Fellow SAP Solution Advisor, Jay Brand shares his unfiltered thoughts on the driving factors of procurement transformations and how AI should factor into the procurement strategy.

Guest: Jay Brand – Director, Strategic Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Sarah Nelson – Senior Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Erik Derenne – Director, Strategic Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Justin Morse – Vice President, Solution Advisory, SAP Americas, Finance & Spend

Is the technology the ultimate driver of change in a procurement transformation? Can software magically fix poor processes, bad data, or unclear goals and KPIs? Does the transformation end when the new software goes live? Will AI be the solution for all these challenges?

Our guest today, Jay Brand, has been on both sides of the aisle having gone through procurement transformation during his time at 3M in addition to helping customers navigate transformations today at SAP. Drawing on his experiences, Jay answers these questions and more, with his signature style and directness that his customers and colleagues love.

Jay stresses the importance of a solid plan, strong leadership vision, and measurable KPIs in guiding the direction and success of any transformation program. He cautions against some of the typical roadblocks like analysis paralysis and designing to perfection and instead offers the mantra of “move fast and break things” as a way to fail fast and move on – figure out what works and adjust what doesn’t.

Additionally, Jay uses a vivid analogy to explain that true transformation doesn’t end when the go-live party happens. Implementing the new software is just one step in a constant cycle of analysis, reflection, adjustment and adoption that continuously evolves as circumstances change in the organization.

Finally, Jay discusses the role AI will play in all this and offers up a somewhat bold prediction that although AI will make things faster and more efficient, the role of the procurement professional and the processes of procurement will remain largely the same.

So, let’s dive in, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. I am your host Erik Derenne, and you’re listening to The Future of Procurement Podcast.

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Associate Partner at IBM, Curt Reppart talks about a new, selective transformation approach that helps his customers find balance in new and existing technology, processes and data.

Guest: Curt Reppart – Associate Partner, IBM

Host: Sarah Nelson – Senior Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Erik Derenne – Director, Strategic Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Justin Morse – Vice President, Solution Advisory, SAP Americas, Finance & Spend

When taking on any major business transformation or technology upgrade in your organization, two major decisions always take center stage.

1) Where do we begin?

2) Will we go Brownfield (lift-and-shift our existing system) or Greenfield (start fresh with new standards)?

Our guest today, Curt Reppart, has been helping companies navigate these questions for years and offers great perspective as an Associate Partner at IBM. Though it sometimes may make sense to do a Brownfield, lift-and-shift transformation or start completely fresh with a Greenfield implementation, often these options carry significant trade-offs such as carrying forward technical debt and poor processes or create massive disruptions to the business.

At IBM, Curt often suggests a third path to his customers and that is the Bluefield Implementation strategy, where customers use a selective approach that drives deliberate decisions about which configurations, processes and data to keep, redesign, or retire and where to adopt a more fit-to-standard approach.

Further, Curt makes a compelling case for Procurement being the ideal entry point for this transformation journey as it is often a highly disconnected, fragmented and over-customized area of the business in a space where collaboration extending beyond the four walls of the organization requires a certain level of standardization and conformity to succeed. This makes procurement the perfect catalyst for being intentional about what to keep and what to simplify.

So, let’s dive in, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. I am your host Erik Derenne, and you’re listening to The Future of Procurement Podcast.

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Business Transformation Leader Tony Gainsford joins us to explain how he used Supplier Collaboration, Process Mining and Automation Tolerances to drive successful procurement transformation at Molex.

Guest: Tony Gainsford – Business Transformation Leader, Molex

Host: Sarah Nelson – Senior Solution Advisory,SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Erik Derenne – Director, Strategic Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Justin Morse – Vice President, Solution Advisory, SAP Americas, Finance & Spend

Oftentimes people think of a business transformation or a procurement transformation as simply a technology project. That the best way to transform and improve the way the business runs is to just find newer software, with fancier bells and whistles, and that alone will solve all the issues, improve all the KPIs, and drive value for the organization.

And if that still doesn’t deliver the expected ROI, the expected results? What next?

Our guest today is Tony Gainsford, Business Transformation Leader at Molex. Tony has spent decades running successful transformation programs at Molex and knows first-hand what it takes to avoid common transformation pitfalls and achieve desired outcomes. In fact, Tony led an effort to digitize collaboration with all their Suppliers across the entire order-to-pay process through the SAP Business Network and strengthened the relationship with his Suppliers in the process.

Tony highlighted just how important it is to have a solid vision before beginning a transformation project and the need to be flexible along the way as new information is uncovered. He reflected on the benefits of using process mining and data mining tools to identify the gaps, bottlenecks and workarounds and how changes to the configurations, tolerances, rules and processes can turn issues into competitive advantages. The biggest revelation is that even in this age of AI, automation and digitization, the human relationship is still a vital component of the transformation process.

So, let’s dive in, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. I am your host Erik Derenne, and you’re listening to The Future of Procurement Podcast.

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Send feedback and questions to TheFutureOfProcurement@sap.com