Changing Tides: What’s New for Next-Gen Procurement Executives

We asked five industry experts how they see the new generation of procurement executives transforming the procurement profession. Get the full scoop below.

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How do you see the new generation of procurement executives transforming the procurement profession?

Benjamin Wee

Resorts World Sentosa

Not understanding and not embracing new technology is no longer acceptable. Transactional work will be fully automated. Procurement executives will need to focus on innovation and deep knowledge in the fast-changing marketplace. In a digital age where information is abundant and massive, data analytical skills and ability to focus on business goals (not being distracted or misled or misinterpreted) will be necessary.

Hanil Kim

Mondelez

Procurement will focus more on strategic sourcing activities (e.g. sourcing strategy development, SRM, etc.) and stakeholder management vs. transactional STP activities. Transactional activities will be outsourced or automated.

Gaurav Sharma

Apollo Tyres

New generation of procurement executives will need to have not only domain expertise relevant to procurement/commodity cycles but also data science skills. Hence, procurement modelling will be a key expertise area to look out for. Identification of "Leaky Buckets" i.e. information loss between one function to other is a critical interface. Hence, quantifying these "Leaky Buckets" is extremely important. Business matrices such as Supplier Risk management, Value at Risk, Inventory Optimization etc have to move from "What has happened" to "What will happen".

Vinod Kumat

Reliance Group

The new procurement executives will tend to use more of data analytics, price predictions, AI and e-Auctions, than rely on traditional means.

Murugan Shobana

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts

Focus on strategic activities. Use human resources optimally and achieve greater synergies between all internal and external stakeholder. Establish procurement's role as a valued partner and strategic business advisor. Be totally Ethical and have integrity, be loyal to the Company at all times. Start the negotiation process by saying that we are totally ethical and provide us the right prices (most of the Companies budget 5 to 15% as commission to be given to employees while selling products). When you mention this before starting the negotiation process the Vendor will provide a different price structure which will be much beneficial to our organization. We have achieved this at our company at many of our purchases and were able to bring down costs. We should look at not only price but we must look at overall TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), our main objective should be to get the best Cost, without Compromising on Quality and on time Delivery.