Monthly Top 5 - July 2023

Dear readers,

Another month gone, another “Top 5” for your reading pleasure.

It’s been fairly quiet this month on the “free long-form Procurement content” front. There are not a lot of new ideas out there… I can tell it’s vacation season! However, I was able to find a few goodies for you. #1 and #5 are my favorites! Enjoy.

If you are new and want a taste of what the paid subscription gets you, check out this free deep-dive article on how to best manage your Procurement business processes. This is the style of the paid content. I write what I can’t find anywhere else…

If you are taking summer vacation, I hope you get a chance to disconnect and recharge the batteries - You deserve it. If you’re in the southern hemisphere well… I apologize for talking about summer vacation 😅

Best,

Joël

P.S. I’ve thrown in a new perk for Paid subscribers. You now get access to my eCourse Implementing Procurement Systems that Work (S2P 101) for free (39$ value. It’s a no brainer because a yearly subscription is 35$). If you’re already a paid sub, you’ll be receiving your coupon code shortly.

Top 5 Source-to-Pay Articles - July 2023

#1 - How to Train your Team on Generative Artificial Intelligence

There’s been lots of talk (some would say noise) about Generative AI in the first half of 2023 (e.g. ChatGPT)… Some see it as a paradigm changer, others as a nothing-burger. I think the reality is somewhere in between… It will be an interesting tool for specific use cases (still in definition) where businesses are able to execute on the pre-requisites for success. It will further widen the gap between leaders who use it and laggards who don’t.

As firms scramble to develop products that leverage this technology, the easiest thing to do if you don’t want to develop functionality in-house is to develop GenAI literacy in your team. This will develop your “BS Meter” as you inevitably start getting pitched.

Gartner put out a great page on Generative AI this month which includes articles, podcasts, webinars, workbooks, etc. to quickly ramp up on the topic. Leverage this free curriculum if you’re looking for an easy tool to start the GenAI literacy journey for your team.

What Generative AI Means for Business: An Executive’s Guide to Understanding, Implementing and Planning for the Future of GenAIby Gartner

#2 - The Nuts and Bolts of Spend Analysis

Every Category Manager worth their weight knows that a good category strategy starts with a great analysis of the underlying spend and business objectives for the category. But what are the questions you should ask yourself to ensure the spend analysis is done right?

I fell upon this list of questions from SpendHQ and thought it was a great start. Has your spend analysis covered these 5 questions?

5 Questions You Should Be Asking During a Spend Analysisby SpendHQ

#3 - Do You Really Need to Run that RFP?

One of our default “go-to-market” tools as Procurement professionals if the RFP. However, it shouldn’t be the only tool. Certain situations won’t be well served by an RFP and it will actually hinder our ability to maximize value for the business.

In the following article, Rich Sains makes the case for Agile Sourcing. I don’t think we can say the RFP is dead but his article brings some interesting points to the table which are worth consider if you want to reduce your Sourcing cycle times.

The RFP is Dead - Long Live Agile Sourcing!by Rich Sains at Acada

#4 - How Can Procurement Take On All these New Asks?

From Risk Mitigation to ESG to Sustainability to stimulating Innovation, Procurement is being asked to do more every year. It is not necessarily realistic or desirable to develop all the capabilities needed to satisfy these asks in-house. Partnerships become inevitable if you want to respond to all the asks.

Therefore, the meta skill you should be developing is how to manage partnerships to get optimal performance and results as this applies across all the asks.

This great article from the BCG Procurement team is a great starting point for reflection on this topic.

Why Procurement Partnerships Fail—and How to Get Them Rightby BCG

#5 - My New Favorite Diagram

Communication is THE meta skill in Procurement. If you can listen, speak, read, write and present well, you’ll have an outsized advantage in the workplace over people who can’t.

A big portion of that is being able to recognize and ascribe the correct words to feelings, yours and those of others, when navigating through various professional situations. Here’s an easy tool to help you find the right words:

It is by no means a new concept but I stumbled upon it for the first time this month and was excited to share. Thanks to reader Larry Leung for the share!

The "Feelings Wheel"by the Calm Blog