Art of Procurement

“In some weird sense, as we see the power of technology, the more apprehensive we get about how much information it should have.” - Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP Procurement leaders face a number of challenges in optimizing their source-to-pay processes, and they are increasingly relying on AI tools to address those challenges. In this episode, Philip speaks talks with Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP, about the positive and negative trends he is seeing across source-to-pay, including in spend analytics, data management and governance, category management, risk management, scenario planning, and AI integration. Baber shares his insights on evolving trends in source-to-pay, including: Links: Subscribe to This Week in ProcurementBaber Farooq on LinkedIn[Pod] Bridging the Confidence Gap to Achieve the Best Business Outcomes w/ Baber Farooq[Pod] Helping Procurement Push the Envelope w/ Baber Farooq

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.

“There is one thing you can do that really creates a positive ROI for an RFP respondent even if they lose. One thing that will increase the chances that you receive the best RFP responses possible… That one thing is feedback.” - Philip Ideson, Founder and Managing Director at Art of Procurement In this special solo episode, Art of Procurement Founder and Managing Director Philip Ideson explains why it’s so important for procurement to give meaningful feedback to unsuccessful bidders. This feedback is an often-ignored part of the RFP process, but taking the time to give substantive, detailed feedback can lead to better RFP responses in the future, increased goodwill with suppliers, and stronger long-term relationships that benefit everyone. In this episode, Philip shares practical tips on how procurement can efficiently incorporate better feedback and responses to losing bidders as well as the benefits this can lead to. He will discuss: 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.

“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: Links: Subscribe to This Week in ProcurementAlex 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: Links: Subscribe to This Week in ProcurementElisabeth Schlag-Lawrence on LinkedInChris Vessey on LinkedInShachi Rai Gupta on LinkedInLance 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: Links: Darshan Deshmukh on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in ProcurementVisit 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: 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: Links: Heather Murray 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.

“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: Links: Mark Holyoake on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in ProcurementRiding 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: Links: Subscribe to This Week in ProcurementImproving 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: Links: Subscribe to This Week in ProcurementAndrew 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.