702: Meeting Supply Chain Volatility with Agility and Resilience w/ Frank McKay
Release Date: 06/03/2024
BTW EP 27: Data or Delusion? Procurement’s Future Runs on Truth
Art of Procurement
Procurement doesn’t have a data problem. It has a data delusion. For 25 years, the function has told itself the same story: if we can just clean up our spend, we’ll finally be in control. And yet here we are… swimming in the same dashboards, drowning in fields, and still struggling to answer a simple question: what do we spend? In this episode of Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement, Jason Busch, founder of Spend Matters and now a self-described builder of AI “co-workers,” returns to the podcast to pressure-test BuyLaw #5: “prioritize comprehensive, high-quality data.” If...
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857: How Decisioning Platforms Reshape Procurement Strategy W/ Tomas Wiemer
Art of Procurement
“Procurement tools traditionally look at history. To make better decisions, we need to start looking forward.” - Tomas Wiemer, Global Multi-Industry Procurement & Digitalization Executive Procurement teams are under pressure to contribute much more than just savings… They’re being asked to provide strategic intelligence, support faster decisions, and become true business partners. But as organizations look to digital platforms and unified data, many leaders find that legacy models and fragmented systems hold them back. In this episode, global procurement and digitization...
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EP 02: Startup of the Week: SourceReady W/ Ricky Ho
Art of Procurement
In this episode of the ProcureTech Insider Startup of the Week, host Jyothi Hartley speaks with Ricky Ho, Co-Founder and CEO of SourceReady, about how AI and big data are transforming global supplier discovery and sourcing strategy. SourceReady is building an AI-powered sourcing platform designed to automate the most time-consuming parts of the sourcing process – from supplier discovery to quote comparison and risk analysis. With access to 1.2 million suppliers across 100 countries, the platform helps procurement and sourcing teams uncover new suppliers, analyze risk, and streamline supplier...
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856: Building an AI-Capable Procurement Team: What CPOs Need to Know W/ Andrew Daley
Art of Procurement
“The winners will be the people who make it happen themselves. The losers will be the ones that just bury their heads in the sand.” - Andrew Daley, Managing Director, Digital Procurement and Supply Chain at Edbury Daley The AI revolution is transforming procurement faster than ever before. Whether you’re upskilling your team or rethinking your operating model, the choices you make now will set the pace for your entire function tomorrow. In this episode, Andrew Daley, Managing Director of Digital Procurement and Supply Chain at Edbury Daley, returns to share what he’s seeing on the...
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BTW EP 26: The Phil-Ins: Stop Counting Wins Start Counting Outcomes
Art of Procurement
Procurement’s incentive problem doesn’t stop at the contract. It gets worse after signature. In this Phil-Ins episode of “Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement,” Rich Ham and Philip Ideson are joined by Kelly Barner to unpack three “Buy Laws” at once, mainly because they’re inseparable in practice. First: count only what hits the ledger. If the value doesn’t show up in actuals, it doesn’t count. That means moving procurement out of the projection business and into the results business… where the CFO lives. Second: stop counting only the good. The status quo lets category...
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855: Coworking Trends Every CPO Should Watch W/ Sarah Travers
Art of Procurement
“We compete with people's homes more than we do with other coworking locations because my job is to get people to want to come into my spaces, and that is what I focus on every single day.” - Sarah Travers, CEO, Workbar The future of work is unfolding quickly, and procurement leaders who also own real estate decisions can’t afford to ignore trends in co-working. Whether you need to unlock flexibility, attract top talent, or better control costs, new workplace models are rapidly replacing traditional long-term leases. In this episode, host Philip Ideson speaks with Sarah Travers, CEO of...
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EP 01: Introducing the ProcureTech Insider: A New Art of Procurement Podcast
Art of Procurement
“Sometimes you just need to recognize that getting from the baseline, whatever your baseline, to the next step… that's really significant.” - Jyothi Hartley, Director of Digital Enablement, AOP Art of Procurement is proud to launch a brand-new podcast series: the ProcureTech Insider. The procurement technology market is evolving faster than ever, promising exponential transformation. But what actually works in the real world? ProcureTech Insider exists to take procurement leaders and decision makers beyond the hype. In this new series, we will bring you real-world intelligence from...
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854: Transforming Procurement from the Inside Out W/ Ben Farrell
Art of Procurement
“The procurement and supply chain professions are ever more relevant to the prosperity of nations and to businesses as we go into the future.” - Ben Farrell, Global Chief Executive Officer, The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Striking a balance between tradition and disruption is at the top of the agenda for today’s procurement leaders. Whether it’s shifting global dynamics, technology, or the push for greater influence, the function’s boundaries (and its reputation) are up for grabs. Ben Farrell brings a perspective forged in the British Army, major retail,...
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BTW EP 25: The S-Word: Why Procurement Must Stop Saying “Savings” (and What to Replace it With)
Art of Procurement
Procurement’s biggest measurement problem isn’t that “savings” is incomplete. It’s that “savings” has become a substitute for truth. In the first Buy: The Way…To Purposeful Procurement episode of 2026, co-hosts Philip Ideson and Rich Ham unveil the first of the show’s new procurement “Buy-laws.” It’s the one that almost every serious practitioner agrees with, but very few organizations are ready to operationalize: replace savings with defined value. That doesn’t mean adding a few extra KPIs in addition to savings. It means removing the word entirely and replacing it...
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853: From Pain Points to Progress: Medtronic’s Procurement Evolution W/ Amit Saronwala and Jeremy Lappin
Art of Procurement
“Procurement is what you make of it. It can be a bargain basement function at some firms, but it’s also becoming more strategic. We have to take a more holistic, integrated view of things and try to understand the big business problems we can help solve and then offer a business solution, not just a procurement solution.” – Amit Saronwala, VP, Global Indirect Supply Management, Medtronic Procurement leaders in healthcare are feeling the heat: innovation cycles are tightening, supplier bases are vast, and new pressures on cost and cash flow are here to stay. So how do you build more...
info_outline“You have to make investments in your supplier network if you want to be successful. The old days of ‘I have to win, and you have to lose’ are gone. We are so transparent. We are using technology. Relationships are key.” - Frank McKay, Chief Supply Chain & Procurement Officer, Jabil
In 2023, Jabil conducted a 2023 Supply Chain Survey in collaboration with SIS International Research. In this episode, Philip Ideson sits down with Frank McKay, Chief Supply Chain & Procurement Officer at Jabil to discuss the results, which pinpointed things like cost reduction, customer satisfaction, communication, and visibility as some of procurement’s top-of-mind challenges.
In addition to sharing his own experiences as a practitioner for over 25 years, Frank also discusses his perspective on the evolving role of procurement and how they can better reduce supply chain operational costs, as well as how Chief Supply Chain Officers should be adjusting their strategies in response to rapidly shifting global supply chain dynamics and volatility.
In the episode, they also explore:
- How procurement should be integrating AI and machine learning technologies into their processes to elevate their function and drive greater impact
- The complex nature of managing global supply chains and how to meet these challenges
- How procurement can help build more resilient supply chains that can adapt to geopolitical tensions, market volatility, and rapid technological advancements
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