Podcast: Best Practices for Managing Procurement Performance
This week’s podcast is based on an AOP Live session with Per Angusta’s Pierre Lapree and Jason Treida. They joined us last month to discuss how procurement can maximize the value potential of automation while ensuring that performance management is not lost in the ‘noise’ of technology. We received – and they answered – audience questions that dug into every aspect of the tension created by the rapid adoption of emerging technology and the recognition that human talent is – and likely always will be – the greatest performance differentiator of all.
Must Read
No one follows the trends and advancements in market intelligence resources like Jeanette Jones. She recently issued an update that all procurement professionals, but especially those with specific category responsibilities, should read. In it, she points out four critical trends:
#1 – Negative News Upgrades and Offerings
#2 – Self-Service
#3 – Power Platforms Rule
#4 – Contract Management Offerings Utilizing AI
Looking Back
+ This week in 2018: Episode 233: Three Questions To Ask To Kick-Start Your 2019 Change Journey
+ This week in 2017: Episode 165: Articulating Procurement’s ‘Brand Promise’ To The Organization W/ Chandar Pattabhiram
+ This week in 2016: Episodes 115: The 10 Most Powerful & Insightful Episodes From 2016
What We’re Reading, Watching & Listening To:
+ If you celebrate Christmas, then there is a good possibility you have a Christmas tree up. We can all appreciate the tradition and beauty of this holiday custom, but how much do you know about the annual Christmas tree industry? According to this recent article on ThomasNet, it is a $1 Trillion industry, takes 8 years for a tree to be a desirable height and only 1 in 3 seedlings eventually become a salable product.
+ Are you replaceable? It sounds harsh, but many of us have been raised on the ‘wisdom’ that we are all just one paycheck from the street. As Michael Nathanson, CEO of The Colony Group, points out in his article on ChiefExecutive, the idea that everyone is replaceable is not only false – it is damaging.
+ Can you think of a greater nightmare than waking up to find one of your contracted suppliers in the news for legal or ethical misdeeds? I can’t. As companies better understand the investment required to build a strong brand reputation, and then watch how fragile they are in the face of challenge, procurement’s responsibilities in this area are on the rise. According to Supply Management’s Charlie Hart, procurement is a key custodian of brand reputation.
Quick Reads:
+ Show me the money! (Procurement Pracademic)
+ Amazon sellers can’t use FedEx Ground for Prime shipments (CNN)
+ Ethics, communication top list of future-focused procurement skills (Supply Chain Quarterly)
+ Five Things We Learned About the Future of Work in 2019 (CPO Rising)
+ Amazon Business brings procurement into the digital era (SiliconAngle)
#TakeAction
Do yourself a favor before you head off on your holiday break: clean up your workspace and leave it ready for a bright new year in 2020. Throw out those old coffee cups, and recycle those papers you know you’re never going to look back at. Clean your whiteboard and straighten all the little items in your space. Anything that has a visible layer of dust on it needs to go or be wiped off. After all, how can you get down to the business of transformation in a yucky, cluttered space? If you take our advice, share a picture of your workspace with us on Twitter or LinkedIn!
Now available for download…
Redefine how you manage your procurement team’s performance by downloading our free guidebook, in partnership with Per Angusta.
This is our last TWIP newsletter for 2019. Thank you all for joining us each week this year. Happy holidays to you and your family, and a very happy new year as well! See you on January 8th!
