From Basement to Boardroom – Procurement’s Time to Lead and Build the Best Executive Trust
How has your procurement team managed its response to the past twelve months? We brought together global experts to explain exactly how some procurement teams have grasped their opportunity to lead.
The ‘Procurement’s Time to Lead’ report, produced in partnership with Coupa, highlighted how leading APAC procurement teams stepped up to deliver for their organisations, mitigating risk, increasing resilience and getting supply chains back on track at a time where continuity and stability were crucial.
Procurement’s role has changed significantly over the past twelve months, with global events showing the importance of a mature procurement function to organisations. Nowhere has this been more obvious than in Asia-Pacific, where the response of procurement teams to significant supply chain disruption and Black Swan events has garnered both global admiration and helped consolidate trust with the C-Suite.
In order to better understand just how these teams set themselves apart from the rest of the world, Procurious invited Coretta Bessi, CPO at Westpac Bank, and Michael van Keulen, CPO at Coupa Software, to share their experience, insights and the lessons they have learned when stepping up to lead.
Building trust in disruptive times
Over the past year, Bessi’s team at Westpac has really defined what it means for procurement to take the lead. The team supported the business through the simplification of key processes and a greater focus on risk, all while embedding an end-to-end digital procurement platform – with the support of Coupa.
Not only that, but the team also built and delivered its first Australian Modern Slavery statements – a major achievement encompassing all areas of the business, not just the supply chain. That’s no mean feat, and is a source of real pride to the team, particularly during a global pandemic and while getting to grips with remote and flexible working.
During our webcast, our leading global CPOs looked closer at how APAC procurement teams got their response just right, but also shared advice on how other organisations can still achieve great results by following their example. We’ve picked out some of the top ones below, and if you want to get even more detail behind the data, you can download Coupa’s ‘Procurement’s Time to Lead’ report and catch up with the webcast here.
1. Trust has been built on delivering on promises
According to van Keulen, procurement’s positioning has changed from a “back-office basement” function, to one that provides real insight, visibility, and perspective at boardroom level.
Procurement has taken itself to this new level, and through showing how a mature function can be a competitive advantage, CEO trust levels are increasing in nearly three-quarters of APAC organisations.
Bessi agreed, saying that the increased level of trust was founded in focusing on the right things – saying what you were going to do and then actually doing it. This has helped build resilience in these organisations, leaving those in APAC with a firmer footing to grow and evolve as global economies pick up again.
2. The pandemic accelerated procurement’s strategic growth
One of the starkest differences across global procurement teams was that only 17% of APAC-based respondents to Coupa’s survey said that they were still viewed as a tactical function. Though only the second lowest regional score from the survey, it was a clear improvement for these teams, based on showing procurement’s ability to deliver real value.
Though procurement was already moving in this direction, the pandemic helped condense three years’ worth of maturity into around three weeks, says van Keulen. In particular, APAC procurement teams grasped the opportunity to drive meaningful change, and continue to do so, helping businesses push forward themselves.
3. Spend visibility remains a major issue
The survey highlighted that 82% of APAC organisations had significant gaps in their visibility of addressable spend. This is a major issue, particularly at a time where organisations are increasingly concerned about all risk areas. However, until now, it’s not something that procurement has been able to successfully address.
The lack of a valid technological solution is something that Van Keulen attributes to procurement not leading the drive for the correct resources. The function doesn’t have input into key decisions and is then ultimately left with technology that doesn’t meet its needs. However, Bessi’s own experience of Westpac’s implementation of its end-to-end digital procurement solution highlights the positive outcomes when procurement does step up to lead.
4. There are only four things procurement needs to do to succeed – but it won’t be easy!
The pandemic accelerated the move towards more remote working and procurement teams proved that they can continue to deliver for the organisation, even when geographically dispersed. What needs improvement though, says van Keulen, is the digital transformation to ensure people can do their roles wherever they are in the world.
He highlighted four key areas for procurement to lead for success in the future – increasing spend visibility; monitoring, managing and mitigating supply chain risk; increasing agility; and digitisation. Individually these all represent challenging projects under normal circumstances, but will be even harder for organisations now. However, the pay-off is significant – a closer relationship with the business and a brighter future for the function.
5. Focusing on strategic goals will ensure procurement leads from the front.
Finally, looking ahead to the next twelve months, Bessi and van Keulen offered their top tips for procurement to lead the pack. Both agreed that it was certainly procurement’s time to lead, with continued focus on visibility in the supply chain, a key for van Keulen.
Bessi’s advice for procurement success was keeping key strategic goals in mind and linking them to every conversation, decision and interaction, in order to bring it to fruition. Through maintaining a close focus on this, procurement will be able to lead and create sustainable, lasting value for its organisations.
Do you feel like you have a lot to learn from APAC procurement teams? Do you have the desire and will to follow in their footsteps and lead from the front? Download Coupa’s ‘Procurement’s Time to Lead’ report and watch the webcast here.
