This Week in Consulting
Wednesday, July 24th , 2019
The Future of Procurement: Rediscovering the Fundamentals
THIS WEEK’S MUST READ
“Procurement has languished toward obsolescence and will die if it doesn’t transform quickly. CPOs have just one job today: adopt a future-focused model to meet users’ needs.“
Although CFOs are questioning the value that procurement brings, some Companies have already taken the lead either by separating direct and indirect procurement or by piloting a variety of technologies that decrease the need for procurement.
This Week’s Must Read is an insight piece from ATKearney, in which the authors map the disruption in Procurement and discuss the future opeting model.
Read on to Find out More: “The Future of Procurement: Rediscovering the Fundamentals“, Stephen Easton and Hugo Evans.
THIS WEEK’S VIDEO:
This video proposes a role-based approach of procurement functional organization.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
- Procurement: From Side player to Strategic Hero Through automation– “Technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) – sometimes referred to as ‘cognitive automation’ – are capable of automating, by some estimates, up to 60% of the source-to-pay (S2P) process”. In the wake of a technological revolution, businesses are increasingly realizing the potential of upcoming ‘disruptive’ automation technologies. Are you ready ? | Ferhat Eryurt & Albena Bogoeva, Camelot
- Digitalisation will unlock new skill sets: “Finally, it’s important to recognise the elephant in the room: technology’s impact on employment.” Technology will probably create new jobs and make some obsolete. Procurement teams are not always excited to embrace technology. The article gives some pointers to managers willing to encourage their teams to embrace digital. | Malcolm Wheatley, Procurement Leaders
- How Fannie Mae initiated a procurement transformation with a customer focus? “A number of companies struggle to establish the bridge between their business aspirations and priorities and the procurement space. However, procurement is undergoing a sea of change at the moment with many businesses no longer viewing this service as merely a back-end function.” Procurement organizations tend to be too focused on the cost, everyone wants to be competitive with price. The article describes how Fanny Mae management initiated a procurement transformation to shift from costs to value to the (internal) customer. | Supply Chain Digital, Rajeev Karmacharya
- 7 Tips: A Guide to Mastering Procurement Transformation– “As the role of procurement continues to evolve, a new approach is required. Leaders are transforming their organizations with a new mindset, new processes and new technology”. The author shares some tips he gathered while working with leading organizations on their transformation. | Spend Matters, Alex Saric, Ivalua
- Procurement 4.0 Preparing for Digital Transformation: “To ensure an effective transition, strong commitment from IT, Finance, Transformation, and Procurement teams is critical. Here’s a look at the role that each of these functions play in digital transformation.” The article gives some pointers and map the benefits on how to achieve a fully digitized state of procurement. | Tomas Wiemer, ORBIT2transformation
TRENDS
On the same theme,here is a selection of conferences that you might find useful
ProcureCon : ProcureCon Contingent Staffing is a peer-led, interactive conference designed to help you build a winning people strategy.
Digital Procurement World : is the largest community of digital procurement leaders and the only conference that brings together the entire digital procurement ecosystem from enterprise representing every sector of the industry.
CONSULTING INDUSTRY NEWS
- OC&C gains foothold in Italy with Long Term Partners deal: OC&C Strategy Consultants has added 12 partners and roughly 70 consultants to its European footprint with the purchase of Long Term Partners. The Italian management consulting firm founded by a group of former Bain & Company partners will hope to extend its offering to new clients thanks to the deal. | Consultancy.uk
- Accenture appoints new CEO: The global professional services firm’s board of directors has named Julie Sweet CEO, effective Sept. 1. Sweet remains CEO of Accenture in North America until then. | Graham Colton, Tampa Bay Business Journal
- Philips acquires Boston start-up Medumo to help hospitals communicate with patients: Dutch technology conglomerate Philips has acquired a small Boston-based health-tech start-up called Medumo for its health care business. Medumo uses a combination of email and SMS to deliver instructions to patients, on behalf of its hospital customers. | Christina Farr, CNBC
- PepsiCo to buy South Africa’s Pioneer Food for $1.7 billion: The U.S. drinks and snack group said on Friday that Pioneer’s product portfolio was complementary to its own and would help PepsiCo to expand in sub-Saharan Africa by adding manufacturing and distribution capabilities. | Tanisha Heiberg, Reuters
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About Consulting Quest
Consulting Quest is a global, performance-driven consulting platform founded in 2014 by former members of top 10 consulting firms with the objective of reinventing consultancy performance. With a worldwide presence and a range of proprietary performance measurement tools, we help companies navigate the consulting maze. We work with Consulting Clients to increase their performance through consulting and Consulting Providers to help them acquire new clients and to improve their performance.
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Hélène Laffitte is the CEO of Consulting Quest, a Global Performance-Driven Consulting Platform and author of “Smart Consulting Sourcing”, a step by step guide to getting the best ROI from your consulting. With a blend of experience in Procurement and Consulting, Hélène is passionate about helping Companies create more value through Consulting.
