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The technology is only going to get better.
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And as agentic AI continues to improve, it's going to start taking on more and
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more and more activities.
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The question then becomes, how do you ensure the procurement continues to play
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a meaningful role in that process?
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Well, the only way you can do that is if procurement actively takes ownership of
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the kinds of issues that are uniquely human.
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On this episode of Executive Edge, Greg is joined by Omar Abdullah, a global
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business leader with over 35 years of experience and co-founder of the SmartCube.
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Omar discusses the future of procurement in an AI-driven world, his newly launched
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venture Procuria, and what practitioners must do to stay relevant as the profession
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faces an existential turning point.
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The first and foremost thing I will say to any practitioner, leader or otherwise, is
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begin to use these tools.
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If you don't use these tools, you will never understand.
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And don't wait for perfect, right?
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That's the point of your experience in judgment, is that you retain agency to
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accept or reject what it's telling you.
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Hello, and welcome to this episode of Tenzing's Executive Edge podcast.
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My guest today is Omar Abdullah, a seasoned global business leader and former
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colleague of mine who has more than 35 years of experience spanning roles in North
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America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions.
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An MBA graduate from the University of Michigan, Omar has held leadership roles at
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AT Kearney, Warner Lambert, and the Perrier Group before co-founding the SmartCube.
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He bootstrapped that company from the early 2000s into one of the world's leading
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procurement intelligence and analytics platforms, culminating in its successful
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sale to W&S in 2022.
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With over three decades of deep experience partnering with procurement leaders
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worldwide, Omar has recently launched a multimedia content and advisory venture
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called Procuria, which we will discuss in our conversation today.
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Hi, Omar, and thank you for joining me on the podcast today.
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Hi, Greg.
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It's exciting to be here.
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I'm looking forward to our conversation.
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Thanks for having me on.
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You bet.
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Yeah, it's great to see you again and I always enjoy our conversation.
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So before we get into the sort of the theme of this, which we're really going to
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look at future-proofing procurement, I should have mentioned that in my opening.
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Really, how do you future-proof the procurement practitioner in an AI world?
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Right?
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So that's going to be the big theme, but before we go there, if you could share
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some of your background, quickly walk through your background and give the
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audience a sense of your story, where'd you come from, your qualifications and
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accomplishments before we move into the meat of the menu here.
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Thanks.
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Sure, sure.
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Gosh, I'm trying to think of how far back I go.
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So I was born in Pakistan, grew up in Hong Kong, spent a good chunk of my life there.
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It's funny because I used to say I spent most of my life in Hong Kong, but actually
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I've now spent most of my life here in the US, but I did grow up in Hong Kong.
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I moved here to do my MBA at Michigan, worked at AT Kearney for almost a
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decade after graduating from Michigan.
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I did a whole bunch of different things from strategy to operations, to
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organization, to restructuring work all over the world.
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Of course, worked a lot in procurement while I was there as well.
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And then in the early 2000s, I left to start the SmartCube with a couple of
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other folks and really spent the next 20 years building that organization
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and doing a couple of different things.
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One, really helping to center it as a procurement intelligence and analytics
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business, really focused on helping procurement teams all across the world
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get better insights, better analytics, and make better decisions.
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And then from a business perspective, really growing it from a, what was
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initially a services business to by the time we sold it to WNS into a hybrid
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platform and services business or a combination of tech and custom
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capabilities, custom services.
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So that was fantastic.
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I mean, as I've told many folks, I mean, that was pretty much the work of my
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life, so to speak, all absorbing, all encompassing, but yeah, I've been
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dabbling in the, or more than dabbling in the procurement space now for a good
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three decades, so much like you.
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I know we we've seen, we've seen the old days and we've seen kind of how it's
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grown and how it's developed and to where it is today.
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So exciting times, exciting times.
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Yeah, sure.
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I mean, if you think about our, our lifespans in the procurement world, right.
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How much has changed with the advent of the internet and now with the
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advent of a gen AI and agentic AI, and it's just, it's just tremendous.
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The amount of change that's happened in business in general, but especially
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to the procurement function, I think is in particular, been, been really
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disrupted a couple of times now during the time we've been working in it.
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So it's been a interesting and exciting place to be.
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So the theme we're going to talk about today is really about feature
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proofing the procurement practitioner.
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Will there even be any of them in a post AI type of a world, right?
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We always think there's going to be a human in a loop.
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I think you and I both share that belief, but that's where I want to go.
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And, and really, I know you've put some thought into it with your new
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venture Procuria into thinking about what changes for the role of the
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practitioner in, in an AI embedded sort of world of procurement.
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And, and I think let's start out with what do you see as changing
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in terms of procurement?
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I think you said it's radically changing.
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So I want to see how you see it changing in this AI, AI world that we're in.
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Yeah, look, I think we're at a pretty consequential, I'll go out
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on a little bit of a limb and say existential point in the development of
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procurement, you know, what we're seeing with not just ProcureTech and
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SAS, which, which we've been seeing now for, I mean, literally since the
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nineties, but in earnest, if you talk about kind of a lot of the, what, what
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in our modern consciousness we think of is, is ProcureTech, that's the last
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decade to decade and a half that we've seen this emergence, this incredible
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number of great companies come up.
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And then in the last several years with AI and Gen AI in particular being
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incorporated into all of this, we're at a really, really interesting stage
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because we are at a point and by the way, I'm going to come back to this
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point on being existential because that's just not, not just me saying
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that there's a number of practitioners who are saying that, but, but fundamentally
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from a technology perspective, where we're at now is we have technology
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that isn't just simply taking care of the automation, the transactional
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routine stuff that, you know, none of us ever wanted to do and taking it over,
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but it's, it's doing so, and it's doing so at speed as better and better
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technologies and startups come out.
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But we're also seeing an interesting time where if you think about the
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traditional pyramid of activities that make up any function of procurement
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in particular, there's sort of transactional work, there's a sort of
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cognitive decision support work where you're doing synthesis and analysis
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bringing things together and really making some, some, some, some
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decisions off the back of that.
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And then there's the strategic stuff, right?
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The top of the pyramid, which is the setting a strategy, the aligning
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with the overall corporate vision, et cetera.
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What we've been seeing over the last decade is if you look at that pyramid,
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the bottom of that pyramid ProcureTech was always going to tackle, right?
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But it was doing it not as fast as we're seeing it now.
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Right now with agentic AI, we're seeing an acceleration there.
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It's not, these tools aren't perfect.
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So I'm not suggesting that we're ready to go, but it's taking over a bunch of
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different activities, even today.
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And so that is going to happen, but it's just, and it's going to
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happen much faster than we think.
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But the interesting thing about what's happening with AI is it's actually
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taking a lot of work from the middle of the pack as well, right?
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So if you think about it, a junior analyst, a sourcing analyst would
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develop a supplier profile.
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They do a set of risk analyses.
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They would look at various reports and pull that together to really make
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sense of whether it's a supplier or a category or ideation around what a
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particular sourcing strategy ought to be.
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And now machines are doing that for us.
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They're not doing it perfectly, but they're doing it pretty well and they're
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getting better and better and better.
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And so we're seeing that pyramid radically shift.
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We're going to see the bottom layer go.
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We're going to see a good chunk of the middle layer go as well.
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And so what does that mean?
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That means procurement is going to get pushed even harder to show its value.
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And if you think about it, pick a timeframe, two years, five years, 10
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years, whatever that timeframe is, the function is going to look radically
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different.
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Now there's a caveat here, which I'll come to, but the function is
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going to look radically different.
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You know, we're past the point of peak employment in traditional
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procurement roles, but we will see new roles there as well.
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But the future of procurement organization is going to be smaller.
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It's going to be much more higher caliber, much more integrated and
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aligned with what the business wants to do and overall corporate vision and
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strategy, if you will.
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And it's going to drive towards better outcomes and more tangible outcomes.
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So that's where we are given the development of the technology, but also
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aligning with things that you and I have seen over the last several decades,
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which is increasing caliber and sophistication of procurement
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professionals coming into the function.
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And now they're being aided by these amazing tools.
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It's going to look radically different.
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Pick again, as I said, pick a timeframe, five years or 10 years, whatever it
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might be, so it's an incredible time to be in procurement.
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Now the caveat is this, if the function doesn't transform itself, meaning if the
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people don't transform themselves to take advantage of this opportunity of being
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higher value, then what's going to happen is CFOs are essentially going to say,
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well, if the work that's being done is no better than what a machine will do,
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which is, i.e., collate facts, synthesize them, give me a set of outputs and just
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drive it forward, then I'm going to let the machines do it.
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And so this is the point about being existential.
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And I'm not the only one saying this, but practitioners have said this as well,
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which is if we don't show our value and really show the tangible impact that the
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function can make, the function won't exist in 10 years time, it'll exist in
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some form or another, but it won't exist in the way that we think about it today.
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And for me, I see that as a fundamental loss for the corporation because
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procurement does a lot where it understands the stakeholder.
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It understands the nuances of the organization.
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It is able to translate a lot of those aspects together through better judgment
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and insight and knowledge around its priorities to drive better value, right?
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So we cannot afford to lose that and we cannot afford to not do that.
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Now, the issue, which is the basis of procuring and kind of why I started this
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was, was a good chunk of practitioners aren't ready for that, right?
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They're not ready.
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And those numbers, and these are numbers that I hear from practitioners all the
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time, somewhere between 60 to 80% of procurement practitioners aren't ready
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for that future.
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So how do we get them there?
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What does that mean to get them ready for that?
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And that's, those are the themes that I'm exploring through Procuria to really try
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and shed more light into this and hopefully help to begin taking procurement
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practitioners along that journey to get to that future.
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Does that make sense?
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It totally does.
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I think one thing you said early on about the pyramid, right, with all the
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transactional activities, sort of the execution, but you know, still some
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decision making in that middle and then the top, the strategic part, I'd say that
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AI is making its way all the way to the top.
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It's just not maybe as, as penetrated if you can there, right?
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So yeah, we can, we can turn stuff on lights out on transactions, right?
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If you set the right business rules.
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That's been around for a while with our, with our PA in the middle, I
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think it can help accelerate things.
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But I think at the very top, like I would think of as strategy, I think
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of category managers, right?
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And the information that your old company, the SmartCube used to provide.
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I was psyched when we at W&S acquired the SmartCube because I said, now
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we're delivering on the promise.
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We're going to help the category manager be the most strategic person by providing
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them with the sort of information and context that they need to, to, you know,
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develop smart category strategies, interact with the business, and really
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be seen as valuable to the business.
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I think AI is, is helping to, you know, provide that information to them.
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You know, it's, you still need the person.
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I still think you need the person to interface with the business.
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Yeah.
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That's gotta be a key skill.
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I think you're going to tell me we have to maintain, if not, I'm, I'm, I'm going to be
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scared, but I'm going to say, you know, I'm going to say that, you know, that AI is
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getting, getting everywhere, you know, through the, through that pyramid, if we
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go back to that pyramid analogy, and it's just, it's just the level of penetration
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is different, the level of utility is different, I think, at each, at each one
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of those places in the pyramid.
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Yeah.
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Is that fair?
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Completely agree.
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Completely agree.
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00:13:50,880
And in fact, you know, if I were to oversimplify it, I'd say that spectrum,
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um, to use inelegant terms, runs from AI being a, there's got to be a better word
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than this, but replacer of work, uh, to being an enabler of work.
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And I think the further you go up, it becomes more of an enabler.
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It should be, uh, but it depends on what your objectives are, right?
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If you're less farsighted about the, the role of procurement, let's put it that
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way, I say it nicely, um, you would say, well, I can do a lot of these things
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right up to the top in terms of being a replacer of work, right up to the top.
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A replacer of individuals right to the top as well.
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But, but you're right.
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It, it, it's, it's un, uh, it's unavoidable.
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You know, I use this term all the time.
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I say, you know, post AI world.
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And somebody once said to me, well, what is a post AI world?
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When are we going to get there?
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And my view is, you know, we need to stop thinking about getting there.
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We are there.
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We're not in that post AI world of, uh, gosh, this is going to date me, the Jetsons.
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Um, but, but, um, I, I wonder how many of the audience won't even get that reference,
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but we'll, we'll, we'll find out.
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You can, they can, they can email us and tell us, but, but it's not about the, you
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know, reaching a point where there's some utopia of technological perfection and
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everything is integrated and embedded in.
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That's not the point.
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My point is AI is here today.
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It is delivering real value today.
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Sure.
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It doesn't have the full on agentic autonomy that, you know, is
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hyped about so much everywhere, but it's doing things.
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It's helping us do better work today.
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So as far as I'm concerned, we are in a post AI world.
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We need to reckon with these tools as, uh, as imperfect as they are and
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recognize that for the areas where they are really, really good, start
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incorporating that into the work that we do and not just dabbling in it, but
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incorporating them into our workflows of how we get our work done and then.
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As they get better and better, they'll enable us even better, even,
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um, more strongly as we go forward.
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00:16:01,960
And, uh, and, and so that's kind of how I sort of think about this
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is we are in that world today.
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And it is here.
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We need to start to grapple with it.
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And we need to start incorporating that into the work that we're
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doing on a daily basis.
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Make it part of our routine.
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That's how we're going to continue to skill ourselves up and get more value and
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deliver more value for the organization.
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Right, right.
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Now, um, you've taken the position and put forth the proposition, I would say
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maybe that, uh, expectations are changing, uh, for procurement and I think they have
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been in terms of value delivery, the expectation of value delivery, not just
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savings, but help us get the most value for the dollars that we spend on goods
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and services with third parties.
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Right.
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Um, but the, the, the expectations you you've mentioned this a few times in
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your writings, uh, recent writings that they're changing and many of today's
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practitioners just aren't prepared for what's coming and that's because their
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roles were designed for a pre AI world.
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00:17:09,800
So let's go down this one, uh, down this hole for a while together here.
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Um, they're shifting faster than the skills, incentives,
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00:17:14,880
and operating models can cope.
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00:17:18,760
So what's, what's driving the shift in expectations?
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00:17:22,079
Is it just because the technology's there, uh, that, that they're saying,
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wait, you should be able to do more.
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00:17:28,959
I'd say it's multifaceted, but it is certainly accelerated by
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the promise of the technology.
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00:17:33,719
So I'll make that distinction between the technology versus
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the promise of the technology.
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00:17:38,520
And in, in, in some areas they overlap, but in others they don't.
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00:17:42,520
But, but the way I sort of look at it is this, the demands and expectations
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00:17:49,640
of procurement have been, um, increasing, uh, in an accelerating fashion for gosh,
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00:17:55,800
probably two ish plus three ish decades, right, right from the early days, um,
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00:18:00,760
in the eighties and nineties, when we recognize that every dollar that
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00:18:03,680
procurement saves goes right to the bottom line and then you apply your
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00:18:06,319
multiple if you're a public company and that's shareholder value right off the
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00:18:11,800
bat versus how much do you have to sell to realize that same dollar
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00:18:13,239
of shareholder value, right?
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00:18:16,479
Uh, so, so it started a while back.
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00:18:20,599
Since then the world's only gotten more, uh, competitive.
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00:18:24,319
Um, our markets are far, uh, more competitive.
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00:18:30,160
Um, our supply chains are far more global, uh, and much more interdependent.
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00:18:35,160
There are many more risks to consider and organizations have grown substantially.
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00:18:39,439
As a result, you have these external mandates that have been coming in, which
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00:18:41,119
is, you know, more competitive.
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00:18:43,800
Um, we were dealing with more complexity.
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00:18:46,520
We have to get all of that under control, right?
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00:18:52,880
And, and procurement has been, uh, pushed to think about these issues for decades.
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00:18:58,880
You layer over that, the increasing recognition and the higher caliber of
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00:19:00,280
talent that's come into procurement.
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00:19:03,199
And the C-suite is basically saying, okay, I get it.
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You can, you can really deliver some value.
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00:19:07,239
So let's start seeing a lot of that value.
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00:19:12,640
And of course that comes to the fore when you have disasters like the, um, uh, the
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00:19:17,359
great recession, the global financial crisis of the late 2000s, COVID of course,
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00:19:21,560
but any other, you don't want to look at it on that kind of scale, any natural
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00:19:26,199
disaster that takes place, procurement gets a call to say, help us manage
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00:19:30,160
continuity, help us assure production, help us keep moving the ball forward.
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00:19:35,400
So all of these aspects are playing in, um, uh, from a, from an external
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00:19:38,800
mandate perspective and from an internal C-suite perspective, what the technology
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00:19:44,319
is now doing is it saying, Hey, by the way, a lot of this stuff is doable by the
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00:19:45,599
machines, right?
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00:19:51,359
And, um, uh, practically there's a lot of truth to that.
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Uh, the technology is only going to get better.
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00:19:58,959
And as agentic AI continues to improve, um, it's going to start taking
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00:20:01,280
on more and more and more activities.
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00:20:07,560
The question then becomes how do you ensure the procurement continues to
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00:20:10,079
play a meaningful role in that process?
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00:20:15,000
Well, the only way you can do that is a procurement actively takes ownership
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00:20:19,280
of the kinds of issues, uh, that are uniquely human, right?
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00:20:23,280
So to go back to the point, you and I both believe that the human has to be
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00:20:25,280
at the center of all of this stuff, right?
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00:20:26,520
Technology is fantastic.
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00:20:28,040
We should absolutely leverage it.
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00:20:28,920
We should invest in it.
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00:20:33,800
But at the end of the day, you know, we're not going to ask the technology
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00:20:36,040
that why they made that decision.
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00:20:39,280
We're going to get asked, why'd you make that decision?
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00:20:39,800
Right.
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00:20:40,599
We got to own it.
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00:20:42,439
We have to have agency in that process.
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00:20:49,119
Um, and so, so, so I think the technology is accelerating a lot of this and, and
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00:20:53,479
it's forcing the hand, if you will, of a lot of senior executives to drive this
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00:20:58,719
forward, to, to, to, to demand more of this value from procurement and therefore
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00:21:02,880
it's incumbent on us to take that ownership, to take this as an opportunity
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00:21:07,719
to really change the game for the function and frankly, for the existence
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00:21:09,160
of the function over the longterm.
355
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00:21:10,800
Great.
356
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00:21:11,800
Okay.
357
00:21:11,800 -->
00:21:16,640
So let's look at what does one do in such a situation?
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00:21:17,040 -->
00:21:20,760
So we're talking about the practitioner, the person that's working in procurement,
359
00:21:21,280 -->
00:21:25,439
um, pick whatever level you want, Omer, or multiple levels, if you will.
360
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00:21:30,520
And, uh, you know, somebody comes to you and says, Hey man, okay.
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00:21:32,239
I see what's happening here.
362
00:21:32,239 -->
00:21:34,000
I understand the shift is coming.
363
00:21:34,520 -->
00:21:37,760
Uh, I just don't know what to do first or what to do next.
364
00:21:37,760 -->
00:21:45,599
And do you have any advice to help me, uh, sort of survive and thrive in this
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00:21:45,599 -->
00:21:47,800
new world that AI is going to present?
366
00:21:48,800 -->
00:21:51,000
So let me break this into a couple of different parts, right?
367
00:21:51,000 -->
00:21:55,920
So, um, what I can say, the most practical thing that I'll say, whether
368
00:21:55,920 -->
00:21:59,400
you're a leader of a procurement function or whether you're a practitioner,
369
00:21:59,520 -->
00:22:05,000
right, in the function, um, is start using these tools, just start getting
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00:22:05,000 -->
00:22:08,119
involved, right, and start dabbling in them, seeing what the opportunities.
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00:22:08,119 -->
00:22:11,880
And, and look, there's a ton of startups that are out there and their past
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00:22:11,880 -->
00:22:18,160
startup, many of them are, who are already leveraging procure AI in
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00:22:20,520
procurement, um, workflows and activities.
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00:22:24,079
Start learning from them, start talking to them, understand what
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00:22:24,079 -->
00:22:26,839
they're trying to get done, understand how they're pushing the ball forward.
376
00:22:27,079 -->
00:22:29,800
And that's understanding it from a, uh, uh, from an organization
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00:22:29,800 -->
00:22:30,640
and startup landscape.
378
00:22:30,880 -->
00:22:34,640
But even short of that, there's a lot of things you can begin to do today, right?
379
00:22:34,640 -->
00:22:38,599
So, um, basic things you're about to go into a supplier communication.
380
00:22:38,599 -->
00:22:43,359
Well, go, by the way, pay 20 bucks a month for the subscriptions
381
00:22:43,359 -->
00:22:44,560
to ChatGPT and Claude.
382
00:22:44,560 -->
00:22:47,239
I'm just picking the most obvious examples and you know what?
383
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00:22:48,400
Use the better model.
384
00:22:48,400 -->
00:22:53,319
So in, in ChatGPT, it's the thinking model and Claude, it's the opus as
385
00:22:53,319 -->
00:22:55,959
of recording of this date, uh, model.
386
00:22:56,560 -->
00:22:58,239
Who knows it'll change tomorrow, probably.
387
00:22:59,199 -->
00:23:03,520
But use those better models and ask it to give you a profile of the supplier.
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00:23:03,880 -->
00:23:08,079
Ask it to help you assess that supplier relative to its competition.
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00:23:08,319 -->
00:23:12,400
Help it to, uh, build a risk profile of some sort of that supplier.
390
00:23:13,479 -->
00:23:17,800
Help it to, uh, draft key talking points of the kinds of issues you're going to
391
00:23:17,800 -->
00:23:19,160
be talking to the supplier about.
392
00:23:19,160 -->
00:23:22,040
Of course, manage your confidential information, et cetera, et cetera, et
393
00:23:22,040 -->
00:23:22,319
cetera.
394
00:23:22,359 -->
00:23:26,119
Goes without saying there's got to be a bunch of guardrails, um, around this.
395
00:23:26,119 -->
00:23:29,680
And I write about that on, on my, uh, on Procura.com as well.
396
00:23:30,319 -->
00:23:34,839
But start using this stuff for actual workflow activity.
397
00:23:35,000 -->
00:23:38,439
If it's not a supplier meeting, use it from a risk analysis perspective.
398
00:23:39,560 -->
00:23:43,520
You know, there's, there's a ton of use cases that are out there, but start to
399
00:23:43,520 -->
00:23:43,800
use it.
400
00:23:44,400 -->
00:23:46,000
You can't read and learn this stuff.
401
00:23:46,040 -->
00:23:48,640
You can, you can only do and learn this stuff.
402
00:23:48,800 -->
00:23:53,839
So if you're a practitioner, start dabbling and start using those tools today.
403
00:23:54,119 -->
00:23:54,400
Right.
404
00:23:54,439 -->
00:23:55,760
But use, but pay for it.
405
00:23:56,199 -->
00:23:58,959
It's a difference between the free stuff and the stuff you pay for.
406
00:23:59,359 -->
00:24:02,160
Um, and use the better models, even within what you're paying for.
407
00:24:02,680 -->
00:24:07,439
If you're a leader in the space, start giving your folks the encouragement and
408
00:24:07,439 -->
00:24:10,000
guidance to begin dabbling with this.
409
00:24:10,199 -->
00:24:12,520
Ask them to try these tools out.
410
00:24:12,959 -->
00:24:17,280
Um, ask them to document what, how they're using it and what value they're
411
00:24:17,280 -->
00:24:19,079
getting and what, where they're not getting value.
412
00:24:19,680 -->
00:24:27,920
Um, above all, ask them and, and counsel them to retain their cognitive agency.
413
00:24:27,920 -->
00:24:30,079
That's a term I'm going to use regularly.
414
00:24:30,439 -->
00:24:35,520
Um, as I write about this stuff, you own the output you own.
415
00:24:35,560 -->
00:24:37,680
So think about what comes out of that machine.
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00:24:38,199 -->
00:24:39,520
Think about what that is.
417
00:24:39,560 -->
00:24:43,599
Content is telling you and then translate it and reject the parts that don't align
418
00:24:43,599 -->
00:24:48,280
with your judgment and your own, uh, uh, experience, but start dabbling with that
419
00:24:48,280 -->
00:24:48,439
stuff.
420
00:24:48,439 -->
00:24:53,160
So give your people the freedom to do it, communicate the wins that come out of
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00:24:53,160 -->
00:24:56,839
that, share that across the board and, and really begin to use it.
422
00:24:56,839 -->
00:25:00,000
So, so the first and foremost thing I will say to any practitioner leader or
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00:25:00,000 -->
00:25:02,199
otherwise is begin to use these tools.
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00:25:02,199 -->
00:25:04,920
If you don't use these tools, you will never understand them.
425
00:25:05,079 -->
00:25:08,400
You will never understand them and don't wait for perfect, right?
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00:25:08,640 -->
00:25:12,800
That's the point of your experience in judgment is that you retain agency to
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00:25:12,800 -->
00:25:14,719
accept or reject what it's telling you.
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00:25:16,040
So that's the first and foremost thing.
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00:25:16,760 -->
00:25:20,640
The other thing I would say is if you're a leader, you really have to think more
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00:25:24,439
holistically about the deployment of these sorts of tools within your
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00:25:24,479 -->
00:25:25,280
organization.
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00:25:25,319 -->
00:25:28,199
And that's of course, the technology piece.
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00:25:28,319 -->
00:25:34,239
One of the posts I've got on, on the, on the site on Procura.com provides a
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00:25:34,239 -->
00:25:36,640
four point sort of model to think about these things, right?
435
00:25:36,640 -->
00:25:41,119
There's the technology, which you have to consider and understand, but that's
436
00:25:41,119 -->
00:25:43,359
one part of the overall picture.
437
00:25:43,400 -->
00:25:48,959
The second piece is what I call focus, meaning how, where do you orient your
438
00:25:48,959 -->
00:25:50,040
thinking and your focus?
439
00:25:50,040 -->
00:25:51,959
You have to think about outcomes.
440
00:25:51,959 -->
00:25:53,280
You have to think about value.
441
00:25:53,359 -->
00:25:57,959
In other words, yes, you know, there's the whole thing that procurement, we think
442
00:25:57,959 -->
00:26:01,760
about process standardization and we think about compliance and those are
443
00:26:01,760 -->
00:26:02,800
important things, right?
444
00:26:02,800 -->
00:26:07,520
So I don't, I don't discount any of that, but at the end of the day, we're really
445
00:26:07,520 -->
00:26:08,280
about outcomes.
446
00:26:08,359 -->
00:26:13,800
And if we have to mess with the process a little bit, painting accountability, of
447
00:26:13,800 -->
00:26:14,400
course, right?
448
00:26:14,439 -->
00:26:17,920
And ownership, but mess with the process or accelerate the process in order to get
449
00:26:17,920 -->
00:26:19,719
to a better outcome, think in that way.
450
00:26:19,719 -->
00:26:20,760
So orient your focus.
451
00:26:20,760 -->
00:26:24,359
So think about the tech, orient your focus towards outcomes.
452
00:26:25,119 -->
00:26:28,560
The third piece is if you're a leader, think about the operating model, right?
453
00:26:28,839 -->
00:26:34,520
How do you rethink the operating model, um, to, to really account for these sorts
454
00:26:34,520 -->
00:26:34,920
of tools?
455
00:26:34,920 -->
00:26:40,199
So think about, um, everything from whether you insource to whether you
456
00:26:40,239 -->
00:26:42,560
outsource, do you make versus buy?
457
00:26:42,920 -->
00:26:45,880
And I think you have to think a lot more flexibly about those sorts of things.
458
00:26:45,880 -->
00:26:49,880
Think about what you locate close to the center of procurement versus the stuff
459
00:26:49,880 -->
00:26:51,160
you let the businesses handle.
460
00:26:51,560 -->
00:26:58,640
And then you can craft, um, an organization or operating model that makes, uh, that
461
00:26:58,640 -->
00:27:02,199
takes advantage of the kinds of opportunities these tools offer.
462
00:27:02,959 -->
00:27:06,680
And so the last thing I would say, so tech, focus, operating model, but the last
463
00:27:06,680 -->
00:27:07,599
thing is around mindset.
464
00:27:07,599 -->
00:27:12,119
How do you change the mindset of your people to really account for this?
465
00:27:12,119 -->
00:27:15,479
I talked about outcome orientation as being an important one, but the other
466
00:27:15,479 -->
00:27:20,079
three that I sort of throw out there is if you think about people centric skills,
467
00:27:20,880 -->
00:27:24,199
how do you move from being a process administrator to being more of an
468
00:27:24,239 -->
00:27:25,839
orchestrator of outcomes?
469
00:27:26,479 -->
00:27:30,040
There's a lot that's packed into that word of being an orchestrator of outcome of
470
00:27:30,040 -->
00:27:34,079
that phrase of orchestrator of outcomes, because what it suggests is you can think
471
00:27:34,079 -->
00:27:35,319
holistically about the problem.
472
00:27:35,319 -->
00:27:39,199
You can understand the piece parts that are there, and then you can pull together
473
00:27:39,199 -->
00:27:43,479
the relevant elements that are needed in order to meet the outcome you're going
474
00:27:43,479 -->
00:27:43,800
after.
475
00:27:44,239 -->
00:27:48,199
So that's really essential to be able to have that skill.
476
00:27:48,199 -->
00:27:53,319
And, and that's what, why I say 60 to 80% of folks, I I'm not sure I'm ready for
477
00:27:53,319 -->
00:27:53,800
that, right?
478
00:27:53,800 -->
00:27:56,640
Because they have been taught to be like this, right?
479
00:27:56,680 -->
00:27:58,160
Siloed in terms of what we do.
480
00:27:58,400 -->
00:28:02,719
And look, I get why that's how the function has grown over the decades.
481
00:28:03,000 -->
00:28:07,359
And that's how the enabling and supporting technologies have supported us in doing
482
00:28:07,359 -->
00:28:10,040
that sort of work, but we've got to start thinking differently now.
483
00:28:10,079 -->
00:28:15,000
So I would say being an orchestrator, having much deeper business acumen, not
484
00:28:15,000 -->
00:28:18,239
just P&L literacy, but I'm saying the value chain and how you think about how
485
00:28:18,239 -->
00:28:19,280
you rethink about that.
486
00:28:19,680 -->
00:28:23,959
And then last but not least is a lot of these human leverage skills, right?
487
00:28:23,959 -->
00:28:28,119
Which is all the soft stuff like, you know, relationship development,
488
00:28:28,119 -->
00:28:29,400
stakeholder management.
489
00:28:29,439 -->
00:28:30,880
How do you communicate?
490
00:28:30,880 -->
00:28:32,199
How do you build a better narrative?
491
00:28:32,920 -->
00:28:35,160
How do you think more creatively, right?
492
00:28:35,680 -->
00:28:42,119
Soft skills, but so essential, so essential to performance.
493
00:28:42,479 -->
00:28:45,199
So it's, there's a lot to take on.
494
00:28:45,239 -->
00:28:46,599
There's a lot to think about, right?
495
00:28:46,599 -->
00:28:51,959
But from everything to the technology, to the focus, to the operating model, to the
496
00:28:51,959 -->
00:28:55,680
mindset, and then the skills that you need to be able to execute against that,
497
00:28:55,680 -->
00:28:55,920
right?
498
00:28:56,160 -->
00:29:00,640
As a, as a human being, as a practitioner around orchestration, around business
499
00:29:00,640 -->
00:29:05,239
acumen, and then human leverage or mindset issues, those are really critical
500
00:29:05,239 -->
00:29:05,599
aspects.
501
00:29:05,599 -->
00:29:09,959
So there's a lot to take on, but long story short, if that's all like just too
502
00:29:09,959 -->
00:29:11,520
much at this point in time, that's fine.
503
00:29:11,920 -->
00:29:18,839
Just start dabbling in these tools and dabbling intentionally from a workflow
504
00:29:18,839 -->
00:29:19,400
point of view.
505
00:29:19,560 -->
00:29:24,479
How can I take this and how can I use it to replace a set of tasks that I no
506
00:29:24,479 -->
00:29:30,000
longer need to do, but whose output I will evaluate and I will judge to make sure
507
00:29:30,000 -->
00:29:30,920
that it is on point.
508
00:29:31,199 -->
00:29:35,040
Start doing that and you'll start getting value ASAP.
509
00:29:35,119 -->
00:29:35,319
Good.
510
00:29:35,319 -->
00:29:39,319
I'm going to play a little bit of that back to you here, because I think you
511
00:29:39,319 -->
00:29:41,760
touched on a lot of key points.
512
00:29:41,760 -->
00:29:45,640
I always like to dig the gold out of that and bring forth the insights.
513
00:29:45,640 -->
00:29:50,239
So one is people should learn to use the tools.
514
00:29:50,239 -->
00:29:55,280
They should actively be working with the tools today and not so much experimenting,
515
00:29:55,280 -->
00:29:56,680
but just understand how they work.
516
00:29:56,719 -->
00:30:01,839
Because I think it's definitely one of those tools where you intend to use it for
517
00:30:01,839 -->
00:30:05,599
one thing and then you realize, oh, wait, I can do this with it as well, right?
518
00:30:05,599 -->
00:30:08,280
And it can help me get to this answer.
519
00:30:08,280 -->
00:30:15,280
But understanding how the underlying tech works, the logic of it, the utility of it,
520
00:30:15,280 -->
00:30:20,800
the value of it, the relative amount of hallucination of it that you have to check
521
00:30:20,800 -->
00:30:26,520
against, knowing the tool is one of the key things and being familiar with the tool.
522
00:30:27,280 -->
00:30:33,760
And then I think the rest of everything else you said, Omer, was really all the
523
00:30:33,760 -->
00:30:38,839
stuff the tool can't do that a human needs to be able to do if they want to be a
524
00:30:38,839 -->
00:30:43,479
strategic contributor in an organization are the things to work on.
525
00:30:45,079 -->
00:30:45,439
100%.
526
00:30:45,439 -->
00:30:47,479
Understand the business context.
527
00:30:48,040 -->
00:30:55,839
So really understand why is the IT shift, everything to the cloud in the next six
528
00:30:55,839 -->
00:30:57,680
months, so important, right?
529
00:30:57,680 -->
00:30:59,439
Why is that context so important?
530
00:30:59,880 -->
00:31:03,800
Understand what they're trying to accomplish, maybe in something, if you're
531
00:31:03,800 -->
00:31:08,479
on the direct materials side, with why are we trying to reduce this?
532
00:31:08,479 -->
00:31:10,000
Do we have margin pressure?
533
00:31:11,040 -->
00:31:13,160
Do we have failures in the field?
534
00:31:13,199 -->
00:31:16,640
You know, what is driving this, let's say, a material change that you're going to make?
535
00:31:16,640 -->
00:31:16,800
Right?
536
00:31:16,800 -->
00:31:22,680
So you're telling, basically what you're telling the audience here is beef up and
537
00:31:22,680 -->
00:31:29,479
become a smarter, more strategic member of the organization, right?
538
00:31:29,959 -->
00:31:34,959
Because the folks that just want to move things from box A to box B and make sure
539
00:31:34,959 -->
00:31:38,719
any exceptions are handled and it's all neatly ticked and tied and put away,
540
00:31:39,520 -->
00:31:41,199
there's going to be a robot doing that.
541
00:31:42,000 -->
00:31:42,599
100%.
542
00:31:42,719 -->
00:31:43,239
100%.
543
00:31:43,239 -->
00:31:51,439
And I would even take it beyond that to say, in many organizations, we talk about,
544
00:31:52,160 -->
00:31:56,280
oh, if I deliver X percent savings, that's the value I brought to the table.
545
00:31:56,319 -->
00:31:58,719
And yes, that's never going to go away, right?
546
00:31:58,880 -->
00:32:00,359
That value has to be brought.
547
00:32:01,160 -->
00:32:02,479
But let's expand our thinking.
548
00:32:02,479 -->
00:32:08,520
So when I talk about higher order value and outcomes, right, how can we accelerate
549
00:32:08,520 -->
00:32:11,959
the time to market for this particular product from six months down to four
550
00:32:11,959 -->
00:32:12,599
months, right?
551
00:32:12,680 -->
00:32:14,040
What do we need to do to get there?
552
00:32:14,359 -->
00:32:20,640
Or, let's say our organization has a new product development path that features
553
00:32:20,640 -->
00:32:24,640
sort of innovation as part of their core ethos, right?
554
00:32:25,040 -->
00:32:25,920
So how do you do that?
555
00:32:25,920 -->
00:32:27,640
Well, hey, guess what?
556
00:32:27,680 -->
00:32:31,599
We are at a unique point when you talk about direct materials or you talk about
557
00:32:31,599 -->
00:32:35,800
packaging, which goes here or direct or indirect, depending on the organization.
558
00:32:35,800 -->
00:32:40,599
But if you take something like that, you have certain ingredients that you buy
559
00:32:40,599 -->
00:32:43,280
that go into a particular product that you manufacture.
560
00:32:43,280 -->
00:32:48,199
You have certain types of packaging that you use that has implications both from a
561
00:32:48,239 -->
00:32:51,880
go-to-market, market-facing, customer-facing perspective, but also from a
562
00:32:51,880 -->
00:32:54,839
logistics and transportation implications perspective, right?
563
00:32:55,239 -->
00:33:02,280
Well, who's better suited to be able to canvas the supply base and identify where
564
00:33:02,280 -->
00:33:05,520
the latest innovations are taking place and where the most movement is taking
565
00:33:05,520 -->
00:33:05,800
place?
566
00:33:05,800 -->
00:33:07,280
Well, yeah, great.
567
00:33:07,280 -->
00:33:07,599
You know what?
568
00:33:07,599 -->
00:33:11,599
We're going to go get better deals and better contracts in place and better
569
00:33:11,599 -->
00:33:17,439
suppliers on this particular ingredient or this particular packaging, but wouldn't
570
00:33:17,439 -->
00:33:21,680
it be more valuable to say, let's do those things, but wouldn't it also be
571
00:33:21,680 -->
00:33:26,640
valuable to say, you know, we've been using this sort of packaging, but here's
572
00:33:27,000 -->
00:33:29,439
a new development that's coming out on the horizon, right?
573
00:33:29,479 -->
00:33:32,599
We did, we used to do a chunk of this work at the SmartCube, we're on patent
574
00:33:32,599 -->
00:33:33,839
intellectual property research.
575
00:33:34,119 -->
00:33:37,800
Who's making the innovations in this space and what are they doing and how are
576
00:33:37,800 -->
00:33:38,520
they applying it?
577
00:33:38,880 -->
00:33:43,680
Because if we can be first to market, to incorporate that, that's real end user
578
00:33:43,680 -->
00:33:49,880
value that we can get, or it's points of margin in terms of just more efficient
579
00:33:50,640 -->
00:33:52,479
transportation, as an example, right?
580
00:33:52,479 -->
00:33:53,599
Or lower transportation costs.
581
00:33:53,880 -->
00:33:58,400
So there's all sorts of values we can bring, which move us from our traditional
582
00:33:58,400 -->
00:34:03,800
metrics of we followed the process, we mitigated risk, we ensured compliance,
583
00:34:03,800 -->
00:34:07,160
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, to we facilitated better outcomes.
584
00:34:07,520 -->
00:34:13,199
And at the end of the day, if you're a business unit, we talk about wanting a
585
00:34:13,199 -->
00:34:14,120
seat at the table, right?
586
00:34:14,120 -->
00:34:17,919
It's the most cliched phrase we hear in procurement, right?
587
00:34:18,360 -->
00:34:19,639
Well, how do you get a seat at the table?
588
00:34:19,639 -->
00:34:23,520
You get a seat at the table when the folks who are at that table that were running
589
00:34:23,520 -->
00:34:28,679
that table, basically say, Hey, where's the procurement person?
590
00:34:28,879 -->
00:34:32,280
Let's get them in the room because every time that person's in the room, we get
591
00:34:32,280 -->
00:34:36,600
good ideas or it facilitates a better decision in terms of what we're trying to
592
00:34:36,600 -->
00:34:36,639
do.
593
00:34:36,639 -->
00:34:39,879
When they start saying those things, that's when we, and the only way we're
594
00:34:39,879 -->
00:34:43,719
going to get there is if we facilitate better outcomes and we think in terms of
595
00:34:43,719 -->
00:34:44,600
outcomes, right?
596
00:34:44,840 -->
00:34:48,399
So that to me is kind of the Holy grail that we got to keep focusing on.
597
00:34:49,520 -->
00:34:49,800
Right.
598
00:34:49,800 -->
00:34:52,560
You said outcomes about 38 times there, I think.
599
00:34:52,959 -->
00:34:54,320
I lost count.
600
00:34:55,080 -->
00:34:57,080
No, but that is it though.
601
00:34:57,080 -->
00:35:00,800
I think that's the essence of it because we've talked before about the importance
602
00:35:00,800 -->
00:35:03,040
of context to good judgment.
603
00:35:04,159 -->
00:35:07,919
If you're there just trying to drive savings because you think that's your one
604
00:35:07,959 -->
00:35:11,120
and only metric and that's, what's always important to the business.
605
00:35:11,120 -->
00:35:12,399
And that's how I get bonus.
606
00:35:12,399 -->
00:35:13,439
That's how I get measured.
607
00:35:14,120 -->
00:35:19,560
And your internal stakeholder is trying to get a marketing campaign launched because
608
00:35:19,560 -->
00:35:23,199
they want to take advantage of a shift in the market that's happened and you're
609
00:35:23,199 -->
00:35:25,199
holding them back from doing that.
610
00:35:25,399 -->
00:35:28,600
You're not understanding the outcome they're trying to, they want to get to
611
00:35:28,600 -->
00:35:32,199
market fast, the hell with savings for right now.
612
00:35:32,560 -->
00:35:34,159
We'll go get those later.
613
00:35:34,600 -->
00:35:39,479
But right now the imperative is to get to market before our competition
614
00:35:39,479 -->
00:35:41,239
does so that we can grab share.
615
00:35:41,560 -->
00:35:44,679
And that's the context and that's the reason that people need to
616
00:35:44,679 -->
00:35:46,840
be oriented to business outcomes.
617
00:35:47,360 -->
00:35:52,520
And I've been on the outcome preaching for about the last 10 years because I've
618
00:35:52,520 -->
00:35:56,399
just watched people like think that, Oh, I know what they want.
619
00:35:56,399 -->
00:35:57,280
They always want this.
620
00:35:57,280 -->
00:35:59,399
I'm like, you're not paying attention.
621
00:35:59,919 -->
00:36:00,199
Yeah.
622
00:36:00,639 -->
00:36:00,800
Yeah.
623
00:36:01,159 -->
00:36:06,159
No wonder your organization's being dismissed and not getting to go to
624
00:36:06,159 -->
00:36:08,439
the big meeting or have that seat.
625
00:36:09,000 -->
00:36:13,000
Well, you're not paying attention to what your internal client
626
00:36:13,000 -->
00:36:14,439
is telling you is important.
627
00:36:15,679 -->
00:36:18,760
And until you get that ability to pull that in.
628
00:36:18,760 -->
00:36:23,879
So I think what I'm hearing here for sure, and it's always good to become
629
00:36:23,879 -->
00:36:28,239
more knowledgeable and more broad thinking about the business, right?
630
00:36:28,679 -->
00:36:35,439
But, but it's never been more important maybe now because all the other stuff
631
00:36:35,439 -->
00:36:39,919
that you used to think it was important to worry about is going to likely be
632
00:36:39,919 -->
00:36:43,120
automated or taken care of by some, something else that can do it.
633
00:36:43,439 -->
00:36:48,479
You really need to understand what is the, the outcome the business is looking
634
00:36:48,479 -->
00:36:54,159
to achieve to be valuable and to, to survive and thrive and I think in this future.
635
00:36:54,719 -->
00:36:54,879
Yeah.
636
00:36:54,879 -->
00:36:55,479
A hundred percent.
637
00:36:55,479 -->
00:36:59,840
And, and look, if you go back to, to, to functions that procurement has
638
00:36:59,840 -->
00:37:02,639
traditionally had trouble working with, right?
639
00:37:03,439 -->
00:37:08,840
Uh, HR benefits, legal, marketing to use, you know, the example that you,
640
00:37:08,840 -->
00:37:12,239
that you raised earlier, those are classic functions where, you know, as a
641
00:37:12,239 -->
00:37:17,159
function, we've made strides being able to better work with, but it's been hard.
642
00:37:17,199 -->
00:37:20,800
And the reason it's been hard is for all of these things, which is they're saying,
643
00:37:21,239 -->
00:37:26,719
well, you don't understand the outcomes we're after and the entire set of
644
00:37:26,719 -->
00:37:31,320
variables that are needed to be thought through to get to those better outcomes.
645
00:37:31,360 -->
00:37:35,239
And by the way, those variables of, of, of those variables, price
646
00:37:35,239 -->
00:37:37,000
is just one piece of it, right?
647
00:37:37,239 -->
00:37:39,120
How do you think more holistically and understand it?
648
00:37:39,159 -->
00:37:41,919
And that's the challenge we've got to step up to right now.
649
00:37:41,919 -->
00:37:43,479
We've made progress, that's for sure.
650
00:37:44,000 -->
00:37:48,560
But also rest assured that in every single function that's out there, there
651
00:37:48,560 -->
00:37:53,120
is a startup that is saying we can help you source this stuff really, really well.
652
00:37:53,199 -->
00:37:53,479
Right.
653
00:37:53,879 -->
00:37:54,320
And.
654
00:37:55,000 -->
00:37:59,080
Uh, if the, if the practitioner doesn't show that insight and judgment and
655
00:37:59,080 -->
00:38:02,159
holistic thinking to be able to drive towards better outcomes in the context
656
00:38:02,159 -->
00:38:03,840
of what the corporation wants, guess what?
657
00:38:03,840 -->
00:38:06,399
The vendor's ready and willing to go after it.
658
00:38:06,760 -->
00:38:11,600
So how do you show not an ability to displace the vendor, but that you can
659
00:38:11,600 -->
00:38:15,520
bring that vendor in and then work with them to really create much better outcomes.
660
00:38:15,719 -->
00:38:15,959
Right.
661
00:38:16,120 -->
00:38:16,399
Right.
662
00:38:16,959 -->
00:38:19,560
Again, at the end of the day, if the vendor is bringing a tech, if you're
663
00:38:19,560 -->
00:38:23,280
no better than the machine, there's no value, let's go with that vendor.
664
00:38:23,879 -->
00:38:26,959
But the combination, that's where the real impact is.
665
00:38:28,080 -->
00:38:28,719
For sure.
666
00:38:28,760 -->
00:38:34,760
And, uh, you know, we, in, uh, in the last place we worked together, we
667
00:38:34,760 -->
00:38:37,439
always talked about taking that pyramid and flipping it, right.
668
00:38:37,439 -->
00:38:40,040
Making the people more strategic, right.
669
00:38:40,040 -->
00:38:42,879
One of the things you need to be more strategic is time.
670
00:38:43,560 -->
00:38:47,840
And we used to offer up that time by saying, let us handle these execution
671
00:38:47,840 -->
00:38:50,959
tasks and these, these transactional things.
672
00:38:50,959 -->
00:38:56,000
We'll try to automate the daylights out of those so that you have more time to
673
00:38:56,000 -->
00:38:59,159
understand the business needs better, to spend more time building those
674
00:38:59,159 -->
00:39:04,320
relationships to, uh, developing a keen understanding of the outcomes that all
675
00:39:04,320 -->
00:39:08,080
your stakeholders need to drive in, in the functional areas you're supporting.
676
00:39:08,800 -->
00:39:14,439
Well, now if there's anything that gives you time, you know, it's AI is going
677
00:39:14,439 -->
00:39:16,639
to continue to contribute to that time.
678
00:39:16,639 -->
00:39:19,639
So eventually you have so many people with so much time, you
679
00:39:19,639 -->
00:39:20,679
don't need all those people.
680
00:39:20,679 -->
00:39:21,760
Let's be real about it.
681
00:39:21,760 -->
00:39:22,679
I think you're right.
682
00:39:23,439 -->
00:39:26,040
We've reached peak employment already in procurement.
683
00:39:26,239 -->
00:39:28,560
Now it's going to, it's going to land somewhere.
684
00:39:29,000 -->
00:39:34,120
And I think it lands with the people that really understand the business
685
00:39:34,120 -->
00:39:38,560
outcomes that really have the context in mind and know exactly what their
686
00:39:38,560 -->
00:39:43,320
mission is when they're working with the business to go out and, uh, and make
687
00:39:43,320 -->
00:39:46,320
sure, uh, you know, that, that the objectives that they're trying to
688
00:39:46,320 -->
00:39:48,280
accomplish are the right objectives.
689
00:39:48,760 -->
00:39:49,040
Yeah.
690
00:39:49,080 -->
00:39:49,639
A hundred percent.
691
00:39:49,639 -->
00:39:52,560
And the way, the way, if I was a practitioner, the way I sort of think
692
00:39:52,560 -->
00:39:55,959
about this is, look, we've talked about a lot of these things and some of this
693
00:39:55,959 -->
00:39:59,439
can, if you're, if, if you're a regular practitioner, some of it can seem pretty
694
00:39:59,439 -->
00:40:00,239
scary, right?
695
00:40:00,280 -->
00:40:00,840
Holy crap.
696
00:40:01,040 -->
00:40:01,879
How do I, you know?
697
00:40:02,879 -->
00:40:07,919
But what you just said is, is on point, which is, this is what we've been asking
698
00:40:07,919 -->
00:40:13,360
for for years, which is, I don't want to do all the stuff that's down here in that
699
00:40:13,360 -->
00:40:13,879
pyramid.
700
00:40:14,280 -->
00:40:15,919
I've, you know, we've always said it, right?
701
00:40:16,719 -->
00:40:17,959
We didn't, we don't want to do that work.
702
00:40:18,000 -->
00:40:18,719
Well, guess what?
703
00:40:19,199 -->
00:40:25,120
Now we have technology that, okay, in some aspects it's eliminating, in others,
704
00:40:25,120 -->
00:40:28,479
maybe it's not eliminating it completely, but over time it'll help, right?
705
00:40:28,760 -->
00:40:33,520
And all of that stuff that is, uh, fundamental firefighting, we're not going
706
00:40:33,520 -->
00:40:34,600
to take away all the firefighting.
707
00:40:34,639 -->
00:40:37,760
That's just the nature of the beast is such that that's not going to all go away.
708
00:40:38,280 -->
00:40:40,439
But a lot of this stuff, we're going to get taken off our plate.
709
00:40:40,439 -->
00:40:41,760
So it's an opportunity.
710
00:40:42,080 -->
00:40:44,719
What we've always wanted is at hand.
711
00:40:45,439 -->
00:40:49,000
And that's going to require us to step up and skill up and really
712
00:40:49,000 -->
00:40:50,399
move ourselves to that next level.
713
00:40:50,399 -->
00:40:54,159
And I think, I think it's a, it's a positive challenge that we have to
714
00:40:54,159 -->
00:40:55,639
embrace and really take forward.
715
00:40:56,439 -->
00:40:56,760
Yeah.
716
00:40:57,000 -->
00:40:57,840
No doubt about it.
717
00:40:58,679 -->
00:40:59,399
That's been great.
718
00:40:59,439 -->
00:41:01,280
No, that's, uh, it's really helpful.
719
00:41:01,280 -->
00:41:05,040
I think, uh, any, any practitioners that are listening, hopefully you're able
720
00:41:05,040 -->
00:41:11,399
to take a lot of this away, really start, start leveling up people, um, and use
721
00:41:11,399 -->
00:41:13,479
the technology to help you level up.
722
00:41:14,080 -->
00:41:18,439
Uh, whether that's enabling you to level up or it's taking away, uh, work
723
00:41:18,439 -->
00:41:22,760
that's enabling you to have more time to, to really increase your skillset.
724
00:41:23,320 -->
00:41:26,360
And understand, you know, what's, what's important, what does a business
725
00:41:26,360 -->
00:41:30,959
really need in a, in a procurement function, uh, I think is, I think is so
726
00:41:30,959 -->
00:41:35,120
important though, yeah, it's in, in, you know, these evolutions have
727
00:41:35,120 -->
00:41:37,479
happened, uh, right through the years.
728
00:41:37,479 -->
00:41:37,879
Right.
729
00:41:37,879 -->
00:41:42,040
I was listening to a podcast this morning about, you know, 90 some odd
730
00:41:42,040 -->
00:41:44,560
percent of people used to work in agriculture.
731
00:41:45,080 -->
00:41:47,399
It's I think less than 2% today.
732
00:41:48,159 -->
00:41:52,760
And, uh, there's still a lot of people around, they're working
733
00:41:52,760 -->
00:41:54,239
on different things, right.
734
00:41:54,280 -->
00:41:58,120
And, uh, you know, there's, there's, it's just, uh, it's, it's shifts
735
00:41:58,120 -->
00:41:59,919
that happen throughout history, I think.
736
00:41:59,919 -->
00:42:03,360
And we're in the middle of one of those shifts or maybe not the middle yet.
737
00:42:03,439 -->
00:42:08,000
Uh, we're, we're still in maybe the early innings, but it's going to happen fast.
738
00:42:08,000 -->
00:42:12,040
This is the fastest shift I think I've ever seen in my lifetime.
739
00:42:12,600 -->
00:42:16,879
Uh, and I think, uh, you know, those that are ready, those that see
740
00:42:16,879 -->
00:42:20,560
where it's going and do something about it are going to be better, uh, better
741
00:42:20,560 -->
00:42:25,760
suited to, to, you know, move on, uh, you know, with their job in this, this new
742
00:42:25,760 -->
00:42:29,479
paradigm, those that aren't, um, you know, that's, that's fine.
743
00:42:29,479 -->
00:42:32,800
Maybe they find something else to do, but, um, maybe they like
744
00:42:33,080 -->
00:42:34,560
all that transactional work.
745
00:42:34,959 -->
00:42:39,159
Uh, you know, but I think, I think that the, uh, the profession is calling
746
00:42:39,159 -->
00:42:43,040
for something different now and, uh, the technology is there to enable
747
00:42:43,040 -->
00:42:46,040
something different and, uh, it's time to get on board with that.
748
00:42:46,639 -->
00:42:47,199
A hundred percent.
749
00:42:47,280 -->
00:42:47,600
A hundred percent.
750
00:42:47,600 -->
00:42:52,040
The, the, the, the profession is asking for it and the profession's customers,
751
00:42:52,080 -->
00:42:53,760
internal customers are asking for it too.
752
00:42:53,919 -->
00:42:56,560
So a hundred percent, I wholeheartedly agree.
753
00:42:57,239 -->
00:42:57,840
All right.
754
00:42:58,199 -->
00:43:02,600
Well, you've got a lot to write about, uh, and I wish you well with, with the new
755
00:43:02,600 -->
00:43:06,879
venture, but thank you so much, Omer, for, for joining us today on, on the
756
00:43:06,879 -->
00:43:11,120
Executive Edge podcast and sharing your thoughts about, um, where these people
757
00:43:11,120 -->
00:43:14,679
need to go, I'm going to look forward to continuing to read, um, do you want
758
00:43:14,679 -->
00:43:18,239
to maybe point people, if they want to follow your stuff, obviously you're on
759
00:43:18,239 -->
00:43:23,120
LinkedIn, but where else can they kind of keep up with your point of view on, on AI?
760
00:43:23,639 -->
00:43:23,919
Sure.
761
00:43:23,919 -->
00:43:28,280
So, uh, I'm on LinkedIn pretty regularly, but the, the site, if you want to go,
762
00:43:28,439 -->
00:43:32,560
uh, read the content and the, the, the, the information that I put out
763
00:43:32,560 -->
00:43:39,560
there is at Procuria.com that's P for Peter, R O Q U R I A.com.
764
00:43:39,919 -->
00:43:43,879
So Procuria.com, you can go there and, uh, please subscribe to my, it's a
765
00:43:43,879 -->
00:43:48,600
Substack platform, but subscribe to it and, uh, you'll get them, uh, regularly.
766
00:43:49,399 -->
00:43:50,360
Great, great.
767
00:43:50,360 -->
00:43:51,159
Thank you, Omer.
768
00:43:51,520 -->
00:43:54,120
Well, it's been great talking to you until next time.
769
00:43:54,159 -->
00:43:58,080
Uh, I look forward to, uh, keeping, keeping in touch with you and kind
770
00:43:58,080 -->
00:44:02,080
of watching this, uh, evolution that we're in the middle of and see where it goes.
771
00:44:02,239 -->
00:44:02,800
Thanks a lot.
772
00:44:03,399 -->
00:44:04,080
Thanks so much, Greg.
773
00:44:04,120 -->
00:44:05,239
It's been great being on the show.
774
00:44:06,199 -->
00:44:06,679
Take care.
