Art of Procurement

Although procurement professionals don't usually think of ourselves as making 'cold calls,' we do it all the time. If you've ever sat down with a stakeholder for the first time and immediately realized they either don't understand procurement's role or don't particularly care for our processes, you've survived a cold call.   In that moment, you can either explain or listen, and although listening...

One year ago, all procurement could talk about was digital transformation. Enter the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of those plans were thrown overboard.  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...

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 technolog...

For the rest of August, I'm taking a roadtrip across the United States, and so because I'm out of the recording studio, I'm going to dip into the archive all the way back to 2016 to share some of my favorite episodes from that year with you that are still just as relevant as today - and if you found the podcast after 2016, there's a good chance that you haven't yet heard these conversations. Today...

For the rest of August, I'm taking a roadtrip across the United States, and so because I'm out of the recording studio, I'm going to dip into the archive all the way back to 2016 to share some of my favorite episodes from that year with you that are still just as relevant as today - and if you found the podcast after 2016, there's a good chance that you haven't yet heard these conversations. Today...

For the rest of August, I'm taking a road trip across the United States, and so because I'm out of the recording studio, I'm going to dip into the archive all the way back to 2016 to share some of my favorite episodes from that year with you that are still just as relevant as today - and if you found the podcast after 2016, there's a good chance that you haven't yet heard these conversations. Toda...

For a long time, procurement has gotten feedback that our terminology - and, more specifically, our abbreviations - have a distancing or alienating effect on internal stakeholders and budget owners. But if language has the power to push people away, it can also be used to purposefully clarify, align, and collaborate. Steve Wills is the founder and Managing Director of Procurement Central and forme...

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 Compa...

It has been well established that having a diverse and inclusive workforce increases results and employee satisfaction, so why wouldn't' the same be true for companies that invest in building a diverse supply chain? That question is the one that started Jaime Crump down the path to become a supplier diversity expert and consultant. Jamie is the president of The Richmond Group where she provides co...

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...

At Art of Procurement, 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, we discuss 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. Bec...

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 Co...

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 your internal reputation and hopefully getting an affirmative response. There are plenty of ways procurement can stack the deck in their favor, and most of them have to do with demonstrating alignment with enterprise objectives and a vision that explains...

When it comes to governance during the sourcing process, your experience probably matches one of the following two scenarios: You have a strict 7 or 8 step process, and at the end of each step you have to get an approval of some sort to move to the next.   You have an approval council that wants to see proof that you checked every single box during the sourcing process.   What do these scenarios h...

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...

A lot of things have changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, not the least of which has been procurement and supply chain teams being thrust into the spotlight in very challenging conditions. As an Executive Search Consultant, Tom Graham has naturally been focused on how this increased exposure has impacted leaders, individual contributors, and entire teams. Since the lockdowns began, Tom...

Logistics has never been an easy category of spend to manage. Whether your company is multimodal, focused on less-than truckload (LTL), or depends upon small parcel, carriers and third-party logistics providers form a critical link between you and your customers. Superimpose the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of that complexity, and you have one of the most fluid and challenging situa...

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....

The scope of responsibilities associated with enterprise procurement 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. At the same time, no other approach has been able to unseat the RFP, and it remains the best way to evaluate supplier costs and capabilit...

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...

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, manag...

As procurement has worked to reposition ourselves as a source of value beyond savings, we have had to rebuild our relationships on a foundation of credibility and rapport. That hasn't been an easy change for all procurement professionals and teams, and some stakeholders have been easier to win over than others. We have made significant progress to date, but the journey continues. Canda Rozier is a...

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 reinvested as necessary. In this 5-part special series, Art of Procurement Host Philip Ideson will take you through the keys to running a successful expense management program,...

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 reinvested as necessary. In this 5-part special series, Art of Procurement Host Philip Ideson will take you through the keys to running a successful expense management program,...

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 reinvested as necessary. In this 5-part special series, Art of Procurement Host Philip Ideson will take you through the keys to running a successful expense management program,...