“Procurement teams need problem-solvers – people that are thinking about the big business issues of the day. They can figure out how to tackle challenges in an efficient way. It’s a real opportunity to continue to build upon all the progress that procurement frankly has made.” –Mita Gupta, Senior Vice President, Globality.
The self-service approach has been used in a number of corporate process areas, such as requisitioning, contingent labor, benefits, employee onboarding, mobility, and travel booking. What’s more, it has been in use for decades – it is no longer an untested method. Procurement must catch-up with stakeholder expectations for scalable, digital enablement in purchasing as well.
At Art of Procurement’s Digital Outcomes event in March, session moderator Philip Ideson had the opportunity to speak with Elisabeth Schlag Lawrence, SVP, Head of Procurement Governance & Enabling at Bayer, and Mita Gupta, Senior Vice President at Globality Inc., about this topic.
The central question was whether self-guided buying can enable the business to scale quickly and easily – and how procurement can adjust to the change as well.
Elisabeth and Mita answered questions about:
What kind of a mindset shift is required for procurement teams trying to transition from spend management to spend enablement
Why procurement seems to follow a slower pace of change than other functions in the enterprise
How procurement can embrace the value and benefits of self-guided buying without feeling like we have to sacrifice control
