Our Story
Procurement professionalized in an era where optimizing supplier spend meant an obsessive focus on price while acting as an internal gatekeeper against non-compliant purchasing practices.
While this may be important for some companies, we believe that procurement has the potential to make an even bigger impact. By skillfully aligning the power of the supply base with the needs of the stakeholders they serve, procurement can be a competitive differentiator.
But it isn’t easy, and it needs a modern approach. One that positions procurement as a strategic services business within a business, rather than a functional silo.
We created Art of Procurement to help procurement professionals and teams challenge the status quo and fully align their performance with corporate objectives.
Our Values
#1
No Jerks. Build relationships that last.
#2
Be the Catalyst. Discover the art of the possible.
#3
Love the Game. Bring passion to all you do.
#4
Take Pride in the Journey. Every interaction matters.
#5
Take Action. Create your own momentum.
Meet Our Leadership Team
Philip Ideson, Managing Director
Philip Ideson is the Founder and Managing Director of Art of Procurement. Prior to Art of Procurement, Philip led procurement transformation, category management, and sourcing programs for clients of Procurian and Accenture. Previously, Philip was Head of International Procurement, Sourcing & Third Party Risk Management at Ally Financial.
Art of Procurement is supported by a deep pre-vetted ecosystem of subject matter experts, from boutique consulting firms to independent domain experts. Click here to learn more about our delivery model.
Five years of innovation, fuelled by a mission to transform the impact of procurement.
It started with a podcast…
Fresh from quitting his comfortable day-job with a leading procurement services provider, Art of Procurement Founder Philip Ideson launched what would become the leading weekly procurement podcast.
His initial goal: to mature his own thinking and help his peers learn from the experiences of others.
The Procurement Revolution
While in pursuit of ways to help procurement professionals confront the status quo, Philip found a kindred spirit in Kelly Barner, long time procurement consultant and Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point.
Kelly and Philip joined forces to create The Procurement Revolution, a virtual, week long, TED-style event that challenged procurement professionals to stand up, speak out, and drive change.
Leveraging the community…
With a growing community forming around the Art of Procurement philosophy, Philip and Kelly launched Palambridge, an offering to help procurement leaders access expertise on-demand from a pre-vetted ecosystem of SME’s and procurement service providers.
Palambridge was almost 10-years in the making – Philip had first mapped out this model while leading a procurement BPO project in India in the late 2000’s.
Helping professionals #TakeAction
After pitching the idea of a microlearning platform for procurement professionals to an Art of Procurement client, we received the go-ahead to build a pilot program for over 400 procurement professionals. This early version became The CatalystCo Platform (TCP).
Launched in mid-2018, TCP helps procurement professionals take action and put into practice what they have learned and what they already know. A new umbrella company was created – CatalystCo – to serve as the vehicle for all of our learning and development initiatives.
Bringing it all together…
We took a step back and realized that while all of our brands – Palambridge, CatalystCo and Art of Procurement – were launched to help procurement professionals deliver change with confidence, our business structure was confusing.
In January 2019, we consolidated all of our brands back into Art of Procurement, with Palambridge becoming AOP Experts On-Demand and The CatalystCo Platform renamed Nudge, by Art of Procurement
A Modernized Approach for the 2020’s
Procurement’s traditional frameworks have enabled the rapid growth of the profession. Advances in technology and changing organizational needs mean that, alone, they no longer enable procurement to maximize its potential impact.
So, in January 2020, we launched Procurement, Inc. It’s a framework that codifies the actions that the leading organizations are doing to align procurement performance with organizational objectives and is built into all Art of Procurement service offerings.
