SUSTAINABILITY
“ The advent of AI , robotics and automation allows procurement departments to analyse performance information more efficiently , more effectively and with greater visibility ”
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— Richard Guest , Principal Consultant , Berwick Partners
who can and want to understand the strategic impact of value-adding procurement . This opens up new , innovative and often leftfield sources from which to seek leadership talent – not just from traditional overlapping functions like sales .
The journey from commercial project manager to procurement is one example of leaders jumping between functions to meet strategic sourcing requirements – drawing on analytical and commercial skills , alongside experience of dealing with different business cultures and departments .
Exemplifying the trend is Tom Rae , Group Director of Purchasing & Supply Chain at JCB and a member of CIPS Procurement Power List 2019 . After starting in procurement , he moved into a number of General Manager roles across engineering and manufacturing , before returning to the sector . This arguably gave him the opportunity to gain wider commercial and strategic exposure than somebody who spent
AUGUST 2019