The legal category of spend is often the final frontier in terms of procurement engagement. It is too complex, too nuanced and isn't understood by anyone from outside the legal space. When we do get involved, it is often to help manage low value and commoditized services. So how do we crack the code and become a trusted partner to the legal team. There is arguably no-one in the world more qualified to answer that question than today's guest, Silvia Hodges Silverstein. Silvia is the Executive Dir...
May 03, 2016•40 min•Ep. 50
Ugh, governance I hear you say! When we think of procurement governance, we think of it as a way to control our end users - as something to measure compliance against. However, it doesn't have to be like that! I was invited to speak at a conference recently on the topic of procurement governance. My experience is that governance - if used strategically - can be the cornerstone of a strategy that enables procurement to take on a greater role within our organizations. In this Art of Procurement Fr...
Apr 29, 2016•20 min•Ep. 49
I strongly feel that we can learn as much from people who are outside procurement as inside procurement, and that is definitely the case in today's show. My guest today is Anna Spady, the Marketing Manager and Inbound Strategist for RFP365. In today's episode, I explore how procurement can learn from Marketing best practices in terms of how you can build strong relationships, and advocates, from people who may initially resist talking to you. It is the classic problem that we have in connecting ...
Apr 26, 2016•42 min•Ep. 48
After a flurry of activity over the past couple of weeks – with the site redesign and then the Big Idea Week series, it is nice to get back into a normal routine this week! And in fact, I don't intend for today's show to be very long at all. Rather than diving in to another subject, I would encourage you to go back and pick out a show from the Big Idea week that may not yet have already listened to. Listen in to today's podcast for a summary of the Big Idea Week shows, and for a question that I ...
Apr 22, 2016•8 min•Ep. 47
This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today, I welcomed Martin Chilcott, Founder and CEO of 2degrees, onto the show. Martin is a serial entrepreneur and a sought after speaker who is passionate about solving our greatest supply chain sustainability challenges. In our conversation, Martin shares why sustainability is critical as we attempt to accomm...
Apr 19, 2016•27 min•Ep. 46
This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today's guest is Barry Ward, Senior Procurement Brand Manager at IBM. Barry and I discuss how cognitive technologies have the potential to transform procurement delivery models. Barry shares how IBM is using technology to drive automation across their internal procurement group by levering their IBM Watson plat...
Apr 15, 2016•37 min•Ep. 45
This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today's guest is Chris Browne, Chief Procurement Officer of The World Bank. The World Bank has arguably one of the most complex procurement scope's in the world, covering $44B in project spend across 173 countries. Chris and his team embarked on a three year journey to reform procurement at The World Bank, and ...
Apr 14, 2016•31 min•Ep. 44
This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. In today's interview, I talked with Chris Sawchuk. Chris is a Principal, and the Global Procurement Advisory Practice Leader at The Hackett Group. Chris and I focused on the findings of Hackett's 2016 CPO Key Issues Study. As part of the conversation, we touched on CPO priorities, how world class procurement or...
Apr 13, 2016•29 min•Ep. 43
This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. Today, I sat down with Gabe Perez, the Vice President of Strategy and Market Development at Coupa. Gape shares his thoughts on a number of procurement technology issues, including the potential for cognitive computing, the need to focus on the value that technology can provide to all users to ensure its success...
Apr 12, 2016•25 min•Ep. 42
This week is Big Idea Week on the Art of Procurement - a mini series of shorter interviews with procurement thought leaders ahead of their participation in the Procurious Big Idea Summit. We start the week with a wide ranging conversation with Tom Derry, CEO of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM). Tom shares his thoughts on CPO priorities, the talent profile necessary to be successful in the evolving world of procurement, and why the use of social media has now become an imperative for proc...
Apr 11, 2016•34 min•Ep. 41
In this episode of The Art Of Procurement, it's a little bit of a different show. I want to discuss a couple of items related to the show itself, and then I have some exciting news about some shows that, allbeing well, will be coming out over the next week or so. Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/rebranding
Apr 08, 2016•12 min•Ep. 40
This week, I am joined once again by Terri Gallagher. You may recall I invited Terri on the show previously, back in Episode 20 , to talk about the role that procurement can play in the management of the temporary labor category. Terri is President & CEO of Gallagher and Consultants, an advisory firm that helps companies build and implement end to end workforce management strategies. Terri is an expert in the field of Human Capital Management, and specifically contingent on temporary labor, ...
Apr 05, 2016•36 min•Ep. 39
Today, I am going to continue a topic that I first started to discuss a couple of weeks ago on the topic of risk. We have heard a number of guests talk about the growing importance of risk, and procurement's role in monitoring, mitigating and managing risk. I received a listener question related to that show that I think was a great question. The question was: How do you integrate the identification of risk into the sourcing process? Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/38...
Apr 01, 2016•12 min•Ep. 38
My guest today is Bill Michels. Bill is very well known in the procurement and supply chain professions across the US. He is currently the founder and CEO of Aripart Consulting, following a 23 year career leading ADR North America. Bill is a sought after speaker, and I was delighted when Bill agreed to be on the show, without hesitation. With such a wealth of knowledge, it was hard to select a single topic to discuss in today's show. However, what we decided to focus on is the megatrends – that ...
Mar 29, 2016•36 min•Ep. 37
In this episode of the Art of Procurement, I am joined by Dave Hulsen, co-founder of an RFP collaboration platform called RFP 365. You'll hear Dave talk about the circumstances under which we should be using the RFP, versus other tools that are out there, like an RFI, or frankly just picking up the phone. And then if an RFP is the right tool for the job what do we need to do to make sure that the RFP brings value to the process? That it's just not some burdensome document. Full show notes are av...
Mar 22, 2016•51 min•Ep. 36
Last week I joined almost 300 procurement peers from around the world at the first Spend Matters ISM Global Procurement Tech Summit in Baltimore, Maryland. As the event came to a close, I spent 15 minutes catching up with Jason Busch – Founder and Head of Strategy at Azul Partners and Spend Matters – discussing what it took to put together an event of this size, and the key takeaways that Jason took from from the conference.
Mar 20, 2016•18 min•Ep. 35
You may have seen during the last week or so that procurement networking site Procurious has issued a call for procurement professionals to record and submit a “Big Idea” in support of their Big Idea 2016 event. A “Big Idea” being something that has the potential to transform procurement. I got into the spirit and recorded my own “Big Idea”. I submitted a 60 second teaser to Procurious, but here is my “Big Idea” in more detail.
Mar 18, 2016•13 min•Ep. 34
Welcome to a Bonus Episode of the Art of Procurement. In Episode 32, published earlier today, I interviewed Kelly Barner and Jon Hansen, the authors of a new book called Procurement at a Crossroads. After my interview with Kelly and Jon, I recorded an audio review. To hear my thoughts on the book, and my key takeaways, listen to this bonus episode.
Mar 15, 2016•10 min•Ep. 33
In this episode of the Art of Procurement, I am joined by Jon Hansen and Kelly Barner, authors of a new book called Procurement At A Crossroads - and we discuss (debate?) what is in the tea leaves for procurement’s future, and what is likely to happen to the winners - and losers. Listen in to three people deeply passionate about our profession consider the question: what’s next? Full show notes are available at: http://artofprocurement.com/crossroads...
Mar 15, 2016•59 min•Ep. 32
In todays Episode of The Art of Procurement Friday Show, I discuss 4 Procurement Activities You Should Outsource Today. The first three activities can be applied to both Indirect and Direct procurement. The fourth is specifically related to Direct Materials Procurement in a manufacturing environment. For full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/31
Mar 11, 2016•18 min•Ep. 31
On this weeks episode of The Art Of Procurement, my guest is Brian Umbenhauer. I have read the Deloitte CPO Survey with interest every year to understand the priorities and challenges that CPO's are facing, and how those priorities change each year. However, the results often left me with as many questions as answers. I am excited today to share an interview with Brian Umbenhauer, a Principal of Deloitte Consulting, the Head of Deloitte's Sourcing & Procurement practice, and a co-author of t...
Mar 08, 2016•51 min•Ep. 30
In todays Episode of The Art of Procurement Friday Show, I want to talk about procurement and risk management. It's a topic that I want to cover in some considerable depth on the Art of Procurement over the course of 2016 but today I am going to keep things relatively high level. For full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/29
Mar 04, 2016•26 min•Ep. 29
Today's guest is Eliot Knudsen. Eliot's background is in Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics and Machine Learning. As you will hear in the show, Eliot is currently a Field Engineer for Tamr, a leader in procurement data analytics. I invited Eliot on the show to talk in more detail about data, and how procurement organizations can access and consolidate primary sources of data to allow strategies and decisions to be made with data, rather than a hunch. Full show notes can be found at artofprocu...
Mar 01, 2016•37 min•Ep. 28
In today's Art of Procurement Friday Show, I wanted to follow up on the discussion from the last episode with Stan Litow , President of the IBM Foundation and Vice President of Corporate Affairs at IBM. I explore CSR a little further, and the role that procurement can play, over and above what was discussed in episode 26 which was mainly focused on how procurement can help spur small business growth by giving small, local, businesses the opportunity to win business. What was interesting to me wa...
Feb 26, 2016•15 min•Ep. 27
On this weeks episode of The Art Of Procurement, my guests are Stan Litow and Tim Coates. Stan is the Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs at IBM, and the President of the IBM Foundation. Tim is an executive within the IBM Foundation, with the responsibility of managing their Supplier Connection program. Today's discussion talks about corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility – or CSR – and what large private enterprises can do to help spur small busines...
Feb 23, 2016•47 min•Ep. 26
The inspiration for today's Art Of Procurement Friday show was a question that I received recently from a US based listener regarding Direct Procurement. And I follow that up with another question that I was asked to answer by CIPS Supply Management magazine recently on a similar topic – the difference that someone with a career in Indirect Procurement should be aware of as they transition into a Direct Procurement role. Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/25...
Feb 19, 2016•12 min•Ep. 25
On this weeks episode of The Art Of Procurement, my guest is Alex Short. I was fortunate to be introduced to Alex Short by Gerard Chick , who I interviewed recently for the show. Gerard introduced Alex as a pioneer in the procurement space, and he wasn't wrong. Alex is a passionate entrepreneur who is focused on elevating the role of procurement through facilitating stronger and deeper supplier relationships. Alex Short, is the co-founder of Old Street Labs, and Old Street Labs' main product, Vi...
Feb 16, 2016•44 min•Ep. 24
For today's Art Of Procurement Friday show, I thought I would share 14 different questions that you can use to consider the health of any supplier engagement or contract. Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/23
Feb 12, 2016•16 min•Ep. 23
On this weeks episode of The Art Of Procurement, my guest is Gerard Chick and we discuss the behaviours, habits and attributes that make procurement professionals and in-particular procurement leaders more effective in their job. Gerard Chick is Chief Knowledge Officer for Optimum Procurement, a leading procurement outsourcing and consulting firm. Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/habits
Feb 09, 2016•58 min•Ep. 22
On this weeks friday show, I ask: Is Procurement Abusing the RFP Process? Full show notes can be found at artofprocurement.com/21
Feb 05, 2016•13 min•Ep. 21
