This month’s cover story of CPOstrategy features a conversation with Heleen Du Toit, VP of Procurement at PepsiCo, who speaks exclusively to us about resilience, digital transformation, AI, and making procurement into a key enabler of business goals.
Just as the risks, challenges, and opportunities that define the global procurement landscape exist in a constant state of change and transformation, so too do the strategies and techniques procurement functions need to survive and thrive. The world turns and you must turn with it.
“Procurement excellence is about how entrepreneurial and innovative you can be in constantly employing new strategies to deliver transformation in the procurement agenda of your business,” explains Du Toit. “Yesterday we were placing purchase orders, today we are using generative AI to drive intelligent buying exercises. Yesterday we were bartering for a better deal, today we are dismantling value chains for more intricate value mining.”
Elsewhere, we also have an exclusive interview with Evgeny Trushin, CPO at coffee and tea giant JDE Peet’s, who discusses the organisation’s major procurement transformation, building a global, digitally-driven function, and why people and partnerships underpin his work.
“When I started my career, procurement was very much centred around the magic triangle of cost, quality, and service, which drove most of the expectations we faced,” recalls Trushin. “Things have evolved significantly since, with procurement now expected to play a far more strategic role as a viable internal business partner rather than a mere purchasing organisation.”
And be sure to check out our features with Tonkean and Bayer, as well as unmissable coverage from our team’s visit to New York City for the first DPW event in North America.
Read the latest issue of CPOstrategy here!
