710: All About Relationships: Changing Your Mindset for Better Procurement w/ Eric Dulin

The speed of business is accelerating dramatically. Procurement can change how they address challenges and support stakeholders, or they can remain slow to adapt and miss out on key opportunities.  In this week’s podcast, Eric Dulin, Director of Procurement, Digital & Technology at Yum! Brands, shares how he has shifted his mindset throughout his career to focus more on building relationships and approaching procurement with a service-first attitude. He and Philip also discuss Eric’s book, Win-Win-Win: Collaborative Approach to Procurement in the Era of Digital Metamorphosis, pulling out a few quotes that can help procurement professionals reshape the way they work within their roles. Throughout the episode, Eric uses first-hand lessons to offer transformative truths, including: The difference between transactional and strategic procurement—and which is better How ditching the adversarial “sales versus procurement” mindset results in stronger relationships and better wins The importance of focusing on how procurement helps the buyer and supplier using key fundamentals Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Eric Dulin on LinkedIn Win-Win-Win: Collaborative Approach to Procurement in the Era of Digital Metamorphosis on Amazon Win-Win-Win: Collaborative Approach to Procurement in the Era of Digital Metamorphosis on BookBaby

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.

“Longer term, I think people haven’t fully understood the power of generative AI beyond their own personal use cases. But now, the central theme is really testing out where it can go.” - Nick Heinzmann, Head of Research at Zip AI has been in the mainstream long enough now that it’s time for procurement to get specific and systematic about where, when, and how to apply it to the tech stack in order to generate the most value for the business. In this episode, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner speak with Lance Younger, CEO of ProcureTech, and Nick Heinzmann, Head of Research at Zip, about current best practices for positioning AI in the tech stack and how procurement can navigate the inherent risks that may accompany digital transformation. They also discuss the value and benefits AI can bring to procurement, like optimizing the S2P workflow, data management, compliance, and process efficiency. Listen in to discover:  The best ways to apply and integrate AI across procurement’s entire stakeholder network The most important areas of risk procurement should be aware of when adopting AI The ideal role AI plays in the procurement tech stack, including outsourcing Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Lance Younger on LinkedIn Nick Heinzmann on LinkedIn Watch on Demand: Unleashing the Power of Generative AI 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.

Procurement teams within private equity firms manage hundreds of portfolio teams worldwide. They must prove the value they create with each program at any given moment. With precise, robust data not always available, these teams are left to determine supplemental ways to demonstrate cost savings, capex reductions, and cost avoidance to C-suite stakeholders. In this episode, Philip sits down with Paul Dhaliwal, Director of the U.S. Capstone Team at KKR, at the 2024 CoreTrust Conference in Tampa to discuss how GPOs play a key role in driving value and change across private equity portfolios. They also dive into how Paul and his team use GPO relationships to tell a clearer story with the data they have. Paul shares his insight on leveraging GPOs within private equity, including: The specific metrics and methods his team uses to measure procurement value across KKR’s portfolio How identifying critical areas of engagement with the right GPO partner empowers teams to leverage those relationships and drive results at scale Why private equity procurement teams need to track the right data points and build credibility so they can sell a specific story with greater ease. Links: Paul Dhaliwal on LinkedIn 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.

“A contract lifecycle management platform drives processes for you. That drives your price down, your risk down, and you get the best of all worlds like procurement wants." - Paul Bagley, Director of Commercial Contracting at Acosta Historically, procurement viewed contracts as a legal formality, something only to be referred to when things go wrong with a supplier.  This outdated approach leaves a goldmine of untapped value and insight on the table, and it’s time for procurement to have a mindset shift when it comes to the way they use, store, value, and leverage digital contracts. In this episode, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner talk with Paul Bagley, Director of Commercial Contracting at Acosta, and Toby Laforest, Director of Product Marketing at Ironclad, about how procurement can leverage the full potential of digital contracts and the technology required to make it happen. They’ll explain:  Why digital contacts are strategic assets that can provide bottom-line value to the business Why most procurement teams are currently not taking advantage of AI and contract lifecycle management platforms to extract value from their contracts (and what that mistake is costing them) The myriad benefits procurement - and the business - will see when they normalize contract discussions and regularly refer to contract-based insights with suppliers and stakeholders Links: Paul Bagley on LinkedIn Toby Laforest on LinkedIn Watch on Demand: Connecting the Dots with Digital Contracts 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.

“You have to make investments in your supplier network if you want to be successful. The old days of ‘I have to win, and you have to lose’ are gone. We are so transparent. We are using technology. Relationships are key.” - Frank McKay, Chief Supply Chain & Procurement Officer, Jabil In 2023, Jabil conducted a 2023 Supply Chain Survey in collaboration with SIS International Research. In this episode, Philip Ideson sits down with Frank McKay, Chief Supply Chain & Procurement Officer at Jabil to discuss the results, which pinpointed things like cost reduction, customer satisfaction, communication, and visibility as some of procurement’s top-of-mind challenges.  In addition to sharing his own experiences as a practitioner for over 25 years, Frank also discusses his perspective on the evolving role of procurement and how they can better reduce supply chain operational costs, as well as how Chief Supply Chain Officers should be adjusting their strategies in response to rapidly shifting global supply chain dynamics and volatility.  In the episode, they also explore: How procurement should be integrating AI and machine learning technologies into their processes to elevate their function and drive greater impact The complex nature of managing global supply chains and how to meet these challenges How procurement can help build more resilient supply chains that can adapt to geopolitical tensions, market volatility, and rapid technological advancements  Links: 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.