5 Career Game changers for Procurement Pros
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5 Career Game Changers for Procurement Pros
I’ve always strived to make the most of every moment of my career in Procurement and now, away from Procurement. In a period of self-reflection, these are the five game-changers I genuinely believe you can make to enhance your Procurement Career.
Here are five career game-changers you should look to do something with moving forwards.
Embrace Digital Procurement - I genuinely believe we are all “Digital Procurement Professionals” as a Profession. Those not using digital procurement solutions are losing ground as those that do have a more significant impact on their business than ever before. Don’t be left behind; you’ll find it harder to get new roles when you’re up against people who have used and mastered digital Procurement. We will all use digital procurement solutions in the future, so get ahead as early as possible here. I’ll be sharing ProcurementOS with you soon, a Notion template you can use to get started in Digital Procurement.
Develop a Procurement Subject Matter Expertise - I’ve specialised in Contract Management on the Procurement side of things, getting to a Head of Contract Management Role before I turned 30. I was relentlessly focused on getting to this milestone, and I put everything into it. This served me well and allowed me to follow my passion in this space. When I listen to
talk about Sourcing - I’m like, this guy gets it, and I learn so much from him. Go narrow in one area but remain a generalist - e.g. I know that I can undertake any sourcing exercise - but I might not do as sound a job as someone who is an expert in Sourcing.Supercharge your Emotional Intelligence (EQ) - Almost every millennial Procurement Pro I’ve met seems to have a far higher EQ level than every other generation. Nonetheless, this skill can be learned (trust me - coming from someone like me who was incredibly weak in EQ), and this could be the difference for you in getting a team or even an entire function to lead one day.
Life-Long Learning - To make your Procurement Career sustainable and long-term, you must always be learning. Utilising a Personal Knowledge Management System via a Notion Second Brain could be a great way to do this. Read books, articles, and LinkedIn posts, and consume podcasts in this space to increase your knowledge in all areas.
Create your Brand and Community - I’m big on this and started building my own “Procurement Brand” in 2020. It’s been an outstanding success and beat all of my expectations. This World of Procurement Community is one of my most outstanding achievements. But we can all do this, and we can all create our community. The benefits of this are meeting wonderful people, incredible job offers, and opportunities you didn’t even know existed.
3 Pieces of Content you might find Useful
1 - Executive Interview: BT Chief Procurement Officer, Cyril Pourrat
TL;DR: BT is implementing a digital transformation in its procurement processes by adopting SAP S/4Hana for finance to streamline procurement, migrating suppliers to the SAP Ariba platform, and deploying SAP Concur to manage expenses. Additionally, the company has deployed an AI-powered smart sourcing platform from Globality to transform service procurement. BT Sourced aims to buy the right products and services at the right price, leveraging AI, machine learning, and digital ecosystems for a competitive edge.
The company believes that modern enterprise software should be consumer grade, requiring minimal training and easily accessible through natural language interactions. BT's procurement system goes beyond simple tracking, utilizing historical data from ERP systems to inform decisions. A team of data scientists is working on negotiation and analytics to improve BT's negotiations with suppliers by fully utilizing the collected data.
2 - An Environmental Probe Into China's Top Lithium Hub Threatens Global Supply
3 - What is Digital Procurement? (a World of Procurement Video).
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