What's New

Workshop: "From Category Manager to Trusted Advisor" – 14 June 2010

We recently ran a very successful series of category management workshops for Barclays Bank.  These workshops integrated interpersonal skills development with the creation of a category strategy. They were highly interactive with many exercises and we used actors to role play stakeholders to fully embed the learning experience. We have produced a short video summary of the first day of the workshop which we'd be happy to share with you - please contact Duncan Brock: dbrock@futurepurchasing.com

DILF Strategic Commodity Risk Management Conference – 8 June 2010

Simon Brown of Future Purchasing, will be attending the DILF Strategic Commodity Risk Management Conference in Copenhagen on 8 June 2010.  If you attending the conference Simon would be happy to meet you. Please contact him: sbrown@futurepurchasing.com.

For more information about this very interesting conference, please use the following link: http://www.dilf.dk/scrm10.

Value Delivered By SRM: Report Published – 22 March 2010

In 2009, Future Purchasing and Vantage Partners held structured interviews with the initiators and leaders of SRM programmes at 22 European and US companies with highly regarded SRM programmes to better understand: what business objectives led them to develop an SRM programme; which SRM approaches and practices are key to delivering value; what value have they realised from SRM; and how have they measured that value. A report has now been published that summarises the findings from these interviews. For more information, and to obtain a copy of the report, please contact Mark Webb: mwebb@futurepurchasing.com

 

SOPO Conference 2009 – 11 November 2009

Jon Hughes, the Executive Chairman of Future Purchasing spoke at the 2009 SOPO Conference in Manchester about the advances in collaboration and category management. He then ran a workshop during the conference with support by Simon Brown on the same topic.

Watch the summary video here:

ProcureCon 2009 – 8 November 2009

Mark Webb, the Managing Director of Future Purchasing, attended the ProcureCon 2009 conference in Brussels and while he was there he ran a round table session on SRM. Watch the summary video of the round table session here:

Building the case for SRM – 5 November 2009

Many organisations struggle to get maximum value out of supplier relationship management programmes. Our latest article for CPO Agenda, based on research by Future Purchasing and Vantage Partners into companies with highly regarded SRM programmes, explores ways to capture and measure the value. Read the article here: "Building the case for SRM".

Launch of Future Purchasing Leaders – 21 October 2009

If there is a common denominator across senior executives and CPOs about procurement, it is the need to recruit and develop powerful procurement leadership teams capable of advancing the change agenda.  Future Purchasing, in conjunction with external specialists in leadership, has launched a bespoke service – Future Purchasing Leaders – for large organisations in both the private and public sector.

We are combining the most senior members of our own executive team with top quality and highly credible leadership experts to deliver Executive Search, Leadership and Strategy Challenge, Leadership Assessment, Leadership Coaching, and Future Direction – Outplacement.  Full details can be found in the Leaders section on the web site, and if you would like more information please do not hesitate to contact Jon Hughes: ejhughes@futurepurchasing.com.

Category Management research – 14 September 2009

Following the successful article on Category Management that appeared in CPO Agenda, Spring 2009, Jon Hughes & Simon Brown are carrying out research into the current status and application of category management in the public sector. The study will be completed by end October 2009, with conclusions and report available from mid-November. If you would like to participate in the research please contact Simon Brown: sbrown@futurepurchasing.com.

Best Practice briefing – 20 August 2009

A recent request from a client led us to create a comprehensive briefing on current best practices in procurement. This is now available to share with other procurement leadership teams who are looking to establish their strategy and priorities to improve overall procurement capabilities. If you are interested in a briefing, please contact Mark Webb: mwebb@futurepurchasing.com.

Compass upgrade completed - 30 June 2009

Compass, our comprehensive competency assessment solution for procurement teams, has been upgraded with better reporting capabilities and improved graphics. For more information about the changes, and how Compass can be used to improve the capabilities of your team, please contact Duncan Brock: dbrock@futurepurchasing.com.

Website updated - 18 June 2009

Improvements have been made to our website to make it easier to navigate around, and to make some of the pages easier to read. The changes were made based on feedback from our clients, and from people who regularly access materials from our site. Please send us your feedback on the changes to enquiries@futurepurchasing.com.

Coaching sessions at Procurement Leaders Forum - 18 May 2009

Alison Smith demonstrated the Frameworks for Change Process (FCP) at the Procurement Leaders Forum by doing 15 minute sessions with delegates. Here are Alison's reflections on the sessions:

"One of the insights that resonated with me was about the criteria we use to make decisions. It was about us not having to compromise on aiming for perfection but just reassessing the criteria we're using because the criteria may actually be constraining perfection. I would imagine that the Greek's criterion of 'having passion' would generate very different decisions than the criteria that often appear in business strategies such as "customer retention" or "profitability". I'm not saying these two aren't important but by using other criteria to make decisions you might actually retain more customers and reduce costs and thereby improve profitability more than if you have them as decision making criteria in their own right. Why not try it and see?". More information about FCP will appear in a future monthly bulletin.

Diageo win Procurement Leaders Award - 13 May 2009

Congratulations to Diageo for winning the Procurement Leaders Award for People Development on 12 May 2009.  We were very pleased to see them win, and to see that some of the work that we did with them last year has led to this recognition from the rest of the Procurement community.

Procurement Leaders Forum - 30 April 2009

A number of us will be at this year's Procurement Leaders Forum at the Banqueting Hall in London on 13 May 2009. If you are attending the forum then please come and see us at our stand, or altenatively if you'd like to arrange a meeting please contact Mark Webb by email: mwebb@futurepurchasing.com.

March's monthly bulletin - 29 March 2009

In this month's monthly bulletin we cover two different topics both of real relevance to Procurement teams in the current economic environment. Jon Hughes has written an article with John Dickson, head of global procurement at Diageo, to look at how Diageo refreshed and updated their approach to category management. Also, in the first of a series of Insight Guides on cost management, we look at how to balance short term crisis tactics with mid-term priorities and build a properly planned framework for action. View the bulletin here.

Mark Webb speaking at SRM conference – 18 March 2009

Mark Webb, Managing Director of Future Purchasing, will be speaking at The Conference Board SRM Conference on 1 April 2009 in Atlanta. The theme of the conference is ‘Strategic collaboration and innovation to help weather the economic storm’. Please come and say hello to Mark if you’re attending the conference.

CPO Agenda article - 11 March 2009

Jon Hughes from Future Purchasing and John Dickson, head of global procurement at Diageo have just published an article in the latest CPO Agenda magazine entitiled “Refreshing a core process”. Category management has been the cornerstone of procurement excellence for more than a decade, but in many firms it has lost touch with business needs. This article covers how premium drinks maker Diageo put some fizz back into a universal practice

February’s monthly bulletin - 12 February 2009
Our latest monthly bulletin was issued on 12 February 2009 and included two short articles. One focused on ways to accelerate savings delivery from suppliers, and the other on how to quickly improve team effectiveness. Our monthly bulletins are emailed out, and if you'd like to receive a copy please register your interest. View the bulletin here.

Jon Hughes speaking at VIB conference - 1 February 2009

Jon Hughes, the Executive Chairman of Future Purchasing, will be speaking at the VIB 12th Day of Purchasing and Logistics in Antwerp on 23 April 2009.  The conference theme is ‘Value Creation in the Supply Chain’.  If you are attending the conference and want to meet Jon there, then please let us know.

SRM value research - 15 January 2009

Research Study on the Value of Strategic Supplier Relationship Management.
Future Purchasing and Vantage Partners are launching a joint study to examine the value that leading organizations are realizing from their supplier relationship management (SRM) activities. The study will comprise in-depth research with approximately 20 organizations across a range of sectors in the US and Europe. The study builds on research published in 2007, although the full report from this exercise will only be available to participating organizations.