SSON Smart Procurement Series: Procurement Outsourcing

This past Friday I had the opportunity to interview Colin Cram, whose 30 year public sector experience has made him one of the leading experts on public sector procurement initiatives centered around shared services and outsourcing.

In fact in his just released paper “Towards Tesco – improving public sector procurement” which was discussed for the first time here on the PI Window on Business, Cram contends that “£25bn of annual efficiency savings in the public sector could be realised within three years through a restructuring of public sector procurement and greater use of shared services and outsourcing.”

And as the hype of procurement outsourcing has been around for sometime – does the promise of benefits outnumber the challenges?

Those of you who have followed me for the past few years will note that I have never been a fan of the overarching, monolithic pursuits of a government looking to “centralize” the procurement function under an enforced compliance model. Given the fact that 85% of all such initiatives have and continue to consistently fail, this of course has come as no surprise.

However, and given the compelling data presented in Cram’s paper in which the simplicity of his practical observations that through a long and varied career experience has been unencumbered by partisan interests and vendor relations, I am somewhat enthused about the prospects associated with shared services and in particular procurement outsourcing.

As part of the Smart Procurement Series, which is currently running on the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network – Joining me on Tuesday April 13th at 9:00 AM EST on the PI Window on Business to discuss the true potential of what has become a dynamic, high growth industry are three senior executives from companies that are determined to not only influence but define the procurement outsourcing world.

Remember to click on the SSON logo above to access both the live as well as on-demand broadcast on Tuesday, April 13th at 9:00 AM EST.

Our Guest Panel:

Jack Hess, VP, Procurement and Supply Chain Services, Genpact

Jack Hess is a Vice President in Genpact’s Procurement and Supply Chain Services. Jack is responsible for delivering transformational business solutions in the Source to Pay and Supply Chain areas by utilizing domain experience, strategic SUM approaches, strong change and program management skills.

Over 20 years of experience working in high technology industries holding key change management leadership positions and has deep domain experience in strategic sourcing and negotiation, procurement business transformation and e-procurement software implementation.

Tim Brown, Vice President, Solution Design, ICG Commerce

As Vice President of Solution Design, Tim Brown is responsible for developing procurement outsourcing solutions.  In this role, Tim helps clients develop solutions that drive significant cost reductions and greater control over their non-core spending resulting in hundreds of millions in savings.  Before assuming his current role, Tim led multiple teams in the delivery of services to many of ICG Commerce’s customers in the manufacturing, retail, and consumer packed goods industries including two of ICG Commerce’s largest BPO Procurement Outsourcing customers Goodyear and Whirlpool.

Prior to ICG Commerce, Tim was a management consultant at A.T. Kearney working with sourcing and procurement teams at Global 1000 companies.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova and a Masters of Public Health from Tulane University.

Pontus Björnsson, Senior Vice President, IBX Group AB

As Vice President Marketing & Product Development, Pontus Björnsson is responsible for developing procurement software and outsourcing solutions. He manages the strategic partnerships, is responsible for the product pipeline and deals with strategic demands of IBX customers. Pontus Björnsson holds an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management. At IBX he held the position of operations director and professional services director before becoming head of Market Unit Sweden. Before IBX, Pontus was a management consultant in supply chain management at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and channel partner account manager at Hewlett Packard.

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