In 2021, 62% of the companies in the S&P 1500 index did not provide an annual forecast - some even stated that there is just too much uncertainty for them to be accurate (WSJ, 9/22/21). This is a reality that all companies in all industries worldwide have accepted; market conditions will remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. In this episode, based on an AOP Live session, host Philip Ideson talks with Sherri Barnes, Director of Market Intelligence Services at ProcureAbility, and Kristen Re...
Nov 29, 2021•59 min
Usually the transformation journeys we hear about are focused on a single company, but there are instances of industry wide transformation efforts as well. The oil and gas industry is a perfect example. These companies are looking to evolve into broader chemical and energy organizations for the sake of sustainability, and procurement has the opportunity to become a strategic partner in this transformation. In this episode, host Philip Ideson gets a look into the role of procurement transformat...
Nov 22, 2021•46 min
Leading procurement organizations are constantly reimagining their processes and operating models, but in today’s unpredictable and fast-changing world they are under more pressure than ever to deliver a high-level roadmap to building the procurement function of tomorrow. In TRANSFORM - a thought-provoking new podcast series from Art of Procurement in partnership with Globality - we spotlight the agenda-setting procurement leaders and companies who are changing the game and redefining the Future...
Nov 17, 2021•32 min
The State of the Procurement Profession report, one of the largest studies of the profession, is now in its fourth year. Among the key takeaways is data that suggests cost-related objectives remain dominant, with sustainability initiatives far down the list of priorities, despite discussions and content that suggest more progress has already been made. The silver lining is that the entrepreneurial procurement movement seems to be taking hold, and may usher in a time of accelerated change. In thi...
Nov 15, 2021•42 min
In a recent Art of Procurement survey, access to market insights was cited as the second most pressing challenge for procurement professionals. Even when procurement is able to access the insights they need, they still have to ensure that they are up-to-date, harder than ever given the level of uncertainty and unpredictability in today’s business climate. In this week’s episode, Host Philip Ideson is joined by Ashley Cruz, Manager of Client Services at ProcurementIQ, and Thomas Lawson, their Pro...
Nov 08, 2021•39 min
The high number of low-cost transactions is just the beginning of the challenges with tail spend management. Spend often finds its way into the tail through multiple ‘wrong turns,’ each of which requires a different approach by procurement and a correspondingly different resolution. There is no one ‘cause’ of tail spend and therefore there is no one solution. In this episode, which is based on an AOP Live session, host Philip Ideson speaks with Jean-Baptiste Anne, Head of Enterprise Sales and Pr...
Nov 04, 2021•1 hr
Procurement has been working hard to expand our value proposition beyond savings for a long time, and the current conditions in service-based industries may provide a perfect opportunity. Many service and people-based industries are being hit hard by what is being called ‘The Great Resignation.’ Managing these categories on cost alone will definitely not be enough. In this episode, host Philip Ideson speaks with Amy Fong, Vice President of Sourcing and Vendor Management at Everest Group. Amy h...
Nov 01, 2021•49 min
We have observed a huge surge in investment in procurement technology startups over the last 12 months, and many of them are leveraging new ‘cognitive’ technologies to be smarter and more intuitive than the procurement technology of years past. In order to truly understand the value proposition of these solutions, procurement needs to have a solid grasp of what cognitive technology is and how its introduction will impact current technology, processes, and talent. In this episode, host Philip I...
Oct 25, 2021•40 min
Everyone who works for the Clorox Company is encouraged to lead ‘with their head, heart and guts.’ For procurement, this meant boldly accepting - and even driving - change by reimagining their indirect procurement operating model. Art of Procurement was recently joined by Kathy Thrasher, a Senior Procurement Manager at The Clorox Company, and Mike Caldron, Senior Group Manager at WNS Denali, for an AOP Live session all about their transformation journey. When asked what made the greatest differe...
Oct 18, 2021•58 min
News of supply shortages and price increases seem to be everywhere. For consumers, that means their dollar doesn’t buy quite as much as it used to, but for procurement, it means every supplier email or call is likely to be a request for a price increase. What is procurement to do? In this crossover episode from The Sourcing Hero podcast, produced in partnership with Una, Host Kelly Barner flips the tables to interview AOP Founder and Managing Director Philip Ideson. His advice on how to address ...
Oct 11, 2021•25 min
It isn’t often that procurement has the opportunity to hear the sales perspective on our work, but that is precisely what we bring you in this episode of the Art of Procurement podcast. Chris Mele is the Managing Partner of Software Pricing Partners. In this interview, he provides an outsider’s perspective on two topics that are important to procurement: How pricing works in the software industry: whether suppliers are being fair and how to negotiate when you feel like you’re examining a ‘black ...
Oct 04, 2021•57 min
Procurement, treasury and accounts payable have one set of shared objectives when it comes to supplier engagement and management, but all too often they operate in silos. This complicates supplier management and does little to improve their experience while working with a company. Restructuring how these groups work together through procurement transformation can create opportunities to support each other’s goals and therefore better deliver against business expectations. In this episode, Host P...
Sep 27, 2021•1 hr
“I'm going to change your mindset. You're going to want me to help you. You're going to want my team. You're going to want more procurement and you're going to advocate for us. I love watching it shift.” Many procurement leaders have been tasked with building the first procurement organization at their company. It is always a challenging journey, with many unexpected twists and turns. For fast-growth companies with a global footprint, establishing formal procurement is absolutely critical, but i...
Sep 20, 2021•30 min
Corporate travel is one of the most complex spend categories that procurement has management responsibility for. For almost two years now, business travel has been in a state of flux resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic, leaving most companies and procurement teams with a whole series of unanswered questions: How should your corporate travel policy change to reflect new realities? How do you negotiate deals when volumes are uncertain? How do you account for traveler safety? And how do you...
Sep 13, 2021•12 min
Corporate travel is one of the most complex spend categories that procurement has management responsibility for. For almost two years now, business travel has been in a state of flux resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic, leaving most companies and procurement teams with a whole series of unanswered questions: How should your corporate travel policy change to reflect new realities? How do you negotiate deals when volumes are uncertain? How do you account for traveler safety? And how do you...
Sep 13, 2021•18 min
Corporate travel is one of the most complex spend categories that procurement has management responsibility for. For almost two years now, business travel has been in a state of flux resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic, leaving most companies and procurement teams with a whole series of unanswered questions: How should your corporate travel policy change to reflect new realities? How do you negotiate deals when volumes are uncertain? How do you account for traveler safety? And how do you...
Sep 13, 2021•15 min
Corporate travel is one of the most complex spend categories that procurement has management responsibility for. For almost two years now, business travel has been in a state of flux resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic, leaving most companies and procurement teams with a whole series of unanswered questions: How should your corporate travel policy change to reflect new realities? How do you negotiate deals when volumes are uncertain? How do you account for traveler safety? And how do you...
Sep 13, 2021•17 min
Anyone who has worked in procurement for more than a year or two has probably found themselves in a situation where they suspect that they are overpaying on a supplier contract. How can you be sure and what should you do if you uncover overpayment? In some cases overpayment issues are based on billing errors, and in other cases, agreed upon contract terms are not being adhered to by suppliers. Either way, third-party compliance audits can be essential. Ben Evans is the President at Auditech Solu...
Sep 06, 2021•42 min
Procurement has been working to digitally transform spend and supplier related processes for years, but even the companies that have succeeded can always do more. Each procurement process connects to other enterprise processes, functions, and systems. The more integrated all of those components are, the better positioned the company is to respond to disruption and seize competitive advantage. In this conversation, Tony Harris, Global Vice President, Global Business Network Solutions at SAP, and ...
Aug 30, 2021•38 min
Since Philip Ideson started Art of Procurement almost six years ago, a broad range of executives, practitioners, academics, and more have shared over 3.2 Million words of wisdom through our podcasts, webinars, virtual events, and long-form writing. Regardless of their focus or point of view, each person shared our singular goal of helping forward-thinking leaders change the game for their company by elevating procurement’s impact. In this week’s episode, Philip Ideson delivers a solo show update...
Aug 23, 2021•18 min
Procurement professionals are always plagued by the fact that no one seems to understand what we do. While this is often blamed on language barriers and the fact that procurement is always evolving, at the end of the day it comes down to one harsh reality - procurement does not have a well-established, recognisable brand . Steve Wills is the Founder and Managing Director of Procurement Central, a specialist training provider based in the UK. Steve formerly served as the Procurement Advisor to th...
Aug 16, 2021•33 min
In this week’s episode, which is based on an Art of Procurement Mastermind Community Category Briefing, Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner ask J. Grant Caplan, President of Procurigence, Inc. and Chairperson of the GBTA Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, detailed questions about the current state of the meetings and events to better understand the conditions companies are dealing with and possible steps they can take to restart their meetings programs without incurring unnecessary risk. ...
Aug 09, 2021•59 min
Every time someone interacts with procurement’s people, processes, or technology, it influences what that person thinks of procurement. This perception determines how early procurement is brought into a sourcing decision, if they are approached about a new business need, and how willingly stakeholders participate in procurement-led projects. Procurement may not often focus significant resources on the ‘intake-to-procure’ process, but distributed buyers are likely to feel different. By meeting bu...
Aug 02, 2021•58 min
“A lot of procurement managers think, ‘I have my process. It will be digitized, but I'm still in control of the process and it will remain with procurement.’ But digitalization is one step further where you really question everything.” Procurement has been focused on digital transformation for so long that we accept the change it will have on our work and team structures. That said, none of us is certain how emerging technologies such as RPA and AI will be incorporated into existing platforms, w...
Jul 26, 2021•31 min
When the first edition of Managing Indirect Spend was published, Joe Payne and Bill Dorn often spoke to customers about what strategic sourcing was and what value it could bring to their organization. 10 years later, much has changed, but a lot has remained the same. Procurement is now much better known and recognized as a valuable corporate function, and yet we are still facing many of the same challenges we were back then. Authors Joe Payne, Bill Dorn, Dave Pastore, and Jenn Ulrich all work fo...
Jul 19, 2021•41 min
Between corporate efforts to digitize operations and an increasingly remote workforce, telecom and technology spend is now more important than ever. Changes to the ownership or structure of a business often lead to opportunities to optimize this category - but only if procurement has it actively under management and knows what to be on the lookout for. Jeff Poirior is the President & COO of Valicom. He joined us for a recent AOP Live session focused on the unique nuances and opportunities contai...
Jul 12, 2021•57 min
We recently partnered with UNA to bring their The Sourcing Hero podcast into the Art of Procurement stable. The Sourcing Hero is a weekly 20-30 minute podcast that captures the stories of people who are rising up and beating the odds to create exceptional value within procurement, and is hosted by Art of Procurement General Manager, Kelly Barner. Today marks the launch of Season 2 of the podcast, and the first of our collaboration with UNA, and we’re going to run the episode in full in the AOP f...
Jul 07, 2021•42 min
As digital transformation progresses, corporate leadership teams are increasing their focus on the quality and availability of data. Spend analysis is just one internal data resource in a sea of data ecosystems, but it has the potential to serve as the foundational connection point for all procurement analytics. For this special series, Art of Procurement partnered with Sievo and Buyers Meeting Point to take a deep dive into procurement data ecosystems. We will explore how procurement leaders ca...
Jul 05, 2021•39 min
As procurement places greater and greater emphasis on building supplier relationships, what impact will that have on the role played by our contracts? Kate Vitasek has been studying the role of contracts in relational procurement for years, and she has seen the contract v. relationship question go wrong many times. She has seen companies tell suppliers that they are in a partnership, only to terminate their contract on 60 days’ notice, and she has seen effective contracts fall into disarray when...
Jun 28, 2021•39 min
As digital transformation progresses, corporate leadership teams are increasing their focus on the quality and availability of data. Spend analysis is just one internal data resource in a sea of data ecosystems, but it has the potential to serve as the foundational connection point for all procurement analytics. For this special series, Art of Procurement partnered with Sievo and Buyers Meeting Point to take a deep dive into procurement data ecosystems. We will explore how procurement leaders ca...
Jun 21, 2021•37 min
