July 2016

CIPS Aims to Retain and Develop Senior Procurement Professionals

Now in its second year, Fellows of the Future was set up to retain talent within procurement and to ensure a succession stream for Fellowship. The programme goes from strength to strength with 168 Fellows and FOTF attending our four FOTF events and interest from our global offices and members outside the UK.

Piloted in the UK we are now starting to get interest from our global offices as an initiative plus members outside of the UK wanting to take part.

The criteria for those wanting to be accepted on the programme is clearly defined on the CIPS website under the Fellows of the Future pages and basically describes someone up to 3 years away from Fellowship. By joining the programme the FOTF gets the opportunity to network with their peers and current Fellows plus attend events not open to other members.

One of the aims of the programme is to use the expertise of the group to produce material for the CIPS Knowledge Hub. A workshop was recently hosted by Freshfields at their London office to provide guidance on ‘Building a procurement team fit for the future’. Chaired by Dr Dick Russill FCIPS, 24 Fellows and FOTF listened to case studies by Joerg Strauss FCIPS, CPO at Freshfields on setting up a new procurement team and Doug Black, Head of Procurement at Tesco on working with an existing team. An interesting insight into recruiting staff and the current state of the job’s market was given by Michael Page, sponsors of the FOTF programme. Delegates then inputted into guidance to be used by the procurement profession which is now housed on the CIPS Knowledge Hub.

The next event in this series is planned for the autumn when the group will workshop new guidance on ‘Dealing with the Black Swan’. If you or one of your colleagues would like to find out more about the event or have a case study you would like to share please email vicki.oliver@cips.org

You can access the first of this series of guidance on 'Building a procurement team for the future' here

5 Top Tips on Building a Procurement Team Fit for the Future

Whether you're creating a procurement team from scratch or inheriting an existing team, here are some top tips for developing and future proofing your team:

• Create a vision and roadmap, and understand the enablers to achieve these
• Be practical - focus on what can give most value and don't get involved in the minutiae that won't give traction
• Invest in the right people, identifying any skills gaps or training needs, and providing existing staff or new recruits with personal ownership of their career development
• Build relationships across the organisation to gain effective support for and trust in your team
• Ask your suppliers for feedback and then act on it to make improvements within your team.

For more information

Read the Procurement as a career section of the CIPS/HAYS Procurement Salary Guide and Insights 2016

Download the Building a Procurement Team Knowledge guidance and accompanying case studies

A Focus on Gender Equality

The procurement profession is suffering from a gender disparity, where salaries and opportunities seem to favour men over women. This is neither a surprise nor anything new, and procurement is certainly not the only function affected by this outdated and damaging social issue. However, businesses are taking steps to rectify the situation however and although progress is slow, cracks are beginning to appear in the glass ceiling.

For more information take a look at the Hays report on our website: Cracks in the Ceiling: Gender Equality in Procurement – www.cips.org/hays

Investing in Your Own Skills for the Future

Ongoing training is a way for us all to future-proof our careers against change and to ensure that we have the necessary skills as the world of work, and procurement, continues to change rapidly and radically.

For more information read the Supply Management article

Effective career development starts with first understanding your level and needs, and the CIPS self-assessment tool is a great place to begin. The tool allows you to create your own profile and measure yourself, anonymously, against more than 40 job profiles, organised by industry and by country. At the end of the assessment, a personalised learning and development plan is generated to help you plan more effectively for future promotions, prepare for appraisals and understand their profession more profoundly. It is also a ready-made report to encourage your employer to support you in your development needs.

In Search of Influence

Read our latest white paper from Australasia which explores the current state of influencing skills in procurement, and outlines ideas for the future development of this skill set. The paper is authored by Gordon Donovan MSc FCIPS.

From Graduate to CPO: Leadership Career Building in Procurement

BravoSolution ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

Craig Lardner FCIPS details his journey from graduate to CPO of a FTSE 100 company, where he had a non-stop spend responsibility of $5,000 per minute for 20 years.

Tracking Commodities: Cartonboard

As global cartonboard prices slow their declines, Mintec examine how commodities such as these can be tracked and managed, and the wider implications of global price movements.

Coming Soon! Risk Index Q2

In Q1 of 2016 the CIPS Risk Index, powered by Dun & Bradstreet, showed a deteriorating trend, with an increase in the overall score of 79.8 and an increase in overall risk. Almost seven years after the last recession officially ended, growth in major developed economies remained stuck in middle gear and emerging economies appeared more fragile. Due to weak commodity prices and a lack of global growth, a number of highly weighted developed countries were downgraded.

Following the result of the UK referendum where the country decided to leave the EU, Q2 2016 results of the CIPS Risk Index will be released in the coming weeks. Will 'Brexit' have an immediate effect?

Extending Procurement’s Reach

Research by KPMG shows that on average procurement teams only influence 60% of applicable spend. No other function – HR, Legal, IT, Compliance - would accept such limited sway over the area for which it is officially responsible.

This is critical to the view of procurement within the organisation: the CEO is unlikely to see a function as a key strategic partner if it cannot even ensure practice within its own sphere. This is a missed opportunity: a recent study by Applegate showed that Boards are increasingly recognising the strategic importance of procurement; in driving innovation, managing operating capital and mitigating risk. The invitation is open for the function to take a more elevated role, but before it can do so, it needs to extend its reach.

There are four potential routes to increasing the proportion of applicable spend under influence:

• The stick – threatening disciplinary action
• The carrot – releasing savings to departments' budgets
• Go with the flow – see how people buy in practice and adapt procedures to that
• Hug a maverick – embrace procurement’s critics, understand their needs and get them on side.

In practice, extending procurement’s influence may combine all four of these approaches, but most critical will be to get maverick spenders on side, and provide them with systems with which they’re happy to engage.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Source-to-Pay Implementation

BravoSolution ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

In this live webinar and Q&A, procurement expert and former CPO, Guy Allen, offers advice on what to consider when selecting an S2P system, and how best to implement them. Drawing on his extensive real world experience, Guy flags the five common mistakes that often befall major systems projects and recommend the critical factors for success, with a focus on stakeholder management.

PMIs Update

The Markit/CIPS UK Purchasing Managers’ Indices showed a mixed response in June as the construction sector showed the weakest performance in seven years and activity in the services sector weakened, even though manufacturing showed a modest improvement.

Although the usual monthly data for July was not due for release until the beginning of August, a 'flash' PMI for the UK was released on July 22nd 2016 . This is intended to help provide clarity on the potential impact of the UK's EU referendum on the economy and is in response to demand from data users.

We are always looking for new members to join the PMI panels in manufacturing, construction and services. If you would like your views reflected in data used by the Bank of England and economics experts, please send your details to press@cips.org.

A New CIPS Collaboration with Crown Agents

Crown Agents and CIPS have signed a collaboration agreement which will see us leverage our respective global networks and expertise to seek opportunities to work together as trusted partners on training activities, international projects and business development activities.

Read the press release

BravoSolution Live Event: Next Generation Supplier Management

Date: 14 Sept

Venue: Smith & Wollensky, 1-11 John Adam St, London

This event examines the latest thinking in the whole area of supplier management, including a focus on supplier performance management, new ideas that mimic consumer websites such as TripAdvisor, and collaboration and innovation.

CIPS members are eligible for a 50% discount using code RWPSCIPS50.

Mintec Webinar: Controlling Costs with Commodity Insights

Date: 4 October

In this webinar Mintec will demonstrate how software, such as DG8, can help to: prepare for negotiation meetings; view and compare our own data in the same graphs as DG8’s extensive market data; and construct product models from their proportional commodities and associated costs. There will also be a focus on commodity factsheets and commodity reports.

Energy SKG webinar: SMEs - Empowering your Energy Buying

Date: 12 October

The CIPS Energy Specialist Knowledge Group will provide an energy market update along with answering any questions you may have on energy buying for SMEs

Welcome to Fellows

Congratulations to our members who have recently been awarded Fellowship.

• Anne Langley
• Tracy Pellett
• Mohamed Kalick
• Matthew Rees
• Fiona Nissen
• Peter Fitness

Why not check out if you have what it takes?