What is your role and your day-to-day responsibilities?
As CEO of a software SaaS company, I spend time with my leadership team focusing on the product and obsessing over the problems we’re trying to solve for our customers. I focus on making sure all of our teams – internal product management, sales, engineering and customer support – are functioning at optimal levels. I also enjoy spending time with our customers, hearing about their pain points and how they’re actually using the software we’ve built.
What is something that you wish more people knew about sourcing and procurement?
Sourcing isn’t just about finding the right vendor or supplier, it’s about understanding the problems business stakeholders are trying to solve. Very often I see teams obsess over the solution, its features and price, rather than focusing on the problem the stakeholder is experiencing. The best sourcing and procurement teams I’ve worked with are strategic in their approach and never lose sight of the pain points stakeholders have throughout the sourcing process.
In your opinion, what are 3 skills that sourcing and procurement professionals of tomorrow must have?
1. Critical thinking – having the ability to ask and understand the “why” behind an exercise coupled with a deep understanding of the problem the business is trying to solve
2. Empathy – partnering with the business stakeholder and empathizing with their situation
3. Interpersonal skills – having the ability to build trust and maintain long-standing relationships with business stakeholders and suppliers
What does the future of sourcing and procurement look like to you?
I think the evolution of technology in this space (machine learning, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things) will cause large-scale disruption of how we go about our day-to-day job functions and roles. These new technologies will elevate the roles of humans, giving them the time and space to complete more strategic tasks and activities rather than tactical, day-to-day busywork.
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