Love Procurement: The Podcast

Procurement transformation is always a complex, high-stakes effort, but when the organization going through the change is in the public sector, every effort has to be made to minimize disruption - especially when the public may be affected.

When the state of Ohio decided to transform their procurement organization, they started by laying a foundation that combined vision, communication plans, and change management. 

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Philip Ideson is joined by Andrew Cochran, the State eProcurement Manager at the Ohio Department of Administrative Services. Andrew has worked for the state since 2013 and is involved in everything from system design to change management and rollout to continuous improvement activities.

Andrew takes this opportunity to explain how his team set themselves up for success before, during, and after their transformation:

• Defining and then staying true to Ohio’s statewide guiding vision for procurement 
• The importance of investing in a stakeholder roadmap and consistent communication plan
• Ensuring that procurement is prepared to support public policy and adjust with it over the long term

Links: Andrew Cochran on LinkedIn

Language has the power to unite a community. Not only does it create a feeling of belonging, using the same terminology as others makes the speaker’s meaning clear, despite challenging circumstances. On the other hand, language can also alienate, frustrate, and just plain annoy people who are not familiar with the acronyms and terminology used by others.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Vishal Patel, Vice President Product Marketing at Ivalua, and Philip Ideson, Managing Director at Art of Procurement. They take on the issues and challenges of language head on - and with a healthy sense of humor.

Join us as Kelly, Vishal, and Philip talk about:

• Which business buzzwords they would use to describe themselves and their organizations
• The trending phrases they would ‘vote off the island’ if given the opportunity
• How communication can - and should - be a top priority for anyone working in or with procurement

Links:

Vishal Patel on LinkedIn

Philip Ideson on LinkedIn

No digital solution can deliver an ROI without a successful implementation, and yet procurement often finds themselves taking a key role in critical implementations without necessarily having the skills or experience to do so. 

On the other hand, few efforts provide procurement with a greater opportunity to build relationships across the organization, improve efficiency and workflows, and strengthen their own understanding of how the business works.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Katy Fonteyn, Head of Global Marketing and Partnerships for OJC Consulting. She has deep experience in managing technical implementations as well as many of the human elements that are encountered along the way.

Katy takes this opportunity to discuss the practices and preparation that will help procurement lead successful implementations:

• What an RFP may reveal about procurement long before the selection and implementation begin
• How procurement can serve as an effective ‘face’ for the project, communicating with stakeholders and turning their feedback into actionable information
• Ways procurement should invest in their own preparedness for implementation, especially given the change management-heavy nature of the effort

 Links: Katy Fonteyn

For almost two decades, The Hackett Group has been asking procurement leaders about their priorities for the current year, how they plan to invest in skills and technology, and what new and trending topics have seized their attention. Since procurement is a constantly evolving professional discipline, some areas of the study show only minor adjustments year to year while others - like AI - enter the results with disruptively innovative force.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Philip Ideson is joined by Chris Sawchuk, Principal and Global Procurement Advisory Practice Leader at The Hackett Group, and Vishal Patel, Vice President Product Marketing at Ivalua. They discuss some of the high level findings of the most recent study data and how it tracks what they are seeing transpire as we move through the year.

Chris and Vishal discuss their individual experience and perspectives on:

• The milestones and potential risk areas associated with generative AI
• The ongoing struggle to create or free up more time for procurement to spend on strategic tasks
• What they expect to see emerge as major trends in 2025

Links:

Chris Sawchuk on LinkedIn

Vishal Patel on LinkedIn

Despite the interest and attention being heaped upon digital platforms, leadership teams still have to emphasize the importance of developing their team’s soft skills. Whether that means improved two-way communication abilities or a willingness to trust one’s instinct when it matters most, strengths and abilities have to go far beyond technical areas.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Carmen Carulli. Carmen is the former Country Purchasing Director and current Sales Director at L’Oreal as well as the author of Leadership dell'essere, or Leadership of Being, a book about the soft skills all future leaders will need.

Carmen paused from her jam-packed schedule to share her philosophy on life and leadership:

• What we really mean when we talk about ‘soft skills’
• How expectations for leadership have changed in a highly digital world
• Why she chooses to make time for mentoring, and what her mentees have taught her

Links:

Carmen Carulli on LinkedIn

Aspiring professionals have to deliver more than table-stakes results if they want to climb the corporate ladder. In fact, they have to do more than climb: they need to time travel. 

Most hard working individuals can create value for today, in their current role, given the present circumstances. The real prize goes to those who manage to create a source of value that extends into the future, generating benefits that can be passed along to the next group of leaders.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Michael Stietz, EVP Operations at Körber Business Area Technologies. Michael is a ‘recovering’ procurement executive, someone who is taking his learnings and experience from years in procurement and applying them in the world of operations.

Michael shares his long-held philosophy, which connects procurement to supply chain to operations in a progressive flow of work:

• How procurement has become a launching pad for careers across the C-suite
• What procurement needs to know about their internal and external customers
• Critical investments in communications that can ensure procurement’s full value proposition is recognized across the company

Links: Michael Stietz on LinkedIn

Many procurement professionals cringe and cover their ears at the mere mention of “selling.” The fatigue associated with being ‘sold to’ for their own solutions and the solutions associated with sourcing projects across the business is real.

But legacy perceptions of selling are no more representative than legacy perceptions of procurement. 

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Franck Lheureux, Chief Revenue Officer at Ivalua, to talk about what it is like to sell to procurement when a sales team’s goals include partnership and building a shared vision.

Franck paints a vivid picture of his philosophy on sales, including what it should deliver for procurement and the internal stakeholders they work with:

• The common characteristics shared by procurement teams that deliver maximum value from the services and solutions they buy
• The importance of cultural alignment (in addition to system capabilities) that should be considered when procurement is selecting a solution provider
• Earned knowledge and experiences that procurement should be asking all supplier representatives to share with them   

Links:

Franck Lheureux on LinkedIn

When a decision is made about what procurement platform will be put in place, the team’s effort is not done. In fact, it is only the beginning.

A well-managed implementation process ensures that the company achieves the objectives and benefits associated with the solution, and it takes into consideration input from a wide variety of users. Implementation is an active time for procurement and all of the third parties they are working with to roll out the solution and maximize adoption.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Daniel Amzallag, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Ivalua, about his perspectives on implementation, change management, and adoption. 

Daniel shares practical and strategic advice learned over many years and many implementations, and provides actionable guidance on a number of topics:

• When implementation should begin, and when it truly comes to an end
• The benefits associated with managing implementations through a series of phases
• Common roadblocks - and key success factors - from the implementations he has seen, and how procurement can ensure continuous improvement

Links: Daniel Amzallag on LinkedIn

Being ‘in procurement’ can mean a number of things, but typically it is assumed to mean that someone is a procurement practitioner. When a practitioner makes the decision to stay in procurement but take on another role - say working at a service or solution provider - their colleagues may be distrustful. Some will even believe they have gone over to ‘the dark side.’ 

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Arnaud Malarde, Product Marketing Director at Ivalua, and Jarrod McAdoo, Director of Product Marketing at Ivalua. All three of them are ‘dark siders,’ practitioners who dared to cross the line to join a provider.

Arnaud and Jarrod discuss what this transition is like and how it may actually position them to do more in support of procurement than if they had stayed as practitioners:

• How having a background in procurement changes the way they do your jobs today
• Why so many people think a job at a provider is the ‘dark side’
• The advice they would give their former practitioner selves knowing what they know now

Links:

Arnaud Malarde on LinkedIn

Jarrod McAdoo on LinkedIn

Data is one of the most valuable resources any company can have, but having it versus being able to trust it and put it to work are two different things. Some data is brought in from the outside with a clear purpose, and other data is created as a byproduct of business processes and transactions. Being able to pull it together as part of a cohesive strategy can be a source of competitive advantage or an opening for risk.

In this episode of the #LoveProcurement podcast, Kelly Barner is joined by Joseph Yacura, Senior Advisor at the MIT Chief Data Officer Information Quality program, and Alex Saric, Chief Marketing Officer at Ivalua, to talk about the importance of having a data strategy.

Joseph and Alex talk about their perspective on the importance of data for its own sake and for the impact it enables a procurement team to have on the company:

• Whether data quality or data accessibility is actually the larger challenge
• The effort to designate and preserve a ‘single source of truth’ across business units and enterprise systems
• How procurement can contribute to a ‘data strategy’ above and beyond the work that is being done to meet business objectives through data

Links:

Joseph Yacura on LinkedIn

Alex Saric on LinkedIn