In the recent May CPO & Executive Virtual Series hosted by SIG, we had the pleasure of welcoming esteemed speakers: Michael Koontz, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing & Business Leader at ATD Sourcing Solutions; Ruy Martins, Plant and Supply Chain Director at Urgo Medical; and Oren Salzman, Chief Procurement Officer at MetTel. The event was filled with engaging discussions and thought-provoking takeaways. Let's dive into the highlights!
Evolving Sourcing Strategies
Kicking off the day, Michael Koontz started the day with his insightful keynote presentation. He emphasized the need to think beyond contracts and understand the bigger picture of the business. Being at the decision-making table requires aligning with the company's vision and continuously educating ourselves. Plus, he shared some cool insights on using AI tools to make our sourcing processes more streamlined and efficient.
Transforming Traditional Purchasing
Next up, Ruy Martins took us on a journey of transforming traditional purchasing into strategic sourcing. He stressed the importance of taking a proactive approach, where strategy drives the company rather than being solely controlled by supply and demand. It was all about embracing Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and empowering the business to adapt and thrive. We were definitely inspired to think differently!
Unlocking Value and Streamlining Operations
Our last speaker, Oren Salzman, gave us a sneak peek into the world of MetTel. He shared invaluable insights on delivering value and going the extra mile. Oren emphasized the significance of creating a diverse environment that allows businesses to operate smoothly and optimize opportunities. We also dove into streamlining negotiation timelines, uncovering ways to make our processes more efficient. Who doesn't love a bit of optimization?
Recently, SIG had the pleasure of hosting ProcureAbility experts David Latten of Logitech, Chris Shaffer of EyeCare Partners and Adrian Dragomir of REI for the December CPO & Executive Virtual Series. It was a very engaging discussion with many thought-provoking takeaways. Let's get into it!
David Latten, Head of Procurement and Supplier Diversity & Equality at Logitech International, opened the day by discussing his organization's supplier diversity initiatives. Logitech refreshed the program in 2020 and has since expanded exponentially. For example, previously, Logitech had no Black-owned businesses within its supply chain. and have since vastly grown their vendor base to include more diverse suppliers. Logitech has a goal of having a world-class supplier diversity program in place by 2026. As he stated, " Logitech's core value is equality, and your suppliers should reflect that".
Adrian Dragomir, Head of Procurement at REI Inc., was next to present as he looked at how layoffs have affected his team, the challenges of balancing the new players in the company and how to interact with them. Adrian's approach is to let partners know that they exist to help you, not here to do your job. He then discussed how his team is now like "wolves on prey" after adjusting to the changes. Finally, he explained why it is important to take into consideration all aspects of a company when making decisions related to staffing and personnel changes. When it comes to talent, Adrian says the most important thing for his team members is to get the job done.
Chris Shaffer, Sr. Director Procurement, Facilities & Biomedical Support at EyeCare Partners, closed the discussion by outlining his team's goals for 2023. He listed them out as:
Recently, SIG had the pleasure of hosting ProcureAbility experts Conrad Snover and Darshan Deshmukh for the December CPO & Executive Virtual Series. It was a very engaging discussion, with many thought-provoking takeaways. Let’s get into it!
Conrad, CEO at ProcureAbility, kicked off the exclusive event by explaining the team's research methodology. ProcureAbility regularly conducts research to identify future-looking trends and innovations in procurement. Their in-depth process for identifying the five bold predictions for 2030 consisted of a team of experts who hypothesized on emerging trends and then conducted in-depth research to validate that analysis. The team formulated their predictions for procurement in 2030 based on that data. Then finally, they surveyed CPOs to get feedback on those predictions, which led us to procurement on the brink of transformation.
ProcureAbility's Five Bold Predictions for the Future of Procurement
My first Op-Ed, Open Letter to the C-Suite, appealed to the C-Suite to hold Procurement accountable for not investing in technology. The blog referenced a Gartner perspective that only 22% of procurement leaders have a long-term digital strategy. I touched a nerve, invoking comments from a few readers suggesting there are procurement leaders - the Magical CPO - that understand how to navigate the C-Suite to get the budget for technology investments.
To give credit where credit is due, Nikesh Parekh, CEO of Suplari (Now Microsoft), is the source for the term Magical CPO. It describes a procurement leader that understands how to build business cases and secure budgets for technology investments that improve their department's efficiency and effectiveness while supporting the needs across all business disciplines. The Magical CPO persona, by definition, is juxtaposed with the technology laggard. If you saw my first Op-Ed, I noted that 78% of procurement leaders are technology laggards without any digital automation strategy.
The Magical CPO persona
Let’s unpack the Magical CPO persona to agree on common qualities. My views are based on my observations and experiences over a 30+ year career in procurement. There is no Wikipedia page for Magical CPO nor a Google search that prompts any relevant hits - I checked. While I understand there are more sources than Wikipedia and Google, the point is that there is generally no standard persona for the Magical CPO. Here’s my interpretation of what the Magical CPO must possess:
Greg Tennyson, SVP of Strategy & Procurement, Fairmarkit
In this fourth and final installment in this Keynote Series, we talk about the "judicious deployment" of emerging technology without losing sight of the human side of digital transformation.
To achieve this "balance," Mattress Firm's VP of Indirect Procurement, Quave Burton, discusses the importance of motivation through employee recognition while challenging her team to "stretch themselves" to learn new and better ways to achieve strategic objectives.
Ground Zero
For Quave, the journey of transforming procurement at Mattress Firm started at ground zero.
When I say ground zero, there wasn't a procurement department when she started working with the company. As she explains it, she was immediately on a transformation journey, starting with getting the right people to do the right things.
Fortunately, and with the full support of senior leadership, the organization was ready and willing to make changes.
At this point, I think it is essential to stop and stress the benefits of having to build the foundation for procurement transformation, starting with people before introducing technology. As anyone who has been in our industry for some time will tell you, in the past traditional ERP-based procurement initiatives have generally failed to achieve the expected results. Many studies estimate that the failure rate is between 50% and 75% - some even put that number higher.
The three main reasons for this less than stellar performance are poor User Experience, data inaccuracy, and analytics.
Despite introducing more advanced and intuitive "by-the-drink" technology solutions, CPO's dissatisfaction with digital initiatives remains high.
In what was traditionally a siloed function, separate from overall executive and organizational strategy, procurement professionals have more recently become integral to company operations and resilience. This prominence grew during the COVID pandemic, which broke down barriers between departments and raised attention to the importance of Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) and other procurement personnel, and the work they do.
The Power of Procurement
The procurement team is at the interface between the enterprise and the extended enterprise: the organization and its suppliers. Procurement professionals are in the position to understand the risks and the wider ecosystems their suppliers operate in. They, like no other function, can make predictive connections and be able to quickly identify risks specific to one supplier or those endemic to the wider ecosystem, and quickly pivot alongside the business accordingly. And it’s not just risk, but opportunity and innovation for the enterprise, such as identifying new products, materials, capabilities and offerings.
With this greater inclusion of procurement professionals into organizational strategy, CPOs and similar roles need to begin to reframe how the function can best serve the organization, and how other departments can serve them. One key to this new way of thinking is framing procurement around holistic risk management, particularly when it comes to managing third parties, suppliers and the supply chain.
Best Practices for Taking a Holistic Approach to Procurement
While not everything in this shift can be implemented immediately, there are general aspects of agility that should be on procurement’s agenda, including:
SIG and Globality, the world’s only AI-powered Marketplace and Platform for B2B services, partnered to produce a study looking into why B2B services remains one of the greatest untapped opportunities to drive business value
Almost 70% of Globality and SIG survey respondents indicate that they are either proceeding as planned or are now accelerating their digitization initiatives.
However, bridging the gap between intent, action, and a positive outcome has never been an easy endeavor. In fact, and as pointed out in her latest book, Trade wars, pandemics, and chaos: How digital procurement enables business success in a disordered world, Dr. Elouise Epstein talks about how people are coming clean about the challenges with their existing or historical tech. In other words, organizations need more than just a desire to digitally transform the enterprise if they hope to avoid the same pitfalls that have undermined initiatives in the past.
The purpose of this article is to leverage the insights gained from the Globality and SIG survey to create a clear and more certain path to digital transformation success.
Clear Benefits
According to most survey respondents, there are several priorities when it comes to digitization in critical areas. These top priority areas include the rapid identification, selection, and engagement of suppliers, the ability to react with speed to market dynamics, and the capability to drive revenue through innovation.
While varying degrees of organizational maturity regarding procurement processes may result in some differences in the priority of identified objectives, there is generally no argument that the benefits of a progressive digital strategy are clear.
To be able to see where you’re headed, you’ve got to look back at where you’ve been.
I just looked back at my December 2019 blog post and I was spot on, but for all the wrong reasons. I predicted that we would continue to elevate the role of strategic sourcing, broader adoption of technology, and a focus on upskilling sourcing and procurement teams.
I did not predict that a global pandemic would make the world talk about “supply chains,” albeit with a focus on toilet paper, Clorox wipes and a shortage of personal protective equipment. People came to realize that strategic sourcing professionals were the heroes who protected their sources of supply or quickly adapted to secure new sources.
While the pandemic continues to rule our lives in one way or another, we still see shortages on components for home gym equipment, bicycles and even casters for home office chairs. So, while some supply chains still have issues, many industries are experiencing a boom year and outpacing sales over any year in the past.
Looking back at the news of this year, many of us vaguely remember the Australian bushfires, and I distinctly remember racing go karts when news broke that Kobe Bryant died. I know some people were distracted by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walking away from the royal life and Parasite swept the Oscars. This was all immediately non-news and forgotten quickly when the pandemic became a reality. (Personally, I am glad of one “trend” that did not last through the pandemic, which was padded shoulders and puffy sleeves.)
It is hard to believe 2021 is at our doorstep, and while the immediate future is uncertain, the mid-to long-range outlook is virtually unknown. What we thought would be a ‘two-week’ work-from-home in March, has turned into a full-blown pandemic, and with it, the uncertainty surrounding it. Now, with a new wave of COVID-19 outbreaks breathing down our necks, tough times are here again.
As procurement professionals, we are, by nature, resilient. The toughest of times takes the strongest leadership and most innovative strategies. The pandemic and the consequences of it provided a proving ground for the often-overlooked sourcing and procurement team. Over the past year, sourcing and procurement became the lynchpin for many organizations’ survival, securing critical business and PPE-related goods and services to keep businesses afloat and employees protected. Throughout, procurement professionals were working tirelessly to create innovative cost savings and expense reduction opportunities when other departments went right to cutting staff and payroll.
At a time when the needs of the business are buoyed through critical sourcing and procurement activities, there is, perhaps, no more important function to a business.
Procurement Myth Versus Reality
Unfortunately, not everybody understands that. Many business stakeholders still think of sourcing and procurement as tactical purchasing and contract administrators, or bottlenecks that create delays in the buying process and upset suppliers. In reality, sourcing and procurement is really about negotiating critical multi-million-dollar contracts and finding the right supply chain partners to mitigate the significant risk in today’s market. Critical, not just in savings, but in the essential value and impact you have on the business.
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.
 (1).png?DrOGWL5AV_Ba0f1ovUHFtazaPm5d1WkJ= "Recap of February CPO & Executive Virtual Series")
 (1).png?urXsitXC_CHk6ZZl1UsH7oXFUCKW2qcu= "Recap of CPO & Executive Virtual Series with ProcureAbility")
 (1).png?Mb0gZm18lvgV4rL_d58VbxrPE_kjIt54= "The Magical CPO")
 (1).png?FtcnLb594Z2b_JVE6FHs3uKQAR0pU9Dw= "People And Process Transformation Before Digital Transformation")
 (1).png "It’s Time to Take a Holistic Approach to Managing Procurement Risks")
 (1).png "Developing a Clear and More Certain Path to Digital Transformation Success")
Recap of May CPO & Executive Virtual Series
In the recent May CPO & Executive Virtual Series hosted by SIG, we had the pleasure of welcoming esteemed speakers: Michael Koontz, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing & Business Leader at ATD Sourcing Solutions; Ruy Martins, Plant and Supply Chain Director at Urgo Medical; and Oren Salzman, Chief Procurement Officer at MetTel. The event was filled with engaging discussions and thought-provoking takeaways. Let's dive into the highlights!
Evolving Sourcing Strategies
Kicking off the day, Michael Koontz started the day with his insightful keynote presentation. He emphasized the need to think beyond contracts and understand the bigger picture of the business. Being at the decision-making table requires aligning with the company's vision and continuously educating ourselves. Plus, he shared some cool insights on using AI tools to make our sourcing processes more streamlined and efficient.
Transforming Traditional Purchasing
Next up, Ruy Martins took us on a journey of transforming traditional purchasing into strategic sourcing. He stressed the importance of taking a proactive approach, where strategy drives the company rather than being solely controlled by supply and demand. It was all about embracing Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and empowering the business to adapt and thrive. We were definitely inspired to think differently!
Unlocking Value and Streamlining Operations
Our last speaker, Oren Salzman, gave us a sneak peek into the world of MetTel. He shared invaluable insights on delivering value and going the extra mile. Oren emphasized the significance of creating a diverse environment that allows businesses to operate smoothly and optimize opportunities. We also dove into streamlining negotiation timelines, uncovering ways to make our processes more efficient. Who doesn't love a bit of optimization?