“You see dozens of LinkedIn posts, webinars, virtual conferences, forums, and they’re all saying ‘Procurement’s time to shine, take a seat at the table’. And this isn’t probably going to be very popular but here goes – it’s not. If you’ve only just realized this now you’re probably a bit late to the party.”
Gareth Hughes is well versed in a diverse range of procurement functions, from Bupa to L&G and most recently Whistl, and has one of the less popular opinions in the procurement world – if you suggest that now is procurement’s prime time then you’re already a step behind.
In this episode, Gareth dives into the numerous lessons he’s learned from his time across a variety of industries. From managing demand in an industry that’s seen an increase in activity since March, to the responsibility for procurement professionals to explain that we are more than a cost-saving exercise in order to boost the profile of the procurement function.
This episode of Talent Talks covers:
- Adapting to procurement in different industries
- Improving interactions with stakeholders
- Managing increasing demand from COVID-19
- Why now is not the optimal time for procurement to have a seat at the table
- Shortening and localisation of supply chains
Links & References:
- Martin Smith, Founder & Director of Talent Drive https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinsmith2009/
- Gareth Hughes, Procurement, Property & Fleet Director at Whistl https://www.linkedin.com/in/garethhughesuk/
Episode highlights:
“You have to ask yourself: if you go anywhere have you got something to offer? Do they want what you’ve got to offer? And will your way work? Because you can have all the experience and skill set in the world, but if it doesn’t fit in terms of how you’re going to deliver it, it’s probably a bigger challenge.” – Gareth Hughes
“You can’t do procurement as a remote thing where you take some spending data, look at some contracts, and they say ‘This is what we need’. You’ve got to get involved, you’ve got to understand what the frustrations of people are, you’ve got to get them involved in the decision-making process, not just them jotting down some business requirements.” – Gareth Hughes
“What we’ve learned in the last five years is that to provide fulfilment services, you always have to have more capacity than you’ve got. Because if Martin Smith came along and said ‘I want you to manage all my fulfilment for me’, we’ve got to be able to show you the space in the warehouse, and where it’s going to go to give you that comfort. What we can’t do is say ‘We’ll go and find one” – Gareth Hughes
“I think you’re seeing that honesty, where you can see and hear people say, ‘It’s okay now to say I’m not okay’, or ‘I’m finding this difficult’, or ‘This is hard I need help’. Whether these things stick with us beyond the pandemic period? I don’t know.” – Gareth Hughes
“You see dozens of LinkedIn posts, webinars, virtual conferences, forums, and they’re all saying ‘Procurement’s time to shine, take a seat at the table’. And this isn’t probably going to be very popular but here goes – it’s not. If you’ve only just realized this now you’re probably a bit late to the party.” – Gareth Hughes
“I think a lot of CFOs, and other people that I talked to in the procurement profession, didn’t realize what we did. Businesses didn’t realize that pre-COVID they didn’t actually know what we did. They thought we were just an inventory management service, or just doing tender processes and cost-saving exercises in the business. ” – Martin Smith
“We, as a business, pride ourselves on quality standards. If there’s an ISO with a number on it, we’ve got it, or we’re working towards it. And that’s because that gives us confidence and it gives our customers confidence. So we are then having to manage those quality standards, but at the same time bring in diversity as well as the innovation. ” – Gareth Hughes
