For those who work in any area of the supply chain, diversity is a word that comes up often. Supplier diversity or diversity in contracting are programs that can be either mandatory (i.e., requirement to fulfill state or federal contracts) or voluntary (i.e., procurement/social responsibility strategy).
Whether your organization chooses diverse suppliers for advocacy and social responsibility reasons, to comply with state or federal regulations, or to simply meet your stated requirements and work scope, the benefits of supplier diversity can have lasting impacts on your community and your organization.
Starting a Supplier Diversity Program (SD Program) in your organization requires input and collaboration from various stakeholders at all levels. The SIG Resource Center has a wealth of information to help you begin the process to implement an SD Program, including how to make the business case to internal stakeholders, best practices and benchmarking studies from your peers.
Mary Zampino, Senior Director of Global Sourcing Intelligence
SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Katherine Smith shares how lessons in the CSP program informed her during her company’s digital transformation.
One of the many areas of the CSP program that I found to be of great relevance for my role as a Procurement Specialist at Fannie Mae was the Lesson on Artificial Intelligence. Being of an older generation, I can remember working as a manager when there were no computers. Inventories were taken manually and then extended using calculators or adding machines. It was a significant step forward when we could automate that process.
Gone are the days of spending long hours on the phone reading off SKU numbers and quantities needed when placing orders for products, such as the food and paper supply needs of a hospital foodservice department.
Katherine Smith, Sr. Contracts and Procurement Specialist, Fannie Mae
After wrapping up the 59th Global Executive Summit, we are excited to bring you even more resources and connect you with a network of people to help you be your best.
Summit Resources On-Demand
Following each Summit, we publish an anthology that provides a snapshot of every Summit presentation and also includes speakers’ contact information if you’d like to follow up with them. The 2020 Global Executive Summit hosted over 40 keynote and breakout sessions.
This is a great resource for an overview of the content to share with your team members who were not able to attend and to demonstrate key takeaways and ROI to your executive team. This is a benefit of membership, so if you’re not a member inquire today!
As we near the end of 2020, one lesson is clear: Sourcing and procurement teams equipped with advanced skills, technologies and best practices not only weathered supply chain disruptions but were able to pivot and innovate.
As we enter 2021, the rehiring wave will focus on procurement professionals with modern and diverse skillsets based on today’s best practices. Understanding the current business landscape will be essential to secure your future.
SIG University is enrolling for programs that start in January and February. The free curriculum guide will provide you with detailed information on all four programs, including strategic sourcing, supplier management, third-party risk management and intelligent process automation. Prefer to go at your own pace? Inquire about the new self-paced option.
I recently had the privilege of joining SIG’s podcast with Dawn Tiura. We had so much fun talking about diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategies, and why now is the time for organizations to start thinking about and acting on total talent diversity. Specifically, diversity across all of their workers, full-time and contingent (contractors, freelancers, and shift workers). Dawn and I are both super passionate about this topic so if you are too, take a listen.
Maybe you’re thinking, “I’ve got diversity suppliers and that’s what I’m measured on.” That’s great if you do, and the truth is diversity suppliers are absolutely critical and shouldn’t be overlooked. However, just because you use diversity suppliers doesn’t mean you are getting diverse candidates.
Many organizations spend as much as 42% of their entire workforce budget on contingent labor, and most CFO’s expect that number to increase in the coming years. In fact, by 2023, over 52% of the workforce will be made up of freelancers. So if such a significant portion of your workforce is contingent, shouldn’t you consider diversity and inclusion across all workers?
Certainly, we know it’s good for the bottom line, as evidenced by the Boston Consulting Group finding that diverse companies have higher revenue. Who can deny that revenue isn’t important? It’s what keeps everybody employed! Here are some essential points to consider:
It’s so easy to do the right thing to do for people and business. Diversity and inclusion across all worker categories can so easily be implemented. It brings value to your community, to your current and future workers and your company brand.
With the launch of the SolutionMap Fall 2020 release, Spend Matters’ analysts have assessed 77 procurement technology vendors, adding 12 providers since our Spring 2020 update.
SolutionMap, which began in 2017, has become the definitive procurement technology benchmark due to the depth of analyst assessments, quantity of real-life customer inputs and frequency of release (twice a year) to accurately reflect vendor capabilities and market developments.
If you’re new to SolutionMap, here are the basics:
This month, we kick off SIG’s Global Executive Summit, introduce self-paced certification programs through SIG University, and have a host of exciting industry research and webinars to keep you up to date.
The SIGventure Returns
SIG’s Global Executive Summit is where forward-thinking procurement leaders come to experience pioneering trends grounded in today’s new realities. SIG members and buy-side practitioners can register to attend FREE. Join for a few hours daily, get work done while engaging remotely.
But all work and no play makes for a boring Global Executive Summit experience. That’s why SIG is awarding over $20,000 in prizes from our sponsors! Register to attend today so you can begin earning SIGventure Quest points for the daily prize giveaways. You could be the proud new owner of a Peloton, The Mirror, an eBike, Varidesk Electronic Standing Desk, curved monitors and lots more high-tech prizes.
Did you miss our 2020 open cohort start dates and can't wait for 2021? We have fast-track and self-paced options for all programs if open cohort semester timings do not work for your schedule! Have a large group from your organization interested in taking the program together? We also offer closed cohorts for groups of 20 or more that can start when it is best suitable for your team, and volume discounts are available!
Leaders should manage the balance between employees and contractors strategically. Beeline’s new ebook details how to create an agile workforce with a balance between employees and non-employees.
Amanda Slevar is a Manager of Presales for SAP Fieldglass. She brings over 15 years of contingent labor management and services procurement expertise to prospective customers to designs solutions to fit their current needs, and build toward an innovative future program. Amanda is a featured presenter at SIG’s Global Executive Summit which takes place this month. The Global Executive Summit is free to all qualified buy-side practitioners and sell-side members.
What does it mean to “future proof” your external workforce management?
To me, this comes down to three core areas: People, Process, and Platform and they are all incredibly dependent on each other for success. Starting with people, if organizations are really serious about strategically managing their external workforce, they understand that people are core to making sure the experience and adoption of the program is successful. Whether that is through an internal center of excellence or via a 3rd party MSP to manage, having the eyes, ears, and hands, to be able to react to changes and growth opportunities that are going to arise with any program from the most newly deployed to a fully mature global installation.
Secondly, having a clear and simple process for procuring external talent is key to adoption, which fuels growth organically. I have had the benefit of seeing many programs start out small in scope, and through the simplicity and ease of a process that was executed begin to expand and grow just because they delivered a delightful experience, and other parts of the business want it too! No forceful, mandated rollout, just a great solution that delivers value to its end users.
Amanda Slevar Manager, Customer Success, SAP Fieldglass
SIG University Certified Third-Party Risk Management Professional (C3PRMP) program graduate Jaclyn Seals discusses how taking the C3PRMP program has given her the resources to grow in her role and the expertise to be an asset to her team.
When I first registered for this course, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I initially thought I would learn a lot of things that I was completely unaware of. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was learning the “why” behind the changes my organization has been implementing over the past two years.
This course took me deeper into what I need to know to be a successful third-party risk management professional (TPRMP). I will discuss how my organization has evolved, how it has impacted me, and how this course helped me see how I can grow more effectively through these changes.
Evolving into Third-Party Risk Management
My journey as a TPRMP started four years ago. At that time, we were known as Vendor Relationship Managers. My job was to perform the ongoing monitoring task. At that time, I did not know that I was performing a TPRM function under the Enterprise Third-Party Risk Management Framework (ETPRM).
It wouldn’t be until two years into my role that ETPRM was introduced to us. I remember being told that things were changing, and my role was going to evolve quickly. My leadership team was not kidding! Not only have I have learned more than I ever imagined, but my role has also significantly changed during this time.
Implementing the Enterprise Third-Party Risk Management Framework
The change to my role is largely due to heightened regulatory requirements that my organization has put in place. We were never really that “big” to have all eyes on us. Due to our significant growth over the past several years, we are now seen as a large financial institution.
SIG’s Global Executive Summit is where forward-thinking procurement leaders come to experience pioneering trends grounded in today’s new realities. It provides a dedicated space for you to network with industry thought leaders, learn from different perspectives, and keep pace with emerging developments in strategic planning and procurement technology, all of which are essential to inform the way we work.
Taking place October 13 to 15, this Summit isn’t just a three-day-long webinar, it’s a live event! Everyone who attends will come away with data-backed insights and actionable resources. Sourcing and procurement leaders are continuously being shaped by new developments in contract management, remote work, sustainability, stakeholder buy-in and third-party risk management.
The keynote addresses and breakout sessions will directly address these trending topics and more:
Contract Lifecycle Management
Many sourcing bottlenecks are the result of poor contract management practices. Digitizing and automating the process, from initiation to award and renewal, can expedite the process and enhance compliance.
In my conversations with practitioners and procurement leaders, this topic comes up frequently. You can expect sessions that focus on executing complex negotiations to the role that advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning play in managing the lifecycle of contracts.
Before COVID-19, every industry was already seeing the impact of digitization. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and consolidation were increasing, innovative disruptors were raising more venture capital than ever before, and each internal function in large enterprises was strategizing on how to embrace and incorporate technology.
As the global pandemic hit, digital transformation hit the gas. The most defining effect of COVID-19 on digital transformation has been the growth of e-commerce penetration: e-commerce adoption grew more in the last six months than it has in the prior 12 years. Industries are fundamentally redefining themselves. New consumer behaviors and habits are forming, and the value chains of the market are permanently shifting.
While digital transformation promises a great challenge, it also promises significant opportunities. In our conversations with leading executives across the Finance, Procurement, HR and IT departments – one recurring theme has been made abundantly clear: to capture this new emerging value, an agile and robust talent strategy will be necessary.
Resetting Contingent Workforce Strategies
It’s time to hit the reset button on contingent workforce strategies! Age-old strategies were already under pressure pre-COVID-19. In a post-pandemic, hyper digitized world, organizations cannot revert to outdated techniques. New strategies and boundaryless thinking are required to reconstruct a more sophisticated, agile and robust workforce.
Romeen Sheth, President & Scott Fraleigh, Chief Product Officer
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Resources for Supplier Diversity Programs
For those who work in any area of the supply chain, diversity is a word that comes up often. Supplier diversity or diversity in contracting are programs that can be either mandatory (i.e., requirement to fulfill state or federal contracts) or voluntary (i.e., procurement/social responsibility strategy).
Whether your organization chooses diverse suppliers for advocacy and social responsibility reasons, to comply with state or federal regulations, or to simply meet your stated requirements and work scope, the benefits of supplier diversity can have lasting impacts on your community and your organization.
Starting a Supplier Diversity Program (SD Program) in your organization requires input and collaboration from various stakeholders at all levels. The SIG Resource Center has a wealth of information to help you begin the process to implement an SD Program, including how to make the business case to internal stakeholders, best practices and benchmarking studies from your peers.