An Interview on Trends in the World of Procurement with Daniel Barnes
For this episode of Supplier Experience Live by HICX, we are joined by Daniel Barnes to discuss procurement trends. Daniel’s expertise lies in bringing Procurement and commercial teams in line with wider company aims. He does this to, in his words, “create a ton of value, build robust supply chains, analyze spend and ensure contract terms aren’t war and peace for the sake of it.” Daniel has also founded an online resource center, World of Procurement, to create content to make such topics more accessible, engaging and interesting.
Why the industry needs World of Procurement
On how World of Procurement came into being, Daniel reveals that the idea came to him as he noticed a gap within the industry due to so much content being what he describes as “dull, boring, dry, and full of business jargon.” He envisioned World of Procurement as an online content space for millennials, and Gen Z in the future, where they can come to learn about Procurement and supply chain in a fun, yet informative way.
Central to the offering is the podcast of the same name, where Daniel brings in knowledgeable individuals and experts on the topics of procurement, supply chain, contract management, blockchain and new technologies. He hopes to make this type of content available and accessible for professionals who are not yet leaders within their fields to help them get there.
The importance of business alignment and governance
The disconnect between procurement teams and the rest of the business is something Daniel is passionate about tackling and is trying to remove. Daniel senses that procurement teams often have their own agenda, separate from the rest of the business, as he adds, “They were more focused on savings, or what I would call traditional procurement methodology.”
Although this is not necessarily bad, he believes there are sometimes more important factors to consider, such as risk, value to all stakeholders, and serving overall business needs and objectives.
Additionally, Daniel is adamant that the objectives for procurement teams should not only be aligned with business goals, but dictated by leadership, using the top-down approach. Although it seems simple, he claims that the most common barrier as to why this is often not achieved is due to poor communication between stakeholders.
New procurement trends that are here to stay
According to Daniel, one of the trends that is only going to gain more traction in the future is Supplier Relationship Management, or SRM.
“If you have transactional relationships, as soon as anything bad happens within global supply chains, you lose those transactional relationships. Where you get the value is from the suppliers that you’ve got a good relationship with.” He emphasizes to procurement teams to stop focusing on trying to get miscellaneous discounts and instead look to build relationships with suppliers, which is going to benefit them more in the long run.
Lastly, Daniel states procurement teams are starting to focus more on the quality of their data as the benefits of good data are becoming more apparent. “If you have good data, and you understand the current health of your supply chain, then you understand your suppliers”, he adds.
Connect with Daniel Barnes:
Supplier Experience Live from HICX is available on all major Podcast streaming platforms:
Posted in
