Art of Procurement

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.

Diversifying your supplier base is most likely near the top of your organization's highest priorities this year, but is it enough to really make an impact outside of the four walls of procurement? How are we addressing the challenge of creating equity for diverse business owners, and are we truly taking an inclusive approach to sourcing? A corporate initiative to increase diverse spend needs depth in purpose from the people and teams working to achieve it. Whether your organization has a dedicated DE&I team leading and supporting company-wide projects, or it's on you and a small group to implement new processes to hit diverse spend targets, understanding who you are impacting and why it matters is essential for success. In this week's episode of Procurement for the People, show host Katherine McCleery explores the challenges of both the buy and sell side of supplier diversity programs with special guest Jason Roberts, CEO and Founder of Kaleida. In addition to sharing some of his personal experiences that shaped and motivated him, Jason takes us on a deep-dive to teach us: Why accessibility is the catalyst for increasing equity for diverse business owners How diverse businesses can overcome unconscious bias in the sales process Three ways to ensure a successful diverse spend initiative: executive buy-in, public communication, and working with a technology partner to identify diverse suppliers Why making stereotypical diverse supplier selections actually perpetuates discrimination and how to avoid it in the tender process

Why do so many P2P implementations fail or fall short of ROI expectations? The majority of these failures are the result of three problems: 1. Procurement selects and implements solutions they believe are best fit without seeking input from the business. 2. Procurement works with the business to implement a solution, not for what it was designed to do, but for what they want it to do. 3. Procurement forgets to address the supplier experience: enablement, onboarding, messaging, and everyday usability. During this AOP Live based episode hosted by Kelly Barner, Joe Payne, Jennifer Ulrich, and Tom Pellescki from Corcentric answer questions about why procurement's ability to lead a successful change management initiative is so critical and how procurement can overcome the common P2P implementation challenges of the past.

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 an explosion of startups and investment interest in the digital procurement space over the last few years. As companies with new and diverse perspectives tackle shared problems in unique ways, the type and variety of 'best of breed' options available in the ecosystem broadens as well. In this week's episode, we bring you a session from our recent AOP Digital Outcomes 2022 virtual event. Philip Ideson was joined by Jack Freeman, a Partner at PeakSpan Capital, to talk about the tech trends he is seeing - and how lasting he thinks they will be. Key takeaways from the interview include: The pace of change within procurement, and how well that matches the pace of change in enterprises and markets How he sees the battle to be the 'single source of truth' playing out Ways that today's technology is pushing processes to adapt, and improving the user and supplier experience in the process