View from the top: Three Ways Procurement Must Transform

ISM’s top brass called in the media to map out the transformation of the profession into a tech-focused intelligence agency that will attract the very best talent.

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Tom Derry (ISM CEO), Hans Melotte (Starbucks EVP Supply Chain & ISM Board Chairman) and Kristopher Pinnow (CPO B/E Aerospace & ISM Board Member) sat down with the media at #ISM2017 to answer some burning questions. With Derry providing the context while Melotte and Pinnow added their views as practitioners, three key themes soon emerged.

1. Intelligence transformation

“Times are uncertain, and business hates uncertainty”. Tom Derry sets the scene for #ISM2017 by highlighting the turbulent geopolitical situation that’s impacting the profession worldwide. The presence of two world leaders as conference keynotes – Colin Powell and David Cameron – underscores the anxiety with which many professionals are watching global events unfold.

Derry’s message is that supply managers should cultivate a sharp intellectual curiosity to not only inform themselves of disruptive events, but to position the function as a source of intelligence within the organisation. Importantly, we have an opportunity to be the voice of calm and reassurance, hosing down anxiety with facts, rather than fear.

ISM’s leadership in this area was demonstrated last year when it released a supplementary Report on Business, focusing specifically on the UK’s shock Brexit Referendum’s effect on US business. The decision was prompted by a flood of enquires from US business and media representatives about whether the data for the influential report would reflect the fallout from Brexit. Derry told Procurious at the time that ISM was in a position to gather real data and “put the information out there so businesses can make informed decisions based on facts, rather than fear, concern or emotion.”

The panellists agreed that while it hasn’t always been the case, transforming into a source of intelligence for the business is something to which the profession needs to aspire. Melotte stresses that procurement needs to have all of its data intelligence in real time. “We’re digital natives,” he says. “We book our food online, we track our spouses’ flights – but the workplace is often more of an analogue environment. We need to be in the moment, preempting issues before they arrive.”

2. Technological transformation

Derry warns that if you’re the steward of a process, you’re about to lose your job when it becomes automated. But it’s not all bad news: “New types of jobs will exist in the future, with new skills required to do those jobs. The impacts of technology also have the potential to make us better at what we do, such as data analysis and being more efficient with distribution.”

Melotte tells the room that technology is critically important for our jobs and our companies, yet we’re at risk of underestimating its impact and potential. He notes that among the conference’s 2500 attendees, some will still be associating technology with automating source-to-pay processes and other fundamentals. “Fortunately, there’s also a lot of thought leadership at this conference with leaders who are imagining the opportunities for technologies within the supply chain – what we do, and how we do things,” he says.

“Imagine the potential that cognitive learning, artificial intelligence and predicative analytics will have on how we forecast commodities, demand and consumer behaviour, or how we bring insights back to our business around supplier patterns.” Melotte says artificial intelligence is just one example of the big transformation currently taking place in the profession, with an increase in speed being a key benefit. “We’ll see faster speed to market, and pilot projects that you can turn around in only three months.”

3. Talent transformation

“There’s no question there’s a demographic bump,” says Derry. The “birth dearth” between the baby boomer generation and millennials means that there aren’t enough members of Generation X to step into roles as their predecessors retire. “I’d argue that those smart young people, who are digital natives, do have the tools and the mindset to adapt rapidly,” Derry says. “You’re hiring for that kind of talent all the time.”

Pinnow talks about the importance of developing and sharpening intellectual curiosity in the talent pipeline, and says there’s a lot that established professionals can learn from new talent. “You have to recognise that you don’t know everything. You have to encourage people from a talent management perspective [to teach you new concepts].”

Melotte says that having a balance of skills in your talent pool is crucial. “In tomorrow’s world, we all have to make sure there’s a certain percentage of our teams that are data scientists; who are deeply versed in analytics to give us insights. [We need to] hire and seek out this type, migrating the competency pool to ensure there’s a balance between strategic sourcing and data scientists.”