Monthly Top 5 - August 2020

Author

Joël Collin-Demers
August 05, 2020 • 📖 8 minutes

Hi there,

I hope summer is treating you well.

On this end, time is blazing by as my clients and I continue to adjust to our new collective COVID-19 reality while delivering projects. As we are still months away from a vaccine and, in my humble opinion, a few years away from global distribution of this vaccine, business models need to change to account for this new dynamic for the duration; especially for businesses with a global footprint.

For example, the new "work from home" reality for most knowledge workers has created a context where connected teams, fluid systems/processes and supply chain risk management have become requirements for having a high performing, agile Procurement organization.

More than ever, this means you should be thinking about how information is collected, stored and distributed to your teams and suppliers, defining your vision for how to make information flows better and working on improving systems and processes to make the vision a reality.

In this edition's content, I've tried to touch on a number of subjects that will help you think about what needs to be done with regards to People, Processes and Technology within your Procurement organizations to thrive in this new context.

Please enjoy this edition of the Pure Procurement newsletter.

As always, don't hesitate to get in touch with any feedback or just to say hello.

Best,

Joël

New Pure Procurement Content

Interview with Joël Collin-Demers on the World of Procurement Podcast

I recently sat down with Daniel Barnes over at the World of Procurement Podcast to discuss my thinking around how to approach a Procurement digital transformation. It starts by understanding your building blocks:

  • ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning systems

  • S2P - Source-to-Pay suites

  • Niche solutions

There are so many software tools for Procurement out there. They all have their respective strengths and weaknesses, breadth and depth. Therefore, it's important to have a tool agnostic vision before you start engaging with software vendors and implementing solutions. You should create a picture of the overall puzzle before you start putting in the pieces. This will prevent you from going in the wrong direction and having to backtrack.
Length: 35 min.

My Favorite Procurement Articles This Month

Procurement organizations can help end slavery by ensuring they purchase goods from a supply chain free of slavery and child labor. However, what seems like a simple solution on paper requires better information about the origin of products and suppliers for each purchase. Where does one begin on this journey?

I've been shouting from the rooftops for about a decade now that Procurement organizations who want to improve their overall maturity and effectiveness need to first and foremost focus on their teams' technological literacy. People implement processes and systems. Therefore, higher maturity processes and systems require higher maturity teams as a pre-requisite.

Some interesting statistics from the recent CIPS "snap poll" that detail the effects of COVID-19 on Procurement organizations. Innovation rates are up but risks of cybersecurity issues are also up.

To hit the nail on the head again (see article #2...), your people are your greatest asset in any Procurement organization. Their evolution should be your first priority as it is what will bring your organization forward. Consultants have their time and place (otherwise I wouldn't be around!) but they should be used as jumper cables; not a motor.

What should you be looking at and thinking about when automating Accounts Payable process (the "Pay" part of Procure-to-Pay)? First, there are certainly governance alignment considerations to take care of as AP usually reports to Finance. However, once that's done, alignment of systems and processes to take advantage of available technological advancements rapidly becomes the challenge. This article from XSuite does a great job of breaking down what can often be the esoteric, abstract concepts around artificial intelligence and applying them to Accounts Payable in an end-to-end Procurement context.

Source to Pay in the News

  • 2020-06-16 - Ivalua and Ardent Partners published a whitepaper on the Procurement metrics to focus on in 2020 (re: COVID-19)

  • 2020-06-25 - SAP Ariba has extended open access to SAP Ariba Discovery, enabling buyers to post sourcing needs and any of the four million suppliers on Ariba Network to respond with their ability to deliver the goods and services required with no fees through December 31, 2020.

  • 2020-06-30 - Ivalua and the Hackett Group released a whitepaper on how to prepare your company for extreme economic volatility

  • 2020-07-21 - Ivalua and the Hacket Group released a whitepaper on strengthening Procurement-IT partnerships

Did I miss something interesting? Send me the link!

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