Business Transformation Leader Tony Gainsford joins us to explain how he used Supplier Collaboration, Process Mining and Automation Tolerances to drive successful procurement transformation at Molex.

Guest: Tony Gainsford – Business Transformation Leader, Molex

Host: Sarah Nelson – Senior Solution Advisory,SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Erik Derenne – Director, Strategic Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Justin Morse – Vice President, Solution Advisory, SAP Americas, Finance & Spend

Oftentimes people think of a business transformation or a procurement transformation as simply a technology project. That the best way to transform and improve the way the business runs is to just find newer software, with fancier bells and whistles, and that alone will solve all the issues, improve all the KPIs, and drive value for the organization.

And if that still doesn’t deliver the expected ROI, the expected results? What next?

Our guest today is Tony Gainsford, Business Transformation Leader at Molex. Tony has spent decades running successful transformation programs at Molex and knows first-hand what it takes to avoid common transformation pitfalls and achieve desired outcomes. In fact, Tony led an effort to digitize collaboration with all their Suppliers across the entire order-to-pay process through the SAP Business Network and strengthened the relationship with his Suppliers in the process.

Tony highlighted just how important it is to have a solid vision before beginning a transformation project and the need to be flexible along the way as new information is uncovered. He reflected on the benefits of using process mining and data mining tools to identify the gaps, bottlenecks and workarounds and how changes to the configurations, tolerances, rules and processes can turn issues into competitive advantages. The biggest revelation is that even in this age of AI, automation and digitization, the human relationship is still a vital component of the transformation process.

So, let’s dive in, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. I am your host Erik Derenne, and you’re listening to The Future of Procurement Podcast.

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SAP AI expert Ryan Skorupski takes us deep into the world of all things AI in procurement shining a light on what it is, what it can do, and what the potential implications are for the future.

Guest: Ryan Skorupski – Senior Director of AI/ML, SAP Spend Management

Host: Sarah Nelson – Senior Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Erik Derenne – Director, Strategic Solution Advisory, SAP Finance & Spend

Host: Justin Morse – Vice President, Solution Advisory, SAP Americas, Finance & Spend

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve undoubtedly heard that AI is here and it’s the next big thing for businesses. It will automate tasks, provide incredible insights into our data, streamline operations, cut costs, and improve revenue. Companies are pouring billions of dollars to create AI models, build data centers and infuse AI into every part of their processes.

But what exactly is AI? Where are we today on the AI maturity curve? What’s possible right now and what could be possible tomorrow?

Our guest today is Ryan Skorupski, a Senior Director of AI and ML for Spend Management solutions at SAP. With a background in finance, mathematics, data science and machine learning, Ryan brings a unique and knowledgeable perspective to the table. Today, he’s on the front lines for building the AI foundational model at SAP and applying it to the full suite of procurement applications and processes.

Ryan takes us back through the history of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) and how they are being used and applied in the business world. He emphasizes the importance of data in training the models and grounding the models to provide not just procurement-specific AI, but ultimately AI that’s fine-tuned to your specific company needs. Ryan also cautions that there is still much we don’t understand about how AI works and how to best utilize AI within the business, so it is imperative that everyone from IT to the business becomes trained on the capabilities of AI, the limitations of AI, and how best to infuse AI into our operations.

So, let’s dive in, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. I am your host Erik Derenne, and you’re listening to The Future of Procurement Podcast.

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SAP Solution Advisor, Andy Moe reflects on his past experiences in Category Management to share the secrets of great category managers and why having a category strategy is crucial in today’s turbulent economy.

Guest: Andy Moe – Director, Solution Advisory, SAP Spend Management

Host: Sarah Nelson – Senior Solution Advisory, SAP Spend Management

Host: Erik Derenne – Director, Strategic Solution Advisory, SAP Spend Management

Host: Justin Morse – Vice President, Solution Advisory, SAP Americas, Spend Management

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Procurement at large corporations with massive amounts of spend across a variety of categories is not easy. Especially in these highly unpredictable socio-economic times where disruption seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

What was once simply a function of finding the best prices, procurement is now tasked with balancing price, quality, availability, and delivery times while mitigating risk, maintaining good supplier relationships, favorable payment terms, sustainability regulations, and much more.

So how does procurement take on this herculean task?

Enter the category manager…

Our guest today is Midwest Director of Solution Advisory at SAP Ariba, Andy Moe. Andy draws on his background in Category Management at a large manufacturing company to explain why having a strategy for category spend is vital to handing market uncertainty and maintaining stability in the supply chain.

Andy uses the concept of a physical binder, a relic from his past life, as a prop to explain all the critical facets of a good category manager – how to use data to create an action plan to maximize the effectiveness of each category of spend and ultimately defend these decisions to key stakeholders in the organization.

As technology evolves and the job of a category manager becomes increasingly more complex, these activities have moved away from the analog, physical binder and toward digital solutions that combine data and insights with strategic procurement tools. This allows the best category managers to respond to disruption in real-time and in the best possible way for their company.

So, let’s dive in, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. I am your host Erik Derenne, and you’re listening to The Future of Procurement Podcast.

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SAP Procurement Webinar Series: ⁠https://events.sap.com/noam-discovery-your-grow-journey-procurement/en_us/home.html⁠

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