Art of Procurement

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“For procurement, now is the time to raise your hand and sit at the table where your company is deciding on AI use cases, because that is going to transform your trajectory in the industry and the company.” - Mary Purk, Co-Author of "Growing Up: Navigating Generative AI’s Early Years – AI Adoption Report" by AI at Wharton It’s been two years since ChatGPT democratized AI technology access and became the most rapidly downloaded consumer application in history. Since then we’ve seen a steep acceleration of AI-driven innovation, opportunity, and concern.  Just like every other area of the business, procurement has their own unique story about the way AI continues to change the way they function and create value. In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Mary Purk, co-author of the recently published AI adoption report “Growing Up: Navigating Generative AI’s Early Years” by AI at Wharton and GBK Collective. The report provides data on AI adoption trends within businesses and across functions and the impact that AI is having and will have in the future.  Mary and Philip discuss: How far procurement has come since ChatGPT’s release in 2022 and where they’re headed in 2025 and beyond Why procurement managers are better positioned than any other role in the business to drive AI transformation in the next 12-18 months The pros and cons of make versus buy when weighing your organization’s approach AI-driven procurement technology The perception of AI’s impact, and what that says about opportunity within procurement to demonstrate their success and secure their future Links: Report: “Growing Up: Navigating Generative AI’s Early Years – AI Adoption Report” by AI at Wharton and GBK Collective Mary Purk on LinkedIn Microsoft AI Learning Hub Hard Fork podcast on Spotify Microsoft Podcasts Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Subscribe to Art of Procurement on YouTube

Procurement 6 is a short podcast from Art of Procurement that publishes in the Art of Procurement feed every Friday morning at 6am US Eastern Time. Presented by a member of the Art of Procurement team, each episode has 6 short segments that summarize the week in procurement. Segments range from procurement tips to podcast summaries, from details of events to news or overviews of blog posts that capture our attention.

“If you want to be a customer of choice, it's not going to come down to the contract, it's going to come down to the relationship, even at the individual level.” - Oliver Jones, Director (Procurement) for H&Z Management Consultancy Procurement may be a highly tech-driven function – and growing ever more so by the day – but at its core, the quality of procurement’s relationships with internal stakeholders and suppliers ultimately determine their success or failure for the business.  In this episode, Philip Ideson speaks with Oliver Jones, Director (Procurement) for H&Z Management Consultancy, about why the “relationship” part of supplier relationship management (SRM) is vital for procurement’s ability to deliver value to the business. He also shares his perspective on how procurement can overcome some of the more common obstacles to creating strong relationships, but why, in the end, it’s well worth the effort – for procurement, for suppliers, and for the business in general. They also discuss: How multiple metrics of procurement’s success – like risk management, ESG, or value beyond savings – are all tied back to (and dependant on) supplier relationship management Why the ‘center-led’ operating model is the optimal framework to enable successful supplier relationship management Best practices for dividing procurement’s focus and prioritization among tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 suppliers Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Oliver Jones on LinkedIn