Procurement Sets Courageous Agenda – Big Ideas Summit 2016

The Big Ideas Summit 2016 global brainstorm lit up social media, bringing together a global community to advance discussions on ‘uber-ization’, cognitive procurement and more, as well as setting a courageous agenda for the future.

Expected to handle cataclysmic events and act with extreme agility, today’s procurement executives must be brave and bold. Indeed, Being courageous is now the defining characteristic of successful procurement leaders, according to the influencers who spoke during Procurious’ second annual Big Ideas Summit on April 21, 2016.

 

The unprecedented digital think-tank event connected these presenters with Procurious’ 14,000+ members, crowdsourcing everyone’s big ideas for the future of the profession.

Sponsored by Coupa, The Hackett Group, IBM, and the Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®), the event sparked vigorous discussion on Procurious.com, the leading online community for procurement/supply management professionals.

Delegates watched live footage, and posted and tweeted under the #Bigideas2016 hashtag, reaching a potential audience of over one million individuals. Among the big ideas that influencers shared:

Preparing for “Black Swans”

In a year racked by political and economic volatility, Former BBC anchor Nik Gowing challenged delegates to prepare for the next “black swans” (unknown cataclysmic events) that threaten their supply chains.

Barry Ward, Senior Brand Manager, IBM, urged them to use Cognitive Procurement technologies to predict these crises, which could throw their market caps into a downward spiral.

Uber-ization Sparks Innovation

Gabe Perez, Vice President of Strategy and Development, Coupa Software, encouraged procurement leaders to drive more innovation and value by replacing RFP processes with an Uber-like open network model.

How else can procurement leaders accelerate innovation? Christopher Sawchuk, Principal and Global Advisory Practice Leader, The Hackett Group, laid out an agility model enabled by the right culture, talent and leadership, risk forecasting and planning, automation, outsourcing, and more.

Driving Social Outcomes

Procurement leaders’ opportunity to do social good was another hot topic. Journalist Lucy Siegle, co-founder of The Green Carpet Challenge, called attention to abuses in the fashion industry supply chain, and the iconic brands who are tackling it.

Peter Holbrook, CEO of Social Enterprise UK, discussed the transformational ‘Buy Social Corporate Challenge‘, through which ten major global organisations will spend £1 billion with social enterprises by 2020.

Open and Connected

With the pervasive use of the Internet and social media, especially among the Millennial generation, leaders such as Tom Derry, CEO of ISM®, advocated a more open communications approach. Walking the talk, his organisation recently made its comprehensive Mastery Model – a blueprint for lifetime success in supply management – freely accessible over the Internet.

“The procurement profession must share, share, and share online to build our collective muscle, amplify attention to our impact, and tackle our thorniest issues together,” said Tania Seary, founder of Procurious.

Everyone’s Turn

The global brainstorm continues on Procurious, where members can view more Big Ideas Videos and articles from the speakers, submit their own videos, tweet using #BigIdeas2016 @procurious_, ask follow-up questions on the Procurious Discussions Board, claim their Digital Goodie Bags, and invite friends to participate.

Be courageous and make your voice heard today by visiting the Big Ideas Summit website.

We’ve been keeping an eye on the top headlines in procurement and supply chain this week…

More supply chain leaders are making the move to CEO

• Supply chain leaders who have stepped up to CEO include Tim Cook of Apple, Mary Barra of General Motors and Brian Krzanich of Intel.
• Kevin O’Marah comments that supply chain leaders have CEO-level skills including balancing risk and opportunity, fighting the near-term battle with an eye on long term strategy, and focusing on profitable growth.
• CPOs think like engineers, but also like salespeople. Like CEOs, they’re able to communicate and influence to get the job done.

Read more at Forbes

CIPS UK: Procurement salaries are on the rise

• Demand for procurement professionals has risen over the past 12 months driving salaries up 5 per cent, compared to the UK national average rise of 2.9 per cent.
• 68 per cent of those surveyed had received a pay increase in the past year, compared to 61 per cent in 2015,
• This has driven the average salary for procurement professionals up from £41,661 last year, to £44,226 in the past 12 months.

Read more at CIPS

India: Punjabi procurement agencies in wheat corruption scandal

• Punjab’s foodgrain procurement agency officials accused of siphoning off over Rs 12,000 crore and diverting procured wheat to the black market.
• Officials accused of covering up theft by adding water to stored wheat to increase its weight.
• Farmers caught in the cross-fire as banks freeze payments.
• Over 500 mandis (procurement centres) to be monitored by committee.

Read more at Indian Express

US Defence: Proposal to cut war budget to fund procurement

• Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mac Thornberry, wants to allocate an additional $18 billion to buy newequipment and maintain aging gear and facilities.
• The draft bill would preserve the overall budget top-line of $610 billion, but bulk up base budget spending to $574 billion.
• $18 billion would be pulled from overseas contingency operations funds.
• Thornberry said he believed “procurement was the real way out of the readiness pit”.

Read more at Military.com