a form of alternative dispute resolution. It is different than the roles above in that a standing neutral is brought in before the conflict occurs; they are part of a contract’s governance structure. They are neutral, and mutually approved by the parties to the contract. In this week's interview, Kate provides background info and case examples from her recently released whitepaper on the standing neutral.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Episode 301: Mastering The Procurement Data Challenge W/ Joe Yacura
Art of Procurement
February 10, 2020
Procurement can no longer turn a blind eye to bad data. If we are going to leverage our data for advanced applications such as AI, machine learning, RPA, etc. we have to address data quality now – without spending more time or allowing it to become more fragmented.
Joe Yacura is a former CPO of organizations such as Fannie Mae, Bank of America and American Express, and is the co-author of the 3rd Annual Data Quality and Governance Study in partnership with Dr Rob Handfield and the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC) at NC State.
In this podcast, which is based on an AOP Live session made possible by Ivalua, Joe provides insight on data quality-related topics.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Episode 300 – Introducing Procurement, Inc. – This Month In Procurement
Art of Procurement
February 03, 2020
Major milestone - Episode 300 of the Art of Procurement podcast!
In 'This Month in Procurement' Host Philip Ideson and GM Kelly Barner look back at January 2020, including interviews with Sundar Kamakshisundaram and Remko Van Hoek and the Special Startup Series.
Listen in and you'll also hear about Procurement, Inc., the brand new framework for strategic procurement teams and the redesigned AOP website!
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Episode 299: AOP Special Startup Series, featuring TraDove's Rowena Ludwig
Art of Procurement
January 31, 2020
In this podcast, we interview Rowena Bonnette, Chief Marketing Officer of TraDove, a social networking platform built to match and connect business buyers and sellers and blockchain payment solution provider.
Discussion highlights include:
- How blockchain tokens can be used to facilitate B2B payment transactions.
- The security and information storage implications of a B2B blockchain v. a traditional one.
- Why social network-based technology is the most efficient way for global buyers and sellers to connect.
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Tags: Blockchain, Procurement, Startups
Episode 298: AOP Special Startup Series – Per Angusta W/ Pierre Lapree
Art of Procurement
January 30, 2020
In this podcast, we interview Pierre Laprée, Founder of Per Angusta, a procurement project pipeline and performance tracking tool founded in 2012.
Discussion highlights include:
- The importance of investing in – and building up – procurement’s internal credibility through detailed performance management tracking.
- An acknowledgment that procurement teams carry a heavy workload, often multiple projects at one time, including a wide range of task types and activities.
- Why the challenge of ‘savings’ needs to be addressed as a process by both procurement and finance, not as an issue with procurement’s value proposition.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Startups
Episode 297: AOP Special Startup Series – ProcurementFlow W/ Tarmo Saidla
Art of Procurement
January 29, 2020
“The procurement person, they shouldn’t really work in an office like a sales guy. Actually, the best procurement guys spend time meeting suppliers and building relationships, not fulfilling some administrative need.” - Tarmo Saidla, Co-Founder and CEO of ProcurementFlow.com
Discussion highlights include:
- The challenge of combining consistent purchase approvals and oversight with buyer convenience and speed
- While a lot has changed in procurement, the need for a centralized team and streamlined processes has not abated
- How, much like with Excel, companies are unlikely to ever get distributed buyers to stop relying on email for requests and approvals
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Procurement, Startups
Art of Procurement #podcast episode 296: AOP Special Startup Series – Tealbook W/ Stephany Lapierre
Art of Procurement
January 28, 2020
“There’s a huge data problem right now and it’s actually impacting the return on investment from all the dollars that are being poured into technology – and it’s not the software’s fault.”
In this podcast, we interview Stephany Lapierre, CEO of Tealbook, a master supplier data management platform founded in 2015.
Discussion highlights include:
- The glaring investment between procurement’s investment (to date) in technology versus the investment in the data that runs through that technology.
- How increasing the quality of supplier master data can actually reduce the friction associated with changing procurement software providers.
- Why machine learning may help procurement make the leap from understanding who their suppliers are to recognizing the total value those suppliers can offer.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Startups
Episode 295: AOP Special Startup Series – Bid Ops W/ Edmund Zagorin
Art of Procurement
January 27, 2020
“We’ve done a deep dive and found that the main differentiator between ‘peer class’ and ‘world class’ sourcing organizations is their ability to respond to changes in the market by running more sourcing processes.” - Edmund Zagorin
As we kick off week #2 of the 2020 AOP Special Startup Series, Philip Ideson is joined by Edmund Zagorin, the Founder of Bid Ops, a sourcing enablement platform founded in 2018.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurship, Procurement
AOP Podcast Episode 294: AOP Special Startup Series – Spendency W/ Nils Lundgren And Arvid Fredin
Art of Procurement
January 23, 2020
AOP 2020 Special Startup Series - Day 4! In this episode we welcome Spendency leadership team members Nils Lundgren & Arvid F. to tell us how we can advance the 'democratization' of data via spend analysis.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurship, Procurement
Podcast Episode 293: AOP Special Startup Series – Keelvar W/ Alan Holland
Art of Procurement
January 22, 2020
In this podcast, we interview Alan Holland, the Founder and CEO of Keelvar. Founded in 2012, Keelvar provides the automation procurement needs to achieve speed, while also increasing adherence to best practices.
Discussion highlights include:
- The power and resource efficiency of combining optimization and automation
- The critical differences between intelligent automation and robotic process automation (RPA)
- The business case for applying optimization technology to large or analytically complex spend categories
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurship, Procurement
AOP 2020 Startup Series Day 2: Provalido Ltd with Paul Gurr
Art of Procurement
January 21, 2020
The highlights of this conversation include:
- Whether it not it is feasible to take a ‘best of breed’ approach to building a procurement technology portfolio
- The continued need for procurement to emphasize and invest in clean, high quality data
- The direct connection between tracking and process/purchasing transparency
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurship, Procurement
AOP Special Startup Series - Kodiak Rating w/ Sam Jenks
Art of Procurement
January 20, 2020
In this podcast, we interview Sam Jenks, Chief Marketing Officer at Kodiak Rating, a supplier relationship management platform founded in 2015.
Discussion highlights include:
- Why supplier insight has to be based on both robust scorecards and data analytics.
- That (believe it or not) Excel continues to be Kodiak’s biggest competitor.
- How this is the time – even according to well-known consulting firms and CTOs – to be an early adopter and partner with a startup
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, Procurement, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement Podcast Episode 290: The Value Of Digital Procurement In The Manufacturing Sector W/ Sundar Kamak
Art of Procurement
January 13, 2020
Larger manufacturers are starting to build significant momentum for procurement digitalization. As they do, there will no doubt be change to more than their systems.
In this week's podcast, Sundar Kamakshisundaram, Global Head of Manufacturing Solutions at Ivalua, shares his perspective on the move towards digital procurement in the manufacturing space as well as the overall trends he has observed.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement Episode 289: Integrating Blockchain Into Procurement W/ Remko Van Hoek
Art of Procurement
January 06, 2020
If 2019 was the year of emerging technology hype, then 2020 holds the potential to be the year that we turn our attention to the work that needs to be done to derive concrete value from that technology: blockchains included. In this podcast interview, Remko Van Hoek provides actionable insight and realistic use cases for blockchain in the supply chain.
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Tags: Blockchain, Digital Transformation, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement podcast episode 288: Three Procurement Themes For 2020
Art of Procurement
December 23, 2019
As we begin to wind down for 2019, Art of Procurement host Philip Ideson shares the three themes that are at the forefront of his mind when considering the health of the procurement function and the opportunities that await in 2020.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement podcast episode 287: Best Practices For Managing Procurement Performance W/ Pierre Lapree And Jason Treida
Art of Procurement
December 16, 2019
This week’s podcast is based on our recent AOP Live session with Pierre Lapree and Jason Treida. They joined us last month to take live audience questions about how procurement can maximize the value potential of automation while ensuring that performance management is not lost in the ‘noise’ of technology.
Most of today’s technology focuses on either the transactional aspects of procurement (P2P) or shiny new toys (RPA/AI/Blockchain). It does not necessarily provide a holistic view our activity and performance. And yet, it is those activities and that performance that determine procurement’s impact and influence now and in the future.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Procurement, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement podcast episode 286: Defining And Delivering On Supplier Development W/ Amanda Prochaska & Jonathan Townsley
Art of Procurement
December 09, 2019
Whether you call it supplier performance management or supplier relationship management, procurement has always understood that we need supply partners at their best for us to realize the maximum ROI from each contract. Usually, however, that boils down to a meeting where we point out where they could be doing better or ask a bunch of questions that imply the same thing and send them on their way to figure out how they should improve. It basically amounts to procurement making a wish list and throwing it over the wall.
Needless to say, this delivers questionable results. Procurement doesn’t have the time required to follow up with as many suppliers as we should, and the suppliers don’t have an incentive to put more energy than absolutely necessary into a contract they have already signed. Besides, they’re often not sure exactly what we want from them.
In this disconnect, Amanda Prochaska, President and CEO of HPP Coach, and Jonathan Townsley, a Business Transformation and Supply Management Advisor, see an opportunity for procurement to meaningfully and sustainably change the way we manage our suppliers.
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Tags: Procurement, Risk Management, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement podcast episode 285: A Procurement Compendium W/ Peter Smith
Art of Procurement
December 02, 2019
In this week's podcast, Philip Ideson interviews Peter Smith about his book, "A Procurement Compendium". Peter shares stories from his career that capture the things he’d done differently and the questions that still linger about the current state and future trajectory of the procurement profession. At the end of the day, however, it all really boils down to this one piece of simple advice: “The focus should be on doing a damn good job.”
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement podcast episode 284: Escaping Your Traditional Environment – This Month In Procurement
Art of Procurement
November 25, 2019
In this episode, AOP Host Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner (General Manager of AOP and Owner of Buyers Meeting Point) discuss their major take-aways from November’s news, industry topics and podcast interviews.
In November, we heard Bill Michels, VP of Operations Americas for CIPS, discuss proactive recession planning, and then Procurement Leaders’ David Rae and Geraldine Craven connected the results of recent research to how CPOs should be planning for 2020.
Our discussion topic is getting away, or stepping away from your traditional environment to gain perspective and inspiration. We just spent two days in person planning out our strategies and actions for 2020, and it made all the difference in the world. Whether you have an upcoming team offsite or whether your holiday travels will carry you far from the office, remember to find ways to benefit from the objectivity that distance and reengagement offer.
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Tags: Management, Procurement, Supply Chain
Art of Procurement podcast episode 283: A CPO’s Guide To Planning For 2020 W/ David Rae And Geraldine Craven
Art of Procurement
November 18, 2019
In this week’s podcast, Philip Ideson is joined by two members of the Procurement Leaders team, David Rae, their Chief Product Officer, and Geraldine Craven, Head of Research. They recently completed a study in cooperation with Bain Consulting to understand what is changing in advance of the arrival of 2020 and what remains the same.
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Tags: Digital Transformation, Management, Procurement
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