This month’s exclusive cover story is a big one!
We were granted access to the group procurement team at Bosch to produce an incredible insight into purchasing and supply chain at the global provider of technology and services…
Bosch purchasing powering pack: Teaming up governance, procurement & service
As with any large and successful enterprise, procurement and supply chain play a vital role in the competitiveness of Bosch, whilst also aiding the company’s efforts towards a sustainable future. The company generated sales of €90bn in 2023 and its purchasing volume exceeded 50% of turnover. Keeping the purchasing and supply chain function competitive, agile, and sustainable is a huge undertaking. A mission that requires both strategic independent agility and a collaborative, community-minded culture that can draw upon its vast network of insights.
The person overseeing the procurement functions across Bosch’s four business divisions is Thomas Schulte, Head of Governance, Supply Chain Management Purchasing. Like many of his colleagues, he was attracted by the idea that he and Bosch could change the way that people live, in a meaningful and compassionate manner. “In purchasing, you have this opportunity to meet people, to create things and to make a change,” he enthuses. “And this is something I find extremely inspiring.”
Amazon Business: Why CPOs need a seat at the C-suite table
Stephanie Lang, Director and General Manager for Amazon Business, highlights the significance of the CPO role and provides actionable takeaways for businesses looking to leverage their product leadership effectively
The role of the Chief Procurement Officer is in the midst of seismic transformation and change.
No longer a back-office role hidden in the background, today’s CPO has risen to become one of the most important components of a company’s operations. Out of sight no longer.
Witnessing the evolution first hand is Stephanie Lang, Director and General Manager for Amazon Business. Lang speaks exclusively to CPOstrategy and shares her extensive experience and expertise, shedding light on why CPOs are integral to an organisation’s strategic and operational success. The discussion covers various facets of a CPO’s responsibilities, including driving product innovation, aligning strategies with business goals, and fostering cross-functional collaboration.
Lang also explores how CPOs serve as the bridge between market needs and company capabilities, thus playing a crucial role in sustaining competitive advantage.
Teamviewer: A unique approach to procurement
Alexander Pilsl, Director of Procurement at TeamViewer, talks AI, agility, and driving procurement transformation with a unique approach to leveraging the partner ecosystem…
The world is changing. New challenges, from geopolitical instability to rising fuel costs to the worsening climate crisis, are conspiring to create what a recent procurement industry report referred to as “an environment of permanent crisis”. Old value chains are no longer stable or profitable in the ways they used to be, and organisations are fighting to find new methods of tackling this new era defined by disruption.
In the face of this new reality, savvy companies are looking for new ways to position procurement within their organisational structures. And not only avoid the challenges posed by the modern procurement landscape, but leverage new strategies and technology to unlock value for the business. In turn, a new breed of more agile, more collaborative procurement functions is emerging, focused on leveraging technology and their partner ecosystems in equal measure.
Modern procurement
“I think TeamViewer was exceptionally smart to recognise that the world, and therefore the expectations placed on procurement as a function, has changed,” says Alexander Pilsl, Director of Procurement at TeamViewer. Pilsl joined TeamViewer in November of 2023 with a mandate to create a modern, value-driven procurement function delivering on both the traditional goal of cost containment, but also in the ESG and risk management spaces, all the while maintaining the function’s exemplary record on compliance.
“When I arrived at TeamViewer, I found a solid procurement process built around a theme of compliance,” Pilsl recalls. TeamViewer went public in 2019, and put a lot of strategic emphasis on meeting the regulatory and compliance requirements that accompany that transition. “I arrived and found a PO compliance rate north of 95%,” says Pilsl. “That’s just incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that. The mandate, then, was to modernise to meet the new challenges posed by the procurement sector, and deliver new value without losing that level of compliance.”
Creactives: Artificial intelligence with a human touch
Adriano Garibotto, Co-founder and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Creactives SpA, discusses the generation of enormous benefits for CPOs and supply chain chiefs through a unique brand of AI…
Artificial intelligence has opened an ever-expanding universe of possibilities and opportunities as it continues its breathless acceleration. The genie is well and truly out of the lamp, and we must all find the most positive uses of its power. None more so than in procurement and supply chain where AI is reconfiguring the functions at every level.
Adriano Garibotto is Co-founder and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Creactives SpA, which creates and deploys AI solutions for procurement and supply chain digitisation. He has joined us for a discussion on just how Creactives and its unique AI tools are generating enormous benefits for CPOs and supply chain chiefs, covering spend analytics, master data governance, and procurement guidance automation.
As well as being responsible for sales and marketing at Creactives -headquartered in Verona, Italy and with offices in Spain, Germany, and France, Garibotto is also a member of the company’s board, along with fellow Co-founders Paolo Gamberoni and Francesco Bellomi, CEO and CTO respectively. Garibotto takes us back to the beginning. The very beginning.
The very beginning
According to many historians, there were three inscriptions written upon the ancient Greek Temple of Apollo at Delphi, one of which resonates with Garibotto: ‘Know thyself’. “4,000 years ago, the Greeks said everything that is needed,” he explains from his Verona office. “And we are still there. To know yourself in procurement implies answers to four questions. What I buy? From whom I buy? When and how? These are the questions you need to be able to answer if you want to set your benchmark, if you want to set your starting point, if you want to be able to answer who you are, OK? Who you could be will depend on the negotiation and other things. But what you are today is something that comes up from the analysis of the data, which is the point where everything starts.”
