Monthly Top 5 - March 2024

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Hi Readers,

As usual, I scoured through 1000+ articles from 40+ sources to bring you the best free nuggets published in March.

📰 In this month’s edition of the Top 5:

1. Are you tracking soft skills on your team as diligently as your processes and systems?

2. Is Gen AI heading in the wrong direction?

3. What is on CPO’s minds in 2024?

4. A Primer on Supplier Risk Management

5. A 20-min virtual ProcureTech conference

What was your favorite story this month?

Vote in the poll at the bottom of the email and tell me in the comment.

#1 - Soft Skills Are Your Differentiating Force

The more time I spend implementing ProcureTech systems, the more I believe that the differentiator is not the systems you have, how you connected them or how optimized your processes are (although these things are all important… Otherwise, I’d be out of a job!).

The most important piece of digital transformation is the strength of your team’s soft skills: analytical thinking, critical thinking, leadership and social influence, technological literacy, to name a few…

Are you taking as much time tracking these as you are for systems and processes? My bet is you could probably be more systematic to get the associated benefits. Skills must be managed just as processes and pieces of tech do.

In this great article, Pedro makes the case for the importance of soft skills in your digital transformation.

For Digital Transformation: Go Heavy on Your Soft Skills
by Pedro Berrocoso at Process Automation Pulse

#2 - Is Gen AI Heading in the Wrong Direction?

Since the explosion of Gen AI starting last year, Large Language Models (LLMs) are only getting bigger and bigger in an attempt to make the models more sophisticated and accurate in their responses…

This translates to increasingly higher energy costs to run queries…

This month, Harvard Magazine posits that the real challenge will quickly become about who is able to start scaling down AI models while keeping performance.

Not directly related to procurement but a great read if you want to keep developing your Gen AI literacy.

Should AI Be Scaled Down?
by Harvard Magazine

#3 - What is On CPO’s Minds in 2024?

In March, Hackett released their 2024 Procurement Key Issues Study results.

The Top 3 priorities for CPOs remain the same as last year but the order has changed. Combatting inflationary prices increases has fallen from #1 to #3 and improve spend cost reduction is back to #1 (as it was in 2021).

This illustrates that while issues such as digitalization, risk management and sustainability remain a priority, Procurement’s traditional purpose (cost control) is alive and well…

You’ve got to do everything else without dropping the ball on this key priority.

The CPO Agenda: 2024 Procurement Key Issues
by The Hackett Group

#4 - A Primer on Supplier Risk Management

If you’re starting from scratch, Supplier Risk Management doesn’t have to be complicated to generate value.

You can start easily with a one-page, internal preliminary risk assessment/checklist which forces you to reflect on different risk dimensions when considering a new supplier.

Systematically look at the ‘Yesses’ in a dedicated recurring governance meeting and dig assign action items to dig into the crunchy ones.

You’ll start “walking” and this will lead you to consider improvements you want to focus on based on actual data (even if rudimentary).

This white paper by Art of Procurement goes more in-depth.

Implementing a Framework Around Global Supplier Risk
by Art of Procurement

#5 - A 20-min Virtual ProcureTech Conference

Can’t attend a ProcureTech conference this year? Or rather you’re aching for conference season to start? Perhaps you’re one of the lucky ones attending the first edition of Digital Procurement World New York?

Whatever your circumstance, if you want a 20-min ProcureTech conference fix, PASA just released a neat conference summary for their ProcureTECH ‘24 conference which took place March 20th & 21st.

Did you miss out on ProcureTECH ‘24? Catch up here!
by Procurement and Supply Australasia (PASA)

That’s it for today.

When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help:

Pure Procurement Premium — Subscribe to premium for access to 30+ Deep Dive guides and templates that will help you get your digital Procurement initiatives right the first time (and access to all future guides)

Work with me on your digital procurement initiatives — I’ve been helping Procurement teams digitalize their processes and practices for 12+ years. If you are digitalizing procurement processes, reach out first :)

Get in front of 8000+ Pure Procurement readers — You have something interesting to share with digitally-minded procurement professionals? Get in touch and I’ll send you my media kit if there’s a fit.

Till next time,

— Joël Collin-Demers

P.S. I’d love your feedback. Tap the poll below or reply to this email. I read every response.