World of Procurement

WE'VE GOT A SLIGHT GLITCH BETWEEN 10:00 - 11:30 MINS OF THE PODCAST. IT WILL COME BACK ON :D 

We had Tom Mills on the World of Procurement Podcast to talk about his views and ideas around what Procurement truly is. At one point in the episode, Tom referred to The Heart of Procurement and I instantly knew that would be the title for this episode.

We cover an incredible amount of conversation pieces as summarised below. 

Show Notes:

• Introduction into Tom’s career
• Procurement versus Purchasing, key differences and what Tom loves about Procurement
• Why Procurement having a seat at the table is the wrong question and the wrong angle to come from
• The Role of Procurement Pros moving forwards
• Managing conflict and “office” politics as a Procurement Professional
• Integrity as a Supply Chain/Procurement Professional

Building supplier relationships has grown in significant importance over the last two years.

COVID19 disrupted Supply Chains all across the world.

Businesses scrambled to ensure they still had certainty of supply.

What they didn’t realise was that they were not necessarily the Customer of Choice for that Supplier any longer.

I came across Suppeco a few months ago and I wanted to bring them onto the Podcast to find out, from a tech perspective, how they can help us Supply Chain and Procurement Pros build more collaborative relationships within the Supply Chain.

They way, we can maintain our status as Customer of Choice and have better supply from the Supply Chain.

Check out the timestamps below to the relevant section of the podcast. My advice… listen to all of it.

• 00:00 Background to Sheldon and what he did pre-Suppeco
• 00:50 Difficulty driving value out of relationships
• 01:11 Using Excel/PPT to build out Relationships
• 02:00 The start of Suppeco
• 03:17 The issue of managing Supplier Relationships
• 05:52 Building Suppeco
• 08:15 What Suppeco is
• 10:11 Using live data for insights not reports
• 14:40 How do we create KPIs/SLAs
• -16:14 How to get suppliers to use the platform
• 1930 - Awesome Insights into Suppeco
• 20:55 - User Experience matters with Procurement Tech

Fairmarkit is the intelligent sourcing platform and they automate sourcing events for enterprise clients so they can work on more interesting things. I caught up with Erin McFarlane, VP of Services at Fairmarkit to talk to her about her reason for being in the Procurement space and what Fairmarkit offers as a service to people like you and me as Procurement and Supply Chain pros.

Get the book:

If you’ve ever tried to run an event, to get your Suppliers in a room to share a vision, a requirement and to breed innovation and collaboration - it can be a nightmare. It requires not just a logistical masterclass but you need to be clear on why you want the Suppliers there, why it’s a good use of their time and what outcomes you want from the event.

Doug Johnson-Poensgen is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Circulor. We covered a lot of ground in this 25-minute podcast and this podcast is going to be exceptionally beneficial to you if you are currently looking at your supply chain and wondering how can we improve visibility, how can we reach our sustainability goals using our supply chains and how do we know what is in this product? 

I think all of us, regardless of sector, are starting to have more conversations around this.   Circulor describes itself as a company that provides Traceability-as-a-Service to verify responsible sourcing, to underpin effective recycling and to improve efficiency. We reach parts of OEM's supply chains that most currently have little real visibility into.  

Circulor boasts high profile clients such as Jaguar Landrover, Volvo, Polestar and Boeing. Circulor is built upon traditional databases and distributed ledger technology from Hyperledger, a blockchain company. 

Check out the timestamps for this Procurement Podcast Below:

• Intro 00:00
• What Mica is and how it is used in Electric Vehicle Battery Technology 1:11  
• Doug’s Business background 2:21Carbon Emissions in the Car Manufacturers supply chains 3:35
• How Procurement Teams can aid net-zero manufacture 4:40
• Insight into Circulor’s customers: Jaguar Landrover, Daimler, Polestar (who have just committed to their first Net Zero Car by 2030) 5:00
• How Doug Came up with the idea to found Circular 5:41  
• How Circulor uses databases and Blockchain 8:17 (https://www.hyperledger.org/use/fabric) (https://www.hyperledger.org/learn/publications/tantalum-case-study) 
• Doug is a sceptic on blockchain 9:12
• The changing role of the Procurement Profession 12:15
• There are visionary procurement professionals in sustainability 16:35  (Martina is a visionary - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martina-buchhauser/)
• Volvo’s use of traceability in its Procurements 18:23
• What procurement can do to drive sustainability and change the status quo 19:38
• A future vision that Procurement can help build 24:40
• Where to find Doug and Circulor 26:00

Find our more about Circulor here: https://www.circulor.com

Connect with Doug: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougjohnsonpoensgen/

If you want to learn Contract Management make sure you've checked out this Course - https://www.udemy.com/course/contract-management-for-beginners/?referralCode=F658394D58FA7DD0515A 

In this series, I talk with Procurement Tech providers to find out about their product. I want this series to help procurement pros like you and I to know what solutions are out there to better enable our procurement activities.

In this episode of Procurement Tech, I speak with Edmund Zagorin, the founder of Procurement Tech Company Bid Ops. Bid Ops software gives Procurement teams Supplier Management, Sourcing, Supplier Collaboration and much more.

We talk about the following:

• The Origin Story of Bid Ops
  
• What Bid Ops does
  
• 3 case studies around how the Bid Ops solution is used in different industries
  
• A Bid Ops event going live in March
  

Ashleigh Turner is the winner of the CIPS Young Talent of the Year 2019 award, domestic violence survivor, mother and a podcast host in her own rights with Empower with Ash.

This was my favourite podcast of the Year and I’d encourage you all to go connect with Ashleigh on LinkedIn.

In this episode, we cover:

• What Ashleigh does in Procurement (Caterpillar Dealership)
• How Ashleigh got into Procurement and why she loves it
• Why working in a Greenfield/new procurement team can be incredible - pros/cons
• How Procurement is perceived by your colleagues
• The daunting task of ripping millions out of the business through Industrial consumables
• Winning the CIPS Young Talent of the Year 2019 award
• The BIG aggregator project with 30+ consumable categories, 300,000 line items down to 60,000, across 23 sites that cover the size of India.
• Experience versus time served in Procurement roles and job adverts
• The issues with leaders who cannot use technology themselves and who do not understand the benefits of technology
• What the future of procurement is going to look like
• Why we should challenge procurement and push forward as millennials
• You need to adapt to change
• What was the impact of the CIPS award on Ashleigh’s career

Connect with Ashleigh here:

Dave Jones is an MCIPS Qualified Procurement Professional working in the retail sector in the UK. We dived into so much in a short space of time with this episode, including the effect that COVID has had on the retail sector. The main focus of this episode was to discuss what was Procmeet which has now transformed into the bigger and better Proctopus (ProcMeet is the Procurement Meet up). Dave had a thought one night whilst sat on the sofa. This thought was about having a cuppa with some fellow procurement professionals and he asked his LinkedIn Network if they’d be up for it. They really were up for it.

In this episode we cover:

Dave’s views on the impacts of Covid on Retail

Changes in governance models

Impacts of Working From Home on Procurement Teams

Where is Procurement Going

What Procmeet is (this has now grown into Proctopus)

Connect with Dave here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dohjones/ 

Susan Walsh is the fixer of dirty data, an expert in spend data classification, taxonomies, and data accuracy. In addition to all of this, Susan improves your Procurement Data to create savings both financially and in time. Susan is the Founder of The Classification Guru, an Organisation that takes the pain out of data issues to make your life easier.

In this episode we cover:

• How COVID has affected Corporate Culture
• Changes in behaviours with Managers and Staff
• Why Meeting Culture needs to shift
• Saying No, more
• Our Views on Thinkers 360 as a Platform and how Susan is being recognised an Industry Leader
• The COAT Acronym Origin Story
• Don’t google Dirty Susan
• How to use COAT for your Data
• The Story of 840 spreadsheets that needed to be merged
• Practical Steps to get basic Data Management in place with Excel in Procurement
• Excel horror stories for Data Management

You can find Susan Walsh here:

LinkedIn - Personal - https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanewalsh/

LinkedIn - The Classification Guru - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theclassificationguru/

Steve Wills is one of the most incredible and easy to talk to guys I’ve ever come across. He did not disappoint in this episode. We cover a wide range of Procurement topics in this World of Procurement episode.

Steve has worked in Procurement his entire life and has a love for it. That is clear from the passion he has in all he does for our Procurement Profession. Steve has held several high profile Procurement roles in the Insurance Sector and is the Founder of Procurement Central, who provide Procurement Training for the leaders of tomorrow.

In this Episode of the World of Procurement Podcast, we cover:

• Choice of Clothing throughout Lockdown
• A Brief History into Steve’s career to date and his Business, Procurement Central.
• People who fall into Procurement - is this a downside?
• The language of Procurement
• Understanding the wider Supply Chain throughout COVID
• The overlaps of Procurement with other Functions/Departments
• Responses to COVID and Planning for the Future

Connect with Steve here:

Madison Mobley is fairly new to the World of Procurement. Madison is a Senior Account Executive at the Procurement Tech company Fairmarkit. This is Madison’s first ever Podcast and she absolutely crushed it!

We cover so many topics in this episode such as:

• What is Fairmarkit
• Madison’s background in Sales
• Madison’s observation on the Procurement Profession from a sales background
• Tech adoption in Procurement
• Gen Z are going to hate the poor adoption of tech
• All things Tailspend
• Can we save money via Procurement solutions/software
• Self-Education in Procurement
• Re-establishing trust between Buyers and Sellers

Sit back, grab a coffee, go for a run…whatever you do when you listen to a podcast and enjoy.

Philip Ideson is the man behind Art of Procurement, the number one Procurement Podcast in the world. In addition to this, Art of Procurement provides Education and Consultancy Services. Philip recently hit an incredible milestone of 500,000 downloads over five years of running his Podcast.

Philip has a wealth of experience as a Procurement Practitioner and has spoken with over three hundred Procurement Professionals on his Podcast. As you can Imagine, I was keen to get his views on what the Best Procurement Pros do.

We covered a lot in this thirty minute Podcast episode:

Football, Why Running is incredible for mindset, the traits of Procurement All-Stars, Why focussing on Procurement Technical Skills will only get you so far, why we hate the term “seat at the table” and the challenges COVID 19 has posed to Procurement Teams.

Connect with Philip here - www.linkedin.com/in/philipideson

Mark Raffan is the Host and Founder of Negotiations Ninja and the Head of Marketing at Content Callout. Mark has grown Negotiations Ninja to become the Number 1 Negotiations Podcast in the World. Mark has grown Content Callout, his Marketing Company and has recently launched The Content Callout Podcast.

On this episode we talk about the following:

Why Procurement Pros should make Content and the challenges they may face

The Cannabis Sector

Negotiations and Artificial Intelligence

Future Skillsets Procurement Pros Need

Designation Bodies not providing enough value

It’s a packed episode that was completely unscripted and to which some of you may find to be more controversial and polarising.

Check out what Mark is up to here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markraffan/

Sarah Barnes-Humphrey

Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, the CEO of SHIPZ and Founder/Host of one of the biggest Supply Chain Podcasts and Content Channels, Let’s Talk Supply Chain. Sarah is a Supply Chain legend with twenty or so years experience in this space.

Sarah makes incredible content in the Supply Chain space and to add to this, she has just launched her new venture, SHIPZ. SHIPZ, as Sarah explains, is kinda like the eBay of Shipping.

We dive into what SHIPZ is and what it does as well as some insights into the World of Supply Chain. We then cover Women in Supply Chain and a range of topics in this space.

This is an incredible and entertaining podcast with Sarah who is a pro to talk to. I mean, what what would you expect from someone who has recorded over 100 podcast episodes.

Connect with Sarah here:

Rory is a Legal Professional, a Solicitor trained and qualified in the UK who has operated extensively in the Insurance Sector with Swiss Re. Rory is operating as a Contract Digitalisation Consultant who wants to bring substantive changes to the way in which contracts are drafted and used in Business.

We’re going to cover:

• The current problem with Contracts
  
• Innovations in Contracts
  
• Types of Contracts
  
• Types of Automation
  
• Class A - D Contracts
  
• IACCM and what it’s doing
  

This episode is packed full of information. If you want to up your knowledge of Contracts in fifteen minutes then we’ve got you covered in this episode.

Connect with Rory here:

Jonathan is a Procurement Pro who has worked in Procurement for over 20 years covering a bunch of different Procurement Categories and Industries. We deep dive into Jonathan’s career and get his thoughts on the current World of Procurement.

We talk about the skills that Procurement Pros need, the approach hiring managers take in finding new Procurement staff and where the Profession could be going

It’s full of information, wonderful insights and Jonathan has a voice that is made for Podcasts.

Connect with Jonathan here:

Rich Ham is the CEO of FINETUNE , a Consultancy based in Chicago that partners with companies to source, negotiate, manage and audit certain “nuisance” expense programmes. Fine Tune operates with three categories in mind: Uniform & Facility Services, Waste Disposal Services and Pest Control. These are three categories that many in Procurement will not have procured previously.

We talk about the concept of Nuisance Expenses, the myth of savings at the sourcing stage and why Procurement Teams should consider outsourcing these categories to ensure they get best in-class Procurement outcomes without any of the issues that arise when procuring these services.

Connect with Rich and FINETUNE here:

Andy Neilson Owner of the Procurement Consultancy, Twisted Orange. After 30+ years working across Procurement in every level, Andy has a wealth of experience to share with the World of Procurement.

In the first part of this conversation, we discuss Andy’s career and what he’s learned over the years. If you want to learn how to improve your Procurement Career then you should certainly listen to this episode.

In the second part of this episode, we talk about Mental Health. Andy has suffered from Mental Health for a long time and was open on his battle with his own Mental Health. Procurement can be a particularly stressful career. We’ve included some links to some recognised mental health charities that can help you should you wish to talk.

Connect with Andy here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewneilson1/

Joël is a Procurement Consultant and more importantly…one of the Procurement nerds. Joël is the man behind Pure Procurement, a consultancy that specialises in freeing up your time so you can focus on the strategic work through Procurement Trasnformation and digital transformation.

Joël covers a lot of ground in this weeks’ podcast and I was stuck between a few titles. In essence, this could be called the “idiots Guide to Digital Procurement Transformation” but we’re pretty sure there is a trademark for that somewhere. In essence, Joël breaks down the three categories of Procurement Software solutions, namely ERP, P2P and Niche solutions.

We cover Supplier integration and on-boarding which is an area that is often overlooked. Once you get the solution in place, how do your Suppliers use it? Joël has a thorough understanding of this subject and I will not hesitate in calling him an expert.

You’re going to learn a lot.

Connect with Joël here:

Marina Bradford is a Procurement and Sustainability Consultant through her company Bemari. Marina, pronounced Mar-een-a has worked across 18 countries and is an expert in Procurement, Sustainability, Risk and how this impacts on social and environmental issues.

Marina delivered a Masterclass on Sustainable Procurement. We talked about the difference between Procurement and Sustainable Procurement, why Sustainability is vital, and how businesses can profit from it and traceability.

Marina has a particular skill in making the complex seem simple. This was one of my personal favourites from all the podcasts I’ve hosted to date.

You can connect with Marina here:

Louis Bastone

Louis Bastone is an Indirect Procurement Pro with a Supply Chain Masters Degree. This is evident in that Louis is an avid reader and consumer of content in this space. He also knows a lot and decided to give us all a lot of value in this episode talking about Total Cost of Ownership.

Total Cost of Ownership is the principle of knowing and ensuring you procure goods/services that include the soft/hard costs of the goods or services. Yet, this is often neglected at the Procurement Stage and manyOrganisations end up paying out large sums of money on repairs, maintenance or additional services as these were not considered or requested.

Louis breaks down Total Cost of Ownership and gives us a practical and useful way of applying it in your day to day work.