Becoming a 'Doer' by Incorporating Agility

Creating a Culture of Doers in Procurement: Tips

for Ensuring Key Initiatives Reach the Finish Line

ISM2016 session on Monday, May 16

Presenter: Chris Sawchuk, principal and global procurement advisory practice leader, The Hackett Group, Miami.

Supply management professionals are always looking for ways to be more strategic, but are faced with many distractions. Thus, being agile can help them better adapt and maneuver to the finish line, Sawchuk says. Also, organizations should weave agility into their culture so they can embrace change and view it as opportunity, he says.

Key takeaways:

One way to approach agility is through the I-SMACC method:

I — Internet of Things. Become more agile by being connected.

S — Social media. An agile approach to social media is to use it to detect supplier risk problems.

M — Mobility, or conducting business on the move.

A — Analytics. What do your predictive capabilities show you?

C — Cloud. What are the risks of using cloud storage?

C — Cognitive computing. How will this revolutionize your spend analysis and risk-forecasting?

Additionally:

●Become information navigators. As the amount of information available to supply management professionals increases, those professionals need to be able to sift through the data and determine the data needed by their organizations. They must make sure the data is timely.

●Increase the quality and quantity of spend influence. Supply managers seem to be focused on the quantity of their spend influence, but they also should consider the quality of that influence. Additionally, consider performance and risk.

●Tap supplier innovation. Think of innovation as a separate discipline within the organization and embed it into the company culture.

Key quote: “To adapt, procurement must weave agility into every aspect of its service delivery model.”

ISM2016 is May 15-18 in Indianapolis.