"The value isn't in giving them the coffee beans and hoping they take that away and make a cup of coffee – what they need is a drink. So instead of giving them the data, do the extra steps and pull out the insights for them." - Satvinder Panesar, Data and Analytics Strategy Director, AstraZeneca Procurement leaders are surrounded by data, but turning numbers into true business impact is a new kind of challenge. As AI and analytics tools promise even more information, the real differentiator is k...
Nov 03, 2025•28 min
"The value you bring as a procurement function has transcended being a cost saver. They are now a discussion partner with other functions and bring value in the form of intelligence." - Adrian Vicol, Data Strategy Lead & Data Architect, Siemens Energy Procurement leaders are facing more complex questions about data than ever before. As organizations move toward AI and automation, the need for clean, reliable, and actionable data is skyrocketing – but most teams are still wrestling with legac...
Nov 03, 2025•37 min
Procurement's toughest problems rarely come from spreadsheets or contracts. They come from people. In this episode of "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement," David Loseby – professor, former CPO, and self-described "pracademic" – joins Philip Ideson and Rich Ham to explore why procurement's incentive systems often fail not because they're wrong on paper, but because they ignore how people actually think and act. Unfortunately, he says, most systems are designed for tidy models, not messy human...
Oct 29, 2025•40 min
"Fraudulent conduct robs the government – at all levels, local, state, or federal – of the benefit of competition. Competition is free and open; it is the Magna Carta of the American economic system, and robbing the government of that benefit is inherently wrongful." Public sector procurement faces mounting challenges, not least of which is the threat of collusion and fraud that quietly erodes budgets and public trust. The Department of Justice's Procurement Collusion Strike Force is taking this...
Oct 27, 2025•43 min
"Too many procurement professionals have developed a push energy. If you take that same approach with internal stakeholders, it won't work. We need to develop pull energy — asking questions, listening, and creating a shared vision." - Giuseppe Conti, Professor, Author of Negotiation + Influence = Success: Quick Lessons to Help You Win in Corporate Life Procurement leaders know how much the field has changed, but the biggest barriers often come from within. As procurement's role expands, it has b...
Oct 20, 2025•31 min
Procurement doesn't just have a measurement problem. It has a motivation problem. Behind every misaligned target, every "savings" claim, and every missed opportunity is the same invisible culprit: incentives that quietly tell people to do the wrong things well. In this episode of Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement, Jason Brown, accounting professor at Indiana University and longtime corporate incentives expert, joins co-hosts Philip Ideson and Rich Ham to expose how organizational reward sys...
Oct 15, 2025•36 min
"Everyone keeps talking about AI just for the sake of AI, but, ultimately, the only thing that matters is the outcome you can achieve." - Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP Procurement leaders have long felt the pinch: rising expectations, tight budgets, and platforms that struggle to keep up with user expectations. As AI shifts from a buzzword to true capability, procurement needs to rethink what they need from their core procurement suite. What w...
Oct 13, 2025•30 min
"There is no stagnancy in a supply relationship. Continuous improvement is the basis for that." - Neji Isaac, Global Category Manager, NOVA Chemicals Procurement often measures success in cost savings and contract terms, but today's business environment demands more. As supplier markets consolidate and customer needs shift, procurement leaders must find new ways to bring value to the business, especially in categories that seem stagnant or constrained. In this Art of Procurement podcast episode,...
Oct 06, 2025•28 min
In this Phil-Ins episode of "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement," Philip Ideson, Rich Ham, and Kelly Barner reflect on their conversations with Bayer CPO Thomas Udesen, franchise procurement leader Kristine Morton, and procurement entrepreneur Jason Busch. Despite differences in scope, scale, and sector, the through-line is unmistakable: common sense. For example, Thomas showed how Bayer abandoned "pointless" savings metrics in favor of measures that connect directly to business outcomes, wh...
Oct 01, 2025•33 min
"Play the long game, avoid myopic thinking and approaches to solve immediate problems as much as you can, and treat your suppliers as your customers or clients." – Darshan Deshmukh, President at ProcureAbility Procurement leaders are facing unparalleled uncertainty – trade wars, shifting regulations, and headlines that change overnight. Pressure is mounting to build more resilient, agile supply chains, but most organizations are battling change fatigue as well as a need to redefine value. Procur...
Sep 29, 2025•52 min
"We're in the business of change – selling change and then delivering it." - Gordon Donovan, Vice President Research - Procurement & External Workforce, SAP In an era of overlapping crises, procurement faces fast-evolving challenges… and opportunities. Senior leaders are tasked with not only keeping the engine running but also building resilient, future-facing teams that thrive in complexity. The recently published SAP Economist Impact research report, "The Resilient Edge: Procurement in an ...
Sep 22, 2025•43 min
"We can all claim savings without necessarily achieving the result." This stark observation from Jason Busch sums up decades of dysfunction in how procurement measures their impact and why AI may finally force a (much-needed) reckoning with reality. In this episode of "Buy: The Way...To Purposeful Procurement," Jason joins co-hosts Philip Ideson and Rich Ham to explore how artificial intelligence might finally solve procurement's validation problem… but only if organizations abandon their addict...
Sep 17, 2025•41 min
"Procurement is going to be on the front lines, creating competitive advantage for the corporation." - Vel Dhinagaravel, CEO at Beroe AI isn't just a buzzword anymore… it's rapidly becoming procurement's sharpest tool for staying ahead. Business leaders now demand more than "check-the-box" savings; they want real, data-driven competitiveness that puts their organizations at the front of the pack. The big question: how can AI and always-on intelligence transform procurement's role and impact? In ...
Sep 15, 2025•44 min
"A decision abyss is the chasm that forms between critical supply chain functions… and that's what keeps and prevents organizations from making fast, cross-functional, well-informed data-driven decisions." – Keith Hartley, CEO and Board Member at LevaData, CEO of The Abyss Group In today's hyper-connected supply chains, data is everywhere, but turning it into fast, confident decisions remains elusive. The cost? Slow launches, eroding margins, and "spreadsheet heroics" that mask deeper issues. As...
Sep 08, 2025•41 min
When Kristine Morton's was first introduced to the flawed incentive structures plaguing much of corporate procurement, she said, "That all sounds stupid." Her blunt reaction reveals something profound: it is possible to build a procurement career without ever encountering the dysfunctional systems that dominate so many large organizations. In this episode of "Buy: The Way...To Purposeful Procurement," Kristine Morton, Director of Strategic Sourcing at Unleashed Brands, joins Philip Ideson and Ri...
Sep 03, 2025•30 min
"ProcureTech100 is the voice of the user. It's the voice of the customer. We want the perspective of those who are using these solutions every day, who have done proof of concepts, and who have seen the ROI." - Philip Ideson, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Art of Procurement Today's procurement leaders are surrounded by tech innovation and disruption, but separating real value from empty hype is more complex than ever. With hundreds of new providers, AI tools, and shifting priorities, stayi...
Sep 01, 2025•26 min
"Business partnering is what sets apart good procurement teams from great procurement teams, especially in indirect procurement... Those who are good at partnering with the business, they actually are able to excel." - Sasha Sergeev, Director of Technical & Corporate Procurement, Nova Chemicals Procurement must evolve beyond traditional cost-focused metrics to become true business partners that drive organizational success. The most mature procurement teams understand that delivering excepti...
Aug 25, 2025•29 min
"Savings is completely self-invented and pointless because it's separated from the real P&L." This assessment from Bayer Chief Procurement Officer Thomas Udesen captures the essence of what may be procurement's most radical transformation in decades. In this episode of "Buy: The Way...To Purposeful Procurement," Thomas joins Philip Ideson and Rich Ham to discuss how one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies abandoned traditional procurement metrics entirely, replacing "savings" wit...
Aug 20, 2025•44 min
"I believe if you can define it, you can source it. And if you can source it, you can auction it." - Adam Collins, Head of Sales, Esker Procurement teams are navigating unprecedented global disruptions, from tariffs and geopolitical tensions to supply chain instabilities that refuse to settle. What if these chaotic conditions actually present procurement's greatest opportunity to demonstrate strategic value? In this episode, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner are joined by Adam Collins from Esker to...
Aug 18, 2025•54 min
There is no template for transformation. You have to build transformation for the organization that you're in. Go and learn as much as you can about the organization and then pivot where you need to." - Tanya Roach, Director of Procurement, Federated Co-operatives Limited Building procurement from scratch is never easy… let alone within a 90-year-old organization, during a pandemic, and with business demands changing faster than ever. Resilient, adaptable team members are the key to overcoming c...
Aug 11, 2025•28 min
Halfway through their journey toward purposeful procurement, the co-hosts confront a fundamental question: if procurement drives value in so many ways beyond cost savings, why do incentive structures ignore virtually everything else? In this episode of "Buy: The Way...To Purposeful Procurement," Philip Ideson, Rich Ham, and Kelly Barner discuss insights from their recent conversations with Martin Chilcott and Paul Polizzotto to explore a troubling pattern: procurement consistently creates value ...
Aug 06, 2025•34 min
"Deglobalization is a nice soundbite, but the reality is, we need more focus on risk management and mitigation." – Philip Ideson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Art of Procurement Deglobalization is a hot topic right now, but behind the big headlines and boardroom buzzwords, real change is proving to be slow, complicated, and deeply influenced by geopolitics and regulation. Are companies really bringing supply chains home, or is the story much more nuanced? In this episode, Art of Procurement...
Aug 04, 2025•30 min
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.
Aug 01, 2025•10 min
"I think we have hit a tipping point where procurement has become a pretty complicated practice. There's so many options and choices and optimizations with concepts that are just so alien to the typical user." - Jason Kim, Senior Director of Product Management, Coupa The procurement technology landscape demands solutions that work for both power users and occasional requesters, yet many organizations struggle with platforms that create friction rather than facilitating smooth workflows. Usabilit...
Jul 28, 2025•33 min
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.
Jul 25, 2025•10 min
"Businesses are wasting more money than they're making." This stark assessment from serial entrepreneur Paul Polizzotto frames a provocative question: what if procurement's greatest untapped opportunity lies not in negotiating better prices, but in redirecting the millions corporations already squander on ineffective sales and marketing spend? In this episode of "Buy: The Way...To Purposeful Procurement," Paul Polizzotto, founder of Community AI and former CEO of EcoMedia (which was sold to CBS)...
Jul 23, 2025•37 min
"You really have to intimately understand what the organization needs out of you, and that happens through good discourse, good conversation, good communication." - Jack Skerry, Vice President of Supply Chain, Moosehead Breweries Transforming procurement performance demands more than technical expertise. Senior leaders know that without strong communication skills like active listening, transparency, and empathetic engagement, procurement's impact is, at best, limited. As organizations adapt at ...
Jul 21, 2025•26 min
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.
Jul 18, 2025•11 min
"It's not going to take much to push us back into a shortage market where demand would exceed supply." - Graham Scott, Vice President, Global Procurement at Jabil Semiconductor volatility is grabbing headlines again, but what's really happening beneath the surface for organizations buying and managing critical components? Graham Scott, Vice President of Global Procurement at Jabil, knows this landscape inside and out. In this episode, Graham speaks with Philip Ideson about the biggest pressures ...
Jul 14, 2025•34 min
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.
Jul 11, 2025•11 min
