The evolution of procurement

The digitisation of procurement and supply chain has continued apace in recent years – and the direction of travel and pace of change is a hot topic among professionals in this space. To delve deeper into the ways the industry is evolving and gain insights into how senior stakeholders are responding, we’ve been running a series of podcasts in partnership with online network Procurious.

In the latest episode – which you can hear by clicking on the video below - Philip Ideson, founder and host of The Art of Procurement and founder of ProcureChange, speaks to Ninian Wilson.

Ninian is Global Supply Chain Director and CEO, Vodafone Procurement and has plenty to say on the digitisation of procurement. And with good reason - the MHI’s 2017 annual survey on next-generation supply chains found that 80% of respondents were convinced that digital supply chain will be the chief model in the next five years.

For procurement and supply chain, the shift should at least consist of big data processes, cognitive computing and social media tools. These are widely accepted as the areas that will drive the push towards digitising the procurement and supply chain arena. However, a fresh approach to innovation e.g. new suppliers and new architecture, is needed to use these advancements effectively.
On this subject, Ninian Wilson says: "If your company doesn't innovate, then eventually you end up in a position where people innovate around your company and your company then ends up in a position where it could be unsuccessful in terms of what it tries to do." 
Collaboration, a need to improve the customer relationship with the supply base – building trust, and being focused around the areas you want to work with, along with meeting with your suppliers are all factors for improvement.
During the podcast Philip Ideson goes on to ask: "What are some of the things you’ve seen that professionals can do to actually start building that customer of choice status with your most material suppliers?"
Ninian Wilson responds by highlighting the basics – 
  • Deal with companies in an ethical way.
  • Do what you say you’re going to do.
  • A scattered approach isn't really a good way to do things.
  • Be aligned with the business priorities.
As technology evolves, the skillsets of workers need to evolve too in order to keep up. Until recently, the key skillset requirement within procurement and supply chain used to be for exceptional negotiators, but now, there is an increased need for data scientists. Procurement and supply chain companies need these specialists in data mining to analyse and understand how data is structured, and to gain valuable insights to feed into their process of evolution. However, the broad term of analytics only scratches the surface. Predictive analytics combines transactional and historical data to produce patterns that identify key trends, and process analytics identifies areas where a business has a poor process in place.
This podcast offers a fascinating insight into the next steps of procurement and supply chain’s evolution.

Episode one of the podcast, where Philip speaks to Fabienne Lesbros, CPO Co-operative Group. Fabienne talks about his vision for the future of procurement and how professionals can work more effectively in the modern environment.  

About Procurious

procuriousProcurious is the world’s largest online network dedicated to procurement and supply chain professionals. It’s a hub to advance your career, develop your skills and expand your global professional network. With 25,000+ members, make Procurious your go-to point for procurement news, eLearning, discussions and market intelligence. 

For more information visit www.procurious.com.