There’s a key difference between viewing procurement as a cost-saver and as a driving force for business growth, and the chance to take this optimistic approach is occasionally overlooked.
In episode 22 of Talent Talks, Martin Smith welcomes Jeremy Bowley, Managing Director of Insider Pro and Tom Lewers, former Commercial Director of Network Rail, CPO Royal London & LV= and now MD at Procurement Potential. With experience on both sides of the procurement equation, Jeremy and Tom offer tips to maximise the impact that you can offer to a business by improving faith in the procurement functions, as well as boosting the reputation of CFO’s.
This episode of Talent Talks covers:
- Delivering tangible strategic value
- Making interventions to ensure sustainable growth
- How procurement can support CFO’s in reputational matters
- Showing confidence to better identify client needs
- The procurement approach to risk diversity
- Sharing ‘best practice’ with fellow professionals
- Improving the chances of acquiring funding from the boardroom
Links & references:
- Martin Smith, Founder & Director of Talent Drive https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinsmith2009/
- Tom Lewers: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomlewers/
- Procurement Potential: https://www.procurementpotential.com/
- Jeremy Bowley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-bowley-2398a94/
- Insider Pro: https://www.insiderpro.co.uk/
Episode Highlights:
“My focus is particularly on supplier collaboration, and everything seems to increasingly, in my opinion, orbit around it. Suppliers are recognising as they are increasingly dealing with – whether it be reluctantly or otherwise – dealing with procurement, they’re no longer able to bypass people like Jeremy and I.” – Tom Lewers
“On my journey, I would say that most CFOs are starting to learn that there’s more to the value of procurement than purely ‘I can get the same old stuff a bit cheaper’. It’s taken an awfully long time, though, for that message to get in and for people to get a real sense of ‘This can turn into strategic advantage for me, I can actually do something with this.’” – Jeremy Bowley
“The way I describe it now with regard to how procurement are supporting business growth, I’m hoping to see – and I am seeing – much more responsible interventions to minimise unnecessary spending. There’s also that cash preservation, you know, preserving cash for future growth initiatives.” – Tom Lewers
“There’s also an opportunity piece here where we can look at what’s happened with Boohoo. Procurement suddenly has a huge buying growth – if you’re Boohoo you’re not selling more clothes, if your supply chain is being dragged through the press in a very un-positive way.” – Jeremy Bowley
“I think often procurement isn’t paranoid enough, and doesn’t go ‘Are we really sure about that price? Are we really, really happy?’, because if you can make a T-shirt for £3.25 and you’re doing it in the UK, I’m kind of curious as to how you did.” – Jeremy Bowley
“We’ve got to grow in confidence here and say that actually, we can really question the business, and you’ve got to get super clear on what the value creation process is here. Then once you’re super clear, I can then help you understand how we best deliver that; Should we buy it or should we make it? How far can the supply chain get? Do we want the innovation internalised?” – Jeremy Bowley
“Human beings do have an inherent fear of failure. It’s a natural part of all of us and it sits as a core part of many procurement functions, because leaders and the culture and values of an organisation often don’t embrace experimentation and taking risks – taking managed risks, of course.” – Tom Lewers
“The bigger breadth you’ve got of opinions and views, the more opportunity you’ve got. That’s key because that builds confidence for you to take, as an organisation, the next step and do the thing that’s going to drive the extra value. It overcomes that inertia, and I hesitate to use this phrase, but it’s true – it overcomes the ‘do-nothing’ culture.” – Jeremy Bowley
“So if there’s half a dozen people in the room, I wouldn’t go in unless I’ve got at least three on board already. So I’m realistic and pragmatic, but even when I was at a chief procurement officer level, there’s some hierarchical barriers still to break down in terms of being seen as a peer level to my C-level others. ” – Tom Lewers
