As a procurement professional, you know that talent in procurement has been a hot topic in recent years. Here at WNS-Denali, we have seen more organizations grapple with talent issues, so we decided to dive deeper into the key talent concerns for retail companies at SIG’s Global Executive Summit a little while back.
The all-star packed panel with procurement leaders from some of the largest retail brands in the world came together to such questions as:
How does your hiring profile differ now and why?
Where are you finding your talent?
What are you looking for in new hires?
Specialist or generalist, which is a better hiring strategy for your team?
Even if you work at a company beyond the retail industry, these questions and the learnings from the panel still apply to your company. As you strive to gain a competitive advantage and influence more spend strategically, refreshing your approach to talent can make a big impact. Below are the top seven creative hiring strategies that came from our panel of retail experts.
Hire from within
This classic retail trick applies to all industries. Promoting from other areas of business up into a corporate role brings a wealth of knowledge and perspective on the core business and ability to relate to stakeholders. Most importantly, it will add a level of credibility to your procurement team.
David Gonzalez, Director, Procurement Services, Denali - A WNS Company
This is the final chapter in a four-part series on procurement KPIs. Catch up on part 1, part 2 and part 3.
One of the goals of a business is to have as much spend (with a capital “S” for all expenditures: CapEx, OpEx and COGS) under management as possible. And that goal should be extended out to supplier spend, where procurement wants to have as much supplier spend influence as possible.
That way you know what you’re spending on suppliers (and the pricing component of that, of course), what you’re getting from those suppliers (i.e., supplier performance), and how well you’re spending in terms of applying best practices and tools/intelligence to the process (e.g., proactively guiding stakeholders and minimizing maverick spend).
Pierre Mitchell, Spend Matters’ Chief Research Officer
As we close out the first half of 2021, we prepare for the future of procurement with a host of exciting industry research and webinars to make your role easier.
July CPO & Executive Virtual Series
SIG's CPO & Executive Virtual Series is an opportunity for the most senior procurement executives to gather with their peers in an interactive virtual environment to discuss their most pressing issues. On July 21, A panel of experts from Everest Group will explore maximizing savings and innovation from IT and BPO Service Providers, followed by topic-based discussions on contracting models and cost savings in 2021.
Join us for this executive-level conversation with actionable takeaways.
As a 40-year Procurement leader, Steve Kesinger knows a thing or two about the daily struggles of procurement departments. The former Nordstrom Chief Procurement Officer and LogicSource Procurement Council member has hands-on experience managing large, complex teams responsible for managing over $2B+ in annual spend, resulting in a unique perspective on what Procurement teams need to succeed.
In this session, Steve will be joined by LogicSource Managing Partner, Sam Vail, and Sourcing Industry Group President and CEO, Dawn Tiura, to share the insights he has harvested from his decades of experience both as a CPO and also in his current advisory role helping early-stage technology companies build business models that will resonate with Fortune 1000 procurement leaders.
There is no denying that procurement must change. We can sense it in what our executive team asks of us, what our supply partners are suggesting, and the increasing role of technology in everyday procurement workflows. In addition, the business has recognized what we are capable of, which has opened the door to increased insight and influence.
Suppose procurement leaders and teams are going to be ready to make the journey ahead. In that case, we must carefully design our desired future state, leverage the resources currently available to us, including automation and broader access to talent, by tapping a virtual workforce.
ProcureAbility's vision for the future of procurement is an organization that is viewed as a partner to the business, generates value beyond traditional measurements, and leverages technology and process optimization to increase strategic focus. In the following, we will answer two of the most pressing questions: What precise mix of talent will be required? What processes and technology are needed to enable this future-state organization?
Talent: What precise mix of talent will be required?
With the rise of workforce virtualization, the sky's the limit for building out the future team. Before defining the combination of talent needed for in-house resources, it is essential to identify their responsibilities. A standard pillar of high-performing organizations, even today, is the separation of strategic and tactical activities.
Procurement leader Canda Rozier and senior sourcing veteran Lawrence Kane joined the Sourcing Industry Landscape Podcast to discuss the new age of intelligent automation, based on what they learned in SIG University’s Certified Intelligent Automation Professional (CIAP) program. They outline how intelligent automation can be a powerful tool to promote an organization’s growth and prosperity, and how – when implemented correctly – it can be targeted to improve areas holding back the enterprise.
What is a simple definition of intelligent automation?
Canda Rozier: I think intelligent automation is a fully holistic approach for business transformation that lets companies start to analyze data, provide analytics on the data and deliver digital solutions to optimize business processes and tasks. I think one of the things that has really struck me as I've learned more about and become engaged with intelligent automation is that it's as important to understand what it's not as to understand what it is.
A lot of intelligent automation projects fail or don’t provide results – why?
Lawrence Kane: It's not a panacea, and it really needs to be implemented systemically because it's a program. It shouldn't be a one-off, because you have to look at your tools and processes and how the enterprise creates value and understand where are the places that you want to go and automate. Where are the places you want to stop doing things, where are the areas that you need to change doing something, right?
SIG University Certified Supplier Management Professional (CSMP) program graduate Indre Ciuberke breaks down the importance of the Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Framework and the four quadrants of SRM communication that adjust the ways of working with suppliers.
When you think about the Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) Framework, it’s not just walking and talking with your Organization partners and having a relationship with them. From my perspective, SRM is based on relationships, however, stressing the communication and information sharing process in the particular relationship. Usually, SRM has corporate attributes such as ensuring the governance, agenda tracking and managing risks associated with the services or products that the supplier provides to the organization.
Every team is focused on bringing value to the organization. SRM can contribute to this is to push the streamlined service delivery by becoming a core internal team in the organization's structure for outsourced service management.
Supplier Relationship Management Team Framework
I have tried to describe the basic SRM as an internal core team framework in the picture above. The idea is based on communication and information flows:
Your employees helped you navigate a historical disruption. Now they deserve your investment in their personal and professional development.
Everyone wants to “get back to normal.” I am anxious to safely hug friends and family, talk without the muffling of a mask, enjoy a meal in a restaurant, and travel abroad again. While the saying get back to normal is mostly a turn of phrase, going back to normal in the professional world is impossible.
Procurement professionals are constantly preparing for localized Black Swan events, like natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, cybercrimes and such. But the impact of COVID is unique in its size and scope. What started as an epidemic in late 2019 quickly spread into a pandemic, consuming the entirety of 2020, and it’s still rearing its ugly head in the world.
Leaders in all sectors need to realize that the world as we know it has changed, and your employees are holding company leadership accountable. If you want to keep the talent you have and be an employer of choice to attract new talent, it’s vital to stop, listen, and learn from the people who help make your business successful.
Here are my recommendations to build a more inclusive, resilient, and agile workforce as we look ahead.
Back to the Office ... or Not
Now that vaccines are making inroads and people can safely congregate again, some look forward to going back to the office full time. After a year of working from home, others don’t want a full-time return to the office.
Before COVID, there was in many companies a conservative attitude about working from home. It was accepted on occasion but not wholly embraced. At Scanmarket, we will not return to a situation where people have to be at the office five days a week. Instead, we will pivot to a hybrid, part-time office model.
SIG University’s Certified Third Party Risk Management Professional (C3PRMP) program is a globally recognized certification that is the “gold standard” in terms of relevance, scope and content. The C3PRMP program was created by Linda Tuck Chapman, an advisor, educator, author and expert, and is based on her experience and her book, Third Party Risk Management: Driving Enterprise Value (published by the Risk Management Association). You’ll soon learn that investing in the C3PRMP designation is an investment that will enhance your knowledge base and deepen your expertise.
Outlined here is information about the upcoming changes and benefits of your C3PRMP designation, as well as a profile of our students.
What is different about SIG University’s C3PRMP program?
In January of 2020, the duration of SIG University's C3PRMP program was extended from eight weeks to 10 weeks. Multiple-choice review questions at the end of each module will test all students’ knowledge and require a minimum passing score of 80%.
Members of the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) will continue to earn 20 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits, GARP’s highest award for a continuing professional development program.
Stacy Mendoza, Managing Editor, Future of Sourcing
So how do you get from tactical procurement metrics to more powerful spend/supply measures that help build new capabilities and favorably impact critical business outcomes?
We have mentioned some of the more expansive sets of metrics that organizations use to measure several areas:
● Spend/cost management and savings
● Supplier/supply performance
● S2P process metrics for process performance
● Underlying capabilities in talent management, digital, etc.
● Stakeholder-specific metrics related to the above
In this third installment, we’ll dive a little deeper into some example metrics, but the first order of business is to provide a framework giving the backdrop on the KPIs and use it to hone in on metric types before listing individual KPIs.
Pierre Mitchell, Chief Research Officer, Spend Matters
SIG University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Diana Redwine shares her thoughts on the best way to get business stakeholders engaged.
Ugh, here comes procurement, getting in our way again!
In the Tech world, the role of procurement changes with the transition from start-up to a public company. That transition is full of bumps if not addressed with a support mindset.
Somewhere in the timeframe from growth to a public company, experienced procurement talent is engaged to help move spend activities from tactical to strategic. The notion of this is much more grand and idealistic than the reality.
The Idea
Traditionally, handling contracts, licenses, order forms, etc., have been managed by the person with the need, not necessarily by someone with expertise in contract development and negotiation. With procurement added to their toolkit, the business stakeholders might say, “gosh, it would be nice to hand this off to someone else” or “how do I know this is the best price/terms?”
More likely, they have been advised that a new policy is being implemented that requires procurement involvement. However, in my experience, many stakeholders view procurement as an impediment to progress and do not willingly hand off their contract needs. Hence the need to truly consider this question of just what the stakeholders REALLY need to know about category management.
Diana Redwine, Senior Procurement Manager, Smartsheet Inc.
.png "This Month at SIG – July 2021")
.png "The Future of Procurement")
 (1).png "Intelligent Automation: Must-have skill for tomorrow's procurement professionals.")
 (1).png "Making Supplier Relationship Management Work")
 (1).png "New Priorities for Procurement Leaders")
 (1).png "Does your business need to understand category management principles?")
7 Creative Hiring Strategies to Build Your Procurement Team
As a procurement professional, you know that talent in procurement has been a hot topic in recent years. Here at WNS-Denali, we have seen more organizations grapple with talent issues, so we decided to dive deeper into the key talent concerns for retail companies at SIG’s Global Executive Summit a little while back.
>>Looking for a new job or to hire top procurement talent? Visit SIG's Career Network!<<
The all-star packed panel with procurement leaders from some of the largest retail brands in the world came together to such questions as:
Even if you work at a company beyond the retail industry, these questions and the learnings from the panel still apply to your company. As you strive to gain a competitive advantage and influence more spend strategically, refreshing your approach to talent can make a big impact. Below are the top seven creative hiring strategies that came from our panel of retail experts.
Hire from within
This classic retail trick applies to all industries. Promoting from other areas of business up into a corporate role brings a wealth of knowledge and perspective on the core business and ability to relate to stakeholders. Most importantly, it will add a level of credibility to your procurement team.