After the runaway success of DPW Amsterdam for the last five years, it’s no surprise that the organisation’s first ever North America event would be just as well-received.
DPW launched its flagship event in 2019, and the subsequent annual conferences, based in Amsterdam, have gone from strength to strength. The 2023 event saw thousands of procurement professionals pouring in to learn, to share, to make connections.
As a result, and based on popular demand from sponsors and attendees, DPW decided to host a small, intimate event in New York in June 2024. And it couldn’t have gone more perfectly. CPOstrategy was fortunate enough to attend this exclusive event, joining over 130 procurement pioneers for a day of learning, discussion groups, and sharing expertise with peers.
Matthias Gutzmann founded DPW based on a gap he saw in the industry. The entire reason he launched the organisation was because he identified a need for events focused on digital transformation in procurement, particularly recognising startups at the forefront of innovation.
DPW focuses on getting the best speakers to tackle procurement’s most critical issues and priorities. The same held true for the DPW NYC Summit, where the main topics of conversation included the exponential impact of AI and the future of procurement, with notable speakers including Scott Belsky and David Rogers.
“A lot of what’s out there for procurement events, it’s the same old, same old,” explains Gutzmann. “It’s the same old speakers, the same old topics. We bring new topics into the community, focusing on technology first. It makes sense to prioritise innovation.”
Why NY?
The idea for DPW was actually formulated in New York. Gutzmann was living in Brooklyn when the idea first struck him to introduce something new and unique to the procurement industry. He later moved back to Germany, and launched the first DPW event in Amsterdam.
“If you do well in Europe, the next big market is North America,” Gutzmann states. “You have to ask yourself, ‘where do we go?’ As a launch event, you want to get access to the CPOs, the top leaders in procurement. New York has the highest density of CPOs in the US. It’s really low-hanging fruit to launch DPW here.”
DPW across borders
As DPW has grown, so too has demand to expand beyond the flagship event in Amsterdam. While Amsterdam was the perfect place to launch the world’s most influential procurement technology event, there are many other hubs of innovation to be tapped. And DPW is aiming to fulfil that role.
“There’s definitely a widespread desire for something focused around technology and digital transformation,” says Gutzmann. “In North America, the B2B communities and events tend to be a bit broader. The need we’re fulfilling is in the tech space, and there’s a big need for that – specifically a focus on AI.
“People are also looking for a new experience. We’ve built the brand in Amsterdam, the industry has heard about it, and they’re ready for more. We entered the market cold and so much of our popularity has been word of mouth. That just goes to show how needed DPW was and is.”
Defining procurement
What’s interesting is that, on the one hand, procurement increasingly has a seat at the table for many organisations. The segment is making decisions, driving innovation, utilising advanced technology. On the opposite end of the spectrum, procurement is sometimes a complete unknown. In its current form, it’s a new role with blurred borders that’s evolving all the time.
The problem with this is that people don’t necessarily know what procurement entails, or they assume it’s not an interesting or attractive job. This has led to a talent shortage in the sector, which was an ongoing – and concerning – topic of conversation throughout the DPW NYC Summit.
“If you want to drive digital transformation success, you need to bring in new talent,” says Gutzmann. “It’s time for the next generation to come in. However, people don’t know what it is. They know sales, they know marketing, they know finance – but what about procurement?”
Driving change
And it’s people that drive real change. Not technology, but people transformation. The lack of tech talent, procurement talent, and of knowledge around what procurement truly is, is what led Gutzmann to launch the DPW Next 100.
“It’s a young talent community focusing on the next generation of procurement tech professionals under 30,” he explains. “We’re doing our bit to nurture the next generation of talent. Once people are in procurement, they typically stay because it’s an amazing function. You get to touch so many areas, you’re dealing with suppliers in an external ecosystem – it’s great. Some people think procurement isn’t attractive, but I disagree, especially as procurement becomes increasingly digital.”
The educational element of bringing awareness to what procurement truly is is something of an ongoing mission for DPW. Gutzmann adds: “My belief is that procurement will be a game changing function within businesses. This is because it brings in outside innovation from suppliers. That’s the biggest value proposition, in my opinion.
“It takes time to build a brand, so creating a positive name for procurement is a work in progress. But Luxembourg University launched its digital procurement masters a couple of years ago, and there are always news stories about supply chain issues on the television. These are the sorts of things that are putting procurement on the map. It might not be top of mind just yet, but we’re here to change that.”
The future of DPW
It’s impossible to discuss DPW at a DPW event and not consider what the future will bring for these cutting-edge procurement events. The Amsterdam event will be occurring this year as usual between the 8th and the 10th of October, bringing established and new procurement professionals together to discuss the sector’s biggest challenges. But what about after that?
“The pandemic really highlighted the fact that face-to-face events aren’t dying out,” Gutzmann confirms. “People are craving interaction on a personal level. What we’ve done is connect the right seniority levels with each other, making the best of the networking opportunities DPW offers.
“We also need to maintain intimacy, on the top level,” he continues. “There’s room and opportunities for broader events where we bring teams of eight-to-10 people from specific companies, over one or two days, along with something for more junior attendees. What I learned from the DPW NYC Summit is that people do want that intimacy, and that we should maintain and nurture that, while also building something bigger to bring in larger teams.”
As DPW looks to create new types of events and tap into areas like FinTech, the question of whether there will be another US event after the grand success of the DPW NYC Summit can be answered with another question: why not? There’s a demand, a hungry audience, and so much still to explore and learn as the sector morphs into new and exciting shapes every day. We can’t wait to see what DPW has in store next.
To find out all about the highlights of the DPW NYC Summit, read the overview in issue 52 of CPOstrategy.
