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:

Learning isn’t just about knowing something but also about knowing what to do with new knowledge once it is acquired.

However, turning "educational dialogues that generate actionable takeaways" can be challenging within a traditional extended learning framework because of busy schedules and increasing workday demands. Because of this new reality, SIG University’s Microlearning sessions deliver tangible and measurable insights that you can use immediately within the convenience of a two-hour session format.

In today's post, I will briefly talk about the May Microlearning Session in which one CPO shared her experiences in leading her organization’s digital transformation journey beyond the Maginot Line.

Beyond The Maginot Line?

"Like France's 1930's Maginot Line, 'digital washing' of old ideas and lack of forward-thinking has the potential to create strategic disaster in a highly competitive world where speed to market and agility are key." - 'Digital washing' can wreck your strategic business planning, ZDNET

“Like the Maginot Line?”

Here is the link to the above article that delves deeper into the historical significance of the Maginot Line and its relation to a digital transformation strategy. In the context of the May Microlearning session, the "digital washing of old ideas” and the “lack of forward-thinking” statements stood out to me from the article.

According to May’s session expert Canda Rozier, Green Washing – when you tick a box for purportedly achieving a broad or vague sustainability target, is now happening with digital automation initiatives.

At the heart of that urgency is assessing and then mobilizing your procurement team’s digital capabilities throughout the extended organization.

How do you mobilize your procurement team’s digital capabilities?

With this third article from the 2022 SIG Procurement Technology Summit Keynote Series, I will share with you the "key insights" from Chris Kee (VP, Sourcing and Procurement at Northwestern Mutual) and Colin Frazier (VP – Solutions at ZIP) keynote on creating the right digital experience.  

To better understand what creating the right digital experience around your team's procurement process involves, you must first understand your organization’s procurement workflow.

What Is The “Procurement Workflow?”

When asked, "what does the term procurement workflow really mean to you,” Northwestern’s Kee indicated that it does more than encompass the process for supplier onboarding. Kee believes the workflow process involves all critical end-to-end touchpoints, including reviews and signoffs. It also provides total stakeholder transparency to address company risk and privacy, legal, and data security requirements.

Furthermore, procurement professionals can't only be involved in the transactional process, which has traditionally been the case. Beyond managing the process from start to finish, procurement professionals also need to be capturing stakeholder engagement feedback to best manage the supplier relationship post-contract.

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 University Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) program graduate Tom Conti shares the four crucial areas to turn your tactical RPA initiative into a strategic Intelligent Process Automation program.

 While an organization's digital transformation journey may include Intelligent Process Automation, it is only one of the components necessary to influence disruptive organizational change. But what is Intelligent Process Automation (IPA)? At its core, Intelligent Process Automation is the tactical or strategic application of technology to automate a process. This might include loading data, orchestrating different areas of work, or automating repetitive tasks. When properly implemented, an organization can achieve many benefits by using IPA, such as reducing operating costs, enhancing the customer experience, reducing risk, or improving compliance adherence.  

The Four Areas for RPA Definition

There are four central areas to consider when defining the objective of the transformation program to evoke disruptive change. These areas include Robotic Process Automation (RPA), the automation technologies available, process excellence, and change management. When executed together, these techniques offer the greatest return on investment when implementing an IPA program to address the defined business objective. 

First, Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, is a tactical approach to beginning a transformative intelligent automation journey. RPA is best suited where productivity is the primary driver, where simple, rules-based processes can be applied. Often, digital and structured inputs are utilized in RPA processes as little variation is observed within the process where it would make RPA a disagreeable approach.