691: Procurement 6 | April 26th, 2024

“Only when we stop accepting the fact that procurement is being made to make decisions that are not the best for the future but the best for business today will we really start to take action.” - Alex Jennings, Former CPO DS Smith, Independent Consultant at APSL Consulting Ltd Alex Jennings is a procurement powerhouse with decades of leadership experience working for well-known brands like GE and Toyota and occupying multiple senior roles before his retirement from corporate life in 2023. But, Alex is still leading procurement into the future, even after retiring as CPO of DS Smith. Most recently, he has launched The Alchemie Network, a new platform for collaborative learning around ESG and sustainability for procurement. In this episode, Alex talks with host Philip Ideson about how The Alchemie Network can help procurement make better strides towards a more sustainable supply chain and how they can turn their organization’s vision for sustainability into tangible outcomes for the business.  They’ll discuss:   How procurement can take an active role in impacting sustainability goals Ways procurement can balance short-term cost-savings needs with long-term thinking around sustainability Why education is the key to procurement’s success and how they can feel more empowered to lead the business toward a more sustainable future Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Alex Jennings 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.

“If you think of it simplistically, orchestration is a whole art form. You have to learn what it all means. But in so many words, it is nothing else than acting as if it is your own company. How cool is that?” - Elisabeth Schlag-Lawrence, SVP, Head of Procurement Governance and Enabling, Bayer When procurement is decentralized, it is difficult to achieve the visibility they need to proactively manage risk and compliance, identify savings, and create value and opportunity for the business.  In this episode, Philip Ideson welcomes a heavy-hitting panel of Fortune 500 procurement leaders to discuss how procurement orchestration can help create optimal digital experiences across the organization and level-up procurement’s tech stack.  He is joined by Elisabeth Schlag-Lawrence, SVP, Head of Procurement Governance and Enabling at Bayer; Chris Vessey, Executive Director, Global Product Strategy & Transformation at Goldman Sachs; Shachi Rai Gupta, Global Head of Strategy, Intelligence and Digital Transformation at Bristol Myers Squibb; and Lance Younger, CEO of ProcureTech.  They discuss: How global procurement leaders define modern-day procurement orchestration in a highly decentralized and digitized landscape and the difference it can make to an organization Snapshots of what a journey towards successful procurement orchestration looks like for a Fortune 500 company, and the challenges they may need to overcome along the way How procurement leaders can secure buy-in for an orchestration “revolution” in the business and the steps they should take to launch it once they have that support Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Elisabeth Schlag-Lawrence on LinkedIn Chris Vessey on LinkedIn Shachi Rai Gupta on LinkedIn Lance Younger 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.

“I think we are headed for human-centered AI where we have the human at the core, and you are going to augment your capabilities with technology to make your work better. That is where it is going.” - Darshan Deshmukh, President at ProcureAbility Procurement is acutely aware that emerging technologies like AI are already having an impact on the profession and will change the role and function of procurement even more in the years to come. While some in procurement are embracing, or, at the very least, accepting the new AI-powered future of procurement, others are somewhat more resistant or even fearful of the changes ahead.  To explore how procurement can and should be thinking about and integrating AI into their delivery model of the future, Philip Ideson recently spoke with Darshan Deshmukh, President at ProcureAbility, while they were at ProcureCon Indirect West in Las Vegas, NV.  As a part of their wider discussion on how AI is impacting procurement, they talk about: Best practices for integrating AI into procurement workflows for increased value creation How procurement’s traditional operating models will change because of AI  Skills development and talent priorities in the age of AI  How procurement’s impact has shifted from cost savings to value delivery  Links: Darshan Deshmukh on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Visit ProcureAbility’s Website  

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.

“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.