source: IBM
Whenever you want to change something, do something differently or introduce something new, whether in life or in business, you really want to hear from and learn from the people who have done it before, who’ve faced those real-world challenges, and succeeded.
So on the topic of procurement transformation, we are delighted to be talking with an organization that has not only radically transformed its own complex procurement environment, but has translated its findings into doing the same for its customers.
IBM Procurement Services will be in live conversation with Spend Matters on Sept. 21 at 10 a.m. US Eastern time (3pm BST/4pm CET) to discuss how it achieved this and share experiences and learnings while weaving in insights from the first-ever market study on the end-to-end procurement services ecosystem of providers.
The more someone has had to overcome big challenges and solve bigger problems, the more credibility they have in advising others. They are the people you can relate to and are worth listening to. So if you are dealing with complex spend, demanding stakeholders, a tough business culture and a difficult change management environment, and you are striving for more influence with internal stakeholders and external customers, then this webinar with experienced people will be 45 minutes of your time well spent.
Hear from our speakers on digital transformation
Pierre Mitchell — Managing Director and Chief Research Officer at Spend Matters, a digital procurement transformation expert with 30 years’ industry, advisory and research experience — will be asking questions, including those from the audience, of two IBM senior and highly experienced procurement experts to hear about their learnings and advice.
Matthew Bounds is Senior Partner at IBM Procurement Services, with 30+ years of experience leading global teams and organizations with a current focus on transforming clients in the procurement outsourcing environment.
Norma Woodcome is Procurement Delivery Leader with 26+ years of experience leading global procurement and procurement outsourcing teams, with particular expertise in strategic sourcing, category management and transformation. Both were integral to making the IBM transformation experience a success.
IBM is perfectly placed to steer the audience through what can be the most challenging of change management projects, having experienced extreme procurement trials itself (in the shape of its tech shift to the cloud and its move toward the services world), carried out the most radical transformation and succeeded in turning a big ship around during these turbulent times of business and supply disruption.
It’s worth remembering that IBM Procurement Services works with IBM Global Services on both the BPO and transformation side, so not only have they reinvented themselves, all while managing $200 billion of their own spend, they have reinvented the same for clients while supporting them in managing their complex spend too. The ability to successfully serve internal functions and external customers in that way has taught them to be masters of transformation, so there will definitely be clear learnings that you can take back to your own organizations to think about, discuss or adopt.
One of the key topics for discussion will be around how IBM had to be scalable in their capability to manage spend transformation, both for themselves and for their customers. How they’ve used a combination of consulting and BPO knowledge to achieve results within a highly evolved tech environment (and during a changeout of legacy systems) affirms that if they can do it for a machine as large and complex as IBM, they can certainly do it for others.
BPO study findings
Another part of the discussion will focus on findings from a recent and wide-ranging Spend Matters BPO study on how consulting firms are moving to digital and altering themselves to be more transformative. We must remember that in the managed services world, digital is also affecting the procurement services market. So if you are looking to transform, there are many different services organizations that can help you, and they can be reached through many pathways. We’ll be offering some advice on that too.
At a time when the world is so volatile and there is so much change (notwithstanding climate change, emerging tech and business disruption) and new requirements are challenging the legacy procurement technology and services models, the theme of agile takes center stage. How you help the very big, sometimes unwieldly and static organizations to change when challenges seems to converge around them, will form another part of the discussion, because we need to have empathy for and learn from those who have already been there.
Join us with other CPOs and senior procurement leaders for what will be an absorbing 45 minutes, and bring your questions for our experts on “radical procurement transformation” with IBM and Spend Matters on Sept. 21, 10 a.m. Eastern.
