24 episodes

Every month, we bring you plain English procurement thought leadership, as well as tales of screw-ups, successes and stories from procurement professionals and solutions providers across the world.

Our aim is to entertain, educate and enhance the effectiveness of procurement professionals everywhere!

We are part of the Proctopus Network.

Follow us on LinkedIn or join our group!
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8961041/

Hosted by James Meads and Dave Jones
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-meads/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dohjones/

ProctoCast: Real World Procurement Conversation James Meads

    • Business
    • 5.0 • 1 Rating

Every month, we bring you plain English procurement thought leadership, as well as tales of screw-ups, successes and stories from procurement professionals and solutions providers across the world.

Our aim is to entertain, educate and enhance the effectiveness of procurement professionals everywhere!

We are part of the Proctopus Network.

Follow us on LinkedIn or join our group!
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8961041/

Hosted by James Meads and Dave Jones
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-meads/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dohjones/

    Cybersecurity and its impact on Procurement: with Jonathan Wood from C2 Cyber

    Cybersecurity and its impact on Procurement: with Jonathan Wood from C2 Cyber

    This month's podcast is hosted by Dave Jones and Oliver Mountain. We welcome Jonathan Wood, CEO of cybersecurity consultancy C2 Cyber.
    We break down some of the reasons why cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important, and what we as procurement professionals need to consider around this topic.
    Jonathan breaks down some of the risks, and explains that often the risk comes from weaknesses within the supply base:
    B2B vs. B2C businesses - some well-documented examples are cyber breaches at Maersk, British Airways and Spar, where the attack each time came through a supplier.Managing professional service providers - personal data within professional services provider is potential weak link.How to deal with small, non-tech savvy businesses to ensure that you're protecting the potentially most vulnerable parts of your supply chainGeopolitical risk and how to manage this from a cyber risk perspectiveHow diligent is the internal process when deciding who to source goods or services from?
    Protcocast is a part of the Proctopus network.
    Thank you to our sponsors at Contingent for their continued support!
    Join the Proctopus App here
    Join our Proctopus LinkedIn Group here!
    Connect with Jonathan here
    Connect with James here
    We're on a mission to make the procurement community more engaged and our profession better understood.
    Our events and content are way more exciting and fun than the traditional conferences hosted by established industry bodies.
    No jargon. No acronyms!

    • 25 min
    DEI legislation - South Africa's example: Chimae Goncalves from Supply Chain Partner

    DEI legislation - South Africa's example: Chimae Goncalves from Supply Chain Partner

    Due to South Africa's complex history, they are somewhat ahead of the curve when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) legislation.
    On this month's episode of ProctoCast, James interviews Chimae Goncalves, Co-Founder of Supply Chain Partner, a digital transformation consultancy based in Johannesburg.
    DEI legislation: How we can learn from South Africa's example and prepareWe dive into how the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE for short) legislation has affected many aspects of how South African businesses both hire their employees and source their goods and services from their domestic supply base.
    It's a very intriguing discussion as it gives us a fantastic insight into what may be in store for European and North American businesses in the near future.
    Chimae shares with us how the legislation has impacted small businesses such as theirs, as well as how it impacts larger enterprises. We look at how it has been successful, as well as acknowledging some of the challenges it brings.
    We explore how BBBEE impacts both the hiring process and employee relations, as well as how it is embedded into the sourcing process when purchasing from or contracting with domestic South African suppliers.
    Stay in touch!Protcocast is a part of the Proctopus network.
    Join our Proctopus LinkedIn Group here!
    Sign up for the Proctopus Community Networking App here
    Connect with Chimae here
    Connect with James here
    Visit Supply Chain Partner's website here
    We're on a mission to make the procurement community more engaged and our profession better understood.

    • 36 min
    Third Party Risk, Supplier Insights and Sanctions: Tai Alegbe from Contingent

    Third Party Risk, Supplier Insights and Sanctions: Tai Alegbe from Contingent

    Welcome to April's episode of ProctoCast, where we're digging into a very pertinent topic right now.
    No, not inflation (that's a whole other episode right there, haha) but the increasing importance of having a proactive third party risk management strategy. Especially understanding who is behind a company's ownership structure in an era of sanctions and complex company ownership / shareholding structures.
    Proactively Managing Third Party Risk in an era of Geopolitical Volatility and Sanctions
    ProctoCast is sponsored by third party risk management and supplier insight software startup Contingent.
    Contingent, based in London, recently secured $8.2 million in funding to grow their platform. It's exciting to have their CEO, Tai Alegbe, as our guest on the show this month to talk about how their product can help to provide insights into some of Procurement's key challenges in today's environment.
    At its heart, the platform seeks to provide proactive visibility of risks and the opportunities to develop relationships with suppliers to pre-empt any supply chain disruptions or potentially brand-damaging scandals.
    Data and market intelligence is key to facilitating this. Internal data (and its quality) is a foundation for success, but there is also a huge amount of external intelligence to be tapped into that can augment and bolster a third party risk strategy.
    With sanctions on Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, as well as supply chain disruptions resulting from impact of the war on Ukrainian manufacturing businesses, buyers need to know whether their supply chains are impacted.
    The tricky part of this is often identifying real ownership and control of certain companies. Specifically:
    Who the individuals are who control the business and wield the most influence, and whether they have political ties.A view of where companies are exposed based on their relationship to sanctioned entities
    Tai walks us through Contingent's "Insights" tool and how it differentiates itself from other products on the market.
    We then dig into how Procurement can support the relief efforts in Ukraine and help companies who are positively responding to the crisis.
    Moving on from this, we touch on near-shoring and whether or not it's an effective strategy to combat rising logistics costs, strict lockdowns in China and wider geopolitical instability.
    How can Procurement proactively prepare for risks that may be around the corner? While we can't predict everything, having a strong risk management framework is key to be able to establish how resilient your supply chain is.

    Stay in touch!Protcocast is a part of the Proctopus network.
    Join our Proctopus LinkedIn Group here!
    Sign up for the Proctopus Community Networking App here
    Connect with Tai here
    Connect with James here
    Visit Contingent's website here
    We're on a mission to make the procurement community more engaged and our profession better understood.
    Our events and content are way more exciting and fun than the traditional conferences hosted by established industry bodies.
    No jargon. No acronyms!

    • 31 min
    State of the Procurement Recruitment Market in 2022 - A Live Special

    State of the Procurement Recruitment Market in 2022 - A Live Special

    Welcome to our very first ProctoCast of 2022!
    We decided to do something a little bit different this time and record a live episode, which we streamed to the Proctopus LinkedIn Page. Then we took the recording and edited it into a podcast, which is what you're listening to here.
    With the start of the new year often being a time to reflect, and perhaps do a bit of window shopping in terms of what jobs are out there, we thought it would be a great opportunity to sit down and discuss recruitment trends in 2022.
    Joining James and Dave on the podcast are UK-based specialist procurement recruiters Martin Smith of Talent Drive and Julie Edwards of ProcureOne.
    What does 2022 have in store for jobs and careers in procurement?We kick off my asking Martin and Julie to dispel some popular myths about recruiters.
    It's also interesting to hear how the market is shifting from what was a very employer-driven market back in 2020 to what is now very much a candidate-driven market.
    We explore the challenges in finding the right talent when it comes to more entry-level or mid-senior positions, whereas for the more senior roles there tends to be a trend for previously freelance contractors to be considering moved back into permanent positions.
    It's also interesting to hear Martin and Julie's thoughts about what employers are looking for as skills, and how flexible they tend to be when it comes to experience and the transferability of certain skill sets.
    Then, we move on to talk about emerging trends, such as the increased demand for digitally savvy procurement professionals and the need for employers to clearly state their values on relevant issues such as sustainability and diversity.
    We continue with Dave and James also sharing some on-the-ground experience and also explore how candidates can explore picking up necessary skills outside of the workplace, such as by taking part in networking groups like Proctopus, listening to podcasts or attending conferences.
    Finally, we look at whether the contractor market will boom in future, as companies start to move towards a more contingent workforce to take advantage of more flexible working arrangements. Also, whether the shortage of talent will help to facilitate those who require a work permit to get the opportunity to be considered for roles which otherwise would have easily been filled natively.
    Stay in touch!Protcocast is a part of the Proctopus network.
    Join our Proctopus LinkedIn Group here!
    Sign up for the Proctopus Community Networking App here
    Connect with Martin here
    Connect with Julie here
    Connect with Dave here
    Connect with James here
    We're on a mission to make the procurement community more engaged and our profession better understood.
    Our events and content are way more exciting and fun than the traditional conferences hosted by established industry bodies.
    No jargon. No acronyms!

    • 40 min
    Keeping Procurement Human: People Relationships in B2B Collaboration - with Dr. Thierry Fausten

    Keeping Procurement Human: People Relationships in B2B Collaboration - with Dr. Thierry Fausten

    We're back and this month we have a three-way conversation. Dave Jones joins regular host James as a co-host, and the guest on this month's show is Advisor and Consultant Dr. Thierry Fausten.
    Our conversation is all about the human interaction in B2B relationships
    Keeping Procurement Human: Why People are Critical to B2B Collaboration
    It's a very popular discussion point at the moment, given all of the talk about whether robots are about to come and take our jobs.
    Relax, they're not.
    Thierry, Dave and I review how the human will still be needed to interpret the data that some of the technology out there will be able to provide us, and then to be able to take the data and decision and go ahead to implement the projects.
    How also can we best serve our stakeholders and the way that we interact with suppliers going forward, whilst leveraging the technology that is available to ensure it gives us the productivity benefits that look so promising?
    We then dive into the importance of in-person relationships and discuss whether the post-Covid "blended" model will skew more towards the virtual component when it comes to B2B interaction and collaboration.
    Virtual is here to stay, but to what extent? And in which instances is it more valuable to have face-to-face meetings?
    Useful Links
    Join our Proctopus LinkedIn Group here!
    Connect with Thierry here
    Connect with James here
    Connect with Dave here
    We're on a mission to make the procurement community more engaged and our profession better understood.
    Our events and content are way more exciting and fun than the traditional conferences hosted by established industry bodies.
    No jargon. No acronyms!

    • 32 min
    The Business Case for Clean Data: Susan Walsh is The Classification Guru

    The Business Case for Clean Data: Susan Walsh is The Classification Guru

    Protcocast is a part of the Proctopus network.
    We're back with a BANG after our summer break!
    In this episode of ProctoCast, we dive into the subject of the importance of clean data and a logical taxonomy.
    Here to talk about this is none other than The Classification Guru herself, Susan Walsh.
    The Business Case for Clean DataWe dig into how to break down the barriers between the person on the front line dealing with the consequences of dirty data, and the gap between those folks and the department heads who are often oblivious or apathetic towards the need to fix the problem.
    Then we cover how certain businesses that "get it" are moving ahead at lightning speed and leaving some of the laggards behind.
    Finally, we discuss how procurement teams of the future may look like, as data becomes ever more central to strategy & planning. The difference between success and struggle will very soon be directly aligned to the quality of your data and what you do with it.
    Susan also has a new book coming out called Between The Spreadsheets. This is a cheap, easy introduction to discover the benefits you can gain through classifying your data and having a structured taxonomy.
    Useful Links
    Join our Proctopus LinkedIn Group here!
    Connect with Susan here
    Connect with James here
    We're on a mission to make the procurement community more engaged and our profession better understood.
    Our events and content are way more exciting and fun than the traditional conferences hosted by established industry bodies.
    No jargon. No acronyms!

    • 22 min

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