Art of Procurement

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“The greatest challenge facing the world today isn't tariffs or monetary uncertainty – it's stagnating productivity.” - Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Product Marketing SAP Ariba & SAP Fieldglass Navigating today's interconnected global business landscape has thrust procurement directly into the heart of strategic risk management. Supply chain disruptions, new AI-driven realities, looming ESG regulations, and shifting diversity initiatives pressure leaders to redefine procurement's strategic impact. In this episode, Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Product Marketing SAP Ariba & SAP Fieldglass, joins Philip Ideson to unveil pivotal findings from the latest SAP Economist Impact report: “The Resilient Edge: Procurement in an Era of Polycrisis.”  Baber shares why procurement leaders everywhere must proactively align their operating models to evolving global challenges – especially in preparation for generative AI, stringent sustainability standards, and shifting supply chain landscapes. Baber covers how to: Navigate escalating supply chain and geopolitical risks Prepare teams for an inevitable AI-driven procurement environment Prioritize ESG initiatives to anticipate regulatory impacts effectively Apply advanced spend analytics to move beyond simple reporting and drive actionable insight Links: Baber Farooq on LinkedIn Optimizing Procurement's Source-to-Pay Strategy Bridging the Confidence Gap to Achieve the Best Business Outcomes Learn more about SAP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

Sometimes the most damning evidence about an industry or an organization comes from the inside. In this second installment of “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement's” deep dive into supplier tactics, two former supply executives continue exposing the ins and outs of the supplier playbook they used on procurement when they were on the other side of the fence.  Bob Schreiner, former CIA section chief and G4s operations executive, explains how security guard service providers can obscure margin increases within seemingly reasonable wage adjustments for officers. He also exposes the “position rate variance” tactic, where suppliers charge premium rates for senior guards to fill junior positions, and also how disasters can become margin-grabbing bonanzas for suppliers. Keith Robinson, one of only 150 board-certified entomologists working commercially in North America, exposes seasonal billing schemes in the pest control industry, where compliance rates plummet in colder months, yet billing continues unchanged. Perhaps most shocking is his revelation that 80-90 percent of fogging and fumigation services are often completely avoidable. These true stories from industry insiders point to a troubling reality: procurement is sometimes so focused on up-front savings that they inadvertently signal to suppliers exactly how to game the system. In effect, procurement ends up creating the perfect conditions for the kind of post-contract chicanery that can create significant cost increases for the business over the years, without any change in service scope or delivery.    Links: Bob Schreiner on LinkedIn Keith Robinson on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com

“Procurement officers are going to have to go hunt for the solutions they need and the workflows that can help their business. I do feel like to do this job properly moving forward, it's an offensive job, and you don't have the luxury of sitting back.” - Matt Ziskie, Co-Founder, Bungalow Capital How procurement approaches working with smaller, innovative startups can look quite different than other supplier relationships. From lengthy sales cycles, complex negotiations, and mismatched expectations… these and other roadblocks can crop up in different ways depending on the size, scale, needs, and maturity level of the supplier. Procurement has to understand the unique needs and constraints that each type of supplier brings to the table. In this episode of Art of Procurement, recorded on stage at Catalyst LA, Philip Ideson speaks with Matt Ziskie, Co-Founder of Bungalow Capital, about bridging the gap between enterprise procurement and startup innovation. Matt offers a unique perspective, having worked as a procurement leader at companies like Box and Airbnb, and now as an investor helping startups navigate enterprise sales. In this episode, Matt explains: Why enterprise procurement teams should consider segmented processes when working with startups  How to mitigate the "fragility" of startup partnerships without ignoring the tremendous value they can provide The importance of communication and transparency to understanding the real financial impact of enterprise contract terms  Practical ways to support startups beyond contract terms, including coaching, references, and protection from scope creep Links: Matt Ziskie on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“I was humbled by the buy-in from the AOP community because, ultimately, people came on trust. They came on the trust that we would deliver what we said we would for our first in-person event.” - Philip Ideson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Art of Procurement Now that Art of Procurement's first-ever in-person event, Catalyst LA, is in the rear-view mirror, co-hosts Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner sit down for a candid debrief about what it took to launch a new kind of procurement event and how it may impact procurement's approach to learning, community, and collaboration going forward.  From their initial vision of creating something different in the procurement event space to the unexpected challenges on the May 6th conference day itself, Philip and Kelly share the behind-the-scenes story of how they transformed their digital-first community into a world-class experience focused on procurement operating model transformation. In this episode, Philip and Kelly reflect on: Why they chose to focus on experience for AOP's first in-person event in the company's 10-year history  What the response from procurement executives reveals about the evolution of today's CPOs How pairing attendees based on procurement maturity, organization size, and roles maximized event-based learning  Unexpected moments that tested the team's stress levels (but ultimately enhanced the attendee experience!) Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

Much like the classic plot twist in old thriller movies where the characters realize the threat is coming from inside the house, the most revealing insights about supplier tactics are coming from inside Fine Tune's own house in this eye-opening tenth episode of Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement.    Co-host Rich Ham was initially reluctant to tap into his own team's expertise for this podcast series, but the guests' insight and insider knowledge proved too valuable not to share.  In this episode, Philip and Rich interview two former supplier-side executives – Alex Carlson and Angie Claeys – who are now working on the opposite side of the fence at Fine Tune, and therefore perfectly positioned to divulge the very tactics they once used against procurement teams. They are, indeed, “poachers turned game wardens.” First, Alex, a former CBRE executive and Wells Fargo procurement leader, explains how janitorial service providers deliberately underbid with limited scopes to help procurement “check the box” on savings goals. Likewise, he's seen elevator maintenance providers bill for preventative maintenance that is never performed. Just because a category of spend is managed on paper doesn't mean it's being actively managed where it counts the most, on the ground. Similarly, in the second half of the episode, Angie Claeys, former VP of Operations at Aramark, lays out the uniform industry's playbook (a notoriously complex category). Here too procurement has to watch out for “presumptive” billing that can cost the business unnecessarily if procurement isn't on top of it.  Alex and Angie's experiences on the supplier side point to a troubling dynamic: procurement's incentive structures actually encourage these nefarious supplier behaviors and, by not focusing more on ongoing cost management, procurement is inadvertently signaling to suppliers precisely how they can ‘game the system.' This episode, part one in a two-part series full of insider insights, provides an unfiltered look at the consequences of half-hearted spend management and makes a powerful case for extending procurement's influence beyond the contract. Stay tuned for part two, where Bob Schreiner and Keith Robinson expose similar tactics in security services and pest control.   Links: Alex Carlson on LinkedIn Angie Claeys on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com  

“Change is about first having an awareness. Once you have that awareness, then that other party that you're trying to drive that awareness has an understanding. And when that understanding is there, then they're motivated to take action.” Pratik Patel, Director - Category Management - Labor/North America Technology Spend, Mastercard Services procurement can be a rewarding field, but it also has some unique (and fairly complex) challenges that require procurement to develop a strong approach to spend and performance management.  In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Pratik Patel, Director - Category Management - Labor/North America Technology Spend at Mastercard, about his own experience transforming technology services procurement from a decentralized, inefficient process into a streamlined, data-driven program that delivers unprecedented business value.  Pratik walks listeners through:  Four key requirements for successful outcome-based contracting How to use lean methodology to identify pain points in the procurement process and build buy-in for transformation Steps to build scalable services procurement processes that create efficiency, stakeholder trust, and value for the business  Links: Pratik Patel on LinkedIn Business Waste: The Silent Value Killer W/ Pratik Patel Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

"I'm a big believer in market intelligence, where we educate the business on the providers and the levers to pull. It's not about just pricing; it's understanding the market." - Amy Fong, Partner, Sourcing and Vendor Management, Everest Group Service categories are experiencing unprecedented change driven by generative AI, which is shifting workforce models and evolving commercial structures across the business.  Procurement has to be continuously focused on how these changes are affecting the business. For procurement leaders managing these services categories, navigating this transformation requires new ways to think about areas like contracting, relationship management, and value measurement. In this episode of Art of Procurement, Philip Ideson speaks with Amy Fong, Partner, Sourcing and Vendor Management at Everest Group, about the rapid evolution of business services sourcing. Amy brings unique insights from analyzing thousands of contracts and observing what leading companies are doing to adapt their sourcing strategies and their approach to output- versus outcome-based contracts. In this episode, Amy explains:  Why outcome-based contracting remains an aspiration, not a reality, for many companies (and how to change that) How generative AI is fundamentally changing service delivery models and what that means for performance measurement and cost structures What procurement teams must bring to the table to earn their place in strategic make-or-buy decisions Links: Amy Fong on LinkedIn Get $100 off the super early bird ticket for Engage with code AOPFRIEND Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

Twenty-five years after co-founding Corporate United, the first indirect GPO in the United States, David McCarty points out an inconvenient truth: the very tools procurement once developed to leverage spend are no longer as effective in today's supplier-dominated landscape. In this episode of "Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement," David joins co-hosts Philip Ideson and Rich Ham to discuss the evolution of Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs), from their early promises of dramatic savings (15-30% back in the early 2000s) to their current state, where GPOs are much more limited in their ability to determine and optimize spend.  With refreshing candor and a healthy dose of optimism about today's forward-thinking GPO leaders, David confirms what many procurement leaders have long suspected: most GPOs are less effective today than when they were founded, partly because they've become a kind of checkbox solution that gives procurement a "false sense of security" rather than a true route to optimized expense management.  For procurement leaders who are worried that their suppliers might be gaming the GPO system, David provides realistic guidance on how to select the right GPO partner (from looking at contract age and rebidding frequency to volume transparency and customization options). He also points out the key areas where GPOs can still deliver differentiated value, but only if they are leveraged appropriately and procurement puts the time and effort into measuring the value they expect to receive.  While there are still benefits to using this model, it's clear, says David, that in 2025, strategic procurement through GPOs requires a more discerning, purpose-driven approach than ever before. Links: David McCarty on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com  

“In a transformation, make your good examples in the beginning, where you think you will make a difference.” - Joel Andersson, Process development and digitalization project leader - indirect procurement, IKEA Building a mature indirect procurement function that's strategically aligned with the rest of the business is a journey filled with problem-solving, stakeholder relationships, and continuous learning. It requires a ‘thinking-on-your-feet' approach and a willingness to adapt as the business and its priorities evolve.  For IKEA, this transformation began about five years ago when they moved from a self-organized approach to a centralized, strategic function that drives measurable value beyond just cost savings. In this episode of Art of Procurement, Philip Ideson speaks with Joel Andersson, Process development and digitalization project leader - indirect procurement at IKEA, about the company's indirect procurement transformation journey.  Joel shares insights on how his team built credibility through early wins, implemented foundational technology, and is now exploring advanced capabilities including services procurement optimization and generative AI. Listen in to hear: Why establishing visibility through spend analytics was their critical first technology investment before implementing a source-to-pay suite How demonstrating value through early "low-hanging fruit" wins created the business case for expanding the procurement function The unique challenges of indirect procurement compared to direct, particularly around stakeholder management and services procurement Links: Joel Andersson on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

"If you can't understand how procurement affects the ultimate end users in your organization, whether it's a state prison, or whether it's a manufacturing facility in Germany, then you're abdicating your role, you're just a robot. And that's why procurement has a superpower." - David Yarkin, CEO, Procurated Long before "DOGE" became a buzzword in government efficiency, the state of Pennsylvania led a pioneering strategic procurement transformation that saved taxpayers millions… $140 million to be exact (and on a recurring basis, at that). The key to their success wasn't just smart buying strategies, but highly effective communication that helped secure executive support and turn resisters into supporters.  In this episode of Art of Procurement, Philip Ideson speaks with David Yarkin, CEO of Procurated and former Chief Procurement Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. David brings a unique perspective influenced by his background as a former press secretary and in procurement leadership.  In this episode, David shares how he led Pennsylvania to unprecedented savings through strategic sourcing initiatives and a powerful approach to communication: How to build support for procurement transformation, even against significant resistance, while also staying aligned with company leadership Why supplier performance management should be a high priority for procurement and how a lack of visibility into early warning signs can lead to major failures How procurement leaders can break through organizational barriers by getting out from behind their desks and experiencing operations firsthand Links: David Yarkin on LinkedIn Pennsylvania Did DOGE Before Elon Musk Made It Cool Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

More than one hundred years after John C. Dinsmore wrote in Purchasing Principles and Practices that “there should be no great chasm between the board of directors who represent the stockholders whose money is spent and the person who does the spending,” procurement is still struggling with the same fundamental problem of misalignment. In the eighth episode of “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement,” Philip Ideson, Kelly Barner, and Rich Ham, CEO at Fine Tune, convene to grapple with the insights – and even a few uncomfortable truths – uncovered in their recent conversations with procurement veterans Rob Hills and Kate Vitasek (episodes 6 and 7, respectively). Rich, Phil, and Kelly challenge conventional wisdom about cost avoidance (is it just “funny money,” after all?), the gap between negotiation and execution, and why procurement's performance metrics have remained largely unchanged over the years, despite their obvious flaws.  This conversation challenges procurement to think about the practices, processes, or assumptions that no longer serve them, and it also sets the stage for upcoming episodes that will begin to explore tangible solutions to these and other challenge areas. Tune in as the co-hosts gear up for their upcoming discussion with David McCarty and prepare to tackle new definitions of procurement value that could finally liberate procurement from its self-imposed “savings jail.”  The path to purposeful procurement is becoming clearer with each episode…  

“I understand that tension between procurement and legal could happen, but it really is a disservice to each other. It's like two brothers fighting. It doesn't make any sense.” - Paul Bagley, Director of Commercial Contracting, Acosta Group Procurement and legal often find themselves at odds, despite the fact that they're usually working toward the same goals for the business. We can usually trace this tension back to a few key areas like contract cycle times, risk management approaches, decision-making processes, or contract negotiations. But, when procurement and legal are true collaborators and combine their expertise, they can create measurably better outcomes for the business. To get to that point, both sides need to get to the root of the tension and develop workable processes and expectations that leverage the strengths of both teams without creating bottlenecks or roadblocks… for anyone. In this episode of Art of Procurement, Philip Ideson speaks with Paul Bagley, Director of Commercial Contracting at Acosta Group. Paul has a unique perspective as both an attorney and an experienced procurement professional. Because of that, he is able to directly challenge the notion that conflict between procurement and legal is inevitable, and he advocates instead for a more collaborative, supportive approach between the two. In this episode, Paul explains: How effective category management is the key to creating alignment between procurement, legal, and business stakeholders The importance of empowering procurement with clear contract guidelines and fallback provisions so legal doesn't become unnecessarily overinvolved Best practices for working with outside council or third-party legal teams Practical ways procurement can level-up their knowledge about legal's role, improve their contracts, and stay current on what risks to look out for   Links: Paul Bagley on LinkedIn The Future of Digital Contract Management Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“You're not going to be able to completely eliminate your tariff exposure. There are three frames under which to think about tariffs: How will you mitigate in the short term? How will you think about it in the medium term from your customer's perspective and pricing? And how will you think about a long-term realignment of supply chains?” - Richeek Maitra, Director, AlixPartners With tariffs dominating the news cycle and sending global markets on a wild ride, procurement is scrambling to figure out the practical implications of tariffs on global supply chains and their own organization's procurement strategy.  In this timely Art of Procurement podcast episode, host Philip Ideson welcomes Richeek Maitra, a Director at AlixPartners and an expert on tariffs and their effects on the global supply chain and procurement operations. As Richeek advises, procurement shouldn't (over) react to every single news story about tariffs, but everyone should be planning both short- and long-term strategies to safeguard their organizations from negative tariff-related fallout while still maintaining a competitive advantage.  In short, procurement shouldn't act as if the sky is falling, but they shouldn't stick their heads in the sand and pretend it's just business as usual either. In this episode, Richeek explains: How procurement should interpret new tariff announcements and estimate potential impacts on specific spend categories and supplier relationships A practical response framework to tariffs that includes immediate tactical moves (like duty engineering) to long-term supply chain restructuring How to adopt a rational approach to China sourcing decisions that balances global trends with company-specific circumstances Links: Richeek Maitra on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

In this seventh episode of the “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement” podcast series, Art of Procurement's Philip Ideson and Fine Tune CEO Rich Ham take a deep dive into procurement history with Kate Vitasek, Faculty of Graduate and Executive Education at the University of Tennessee, and architect of the groundbreaking Vested methodology.  With over 15 years of research and eight books dedicated to buyer-supplier strategic partnerships, Kate shares her insight into how procurement has traditionally tended to extract value from suppliers through power plays, as opposed to creating value through collaboration and alignment around mutually ‘Vested' interests. She traces the historical roots of this dysfunction back to the 1980s with the rise of the Kraljic Matrix and Michael Porter's competitive strategies, both of which further embedded power-based negotiations into procurement's DNA. Drawing inspiration from the Vested approach, Kate:  Advocates for moving away from transaction-based buyer-seller relationships to outcome-based strategic partnerships where both parties have a genuine vested interest in one another's mutual success, and  Explains this dynamic by sharing examples of organizations that have transformed their supplier relationships by transforming how they measure success, structure contracts, and distribute value across their supplier network. This episode challenges procurement to recognize when they're spinning their wheels with outdated supplier management tactics and encourages them to reimagine what's possible when buyers and suppliers align their interests toward genuine value creation and purpose-driven procurement. Links: Kate Vitasek on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com  

“Procurement isn't just a cost center; it's a true value driver. So when they're recruiting, CPOs and heads of procurement are looking for someone who's current and who is bringing ideas to the table. They're not just hiring buyers anymore.” - Derek Lutz, Founder and CEO, Lean Six Search  As economic and geopolitical instability sends ripples of doubt across global supply chains, the question of which procurement skills will remain valuable, as well as which ones are becoming obsolete, has never been more relevant.  In this episode, host Philip Ideson talks about the evolving challenges of procurement talent acquisition and retention with Deerek Lutz, Founder and CEO of Lean Six Search. Derek has filled roles in over 50 countries (and has himself travelled to 173), and he offers a truly global perspective on procurement talent trends.  Derek shares his perspective on the shifting nature of procurement leadership, as well as what makes candidates stand out in today's job market. His insights include commentary on: The most resilient (and recession-proof) procurement jobs that remain in high demand, even in uncertain markets The ways CPOs are looking beyond traditional backgrounds to level-up their teams, including recruiting from adjacent functions like finance, sales, or operations The evolution of procurement's most valuable skills, and storytelling and commercial innovation have eclipsed technical experience  Links: Derek Lutz on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Transformation is not just about how it's going to impact procurement, but about how it's going to impact the entire enterprise through the efforts that will be happening within the procurement function.” - Natasha Gurevich, Founder & CEO, Candor Procurement Going through procurement transformation without the right approach in place and without support from the business is a bit like sailing into a storm… with a blindfolded crew. Your chances of making it to the other side in better shape than you started are slim to none.  In this Art of Procurement podcast episode, co-hosts Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner speak with returning AOP guest Natasha Gurevich. Natasha is a former CPO of Nike and Salesforce, and she is currently the Founder and CEO at Candor Procurement.  This wealth of procurement leadership makes Natasha the perfect mainstage guest at Art of Procurement's upcoming live, in-person event – Catalyst LA – taking place on May 6, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. In this episode, Natasha explains why Catalyst LA promises to be one of the most unique and value-generating procurement events she's ever attended and what attendees can expect to take away from the event.  Natasha also discusses: The difference between business-as-usual changes and full-scale transformation, and why transformation is such an urgent priority for so many procurement teams this year How CPOs and CFOs look at transformation differently, including ways to bridge that perception gap Why rethinking the current operating model is top of mind for most procurement leaders right now, and what Catalyst LA can do to help Links: Catalyst LA - May 6, 2025 Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube Leading Through Change with Former Fortune 100 CPO Natasha Gurevich Natasha Gurevich on LinkedIn

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

It's been a long, winding road that has brought procurement to its current state of flawed incentive structures and measurement challenges. Rob Hills, CEO of Hills Advisory Services and former Deloitte partner, has seen it all unfold firsthand.  But recognizing problems and how they were created is only half of the battle.  With over three decades of procurement experience that stretches back all the way to the formative days of strategic sourcing at A.T. Kearney in the mid-1990s, Rob has seen the classic procurement dilemma play out more times than he would have liked. CPOs “plant a victory flag” on savings while CFOs fail to see procurement's win materialize on the P&L. In the sixth episode of “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement,” co-hosts Rich Ham and Philip Ideson speak with Rob about this measurement gap, how it has evolved over time, and why procurement's measurement and incentive systems have remained largely unchanged over the years, despite their obvious flaws.  Rob also offers a unique historical perspective of the disconnect between negotiation and execution, especially as procurement grapples with balancing increasing workloads and larger portfolios of spend with shrinking resources.  Rob, Phil, and Rich also explore potential innovative thinking about incentives, metrics, and process design that could finally address the longstanding challenges in demonstrating procurement's full purpose, value, and impact for the business. Links: Rob Hills on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com  

“We're seeing data around the acceleration of procurement having to ‘do more with less' and this is compounding year over year, so at some point, procurement's operating model is going to break.” – Philip Ideson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Art of Procurement Procurement teams are facing unprecedented and compounding pressure to “do more with less,” and, because of that, it's more important than ever for procurement's operating model to evolve and mature to meet these growing demands. In this episode, co-hosts Kelly Barner and Philip Ideson explore why procurement operating models have become such a top-of-mind topic in 2025 and what this reveals about process change, talent needs, and digital transformation. They examine how procurement's organizational approach has changed over the years and the pendulum swings we've seen – from decentralized buying to centralized control, then from center-led and now to a kind of “invisible” procurement model. In this episode, Phil and Kelly also discuss: The major trends and changes in procurement operating models and how, at each stage, this has affected procurement's reputation and role in the business How to create more capacity by maturing your operating model and the different stages of operational maturity The CPOs role in establishing a strong operating model, including how and when to leverage orchestration platforms and AI Links: Positioning Procurement for Strategic Success in 2025 w/ Samir Khushalani Mastering the First 100 Days as a CPO w/ Darshan Deshmukh  The Hackett Group's 2025 Key Issues Study: Insights on Procurement Priorities, Technology, and Operating Models w/ Chris Sawchuk Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“We are seeing a labor-for-technology swap as organizations become much more dependent and scalable, and what's driving that scale and that productivity is technology.” – Christopher Sawchuk, Principal and Global Procurement Advisory Practice Leader at The Hackett Group Procurement is no stranger to change. Over the last decade or more, procurement has seen significant shifts in priorities, in their role in the business, in how they are measured, and even in their daily processes and workflows. This change has brought countless new opportunities for impact, but it has also brought disruption, uncertainty, and challenges. In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with long-time procurement colleague and regular AOP guest Christopher Sawchuck, Principal and Global Procurement Advisory Practice Leader at The Hackett Group.  Chris shares key findings from The Hackett Group's 2025 Key Issues Report, which reveals how procurement leaders are responding to today's most pressing challenges, like balancing increased workloads with lean teams and a growing demand for technology investment. In this episode, Phil and Chris discuss: The evolution of procurement in the 21st Century, from basic supply assurance to cost management and now to broader value value creation and the demands this puts on CPOs to redesign their operating models The critical gap between increasing workload and decrease in staffing and how procurement is leveraging technology to keep their heads above water The ways AI and automation will transform procurement within the next 3-5 years, driving both efficiency and effectiveness gains  Links: Christopher Sawchuk on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

In this episode of “Buy: The Way… To Purposeful Procurement,” Rich Ham, Philip Ideson, and Kelly Barner reflect on what we heard from Oliver Hurrey and Brian Kyle in episodes 3 and 4 and explore how these procurement leaders find purpose and passion in their work, no matter how big or small the project is.  Rich, Philip, and Kelly discuss what “purposeful procurement” truly means in 2025, challenging the notion that practitioners can only find purpose when they're working for highly-mission driven organizations. With the right mindset, purpose and the potential for positive impact are within reach for any procurement professional working in any category.  Living and working with purpose also requires trust – trust among stakeholders and colleagues, trust with your suppliers, and in many cases, trust from the end consumer. When procurement faces challenges like flawed incentive structures and outdated standardization, it ultimately makes it harder for procurement to drive meaningful impact at scale. Reflecting on these opportunities and challenges along procurement's path to greater purpose, Rich, Philip, and Kelly also look ahead to upcoming discussions where they'll take a deeper dive into how procurement arrived at its current state and some of the potential solutions that could help procurement reach its potential as a driver of purposeful change.     Links: Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com  

“For anybody getting into the CPO role, whether internal or external, you ultimately have to start with your own assessment of the organization and quickly come up with what your priorities are.” – Darshan Deshmukh, President at ProcureAbility The role of Chief Procurement Officer has changed significantly over the last decade, with the focus shifting primarily from cost savings to value generation. In this Art of Procurement podcast episode, Philip Ideson talks with Darshan Deshmukh, President at ProcureAbility, about why CPOs need to strike the right balance between their ability to influence and their technical expertise. Darshan has extensive experience working with procurement leaders across multiple industries, and in this episode, he lays out a structured approach newly-minted CPOs can take in their first 100 days to set themselves and their teams up for success.  Understanding business priorities, creating strong stakeholder relationships, and aligning procurement's initiatives and processes with organizational goals should all be top priorities.  Philip and Darshan explore: How the CPO role has evolved over time, including strategic priorities and reporting and incentive structures How CPOs can drive positive change by balancing speed with purpose-driven change management, all while preserving critical stakeholder relationships The features of a practical process and organizational framework that CPOs can establish in their first 100 days Links: Darshan Deshmukh on LinkedIn Overcoming Procurement's Fear of AI Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“For anybody in procurement that's ever uttered the phrase ‘seat at the table,' it's not always a comfy seat. This is one of those moments where, if we want to be a part of the leadership discussion on the directional momentum of the company, we have to find the way, find the person, and find the time to have this conversation about supplier diversity.” - Kelly Barner, Co-founder and Head of Operations at Art of Procurement Is this the end of supplier diversity as we've known it? As the political and economic landscape continues to evolve, many supplier diversity programs are facing unprecedented scrutiny and rollbacks, forcing procurement to confront sensitive organizational shifts and rapid changes in corporate priorities and communications.  While no one can be sure exactly what the future looks like for supplier diversity, it's clear that procurement teams and business leaders have reached a critical inflection point. In this special episode, Art of Procurement co-founders Philip Ideson and Kelly Barner have what will likely be the first of many conversations about how procurement can approach these changes thoughtfully, maintain focus on their core values, and lead the business through important conversations during this period of intense transition.  In this episode, Philip and Kelly discuss:  The current state of supplier diversity and its disappearing act across organizations  How understanding the original “why” behind supplier diversity programs is crucial for determining how to proceed Practical advice on how procurement can have productive internal conversations with leadership while also maintaining strong supplier relationships Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube Diversity Goals are Disappearing from Companies' Annual Reports  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

The stakes are always high for procurement, but at mission-driven non-profits like the American Cancer Society, procurement is working to – quite literally – help save lives.  In this powerful fourth episode of “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement,” co-hosts Philip Ideson, Founder of Art of Procurement, and Rich Ham, CEO of Fine Tune, speak with Brian Kyle, Vice President of Supply Chain and Accounts Payable at the American Cancer Society, to explore what enterprise procurement can learn from mission-first organizations like ACS. Brian shares the kind of transformative mindset shift that happens when you transition to a nonprofit environment where every donor dollar is stretched as far as it can possibly go to directly impact the cause – in this case, the fight against cancer. He also explains how mission-driven environments create a kind of gravitational pull across the entire organization – suppliers included – where everyone is laser focused on the same set of goals and success metrics. Brian breaks down how this coalescence around a shared mission to help save millions of lives creates unprecedented levels of collaboration and collaborative decision making, engagement, trust, relationship building, and value beyond savings. The procurement team at ACS represents the essence of purposeful procurement and offers a tangible example of practices and perspectives that even private businesses can adopt to elevate their impact and find purpose in their work. Links: Brian Kyle on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com  

“When we start thinking about and putting the end customer at the center of everything we do, it changes our perception of what's important and therefore what we measure in the outputs from our contracts.” Gordon Donovan, Vice President Research - Procurement & External Workforce, SAP Services spend makes up a large, strategic part of the value procurement provides to the business. But, it's also an area that's ripe for improvement.  Building off of services spend management research we started in 2023 with SAP, we recently updated the survey data, gathering timely new perspectives on how procurement can drive greater value through services spend by collaborating with the business and optimizing processes. In this episode, Kelly Barner talks with Gordon Donovan, Vice President Research - Procurement & External Workforce at SAP, about the key findings and recommendations from this updated research into services spend management.  Gordon shares his perspective on how procurement's rising confidence levels and scope of responsibilities within the business require teams to challenge the status quo when it comes to services spend management and move beyond cost metrics to more strategic considerations. Gordon and Kelly discuss: The importance of aligning services spend contracts with end-customer needs Why it matters what technology procurement is using to manage services spend How companies can differentiate their strategic approach based on service types to improve performance metrics The critical gaps in services spend management performance measurement Links: Gordon Donovan on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube 2023 Benchmarking Services Procurement: A Global Study  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“It's still on us, as procurement professionals, to invest the right amount of time in building relationships and building our narrative.” - Ashish Dhongde, Associate Director Procurement Beauty and Wellbeing North America, Unilever Unilever has built a notoriously well-integrated procurement program, and they are widely recognized for the strong partnership between procurement and the rest of the business.  In this episode, Philip Ideson explores what procurement excellence looks like in practice with Ashish Dhongde, Associate Director of Procurement, Beauty and Wellbeing North America at Unilever. Drawing on Unilever's success, Ashish explains how procurement can transcend traditional boundaries of cost savings to become an integral part of business decision making, innovation, and revenue growth. Ashish also discusses: How procurement can build trust and credibility with stakeholders by ‘speaking the language of the business' Balancing long-term supplier relationships with the immediate need for supply chain resilience  Having constructive conversations with stakeholders about risk without being seen as a roadblock   Links: Ashish Dhongde on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome.” Warren Buffet's vice chairman Charlie Munger's succinct and insightful take reminds us of the power of incentives—and provides a backdrop for this project. In this first episode of the “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement” podcast, produced collaboratively by the teams at Art of Procurement and Fine Tune, Fine Tune CEO Rich Ham, Philip Ideson, and Kelly Barner lay the groundwork for this year-long series of bi-weekly episodes featuring hand-picked guests that will explore various flaws within commonplace procurement department incentive structures, and how those flaws are holding the profession back from its most purposeful potential. This first conversation sets the stage for frank discussions with practitioners, procurement leaders, and subject matter experts about how prevailing systems of incentives create harms to the status quo, what a healthier system might look like, and the outcomes such improved systems might produce—both within the company's walls and beyond them.  Links: Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com

Building off the previous discussion about “purposeful procurement,” Philip Ideson, Kelly Barner, and Fine Tune CEO Rich Ham are back to take a bold, honest look at the systemic flaws that have all too often shaped procurement's behaviors and limited their impact.  In this candid conversation, we share and discuss real-world examples about how current incentive structures elevate short-term thinking and less-than-exceptional outcomes, ignoring the huge potential procurement has to generate value. By tackling uncomfortable truths about dysfunction within the procurement system, Phil, Kelly, and Rich explore the topic with thoughtfulness, precision, and the kind of hard-won wisdom that can only come from years of experience in the procurement trenches. Listen in as we ‘interrogate' procurement's role in perpetuating flawed approaches and processes, usually to their own detriment. The candid exploration of these flies in the ointment will also serve as a springboard to solutions as Season 1 progresses.  Stay tuned for episode 3, where our guest Oliver Hurrey will offer a glimpse of what truly inspiring and purposeful procurement looks like in practice. Links: Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com

As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”  After taking an honest look at some of procurement's most pressing challenges and flaws in episodes 1 and 2, Philip Ideson and Fine Tune CEO Rich Ham shift their focus from problem-spotting to solution-seeking with special guest, Oliver Hurrey, one of the world's foremost experts on purposeful procurement. Through his work on sustainability and decarbonization in the supply chain with the Scope 3 Peer Group and the Sustainable Procurement Pledge, Oliver is the ‘real deal' when it comes to empowering purpose-driven procurement teams to create meaningful change. In this episode, Oliver shares compelling real-world examples of instances where procurement has looked beyond traditional measures of success – and some pretty challenging constraints – to find purpose and meaning, proving what is possible when procurement takes a deliberate approach to problem solving. For example, Oliver shares how an innovative carbon pricing initiative is transforming the way major corporations evaluate suppliers, and the story of one little-known family-owned painting business that impressed seasoned procurement leaders at an international conference by sharing how they frame sustainability initiatives as a competitive advantage. These stories of purposeful procurement prove how procurement can lead organizational change and differentiated value creation when they choose to innovate beyond the status quo, to emphasize and incentivize the right KPIs, and to stand up to broken, ineffective systems.  Oliver's own experiences with purpose-driven procurement create a clear path for what's to come in episode 4 and beyond in “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement” as we dive increasingly deeper into how procurement can envision and implement the kinds of transformative practices that create meaningful, lasting impact. Links: Oliver Hurrey on LinkedIn Rich Ham on LinkedIn Learn more at FineTuneUs.com

“I look at building a business case in terms of storytelling, and the story that you have to be able to tell in procurement is around better, faster, and cheaper.” – Pratik Patel, Director - Category Management - Labor/North America Technology Spend, Mastercard Understanding how to address skeptics, overcome objections, and communicate procurement's value will ultimately determine how much buy-in (and resources) procurement receives. This holds true whether you are building a business case to establish a new procurement function or lobbying corporate leadership in a well-established team. In this episode, Philip Ideson talks with Pratik Patel, Director - Category Management - Labor/North America Technology Spend at Mastercard, about how procurement can use everyone's desire to eliminate waste to build a strong business case for investment and support.  Pratik also discusses: How procurement can utilize the “DOWNTIME” acronym to tackle waste and apply lean principles to procurement Ways to build stronger relationships and contracts by level-setting expectations and avoiding over-specifying   Refining your approach to problem solving by focusing on the root cause and minimizing unnecessary steps Links: Pratik Patel on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube  

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Instead of taking an inward look at your sourcing and procurement models, consider the easiest, simplest experience that you can provide to your internal customers.” – Ryan Bradford Procurement is in the midst of a transformative period, but at the heart of all this change is one thing that is always relevant: the customer experience.  Procurement has traditionally done itself a disservice by approaching the source-to-pay process with their own goals, needs, or processes in mind. But, by taking a more customer-centric approach and prioritizing their internal stakeholders, they can actually drive more value for the entire organization. In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with experienced procurement leader and seasoned executive Ryan Bradford about how procurement can refine their approach to customer engagement. In many cases, this creates an opportunity to challenge conventional thinking about how procurement should interact with their customers to achieve the best outcomes.  As Ryan says, it starts by putting the customer experience first.  Ryan also discusses:  How to create a customer-centric S2P model by engaging with stakeholders, understanding their needs, and pushing back in constructive ways The role technology and AI play in enabling simple, and seamless procurement experiences while still maintaining compliance and governance How to build on strong internal relationships and also win over the skeptics and resistors  Links: Ryan Bradford on LinkedIn Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“Procurement is going to make a transformative leap. It may be in a year. It may be in three years. But it's going to happen. So start experimenting.” – Remko Van Hoek, Full Professor of Practice SCM, Executive Director CSCMP Supply Chain Hall of Fame, hosted by Walton, University of Arkansas ­- Sam M. Walton College of Business It's time to make procurement fun again.  That's what Remko Van Hoek, Full Professor of Practice SCM, Executive Director CSCMP Supply Chain Hall of Fame, hosted by Walton, University of Arkansas ­- Sam M. Walton College of Business, told Philip Ideson when they sat down together at DPW Amsterdam 2024. In this episode, Remko shares insights from the 10X Procurement survey he led in conjunction with DPW, and what it reveals about how AI and digital transformation are injecting opportunity, value, and, yes, even fun back into procurement.  The survey also uncovered a troubling ‘inspiration to action' gap between procurement's AI readiness and their ability to successfully execute at the pace required by the rest of the business. Along with discussing digital transformation pressures, Philip and Remko also explore: What 10X growth actually looks like in practice and how procurement can take the idea of exponential growth and turn that into tangible, bottom-line results for the business What it means to be “digitally literate” and why focusing only on technology is actually not the right approach to digital transformation The fundamentals procurement needs to have in place to 10X their growth and impact in 2025  Links: Remko Van Hoek on LinkedIn Listen to “Integrating Blockchain into Procurement” with Remko Van Hoek Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube