Inside Procurement

In our latest podcast of the Inside Procurement series, Omer Abdullah talks to Brian Slobodow, who brings his unique perspective on a variety of issues that need to be considered in industrial settings in these unprecedented times. They explore the types of solutions that need to be put in place and also the implications for executives in general and procurement and supply chain execs in particular.

In our last episode of Inside Procurement in 2019, we talk about the key trends and challenges that will influence procurement leaders over the next 12 months. 

In our latest podcast from the Inside Procurement series, we discuss Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) – a hot topic on the minds of C-Suite executives – and attempt to provide a balanced view, as well address four ZBB-related questions.

They explore how Private Equity firms can unlock procurement's value to meet its end goals and also discuss some practical skills sets, beyond the traditional ones, that procurement professionals should possess while working in a PE environment.

In this episode we talk to Phillip Duncan, Ex-CPO of Takeda Pharmaceutical, about his experiences and learnings from over 30 years in the Procurement industry.  Phillip offers his perspective on the challenges and changing dynamics taking place in the profession and, in his opinion, what all procurement professionals should do to set themselves up for success in their careers.

Our second podcast of 2019 looks at the key trends and challenges that we expect will influence procurement over the next 12 months.   In this episode we hear from Raj Nath, Head of Procurement at New Avon and Elisabeth Schlag-Lawrence, Former Global Head of Center of Excellence - Category Management at Corning Incorporated who both offer their viewpoints on the year ahead.

In the first podcast of 2019, we discuss ‘procurement strategy’. Not a new concept, but for many this just meant achieving simple goals – such as reducing cost by 5% Y-o-Y. However, recently there have been significant developments within the procurement function, resulting in leaders becoming far more sophisticated in how they conceptualise their strategies, but most importantly, how those strategies can support the company’s overall business goals. In this podcast we pick two important aspects of strategy: What is strategy – ‘procurement strategy’ in particular? How can companies ensure their procurement strategies are aligned with the overall corporate strategy?

What exactly is digital procurement anyway? Why is it important? How do I take advantage of it? Do I have to spend a lot of money? Do I need a “digital” strategy? How do I embed it into my plans? In this podcast, we’re going to dive into these types of questions and hopefully shed a bit more light, a bit more reason and more sanity to the discussion.

In this episode, we look at Category Management within the Procurement realm. As an idea and a concept, Category Management has been around for many years. But in recent years, we’ve seen an evolution of the idea, a practical development that is having and will continue to have far reaching implications for the Procurement professional of today and tomorrow.

In this episode, we look at the relationship between the CPO and the CFO – that is, the Chief Procurement Officer and the Chief Financial Officer. The fact is that CFO’s and CPOs share a special relationship – and it’s one that has taken on much more prominence and significance over the last 2-3 decades CFOs today are aggressively focused on managing and improving their company’s top and bottom-line performance. While there are a range of levers they can pull to influence corporate performance, of special significance is the role procurement organisations play in delivering a very direct impact to the bottom line. At their core, these two executives and their teams have the same goal – and in many instances, simply come at them from different vantage points.   So join us to learn more!

We've identified 5 key trends that impacting the Chief Procurement Officer's agenda for 2018. We've gone beyond simply detailed what is on the mind of every progressive CPO right now but instead tried to offer a call to action for the next 12 months. These trends are meaningless unless they drive behaviour in your organisation so we after each item we a clear call to action on how to advance your department. The podcast is hosted by Omer Abdullah our Co-Founder and Managing Director. Omer has a wealth of experience helping C-Suite level individuals drive their businesses forwards and gaining an edge over their competitors.