431: Roadmap to Savings: Partnering with the Business to Drive Progress

“What we have to do from day one is engage the business, sell the value of procurement, communicate the value of procurement, and make quick wins with the suppliers.” - Salvador Serra de Paz Procurement transformation can sometimes feel like a daunting undertaking, especially when there are voices within the business that are hesitant (or downright resistant) to change and view any improvements to processes, workflows, ownership, or technology as threats to their own function.  In this podcast episode, Philip Ideson welcomes Salvador Serra de Paz, who has extensive experience leading successful global transformation projects in a variety of different industries and settings. Salvador reveals the most common challenges he’s faced with each transformation project, the tactics he used to overcome them, and what years of experience in procurement transformation have taught him about the important role that communication, marketing, and perceptions play in getting it right.  Specifically, Salvador discusses: How to design and implement successful procurement transformation projects Turning procurement from a cost center to a profit center How to overcome hesitancy and resistance to any transformation project Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Salvador Serra de Paz on LinkedIn

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“2023 was the year of the ‘dabbler.’ We all heard about AI, and we were all playing around with ChatGPT. We were dabbling around, but we were not integrating. I think 2024 is the year that we actually integrate AI and start to create workflows around it.” - Heather Murray, AI Trainer and Advisor at Beesting Digital and Founder of AI for Non-Techies Since the release of ChatGPT in 2023 brought generative AI technology to the masses and ushered in a wave of new AI-powered solutions, companies have been scrambling to figure out how to harness AI to their advantage and wade through all the new solutions on the market. At Digital Outcomes, Art of Procurement’s annual technology-focused virtual event, Heather Murray, AI Trainer and Advisor at Beesting Digital and Founder of AI for Non-Techies, joined the opening session for a discussion on the potential for AI in procurement and how procurement leaders, and businesses in general, should be approaching creating and sustaining their AI strategies in a world where the technology is evolving at break-neck speed.  In this podcast episode, we revisit Heather’s session, “Straight Talk About the Potential of AI,” where she and Kelly Barner discuss: How procurement should think about the different types of AI tools available and keep pace with rapidly changing technology What most people get wrong about AI, and the inherent risk that everyone in procurement should know about Using a specific framework to decide whether AI is a suitable solution to a business problem Links: Heather Murray on LinkedIn Watch Again: Digital Outcomes 2024 Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“The procurement job market is back. That’s great! But, as it regains momentum, both job seekers and companies are going to have to adapt, and I think the road ahead promises growth and transformation and opportunity for anyone who is willing to embrace this change.” -Mark Holyoake, Managing Director, Procurement Recruitment at Holyoake Search  After nearly 5 years of what seemed like a rollercoaster of ups and downs in labor trends – from salary inflation to hiring to economic downturn and then back again to recovery (whew!) – the procurement job market seems to be showing signs of stability and steady, reassuring growth that should benefit candidates and employers alike.  To better understand where the procurement job market has been, where it stands now, and where it is headed, Philip Ideson welcomes Mark Holyoake, Managing Director, Procurement Recruitment at Holyoake Search, back to the podcast. Mark explains why he feels more optimistic about the job market than he has in years, but he also cautions employers against allowing favorable hiring conditions to lull them back into old bad habits.  In this episode, Mark gives his take on: The biggest job market trends in procurement today and how employers and job seekers can take advantage of the good news he has to share The biggest mistake that most procurement hiring teams are making right now and how it is impacting the business What procurement job seekers should do now to distinguish themselves from a sea of candidates and stand out in a highly competitive job market Links: Mark Holyoake on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Riding the Rollercoaster of Procurement Recruiting

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“At larger traditional companies, there is a common theme in procurement that ‘I need a seat at the table, and I need to justify to you why I am in this room with you.’ But a startup is actually a breath of fresh air. There are not that many tables, so you are at the table, regardless of whether you like it or not.”- Liem Hua, Head of Procurement at Rippling Building and scaling a procurement team in a high-growth startup can look very different from traditional corporate environments. Procurement has to adjust their approach to almost everything, from stakeholder management to strategy building and hiring to the very role they play in the business.  In this Art of Procurement episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Liem Hua, Head of Procurement at Rippling, about the differences between procurement’s role and scope at a startup or high growth company versus a large, traditional enterprise. Liem has held a number of different roles at startups and high-growth companies, but he has also worked for large corporations like Delta Airlines, and he understands the kind of code-switching procurement has to engage in depending on their environment.  In this episode, Philip and Liem discuss: How startups make it easier for procurement to play a larger, more impactful role in the business, and ways procurement can take advantage of this How procurement should adjust their approach in an environment where growth, scalability, and speed are top priority Best practices for procurement in hiring, processes, goal-setting, and negotiating in a high-growth company Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Improving Internal Perception of Procurement from Intake to Procure w/ Liem Hua, Michael Denari, and Rujul Zaparde

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“It’s really nice to have a bigger purpose and actually see the communities that you are changing, the lives that you are altering and impacting through the work that you do.” - Andrew Savage, Global Lead: Procurement Excellence at MTN No one would expect leading an award-winning procurement center of excellence across Africa and the Middle East to be easy, but when you’re bringing goods or services to hard-to-access geographies or communities, it gives an even deeper meaning to the value you are bringing to the business and entire populations of people. In this AOP podcast episode, Philip Ideson welcomes Andrew Savage, Global Lead: Procurement Excellence at MTN, to talk about his experiences building and leading a large procurement center of excellence across some of the most challenging geographic regions in the world and how that experience has informed his sense of procurement’s value creation.  In the episode, they discuss: How geographical and geopolitical considerations add both complexity and opportunity to procurement’s role The key ingredients for building a procurement center of excellence even in challenging global environments How the principles of entrepreneurship, flexibility, and agility help transform procurement into a profit center for the business Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Andrew Savage on LinkedIn    

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes 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 has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.