Procurement & Career Guidance
In corporate America, we often get stuck in legacy patterns of activity… we do it because the people before did it and people still want it.
It is hard to shake free of these patterns or at the very least, determine if they are still needed.
But one way to improve and validate your work is to talk to the people who actually consume your work… TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS!
Payment process in both large and small corporates can be complicated. As companies grow the older processes often don’t scale. More compliant payment process protects the company but is costly both financially and in agility.
I know business owners and suppliers are often frustrated with the time it takes to get payments out the door, but there is usually a good reason for the delays.
This video discusses those reasons and some solutions to make the pay experience better.
Peter Kraljic is probably the most famous procurement practitioner of the last 100 years.
In the 1980’s, he developed a quadrant view of supplier spend vs. risk that helped companies focus on more strategic relationships. This quadrant is frequently called the Kraljic Matrix.
This video go deeper into the matrix and also the man.
Communication in the business world is difficult. It is usually the root cause of most major issues.
For Procurement Professionals, it is our job to convene and communicate. In an imperfect world this is a perfect recipe for frustration.
I take the perspective of procurement customers in this video and try to address identify their frustrations and explain why sourcing departments act the way they do.
Kate Vitasek is an influential figure in procurement and outsourcing who developed a better way to approach outsourcing. This method is commonly called Vested Outsourcing which focuses on outcomes instead of micro-managing vendors.
I am on a journey to learn more about the people who made procurement what it is today and Kate was at the top of my list. This video covers the “5 Vested Rules” and gives some history on Kate.
Kate’s Books: