Most procurement teams don’t lose time in big, strategic decisions — they lose it in the messy middle: PO acknowledgements, promise dates, pricing mismatches, follow-ups, and exceptions that turn the inbox into the real system of record.

In this episode of Leveraged Supply Chains, Andrew Stroup sits down with Steve Andrews, a supply chain and procurement leader with deep experience across strategic sourcing, ERP-adjacent system implementations, and PE-backed operational scaling.

Steve breaks down why procurement systems fail after launch — and what makes them stick six to twelve months later. We dig into the two failure modes he sees constantly: strategy that never translates into buyer day-to-day behavior, and master data governance that gets ignored until trust collapses. He shares a pragmatic buying framework (including how to avoid “snake oil” AI claims), why sandbox trials beat polished demos, and why small, meaningful wins outperform big-bang rollouts.

Note: Steve is speaking in his personal capacity based on his professional experience, not on behalf of any employer.