6 Success Stories - Agile in Procurement just Talk or Reality?!
The COVID-19 crisis has emphasised the importance of new -more agile- approaches in procurement. But is it just another buzzword, or has it become reality?!-Learn from 6 cases all around the world how agile in procurement impacted their business positively. One of the stories just won the World Procurement Award 2020!
This is a short review / summary of the 6 talks at the joint Online Meetup with CIPS Switzerland. More details such as e.g. recordings / Slides / follow-up’s with the speakers / etc will follow - STAY TUNED!
Intro & State of Agility in Procurement & Supply
John & myself kicked off the event with more than 250 participants from all around the world.
It was my honor to give an even bigger picture what’s going on in terms of agility all over the world and presented a summary of our global annual report State of Agility in Procurement & Supply.
Find the Report for FREE download here.
Our Conclusions
Business Agility became of strategic importance for all companies no matter on the buyer or supplier side
More an more commercial functions are or will be including in their company-wide Agile Transformation Initiatives
Lean-Agile Procurement is THE agile approach for Procurement beside standard agile approaches like Kanban / Scrum
Minority of companies includes their partners in their journey becoming more Agile together yet
Also is the value of more agile Contracts still underestimated
Finally for 2021 respondents concluded that Education in Agile Practices / Approaches / etc. is the number 1 strategic Priority
More about the Speakers
John Everett, Head of Procurement, BU Pigments at Clariant
Mirko Kleiner, Thought Leader in Lean-Agile Procurement, co-founder flowdays
SwissCasinos Group - Switzerland
Daniel started his talk with the question “Is sourcing of an ERP System in just 4 Weeks possible”?-Obviously it is and his story was recently awarded as the Winner of the World Procurement Awards 2020!
Our Conclusions
Having all 3 competitors in the same room to co-create their proposals, talk about any concerns / assumptions / questions / etc. was very beneficial also to get the right social- & cultural fit
The commercial “negotiations” took place as well and because having the RIGHT people their from all the parties a WIN-WIN could be agreed on, with significant savings
Scrum turned out as the optimal operating model for executing a cross-functional sourcing team
improving an Agile Contract together with all participants helped to align / setup the delivery team, so that they could start the day after and keeping the partnership as flexible as needed
More about the Speaker
Daniel Pellegrini, Former Head of Finance SwissCasinos Group
Zalando - Germany
Alejandro told the audience from quite a different story introducing more Professionalism in Procurement into a purely Agile Company like Zalando.
Our Conclusions
Zalando is a 10 Years old Startup with more than 10,000 Employees, which is already Agile as an organization and introducing more “structure” in Procurement needs to be adapted to the current culture & mindset
Also at Zalando the Procurement has applied Scrum in their commercial organization, while swarming cross-functional e.g. for making negotions more effective, etc.
Zalando also applied agile practices such as Scrum in development of their P2P Implementation with awesome impact to time-to-market and customer satisfaction
More about the Speaker
Alejandro Basterrechea Head of Procurement Excellence Zalando
AGCO International GmbH - Global
Konstantin introduced us in the world of direct sourcing and how agile principles such as collaboration & transparency with partners / competitors could foster innovation & improve business success.
You might know AGCO’s Brands of Tractors such as e.g. Fendt, Valtra, Massey Ferguson, etc.
Our Conclusions
AGCO’s approach of Agile Product Clinics where they bring together current Partners & Competitors to review the current m modules / components of their tractors turned out as a very effective way to come up with new ideas / improvements and also to select alternative vendors
Those Agile Product Clinics need a cross-functional support lead by a team consisting of Product Management / Marketing, Engineering, Production and Procurement. What a surprise that AGCO uses Scrum as operating model for this cross-functional team - the most effective way to organize a team.
Combining those workshops with revisiting / improving the current agreements will boost the outcomes for both parties at buyer and supplier side even beyond.
More about the SpeakerS
Konstantin Meier-Kulenkampff, Vice President Purchasing & Materials EME at AGCO
Jan-Henner Theissen, CPO-Advisor & Interim Manager targetP!
Gazprom Neft - Russia
Boris introduced us how to deal with finding the right partner in a huge country like Russia and that applying LAP is also much more fair to all the parties.
Our Conclusions
Lean-Agile Procurement workshops, to negotiate with multiple vendors simultaneously, can be done 100% online. It even makes a lot of sense if the spend is not so big and the vendors would have inadequate expenses
the principles of Lap could be applied to sourcing in the public sector too
in many cases with a high promotion of innovation it’s recommended to run a proof-of-concept in parallel
More about the SpeakerS
Boris Zobnin, Head Procurement Digitalization Program
Ivan Dubrovin Agile Coach & Certified LAP Trainer ScrumTrek
Air France KLM - France/Global
Frédéric introduced us in his world of Cargo and how to outsource a strategic product development at AirFrance KLM.
Our Conclusions
Social- & Culture fit turned out as important than the hard facts such as price / quality / etc.
Just by bringing together the right people and forming a cross-functional team they could ensure that all interests are covered
Instead of eliminating the less promising offers they have been able to improve all of them in the big room event together with all the vendors / competitors and choose the best out of it!
It’s not just about fast sourcing, but also faster delivery value to the business.
LAP has create much more than just a relationship, we became friends!
More about the SpeakerS
Frédéric Jaques CARGO IT MANAGER Air France KLM
Sophie Durand Agile Coach & Certified LAP Trainer Goood!
APA Group - Australia
Henriette introduced us in how applying Agile is currently changing a whole Industry and also her Live!-In other words she’s talking us trough how Lean Agile Procurement has helped to shape significant change in individuals, teams, organisations and supply chains within the energy industry
Our Conclusions
Agile is more than just a new way of working, it changes lives of the people involved
Instead of just following the sourcing process procurement became part of innovation, with e.g. impact on how people in Australia see their energy consumption
the inclusive approach and applying scrum to the core-team consisting of all capabilities / functions needed helped to align with the strategy faster and to find the optimal partner
More about the SpeakerS
Henriette Kamfer Category Specialist at APA Group
Marcus Ward Agile Coach & Certified LAP Trainer Twenty2 Collective
MORE
Join the CIPS Switzerland Linkedin Group here
FREE Download of the global annual report State of Agility in Procurement & Supply