Future of Sourcing - Stakeholders https://futureofsourcing.com/tags/stakeholders en Sourcing in the Circular Economy https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-in-the-circular-economy <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Circular_Economy.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Circular_Economy.jpg" title="Sourcing in the Circular Economy" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1646-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Circular_Economy.jpg?itok=nwjDmO_W" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>Procurement plays a vital role in bringing new products and services to market, creating jobs and delivering economic prosperity for customers, stakeholders and shareholders. Sourcing plans identify value propositions, partnership and investment opportunities, new and emerging capabilities that have a substantial &ldquo;positive&rdquo; impact on the bottom line. Consumers are now demanding <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/can-b2b-transactions-help-tackle-todays-most-pressing-challenges" target="_blank">businesses to deliver a social benefit delivering products and services with a sense of responsibility</a> or concern for the problems and injustices of society. I believe that companies wanting to meet the &quot;social conscience&quot; expectations of their customers and capitalise on the significant opportunities of &quot;doing the right thing&quot; must now focus their efforts on developing the capabilities of the circular economy.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/about-us/about/wrap-and-circular-economy" target="_blank">Circular economy</a>, as opposed to a traditional linear economy, keeps resources in use for as long as possible to extract their maximum value and then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of the service life. This description provides an encouraging opportunity for procurement teams to demonstrate their value and capability more as the circular economy aligns with the sourcing lifecycle.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>Understanding the Opportunities of the Circular Economy</h2> </div> <div><a href="https://www.blackrock.com/ch/individual/en/products/310165/blackrock-circular-economy-fund" target="_blank">Blackrock</a> has launched a Circular Economy Fund. It describes the Fund as &ldquo;investing globally at least 80% of its total assets in the equity securities (i.e., shares) of companies globally that benefit from, or contribute to, the advancement of the &ldquo;Circular Economy.&rdquo; The Circular Economy concept aims to minimise waste by considering the full lifecycle of materials and redesigning products and operations to encourage greater re-use and recycling.&rdquo; The size of the Fund exceeds U.S. $21 billion.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In September 2015, <a href="https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/the-circular-economy-could-unlock-4-5-trillion-of-economic-growth-finds-new-book-by-accenture.htm" target="_blank">Accenture</a> reported that the Circular Economy could create U.S. $4.5 trillion in economic output by 2030. Research identified &ldquo;circular business models that will help decouple economic growth and natural resource consumption while driving greater competitiveness.&rdquo; &nbsp;As the world&rsquo;s population rises and societies become more urbanised, consumption of resources increases creating an environmental paradox. How can the goal of the Paris Agreement of keeping global temperature rises below two degrees be met? According to a report by <a href="https://unctad.org/en/pages/newsdetails.aspx?OriginalVersionID=1398" target="_blank">Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD)</a>, India could create as much as U.S. $218 billion in additional economic output by adopting circular economy principles. Furthermore, this could help achieve a 23% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, rising to 44% by 2050. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Incorporating circular economy principles into procurement frameworks enables organisations to determine, assess, and manage the environmental and social risks while identifying the economic and environmental benefits of re-using and recycling assets. This raises the standard of due diligence and monitoring to support socially and environmentally responsible decision-making.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>Cloud-first May Put the Environment Second</h2> </div> <div>It is estimated U.S. data centres consumer more than 90 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per annum, which is equivalent to the output of approximately 34 large coal-powered plants. While more and more companies are moving their data to the cloud, this does not deliver a reduction in electricity, it just transfers the problem to another organisation to resolve. As we stream more videos and rapidly adopt Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things, the need for processing power increases, requiring more data center infrastructure and higher electricity consumption. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>HSBC recently announced its cloud-first strategy. HSBC now has 169 petabytes of data on its servers, a 69% increase from the previous year. A petabyte is a unit of information equal to one thousand million, or 250, bytes. David Knott, U.K.-based chief architect of the bank&rsquo;s IT said &ldquo;Managing that much data takes a lot of effort and computing power. We found we were spending more time managing the infrastructure for data than we were using the data to figure out what our customers wanted.&rdquo; The Australia Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has warned Australian banks to &nbsp;<a href="https://www.itnews.com.au/news/apra-tells-banks-to-boost-it-maintenance-budgets-513059" target="_blank">boost IT budgets</a> with Chairman Wayne Byres saying &ldquo;APRA reviews into banking sector systems hygiene found a number of instances where critical systems were end-of-life or end-of-support and without funded remediation plans in place.&rdquo; Aging software that cannot be migrated to the cloud means more reliance on server infrastructure. This results in data centres needing more racks to store existing and legacy platforms. More racks in the same space create heat pockets that need cooling. All of this leads to more energy usage.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Procurement teams are uniquely positioned to develop a stronger understanding of the technology environment by building a collaborative relationship with stakeholders who have a mandate to simplify the IT landscape. Sourcing plans could contemplate how to reduce complexity and answer the questions: What is the lifespan of the product? What application does it replace? What is the plan to decommission the software when it is no longer required? How can the consumption of licences and infrastructure be optimised? Fewer software products may be better for the environment!&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>Influencing the &ldquo;Social Conscience&rdquo; Buying Experience</h2> </div> <div>A 2018 survey of 1,000 consumers in the U.S. and U.K. conducted by <a href="https://www.wearefuterra.com" target="_blank">Futerra</a> found that 96% of people believe their own actions, such as donating or recycling, can make a difference. Furthermore 88% of the respondents said they would like brands to help them become more environmentally friendly and ethical in their daily life. In December 2015, Nielsen surveyed 28,000 people in 56 countries and found that 66% of consumers believe that companies should support the environment. The survey reported that consumers are also concerned about eradicating extreme hunger and poverty and would be prepared to pay more for socially responsible goods and services. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>To be effective, leaders must master the ability to influence others with building and maintaining trust and leveraging networks, two areas where procurement can make the biggest impact. By understanding where suppliers are in the design process, sourcing plans can assess the acquisition, operations (including maintenance and repair), and the disposal of a product and/or service. By collecting different &quot;social conscience&quot; data points and engaging in deeper analysis of the human and environmental impact, procurement teams can help stakeholders make informed decisions and design a product or service that satisfies the demands of the modern consumer. For example, not engaging businesses that cannot demonstrate there is no risk of modern slavery in their supply chains or only selecting vendors who meet your organisation&rsquo;s high socially responsible standards. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>We are now starting to understand the ecological impact of plastic. On average, Australians use 130kg of plastic per annum and only 12% of that is recycled. It is estimated that 130,000 tonnes of plastic will end up in our waterways and oceans. Studies have shown plastic has begun to enter the food chain and may end up on our plates. An ethical sourcing plan would not encourage the purchasing of more plastic. Focusing on the circular economy provides procurement teams with an opportunity to help their organisations understand the economic, social and environmental impacts of their buying decisions.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/circular-economy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Circular Economy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/corporate-social-responsibility-csr" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Corporate social responsibility (CSR)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sustainability" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sustainability</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Sourcing in the Circular Economy - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-in-the-circular-economy"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 05 Dec 2019 02:51:52 +0000 Martin Stark 1646 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-in-the-circular-economy#comments How Relating is More Powerful than Competing https://futureofsourcing.com/how-relating-is-more-powerful-than-competing <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Relating_vs_Competing.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Relating_vs_Competing.jpg" title="How Relating is More Powerful than Competing" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1643-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Relating_vs_Competing.jpg?itok=eWDN0rR-" width="624" height="325" alt="How Relating is More Powerful than Competing" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>Traditionally, Procurement has been asked to compete in intense negotiations that drive the lowest price on contracts to receive the most favorable terms, whereas sales organizations are taught to fight back. Time and time again, Procurement and sales go through knock-out rounds. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Contrast this to the expectation of Procurement professionals today and in the future, in which we are asked to build strategic value and become more relationship focused. While this shift might feel small to many, it is a significant change in skills, measurements and culture within most Procurement organizations. For example, the ultimate value that can be achieved with suppliers is not during the contract negotiation, it&rsquo;s through <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/unleashing-supplier-value" target="_blank">building a relationship with the supplier to gain differentiated value</a>, including the best ideas, people and goal attainment. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This shift in expectations begs the question of are we relating or are we competing? Applying this question when <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/software-negotiations-stakeholder-alignment-and-leading-the-negotiation" target="_blank">working with stakeholders</a>, during supplier interactions or leading teams will be a reminder to become a more relationship-focused organization. Here are three ways you can relate rather than compete. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>In Conversation</h2> </div> <div>At a conference, a group of procurement professionals shares stories about themselves and their experiences. While one person in the group is telling a story about their best negotiation, everyone else is thinking about their own story to tell. As soon as one person finishes their story, another person tells theirs, and on and on it goes, with everyone competing for the best story. At this point, we are not relating, we are competing. Instead of listening, we are thinking about our own stories. This leaves the person who told the story unvalidated, underappreciated and feeling like no one was truly listening. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Instead of immediately jumping into your own story, try asking a question of the person who just told theirs. This change in your approach will allow you to relate to them. To build strong relationships, the other party needs to feel appreciated. By asking a question and being curious of someone else&rsquo;s experience, you show that you are more interested in what that person has to say versus what you have to say. This is one small change in habit that will make a difference with all of your relationships. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>Across Silos</h2> </div> <div>Within any large organization, there are silos within teams, organizations and across processes. And while large technology companies claim their solutions break down silos, they still exist. The result of these technologies has almost amplified the silos, as now there is more visibility to where they exist. &nbsp; &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Silos are created due to competition, not poor communication between teams for resources, goal attainment and power. Within Procurement, these silos are particularly difficult with stakeholders and with up and downstream organizations like R&amp;D or Accounts Payable. To reduce competition and be more relatable, aligning goals is the first and most basic way to eliminate competition. If you are trying to achieve the same results, then you start sharing resources differently and have aligned power positions in the organization. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>For example, instead of only having a savings goal within Procurement, include each of your stakeholders to have the same goals so they can report to leadership on their progress toward the goal with Procurement&rsquo;s support. Additionally, spend time with stakeholders to truly understand their strategies and offer solutions and direction in support of their strategy. &nbsp;At the end of the day, taking a genuine interest in your stakeholders and supporting their goals will reduce the silo effect.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2>With the Enemy</h2> </div> <div>Of course, suppliers are not the enemy, or have they been? Over the years within Procurement, suppliers have been noted as the ultimate team to beat. They are who we hold in check to make sure we get a fair price and terms, and the party we don&rsquo;t trust for one second during negotiations. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In shifting from cost savings to value generation, suppliers need to take on a different role, which means Procurement needs to analyze how to better relate to them day in and day out. &nbsp;Relating can take the form or truly understanding what our suppliers are trying to accomplish compared to how that intersects with the business&rsquo; strategies. It could also take the form of asking how you can help them to succeed and taking a vested interest in doing such. Developing and mentoring your suppliers to achieve their highest performance is another form of relating instead of competing. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>At the end of the day, the future of Procurement is one centered on knowledge, relationships and value, which starts with simple behavioral changes that focus on relating instead of competing. These small but mighty changes will lead to differentiated value in the marketplace and an environment where Procurement&rsquo;s overall value is realized.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supplier-relationship-management-srm" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/negotiation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Negotiation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contract-construction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contract Construction</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How Relating is More Powerful than Competing - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/how-relating-is-more-powerful-than-competing"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 29 Nov 2019 21:32:09 +0000 Amanda Prochaska 1643 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/how-relating-is-more-powerful-than-competing#comments Sourcing Supernova Hall of Fame: Danny Ertel https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-supernova-hall-of-fame-danny-ertel <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Danny_FOS%20Individual%20Award_Interview%20Graphic.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Danny_FOS%20Individual%20Award_Interview%20Graphic.png" title="Sourcing Supernova Hall of Fame: Danny Ertel" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1616-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Danny_FOS%20Individual%20Award_Interview%20Graphic.png?itok=HwRLE8V8" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>This October, the&nbsp;<a href="https://futureofsourcingawards.com/?__hstc=215510152.344406f4865c40604cf6029be7e958e0.1543422516683.1570984969656.1571003004265.664&amp;__hssc=215510152.2.1571003004265&amp;__hsfp=847670889" target="_blank">Future of Sourcing Awards</a>&nbsp;celebrated seasoned veterans whose thought leadership and innovative work in the sourcing field have made a transformative difference over the course of their career. Below, read about Sourcing Supernova Hall of Fame inductee Danny Ertel founding partner of Vantage Partners and an expert in negotiation, relationship management and organizational transformation.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div> <h3><em>How did you get into this field &ndash; was it purposeful or by accident?</em></h3> </div> <div>I guess there are two things that came together for me in sourcing: &nbsp;The first is negotiation, and my work at the Harvard Negotiation Project and since on what it takes for an organization to get more value across its broad portfolio of negotiations. &nbsp;The second is relationship management and remediation, by way of lots of work advising both buyers and sellers in large outsourcing arrangements. &nbsp; I&rsquo;ve learned from many clients and partners what it takes to negotiate and then manage effective relationships between two complex organizations. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>In what ways do you feel your professional contributions have influenced or transformed the industry? (This could be a new approach or methodology, the application of an existing technology in a completely new way, significant thought leadership or even a career of inspiring others.)</em></h3> </div> <div>Following on the theme above, I think the work I and others have done on how you develop negotiation strategy, how you prepare effectively, how you conduct a negotiation, and how you learn (and help others learn) has contributed to where we as an industry are today. &nbsp;My books (Getting Ready to Negotiate, with Roger Fisher and The Point of the Deal, with Mark Gordon) and articles in the Harvard Business Review and elsewhere, are widely read and quoted.&nbsp;</div> <div>Similarly, on the relationship management side, our team at Vantage conducted and published some of the earliest research on the value of effective governance and relationship management in outsourcing agreements and drove a number of industry efforts to improve how those relationships are managed. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges facing the industry today and what should be done to solve them?</em></h3> </div> <div>Sourcing and procurement are facing huge challenges driven in large part by changes in: &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>what the business needs from us (e.g., sourcing innovation, not just goods and services; leveraging suppliers to gain competitive advantage, not just reduce COGS; etc.), &nbsp;</li> <li>what can be cost-effectively outsourced and/or automated, and &nbsp;</li> <li>how we use data and AI to help us make better decisions. &nbsp;&nbsp;</li> </ul> <div>The industry is just starting to recognize the implications of those changes for the competencies we need in sourcing; valuing those competencies (and our people) sufficiently to invest in them is going to have to be front and center on every CPO&rsquo;s agenda. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>Looking at the whole of your career, what do you consider to be your greatest achievement? </em></h3> </div> <div>Over the course of about 30 years doing this, I&rsquo;ve had the privilege learn from and to work with some terrific people on really challenging problems, dealing with everything from remediating damaged partnerships to bring to market life-saving drugs, to reducing and ending armed conflicts. &nbsp; I had lots of help in every one of those situations, and what I am most proud of is contributing to building a team and a network of folks who can be thoughtful, collaborative, and adept at solving problems with others. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>What three words do you feel your colleagues and peers would use to describe you? </em></h3> </div> <div>&ldquo;Calm&rdquo; is easy to say.&nbsp;</div> <div>&ldquo;Insightful&rdquo; is maybe more aspirational on my part.&nbsp;</div> <div>&ldquo;Effective&rdquo; would be nice too.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>What advice do you have for those who are new to the profession or considering entering the industry?</em></h3> </div> <div>Sourcing has to become much more about solving problems with our suppliers than about squeezing them. &nbsp;Work with your stakeholders to define more ambitious problems to solve, and work with your suppliers to help them bring their full set of capabilities to the table. &nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/negotiation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Negotiation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/future-of-sourcing-awards" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Future of Sourcing Awards</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing-star" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing Star</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Sourcing Supernova Hall of Fame: Danny Ertel - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-supernova-hall-of-fame-danny-ertel"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 20 Sep 2019 21:47:06 +0000 Danny Ertel 1616 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/sourcing-supernova-hall-of-fame-danny-ertel#comments Rising Star Interview: Zachary Greenberger https://futureofsourcing.com/rising-star-interview-zachary-greenberger <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Zachary%20Greenberger_FOS%20Individual%20Award_Interview%20Graphic.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Zachary%20Greenberger_FOS%20Individual%20Award_Interview%20Graphic.png" title="Rising Star Interview: Zachary Greenberger" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1601-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Zachary%20Greenberger_FOS%20Individual%20Award_Interview%20Graphic.png?itok=IVxRWdh4" width="624" height="325" alt="Rising Star Interview: Zachary Greenberger" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>This October, the&nbsp;<a href="https://futureofsourcingawards.com/?__hstc=215510152.344406f4865c40604cf6029be7e958e0.1543422516683.1570547502174.1570550578443.637&amp;__hssc=215510152.4.1570550578443&amp;__hsfp=2721840510" target="_blank">Future of Sourcing Awards</a>&nbsp;will celebrate individuals newer to the industry whose thought leadership and expertise have shown promise that is likely to have a lasting impact on the industry. Below, read about Rising Star Finalist Zachary Greenberger.&nbsp;Zach currently leads global sourcing and procurement operations at Lyft.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div> <h3><em>How did you get into this field &ndash; was it purposeful or by accident?</em></h3> </div> <div>A bit of both &ndash; my career started with a heavy interest in supply chain, and the desire to dive deep into and resolve complex business issues. After my first experience in strategic sourcing, I very intently pivoted to pursue a career with that focus. I felt there was a really unique ability with this type of role to influence critical decisions, develop a wide range of relationships and continuously expand my business knowledge.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>In what ways do you hope to influence or transform the industry?</em></h3> </div> <div>I have aspirations to better incorporate innovative tech into supply chain and procurement systems. The industry has certainly made strides, but there is a lot more that can be done to innovate on the Source-to-Pay process. I see a pretty consistent gap between stakeholder experience and the oversight and reporting desired from a P2P system. I remain convinced more can be done to transform this space given the range of emerging technology we have available today. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>Who are the mentors or role models who have guided you in your career?</em></h3> </div> <div>My father is my biggest role model and mentor. He&rsquo;s always been a great support system and sounding board for me to bounce ideas off of. He&rsquo;s helped keep me focused on the right priorities and objectives in achieving my career goals. Without his guidance I certainly wouldn&rsquo;t be where I am today. Other notable role models of mine are Liam O&rsquo;Connor, the COO of Zipline and a former supply chain executive at both Lyft and Tesla, as well as the Co-Founders of Lyft, John Zimmer and Logan Green.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>What is something you wish more people knew about the sourcing and procurement industry?</em></h3> </div> <div>There is a common misconception that sourcing and procurement professionals are difficult to work with, and don&rsquo;t have aligned interests with their stakeholders. Truth is we desire to be trusted business partners, and only have the companies&rsquo; best interest in mind when providing feedback on a certain supplier strategy or transaction. It&rsquo;s important for those who aren&rsquo;t familiar with the industry to see us as business operators that can help them build successful strategies and navigate issues that may come along. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>Looking ahead, what trends do you think will emerge in the sourcing and procurement space?</em></h3> </div> <div>I think we will start to see a more aggressive shift in the skill sets of sourcing and procurement professionals. It seems companies have always tended to seek out professionals with deep knowledge of certain commodities. Of course there nothing wrong with that, but I am finding that some of the best sourcing professionals are those that are generalists by nature, and just have exceptional business acumen which enables them to negotiate unique deal structures, influence stakeholders, and be a valued partner to the business regardless of the commodity. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I am also starting to see procurement/supply chain play a more critical role in bringing business strategies to life. We will definitely continue to see sourcing and procurement move from a supporting function, to a critical decision maker.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h3><em>What advice do you have for those who are considering a career in sourcing or procurement? </em></h3> </div> <div>If you are interested in a role that brings constant excitement, unique challenges, and the ability to never stop learning, you are looking in the right place. You will excel if you continuously apply previous learnings to each deal, and you will feel fulfilled to see each deal and relationship come to life and drive value to the business. There will be challenges as there are with any role, but your attitude towards those challenges will dictate the success you have in developing relationships and delivering results.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supply-chain-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supply Chain Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/strategic-sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Strategic Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/source-to-pay" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Source-To-Pay</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procure-to-pay-p2p-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procure-To-Pay (P2P)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/future-of-sourcing-awards" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Future of Sourcing Awards</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Rising Star Interview: Zachary Greenberger - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/rising-star-interview-zachary-greenberger"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 13 Sep 2019 16:10:22 +0000 Zachary Greenberger 1601 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/rising-star-interview-zachary-greenberger#comments Money talks: Making the Case for Sustainable Procurement Investments https://futureofsourcing.com/money-talks-making-the-case-for-sustainable-procurement-investments <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Invest_Sustainability.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Invest_Sustainability.jpg" title="Money talks: Making the Case for Sustainable Procurement Investments " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1534-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Invest_Sustainability.jpg?itok=it70MKBR" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>The business benefits and value <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEFUSA_BeyondSupplyChains_Report2015.pdf" target="_blank">derived from robust responsible procurement programs</a> can be remarkable, such as driving uplift revenue by 5% to 20%, reducing supply chain costs by 9% to 16% and increasing brand value by 15% to 30%. Creating such programs requires investing in key internal areas, such as new tools, staff and strategies to reap the value that&rsquo;s possible. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Whether you are just starting to plan your company&rsquo;s first <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/stop-drop-and-get-sustainable-four-ways-to-get-sustainable-procurement-started-now" target="_blank">sustainable procurement initiative</a>, or looking to expand an existing one, you will need to present the business case to your company in order to gain access to the resources required of a successful sustainable procurement program. Recently the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) rounded up practical insights from several key decision-makers on <a href="https://www.sustainablepurchasing.org/making-the-case/" target="_blank">how to communicate the big-dollar value</a> of sustainable procurement programs. The report highlights how building a solid business case starts with communicating the benefits of sustainable procurement in a way that compels senior leadership to allocate more budget and resources to a program &ndash; creating the foundation for a lifetime of big returns.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>How do future program champions construct the case for sustainable procurement today that can lead to greater business value later? SPLC found that the key is to emphasize that sustainable procurement is more than just a compliance program and to engage teams with a big-picture view &ndash; one that goes well beyond compliance programs they may be familiar with. Through <a href="https://www.sustainablepurchasing.org/making-the-case/" target="_blank">focusing on the business benefits</a> that senior executives care about &ndash; such as revenue, market share, product differentiation, staff retention and recruiting and procurement spend &ndash; and collaborating with various parts of the business that will also experience those gains, you can be well on your way to developing a tangible plan.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <h2><em>Creating a Big-Picture View &nbsp;&nbsp;</em></h2> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Through emphasizing how sustainable procurement advances overall corporate goals &ndash; sales growth, lower costs, reduced risk, better supplier relationships &ndash; senior leadership will take a greater interest in learning more about program implementation and required resources because you&rsquo;re now speaking their language. Each stakeholder is motivated by success in different aspects of the business given their respective roles and responsibilities &ndash; and messages should be tailored accordingly. <a href="https://www.sustainablepurchasing.org/making-the-case/" target="_blank">According to procurement leaders in SPLC&rsquo;s report,</a> there are a few ways to present the big picture case for sustainable procurement:&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Focus on customer revenue. By adding up the number of customers and key sales opportunities that use sustainability attributes in supplier evaluations, you&rsquo;re changing the focus of the investment in resources from &ldquo;what I need&rdquo; to &ldquo;what our customers want and demand&rdquo; &ndash; something that will be much easier to gain support in.&nbsp;</li> <li>Emphasize investor values. Sustainability issues carry growing weight in the financial market. In fact, the <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/4-key-takeaways-esg-reporting-and-investing" target="_blank">number of sustainable investment funds</a> in the U.S. alone grew 50% between 2017 and 2018, to 351 funds with $161 billion under management at the end of 2018. &nbsp;It&rsquo;s crucial to position your program as a visible lever of shareholder satisfaction and show how the financials of sustainable procurement drive investor confidence and appetite. In addition, there is a new wave of business loans offering more favorable rates linked to sustainability performance. &nbsp;</li> <li>Highlight the advantage on competition. Communicating how sustainable purchasing efforts can differentiate the business from rival companies is another great point that will resonate with executive leads. Consumers and business customers generally want to buy from sustainable companies, and more employees than ever <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90306556/most-millennials-would-take-a-pay-cut-to-work-at-a-sustainable-company" target="_blank">prefer to work for them</a>. Sharing what competitors are doing in terms of sustainability, and where your organization can take that progress a step further, will heighten the sense of urgency for leadership.&nbsp;</li> <li>Discuss brand reputation and supplier engagements. The reality is an issue that happens in a supplier&rsquo;s world can have a negative impact on a buying company&rsquo;s brand. Sustainable procurement naturally focuses suppliers&rsquo; performance on key sustainability criteria, which not only extracts more value from the supply base &ndash; efficiency, innovation, reliability and more &ndash; but also avoids unknown or unresolved supply chain issues that could tarnish the brand. This two-fold outcome can help get executives on board with investing further in a program.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <div> <h3><em>Investments Beyond the Financial &ndash; It&rsquo;s Not All About Money &nbsp;&nbsp;</em></h3> </div> <div><strong>&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>For <a href="https://resources.ecovadis.com/2019-barometer" target="_blank">sustainable procurement programs</a> to be successful, organizations need to commit resources beyond the monetary, like staff capacity or even new team members. Due to the effort and time required to develop strategy and best practices, coordinate implementation and track and report data, teams need to make more time to keep up with the evolving sustainability landscape. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Trainings with experts may also be needed to help both buyers and suppliers develop sustainability management and reporting capabilities. Bringing in subject-matter experts to conduct risk assessments or impact spend analyses may also be useful in informing the development of sourcing strategies for highly affected supply areas. These aspects don&rsquo;t always require direct or large financial investment, but still need buy-in from leadership.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Asking for more budget and resources is a tough conversation for any procurement professional to have, but programs can&rsquo;t evolve and grow without continued support from the top. Effectively building that business case means collaborating with various parts of the business who will experience the gains that sustainable procurement can bring and leveraging that vision to present a big picture overview. <a href="https://www.sustainablepurchasing.org/making-the-case/" target="_blank">SPLC&rsquo;s findings</a> show that reminding executive leads of the specific benefits sustainable procurement brings to the business &ndash;and offering clear plans for where investments will be allocated &ndash;will help drive urgency that gets all stakeholders on board.&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sustainability" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sustainability</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supply-chain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supply Chain</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supplier-relationship-management-srm" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Money talks: Making the Case for Sustainable Procurement Investments - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/money-talks-making-the-case-for-sustainable-procurement-investments"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 31 Jul 2019 17:04:00 +0000 David McClintock 1534 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/money-talks-making-the-case-for-sustainable-procurement-investments#comments Four Steps for Sourcing Pros to Win the Hearts of Marketers https://futureofsourcing.com/four-steps-for-sourcing-pros-to-win-the-hearts-of-marketers <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Four%20Steps%20for%20Sourcing%20Pros%20to%20Win%20the%20Hearts%20of%20Marketers%20.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Four%20Steps%20for%20Sourcing%20Pros%20to%20Win%20the%20Hearts%20of%20Marketers%20.jpg" title="Four Steps for Sourcing Pros to Win the Hearts of Marketers " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1358-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Four%20Steps%20for%20Sourcing%20Pros%20to%20Win%20the%20Hearts%20of%20Marketers%20.jpg?itok=1lmASPYO" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <div><em>&ldquo;Once upon a time, Martians [men] and Venusians [women] met, fell in love, and had happy relationships together because they respected and accepted their differences. Then they came to Earth and amnesia set in: they forgot they were from different planets.&rdquo;&nbsp;</em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em>&ldquo;And since that day men and women have been in conflict.&rdquo;&nbsp;</em></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>These passages from John Gray&rsquo;s best-seller &quot;Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus&quot; could be applied to procurement and marketing. It can seem at times as if they are from different planets.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>And the result is a relationship that is often tenuous at best. Marketers see procurement as an overbearing watchdog that must be kept on as tight a leash as possible. Meanwhile, many sourcing professionals view marketing as the poster child for undisciplined spending. This disconnect exists because of fundamental differences between the two functions. They have different goals and objectives, different mindsets and different business cultures.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>So, is there a way to bridge the gap between procurement and marketing? Improving the relationship ultimately requires the commitment of both sourcing professionals and marketers, but there are four steps sourcing professionals can take to win the hearts and minds of their marketing colleagues.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;1. Make the Goals and Objectives of Marketing Job One&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The starting point for sourcing professionals is to recognize that marketing is all about revenue growth. Marketers live and breathe revenue growth and other growth-related objectives. As a result, they tend to value effectiveness over efficiency when thinking about marketing programs and investments. This creates a potential flashpoint with sourcing professionals, who are trained to focus on cost efficiency.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>So it&rsquo;s critical for sourcing professionals to position their role in the right way. They need to make it clear that they understand that marketing&rsquo;s goals and objectives are paramount to the company&rsquo;s survival, and that the role of procurement is to support marketers&rsquo; efforts to achieve those goals and objectives.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</strong><strong>&nbsp;2. Focus on &ldquo;Optimizing the Budget&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Marketers often believe that the primary objective of procurement is to cut costs, regardless of the consequences. In contrast, the objective of conscientious marketers is not to spend less, but to spend better. Therefore, it&rsquo;s important for sourcing professionals to emphasize that their purpose is to help marketers optimize the marketing budget and obtain the greatest possible value from every marketing dollar that is spent.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In fact, it&rsquo;s a good idea for sourcing professionals to drop the terms &ldquo;cost cutting&rdquo; and &ldquo;cost savings&rdquo; from their vocabulary entirely when dealing with marketers.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This approach is more than a communication tactic. Most marketing expenditures should be viewed as investments, not as &ldquo;garden variety&rdquo; operating expenses. Therefore, they should be evaluated by the return or value they produce, as well as their costs.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div> <div><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;3. Recognize that Marketing is Different</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>As a sourcing professional, the second key to building an effective working relationship with marketing is to recognize that the marketing spend category is different from almost every other category that you encounter. Then you need to make sure that your marketing colleagues know that you know they&rsquo;re different.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>What separates marketing from most other spend categories is the degree to which intangible and subjective factors play an important role in purchase decisions. When marketers are selecting an agency, for example, two of the most important factors in the selection process are how well each prospective agency understands their company&rsquo;s brand and the quality of each prospective agency&rsquo;s creative work. Both of these factors are intangible, and they must be evaluated subjectively. This is a case where proposal cost and the results on a vendor scorecard are less important than other factors in the ultimate purchase decision.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>There are also, however, some types of marketing purchases that are suitable for typical procurement processes. One example is the purchase of printed marketing materials. Advances in print production technologies have transformed printing from a craft to a manufacturing process. So it&rsquo;s now possible to obtain work of comparable quality from several commercial printing firms.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It addition, the specifications for printed products can be defined in detail, which makes it easy to compare proposals from multiple printing firms. Under these circumstances, obtaining competitive bids from a group of pre-vetted printing firms is just good practice and helps ensure that marketing is buying printed materials at competitive prices.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The important point here is that sourcing professionals must recognize that many marketing purchase decisions will not follow typical procurement norms, and they must be prepared to adjust their expectations and processes accordingly.&nbsp;</div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div> <div><strong>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;4. Land and Expand&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In any relationship, it takes time to develop trust and confidence, especially if some level of skepticism exists when the relationship begins. Therefore, when sourcing professionals first begin to work with marketing, it&rsquo;s important to take a &ldquo;land and expand&rdquo; approach.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>By land and expand, I mean that sourcing professionals should first seek to work with marketing on &ldquo;low risk&rdquo; purchases. Marketers may perceive purchases as low risk because of the dollars involved, or because the transactions don&rsquo;t have major or long-term strategic importance. Once the working relationship is established &ndash; and once trust and confidence have developed &ndash; sourcing professionals will have a better chance to become involved with larger and/or more strategic purchases.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Sourcing professionals and marketers can build a productive working relationship if they make the effort to understand each other. If they are willing to respect each other&rsquo;s legitimate goals and objectives, the four steps I&rsquo;ve just described will enable sourcing professionals to jump start the relationship and build a successful joint outcome.&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/marketing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Marketing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/purchasing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Purchasing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Four Steps for Sourcing Pros to Win the Hearts of Marketers - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/four-steps-for-sourcing-pros-to-win-the-hearts-of-marketers"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 30 Jan 2019 22:48:42 +0000 Sarah Scudder 1358 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/four-steps-for-sourcing-pros-to-win-the-hearts-of-marketers#comments How to be a Coveted Consultant with Jeff Amsel https://futureofsourcing.com/how-to-be-a-coveted-consultant-with-jeff-amsel <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Podcast_Sourcing_Industry%20Landscape_9.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Podcast_Sourcing_Industry%20Landscape_9.png" title="How to be a Coveted Consultant with Jeff Amsel" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1487-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Podcast_Sourcing_Industry%20Landscape_9.png?itok=HBlY7VMq" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><strong>Are you ready for the next wave of disruption in procurement? Join Sourcing Industry Group CEO and President, Dawn Tiura, for conversations on The Sourcing Industry Landscape with innovators who embrace technology to improve, influence and inspire procurement professionals.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">Check out&nbsp;</span><a href="https://sig.org/sourcing-industry-landscape?__hstc=215510152.344406f4865c40604cf6029be7e958e0.1543422516683.1560384261223.1560386358147.373&amp;__hssc=215510152.2.1560386358147&amp;__hsfp=726271731" style="font-size: 13.008px;" target="_blank">all episodes of The Sourcing Industry Landscape</a><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">&nbsp;to date and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. You can listen to the podcast in iTunes, through your favorite podcast app or&nbsp;</span><a href="https://sig.org/sourcing-industry-landscape?__hstc=215510152.344406f4865c40604cf6029be7e958e0.1543422516683.1560384261223.1560386358147.373&amp;__hssc=215510152.2.1560386358147&amp;__hsfp=726271731" style="font-size: 13.008px;" target="_blank">on our website</a><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">.</span></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><em><strong>In&nbsp;<a href="https://sig.org/how-be-coveted-consultant-w-jeff-amsel" target="_blank">this episode of the Sourcing Industry Landscape</a>, Dawn Tiura interviews Jeff Amsel. Jeff Amsel began his career in accounting, earned an MBA in marketing and then was recruited to work with procurement teams. With experience working as both a consultant and within corporate consulting companies, he has a unique understanding of the needs of clients, especially when it comes to alignment with C-Suite stakeholders.</strong></em></p> <div>Dawn Tiura: Hi everyone! This is Dawn Tiura from Sourcing Industry Group, also known as SIG. Now today, we&#39;re going to have a very interesting conversation with someone I&#39;ve known for a number of years&mdash;we go way back. His name is Jeff Amsel, and Jeff is the Vice President of Global Sourcing and Real Estate, corporate facilities at HERE Technologies. So Jeff, I want to welcome you to today&#39;s program.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Thank you Dawn. So excited to participate in this with you.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: This is great. So I have known you for a number of years and I know, now you&#39;re at a company called HERE Technologies. Let&#39;s start with just finding who HERE is, and it&#39;s H-E-R-E, because a lot of people don&#39;t know that brand and yet it&#39;s everywhere.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Correct. Absolutely. About 30 years ago, our company actually started as NavTeq. Many people might be familiar with that name. We started by building maps for most of the cars on the road today about 30 years ago under the name of NavTeq. We were then acquired by Nokia and in 2015, we actually spun off to form HERE Technologies, and today we&#39;re owned by six investors. They consist of Daimler, Audi, BMW, Bosch, Intel and Continental AG.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s some big guys, yeah.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Absolutely. Most of the German OEM&#39;s there. Originally we started with Daimler, Audi, BMW and just in the last year, those other three saw the value of some of the data that we sit on and they wanted to invest in us as well so we just took on three of those other investors in the last year.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s exciting. What is that-</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I&#39;d say we have about-</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: -you do at HERE Technologies, then? What is the company producing since they&#39;re not doing the navigation, or are they still doing the maps and navigation?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Absolutely. So that&#39;s still core to our business. We&#39;re just about a billion in revenue and the map making business is still the majority of our business but our future is on location strategy, and what that means is that we&#39;re trying to use location data to support a lot of different initiatives that you hear about in the news today. Whether it&#39;s autonomous vehicles, or in the B2B space, we&#39;re trying to use location data with customers so that they can better track their fleet, supply chain needs, and even on the B2C side, we&#39;re also developing a platform to support mobility needs of customers. So, if you think about it&mdash;sort of a one place to shop for whether you need airlines; hotels; rental cars; you want to understand traffic patterns of what&#39;s happening. We&#39;re working out of our office in Israel to develop this mobility platform for B2C customers.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Wow. So a lot of cool stuff going on there. And you joined&mdash;when did you join HERE?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I joined about, almost a year and a half ago. Early January of 2017 and I&#39;m based in our Chicago office where we have about 12 hundred people here. We&#39;re located in the Boeing Building. We have about nine thousand employees globally, and about 140 offices spread out in about 55 different countries.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Wow. Wow. So, before we jump into what you, yourself, are doing at HERE, let&#39;s take a journey, because you&#39;ve got such an interesting background. You have had forays into consulting, and then back into the buy side as in-house, and then back to consulting, and then on top of that you&#39;re a board member for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. So why did you go&mdash;why do you go in and out of consulting occasionally during your career?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: It&#39;s been interesting, I would say, so to take folks on a quick journey over my experience over the last 25 years: I started off in accounting and joined a pharmaceutical company right out of school as their accountant, and was then working after that in their sales support area. And after getting my MBA in Marketing, in the evenings, I was actually approached by a recruiter to join Allstate Insurance, headquartered here in Chicago, to help build up their procurement team. So, I didn&#39;t know much about insurance other than having renter&rsquo;s insurance and car insurance like most young 20-year olds, but I decided to take a risk and jump into it and that really launched my career in procurement.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I then took on roles, building upon my experience over the four years at Allstate to then go on to work for another insurance company here in Chicago called CNA Insurance, and then eventually becoming the Chief Procurement Officer at Discover Credit Card when they were owned by Morgan Stanley, and that then led me to a role leading Procurement and Real Estate for North America for a large, global insurance company called QBE, headquartered out of Sydney, Australia, and as you&#39;ve mentioned, for a few years in between, I did work at some of the leading consulting firms which was a great opportunity to experience the life of a consultant, right?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: And develop some new skills and relationships that a lot of these folks bring to the table, and so that was a great opportunity to get experience on both the corporate and consulting side.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s neat. So your last position, though, before you were at HERE, you were at Smart Cube and a very different type of company as well. So, it sounds, at least by looking at your journey, that the technology seems like it&#39;s a really strong attraction for you.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Absolutely. I think a lot the roles that I&#39;ve developed, first of all, I&#39;d be remiss to say that over the last 15 years in the different roles that I&#39;ve been in, a lot of that has been due to really networking and with the invention of media&mdash;social media tools&mdash;like LinkedIn that started roughly in 2002, I believe, these have really been critical to help me get introduced to some of these other companies that I&#39;ve had the pleasure of working for over the years, and there&#39;s obviously a number of differences between consulting and corporate that I&#39;ve learned and I can, maybe, just highlight a couple of those if that works?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: No, I&#39;d love that because I think that&#39;s a really great nuance.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Okay. So I&#39;d say in the consulting world, it&#39;s interesting because all of us, I think, work with consultants at some point in our career, but not many of us actually get to actually be a consultant and work for a consulting company. Obviously there&#39;s a few of us that have, sort of, the hybrid experience but I&#39;ve had the pleasure of doing both and what it&#39;s&mdash;I guess the consulting side has taught me is that, first of all, you obviously get trained, I&#39;d say, in a different type of tools and skill set that you bring to help&mdash;for tools like PowerPoint, right? It really helps enable you to tell your story and convey a message to your stakeholders, right?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Consulting helps you manage a very hectic schedule. You&#39;re in, typically, meetings all day and then, typically, with consulting companies your working until the late hour of the evening, so really managing your schedule during the day and into the evenings is very important.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Culturally, I&#39;d say, working for a consulting company is a lot different, from my experience, than working corporate&mdash;but again, it&#39;s good to experience both. As a consultant, it&#39;s critical that you understand, obviously, your stakeholder needs and also the vision of what Senior Management, because a lot of times as a consultant, you&#39;re bring brought in by the C-Suite teams so really getting aligned to what the C-Suite team is looking for is really important.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I&#39;d also say in consulting that politics exist just like they do in corporate. So understanding that the politics happen regardless of where you work these days is just part of the nature of the work that we do. I think one of the big differences, and you could probably experience this, too, from your prior days in consulting is that they like to use the phrase &lsquo;Cash is King&rsquo;, right? Producing revenue is so important for consulting companies and for consultants to really be focused on not only delivering, but also on developing further relationship to keep those, as we like to say at some of the places where I worked, we like to say that they&#39;re &lsquo;clients for life&rsquo;.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Right, right.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: So, you&rsquo;re exposed to a lot of different industries, a lot of different clients in my experience in consulting which is great. You&#39;re surrounded by, obviously, a lot of talented partners to learn from, and so it was a great experience.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s awesome, because I like the fact that you have to pick up these different skill sets because I think if you always stay on the consulting side, you get a reputation, sometimes, of someone who tries to push change without accepting the culture. But having been that you&#39;ve been internal, you understand the politics side of it so when you consult, you&#39;re probably much more savvy about getting things to stick from a consulting engagement.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Right. I think that balance is absolutely critical because I think we&#39;ve all seen, right, where some people from consulting go into corporate and it doesn&#39;t always work, and vice-versa, and so what corporates taught me is that you have to operate and you have to understand very quickly the culture that you&#39;re operating in to be successful. I think it goes a long way in corporate to be a strong listener so that you can understand the needs of not only your team, but also your stakeholders so they truly feel that you&#39;re hearing their perspective.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Yeah.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I&#39;ve learned, what I&#39;ve learned in corporate, too, is as much as I can to, especially managing teams, is you want to constantly try to reward and recognize your team and</div> <div>celebrate wins as often and frequently as possible. And just recently I was talking to my leadership teams about this that we&#39;re doing a little bit of this today, but we need to make it more formal and really elevate the program to really celebrate all the good work that we&#39;ve been doing over the last year and a half because we&#39;re driving a lot of change.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: You know what, and I think so many people forget to celebrate at the end. They go onto the next project instead of stopping and saying, &quot;Hey, we did a great job and let&#39;s celebrate this success before we move onto the next project.&quot;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Absolutely. I think it really helps with the employee morale and, obviously, different folks get&mdash;want to be recognized and rewarded in different ways and understanding how to set up your program, is just as important as well.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Yeah, I absolutely agree.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I think other things I&#39;ve sort of experienced on the corporate side&mdash;because that&#39;s where most of my career has been, obviously, in corporate&mdash;is you&rsquo;re obviously working with a team of lot of diverse backgrounds and that inclusion and diversity effort is really important. In corporate, it continues to grow, from what I see at the different companies that I&#39;ve been involved with, which is exciting. I also think that while we&#39;re working really hard, just like consulting, you have to have that balance of&hellip;I&#39;ve always believed in sort of the work hard, play hard philosophy. You have to build a good team, a good chemistry, but also have fun while you&#39;re at work because we&#39;re all spending so many hours in the office these days and if you&#39;re not having a little bit of fun while we&#39;re doing it, I feel like we&#39;re missing something as a team.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: I love that. That&#39;s probably why I&#39;ve always enjoyed talking to you for all these years. I think I met you back in the CNA days, and you&#39;ve always had such a wonderful outlook and I like that.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: So you have had an amazing career and it&#39;s obviously not even half over but if you were to look back at your younger self and gave yourself a lesson that you wished you had learned or something that you wished you had known, what would you have done, possibly, differently, or wish you had known when you younger?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I think, if I were to give my younger self some advice, I would say that take more time to learn about the organization and the different business segments because the more you can understand, holistically, about the company and how it operates the better off you&#39;ll be.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Back when I started working, I don&#39;t know if the environment of working in teams was as prevalent as it is today and I think a lot of people recognize just the great outcomes that you can have by working in teams so I would say, also, try to be more collaborative and try and work more so in teams where it makes sense.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I would also say, partner closely with the consultants. A lot of times, right, the consultants are brought in and, again, as I mentioned, they typically are brought in by the C-Suite so that they have, there&#39;s an idea out there that there&#39;s some opportunities to make improvements in the organization, so I think the more you can align with consultants and get on board to what they&#39;re trying to do, I think it&#39;ll benefit you. And the other thing I thought about, too, as I look back is, and again, this program, I think, has developed over the years where maybe when I first started working it wasn&#39;t as prevalent, is try to find yourself a mentor in the organization who&#39;s senior enough and well-respected, who you can learn from and grow and bounce ideas off of and-</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Now do you think your mentor has to be at your existing company or could it be a mentor from another company, or do you try and look for one at each new company?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Yeah. It could be from another company but I&#39;ve often found that if you&#39;re trying to, especially starting off early in your career, if you&#39;re trying to grow within a company, it&#39;s great to find those leaders and who you really look up to, the organization looks up to, they inspire, they motivate, so it doesn&#39;t have to be at the same company but I&#39;m just thinking about early on in my career.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Yeah, I guess it sure wouldn&#39;t hurt if you had a mentor in your organization that could help you avoid some booby traps and quicksand and things like that, as well.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Absolutely, absolutely. I think the last point I&#39;d mention is that of advice that I give myself is be more receptive to feedback and just be open; learn from it. Everything&#39;s a learning opportunity and perception is critical, right, because perception is reality, as they say, so I think I would tell my younger self just to think more about that, learn from it, and support it and grow from it.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Well, you know, you have an interesting background though because coming out of college and going into accounting, and then getting an MBA in Marketing, usually those two&mdash;bean counters and marketing people&mdash;and I can say it because I&#39;m a CPA, recovering CPA, those two don&#39;t usually go together so I find that so interesting that you, you&#39;re not a typical bean counter at all. You&#39;ve got a fabulous personality and you&#39;re saying the right things about people and process and rewarding and celebrating and that. So, what made that jump? How did you go from Accounting to Marketing to Procurement? I just find that such an interesting balancing.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Yeah, it was actually when I was at the pharmaceutical company, I realized after several years in accounting that I didn&#39;t want to do accounting the rest of my life and I wanted an opportunity to do something different and with my personality, I had formed some good relationships with our sales support team and they supported the U.S. sales force so an opportunity opened up to join that group and I made that jump and back in the day, that was a very significant change, right, to take somebody out of accounting to the sales organization. But again, if you have the right personality and the skill set, which we all look for as we&#39;re recruiting people to our teams, we want those people that are really well-rounded that can not only be&mdash;call it here at HERE Technologies, we call it the &lsquo;what&rsquo; and the &lsquo;how&rsquo;, right? We don&#39;t want people that are just really good at what they&#39;re doing but we want people that know how to do it as well, how to engage with the stakeholders and interact and have a good dialogue and build relationships and trust and that, that, I think, skill set is important. And I think I had it early on in my career which is why I was able to jump to the sale organization and do that type of work.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Yeah. That&#39;s really neat. Are you available if people would like to reach out to you after this podcast airs and have conversation about their careers? Are you open to mentoring, perhaps, a person or just providing some sound advice?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Absolutely. I&#39;ve done it in the past and I actually am part of a coaching program here within our company as well and happy to have those conversations.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: I thought you would be, so thank you. So folks, I&#39;m going to make sure that you have the contact information for Jeff. Make sure you LinkIn with him and get in and be part of his network.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: And that&#39;s the power of SIG is that we want to keep people networking and growing and just keep elevating the industry. And Jeff, I can&#39;t thank you enough for everything you&#39;ve done to help us elevate the industry by being forward thinking, by recognizing that you can&#39;t just have hard skills, you need to have the soft skills, and demonstrating that through your career. You&#39;ve just been somebody that&#39;s been so fun to watch and to learn from and I think everyone could benefit from knowing you.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: I appreciate it, Dawn, and obviously it&#39;s been great being a part of SIG over the last 10 or 12 years that I&#39;ve been part of the organization, and I enjoy all the networking and the default leadership that&#39;s produced out of it and, like I mentioned early on, that networking is so important in our industry, right, because we&#39;re a tight-knit community ,and everyone knows everyone, and it&#39;s just a great resource that SIG provides to on-fault leadership and the ability to promote different topics in the procurement space, so thank you so much for thinking of me for this discussion.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Yeah. So I just have to let you know, Jeff, that I ask our team to send in nominations and when it triangulates, so for that, that means three different people have nominated the same person, I go, &quot;All right, that&#39;s somebody that I have to have on this program,&quot; and so that&#39;s how you got here. Not just me wanting you&mdash;but you came in with three nominations to be on the podcast, so you&#39;ve got to feel good about yourself. Because to be on Art of Procurement with Dawn Tiura I have to have people raving about you, and so that&#39;s why you&#39;re here today, so thank you for your time. I know we&#39;re going wrap this up. Jeff Amsel, with HERE Technologies. Vice President of Global Sourcing and Real Estate, Corporate Facilities with an amazing background, and I encourage everybody to add him to your network if you don&rsquo;t already know him. If you do, then just reach out and say congratulations. And with that, I&#39;m going to wrap up today&#39;s call. So, thank you Jeff, thank you for your time today.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jeff Amsel: Thank you so much, Dawn.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Bye-bye.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/leadership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Leadership</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/consulting" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Consulting</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/strategy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Strategy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/career-building" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Career Building</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How to be a Coveted Consultant with Jeff Amsel - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/how-to-be-a-coveted-consultant-with-jeff-amsel"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 15 Aug 2018 03:25:56 +0000 Jeff Amsel 1487 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/how-to-be-a-coveted-consultant-with-jeff-amsel#comments Software Negotiations: Stakeholder Alignment and Leading the Negotiation https://futureofsourcing.com/software-negotiations-stakeholder-alignment-and-leading-the-negotiation <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Stakeholder_Negotiations%20624x325.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Stakeholder_Negotiations%20624x325.jpg" title="Software Negotiations: Stakeholder Alignment and Leading the Negotiation" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1245-HvlvjR8nGKI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Stakeholder_Negotiations%20624x325.jpg?itok=Zrksrdv9" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <div>This article is the second half of a two-part series regarding software negotiations. The first part focuses on <a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/software-negotiations-how-to-plan-ahead-and-create-competition" target="_blank">advanced planning and creating competition</a>. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>In the <a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/software-negotiations-how-to-plan-ahead-and-create-competition" target="_blank">first half of this series</a>, we covered the importance of collecting crucial information regarding your software spend, user details and requirements. The next step in the process is analyzing the data to understand the available next steps and points of negotiation. But, before you head into negotiations with your respective vendors and break out the pen and paper to finalize the contract, be sure you&rsquo;re aligned with your stakeholders. For many organizations, procurement staff are dedicated to IT but not under one business unit. As a result, the goals of each respective business unit vary and coming to a decision on selecting a software provider requires additional conversations.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Gaining alignment begins with sharing the sourcing responses and providing all decision-makers with an opportunity to review and become familiar with the contending vendors, their capabilities and pricing. Procurement teams can enable the decision-making process by creating an objective report that summarizes the sourcing results (RFP, pricing analysis, etc.), as well as the go-forward recommendation. Beyond simply sending this report out via email to all involved stakeholders, procurement teams should set aside time to review the report with stakeholders. Since the results have already been shared, this review should be more of a conversation regarding the next steps, rather than a detailed presentation of the results that could leave stakeholders feeling like they&rsquo;re drinking from a fire hose. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Building this extra step in to the software sourcing process creates the opportunity to discuss and address any gaps in next steps and recommendations. The key here, however, is a combination of active listening to understand stakeholders&rsquo; concerns and agility in adjusting the recommendation if need be. These constructive conversations will reinforce alignment between procurement and the involved stakeholders and allow the process to move forward.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>While those initial steps in the process may include additional scoping calls or demos/proofs of concept, you will eventually make your way to the negotiation table. Now is procurement&rsquo;s time to shine by effectively managing the process on behalf of its stakeholders.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This includes:</div> <ul> <li><strong>Establishing a realistic timeline</strong>: <a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/forging-an-alliance-between-procurement-and-our-stakeholders" target="_blank">Work with your stakeholders</a> and the supplier to understand, based on capacity, a realistic date to have pricing finalized and begin contracting. If you&rsquo;re in the midst of a renewal, this will most likely be dictated by the expiration of the current solution.</li> <li><strong>Assigning responsibility</strong>: Communicate to your stakeholders and selected supplier that you will be the primary contact during the negotiation process. A single point of contact during this process is crucial for a clear flow of communication between the business and the supplier, as well as to navigate any obstacles that may arise.</li> <li><strong>Define targets</strong>: Use pricing collected from the market (e.g., pricing in the market is 10% lower than current/proposed pricing) or put a dollar amount on any SLA violations and low utilization rates. When communicating targets to the suppliers, make sure you are doing so in a cohesive manner that has the full support of your stakeholders. You don&rsquo;t want to be providing feedback piecemeal as something will more than likely fall through the cracks.</li> <li><strong>Stay informed</strong>: During this process you may want to consider joining all calls your stakeholders have with the vendor. While you are the main point of contact for all things related to the pricing negotiations and procurement process, if it is an existing vendor, there might be solution-related calls. This does not mean you need to be an active participant, but being present keeps you in the loop on any service-related updates, especially anything that might be coming in and out of scope.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>Going to market for software can be tricky, but procurement teams are in a prime position to make sourcing and negotiation a seamless process. Beyond pricing, procurement can help stakeholders gain a clearer picture of their software needs and spark the conversation not only for securing more competitive agreements but also for vetting new or additional tools that can better serve their needs. When approached as a collaborative effort, procurement can drive more value out of software agreements and ensure stakeholder satisfaction.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/software" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Software</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/negotiations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Negotiations</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/stakeholders" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Stakeholders</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/analysis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Analysis</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vendor-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vendor Management</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Software Negotiations: Stakeholder Alignment and Leading the Negotiation - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/software-negotiations-stakeholder-alignment-and-leading-the-negotiation"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 10 Aug 2018 16:39:19 +0000 Kevin Fraser 1245 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/software-negotiations-stakeholder-alignment-and-leading-the-negotiation#comments