Future of Sourcing - Global Sourcing Procurement https://www.futureofsourcing.com/tags/global-sourcing-procurement en Global Sourcing: Myth Versus Reality https://www.futureofsourcing.com/global-sourcing-myth-versus-reality <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2843%29.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2843%29.png" title="Global Sourcing" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1764-L6zRNSkglic"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2843%29.png?itok=qfRF_N4B" width="624" height="325" alt="Global Sourcing" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/supplier-collaboration-sharing-influence-for-shared-success">Supplier Collaboration: Sharing Influence for Shared Success </a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Global sourcing offers numerous benefits. Unfortunately, due to misinformation, many companies overlook global sourcing as a solution and miss out on potential productivity benefits. In this article and the complimentary infographic, we will explore and debunk some of the most persistent myths about global sourcing.</p> <h1>Myth 1: With So Many Global Outsourcing Partners Available, It&rsquo;s OK to Pick the First Provider That Stands Out to You.</h1> <p>Reality: While there is indeed a vast selection of global sourcing partners available, take the time to conduct due diligence and to seek a partner that specializes in the services, products, and applications for which you need manufacturing support.</p> <p>Just like domestic manufacturers, global sourcing manufacturers specialize in different areas. Assemble a list of options, compare and contrast pros and cons, and contact facilities (or a sourcing partner), if you need more information.</p> <h1>Myth 2: To See the Greatest Benefits of Global Outsourcing, Choose the Lowest-cost Partner.</h1> <p>While global sourcing can yield significant cost benefits, the lowest-cost facility is not necessarily the right choice. Be sure that a facility can meet the capacity, timing, and quality requirements that you and your end customer require.</p> <p>Also, keep in mind that lower costs are often not the only reason for using global sourcing. A global partner can provide expanded capacity, faster turnaround for large orders, and the ability for you to focus on core processes while components are manufactured elsewhere.</p> <h1>Myth 3: Language and Cultural Barriers Detract From the Effectiveness of Global Sourcing.</h1> <p>In today&rsquo;s global industrial manufacturing landscape, facilities maintain personnel well-versed in numerous languages and cultures, to offer the best possible service to manufacturing partners.</p> <p>In addition, global sourcing agencies are available to help bridge any communication gaps. With this level of service in place, you can feel confident that your questions will be answered and that you will have total transparency at every step of the process.</p> <h1>Myth 4: Global Sourcing and Offshoring Share a Stigma.</h1> <p>Offshoring is different from global sourcing in that it involves moving core production processes to a different country &mdash; a practice that continues to have a poor reputation. In global sourcing, you maintain domestic facilities, operations, and personnel.</p> <p>You can turn to global sourcing for supporting services such as additional capacity, component manufacture, assembly, warehousing, and more. Global sourcing keeps processes onshore &mdash; avoiding the stigma associated with moving operations elsewhere.</p> <h1>Myth 5: The Cost Benefits of Global Sourcing Are a Trade-off For Lower Quality.</h1> <p>Global sourcing partners now maintain stringent quality control processes and work with you to assure that their production is up to the standards you and your customers require.</p> <p>Contracts often contain quality clauses. You and your representatives will be able to monitor outsourced processes as needed. You will have access to traceable quality data for your records and for any customers who may require additional documentation. The myth of poor quality from outsourced manufacturers is no longer true.</p> <h1>Myth 6: One Must Find a Trustworthy Global Sourcing Partner Because You Will Have No Control Over Outsourced Operations.</h1> <p>While it is true that a trustworthy sourcing partner is beneficial, you do not have to worry about a loss of control over production operations upon signing the contract.</p> <p>Due to higher quality expectations, multilingual personnel and a changing competitive landscape, you can monitor every detail of outsourced operations and can step in as needed. With this control in place, an outsourced production will be up to the same standards kept in your facility.</p> <p>The accompanying infographic shares even more myths about global sourcing, as well as information about some of the myths described above.</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="1730" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://image.slidesharecdn.com/axia-infographic-190913130946/95/global-sourcing-myth-versus-reality-1-638.jpg?cb=1568380287" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" width="668"></iframe></p> <div style="margin-bottom:5px">Axia Sourcing is a <a href="https://axiasourcing.com/services/sourcing/" target="_blank">global sourcing</a> service provider.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-supply-chain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Supply Chain</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-sourcing-procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Sourcing Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supplier" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supplier</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Global Sourcing: Myth Versus Reality - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/global-sourcing-myth-versus-reality"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 20 May 2020 16:01:08 +0000 Tim Baker 1764 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/global-sourcing-myth-versus-reality#comments How Procurement Can Help Address the COVID-19 Crisis https://www.futureofsourcing.com/how-procurement-can-help-address-the-covid-19-crisis <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2823%29.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2823%29.png" title="COVID-19 Business social impact" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1739-L6zRNSkglic"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2823%29.png?itok=rX_P6TUs" width="624" height="325" alt="COVID-19 Business social impact" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>The COVID-19 crisis has brought us to a moment of reckoning. Today, it&rsquo;s clear that the world&rsquo;s most pressing challenges can&rsquo;t be solved by governments alone. Society is turning to businesses to help with critical issues like access to food, health services and supplies, educational materials and economic support.</p> <p>Yet the very businesses society relies on are also impacted by the crisis. The economic consequences are already prevalent. Social distancing has caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, while also reducing the demand for many goods and services &ndash; which is causing a significant slowdown in the global economy.</p> <p>Over the coming months, companies will continue to amass pressure from all directions. <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/what-customers-need-to-hear-from-you-during-the-covid-crisis" target="_blank">Consumers</a> expect brands they support to help their communities. Meanwhile, investors are already shifting their focus on ESG criteria as they realize the positive <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/fe90fc64-c76b-4490-83ce-cc783246b1ba" target="_blank">return on investment</a> (ROI) from&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 13.008px;">Environmental, Social and Governance (</span><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">ESG) stocks. Companies will also need to identify ways to engage their workforce, as many continue to face the challenges posed by </span><a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/remote-working-checklist-10-top-challenges-youll-face-during-the-giant-work-from-home-experiment/" style="font-size: 13.008px;" target="_blank">remote work</a><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">, </span><a href="https://hbr.org/2020/04/how-to-manage-coronavirus-layoffs-with-compassion" style="font-size: 13.008px;" target="_blank">layoffs</a><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">&nbsp;or other strenuous circumstances.</span></p> <h1>What If One Of The Solutions Was In Your Purchasing Power?</h1> <p>As CEOs, CFOs and other executives grapple with these challenges, procurement has a unique opportunity to step up and strategically support their entire organization. As companies urgently seek ways to protect their customers, clients and communities, procurement has a unique opportunity to support the people and places most impacted by COVID-19 &ndash; all while generating new business value for their organization.</p> <h1>It&rsquo;s Time To Source With Social Impact</h1> <p>Chief Procurement Officers and procurement teams can leverage their immense purchasing power to fund organizations on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis. By adopting <a href="https://sig.org/riding-wave-social-impact-sourcing" target="_blank">social impact sourcing</a> &ndash; the process in which a supplier agrees to direct a small percentage of their total transaction to a nonprofit, social enterprise or NGO mutually agreed upon with the buyer &ndash; procurement teams can generate entirely new sources of funding for COVID-19 relief efforts. Not only can this supplement other philanthropic activities or charitable donations, but it can actually help the firm create cross-company value benefitting human resources (HR), investor relations (IR), marketing and communications, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability.</p> <h1>Givewith&rsquo;s COVID-19 Response Initiative</h1> <p>Givewith enables companies to easily embed social impact into their sourcing and procurement processes to fund nonprofits, social enterprises and NGOs. In response to the crisis, <a href="https://givewith.com/" target="_blank">Givewith</a> has developed a <a href="https://sig.org/webinar/coronavirus-town-hall-leveraging-power-procurement-address-covid-19" target="_blank">COVID-19 Response Initiative</a> with support from <a href="https://www.bcg.com/" target="_blank">Boston Consulting Group</a> and <a href="https://sig.org/" target="_blank">Sourcing Industry Group</a> (SIG), allowing companies to route a small percentage of their B2B transactions to fund pre-vetted social impact organizations.</p> <p>In return, both the buyer and seller receive valuable assets for their business, including metrics on the services provided to people in need during the crisis and a variety of high-quality storytelling content. Videos, photos and press releases are afforded to businesses to share the impact with their customers, employees, communities and other key stakeholders. In fact, research by BCG shows that companies that use these assets can see an increase in employee engagement and retention up to 5% to 7% - a boost in Net Promoter Score (NPS) by up to seven points - and positively influenced ESG ratings.</p> <p>So why would suppliers be willing to underwrite these social impacts at no cost to the buyer? Suppliers benefit too, by seeing an increase in sales up to 7% and a better return on investment compared with other client acquisition tools like advertising, marketing, PR, events or white papers. Since social impact has a better ROI for the supplier, thereby improving their profit margin, both the buyer and suppliers see greater business value.</p> <h1>An Initiative To Quickly Catalyze Impact</h1> <p>For companies interested in joining the COVID-19 response initiative, Givewith is waiving its typical transaction fees and platform subscription fees until September 1, 2020, so that 100% of the funding generated by these transactions will go to social impact organizations tackling the COVID-19 crisis.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>To ensure the health and longevity of companies and their communities, we need new social impact solutions that deliver growth and value for businesses while also creating a robust and sustainable funding stream to address the fallout from COVID-19 &ndash; and, going forward, systemic issues like climate change, educational inequality or disparities in wealth. The time is now for companies to step up &ndash; and procurement can play a strategic role in enabling their company to do so.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/corporate-social-responsibility-csr" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Corporate social responsibility (CSR)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/social-impact-sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">social impact sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-sourcing-procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Sourcing Procurement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How Procurement Can Help Address the COVID-19 Crisis - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/how-procurement-can-help-address-the-covid-19-crisis"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div> Wed, 15 Apr 2020 19:01:04 +0000 Paul Polizzotto 1739 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/how-procurement-can-help-address-the-covid-19-crisis#comments COVID-19: Where is your supply disruption? https://www.futureofsourcing.com/covid-19-where-is-your-supply-disruption <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2821%29.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2821%29.png" title="Coronavirus map" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1737-L6zRNSkglic"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2821%29.png?itok=19pm3Tia" width="624" height="325" alt="Coronavirus map" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/reduce-supply-chain-vulnerabilities-with-strategic-sourcing">Reduce Supply Chain Vulnerabilities with Strategic Sourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>When the first few cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) were detected just four short months ago, few could have expected what has now become our new reality. We are in the midst of a global pandemic outbreak that tragically continues to claim the lives of thousands and disrupt the livelihoods of countless others. On top of that, it&rsquo;s also causing serious business, supply chain and economic disruptions worldwide. From shortages in supply and talent, to quarantine and border closures, the impact is increasing by the day, continuing to wreak havoc on businesses and supply chains.</p> <h1>Coronavirus Impacts on the Supply Chain</h1> <p>The effects of coronavirus are trickling throughout entire end-to-end supply chains. Quarantines, travel bans, social distancing measures and other restrictions are resulting in production slowdowns, delayed land pick-up and slowed seaport and air operations. On top of that, these travel bans and logistic hurdles make it even more difficult for procurement to properly identify alternate routes and bring new suppliers onboard.</p> <p>According to riskmethods&rsquo; customer supply chain intelligence, 81% of manufacturing companies are currently experiencing supply problems due to the Coronavirus. Additionally, their customers have experienced more than 46,000 supplier sites affected in China. Perhaps even more alarming, there&rsquo;s been a 44% rise in force majeure risk and a 38% increase in production shutdowns. When suppliers can&rsquo;t fulfill contracts, it has a trickle-down effect across the supply chain and globalized economy. And as the crisis persists, expect to see a spike in financial risks relating to the viability of suppliers and manufacturers. In fact, of all related cases of riskmethods&rsquo; customers&rsquo; supply chains, more than half of coronavirus-related threats indicate financial distress and instability (56%), which accounts for a 45x increase since January 22, 2020.</p> <p>Decreased consumer spending is also further complicating global supply and demand. Not only are certain products simply not available in many stores &ndash; like the &ldquo;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/03/20/heres-why-the-toilet-paper-shortage-is-only-temporary/#289cf5e42672" target="_blank">toilet paper shortage</a>&rdquo; in the U.S. &ndash; but consumer behavior is changing dramatically. With many areas around the world facing quarantines and shelter in place orders, consumers are focused on necessity items &ndash; food, beverages, medicine, toiletries, etc. &ndash; rather than keeping up with the latest fashion trends, for example. As the decrease in spending due to fear continues, it will slow top-line growth, impacting the upstream supply chain.</p> <h1>What Can Procurement Leaders Do?</h1> <p>In the short term, organizations should actively assess where they have additional capacity in unaffected areas and redeploy that capacity to cover shortages elsewhere. But in order to understand the impact on the production and delivery of goods, enterprises need enhanced monitoring and better visibility into their supply chain. The sooner organizations can increase their visibility, the more quickly they can respond and mitigate the exposure.</p> <p>There are four critical questions supply chain and procurement leaders must answer right now:</p> <ol> <li>Which of your parts and products are affected?</li> <li>Which of your suppliers are impacted?</li> <li>How will the interruption affect lead times and pricing?</li> <li>Which customers are affected?</li> </ol> <p>Understanding the current state of your supply chain and factoring in unfolding events can be a difficult process, but it is an essential element of successful mitigation efforts. Visibility into your organization&rsquo;s risk exposure enables you to be better equipped to identify, assess and mitigate threats to the end-to-end supply chain.</p> <p>If there&rsquo;s two supply chain takeaways we can learn from this crisis, it&rsquo;s the importance of monitoring risk and diversifying your supply base. As we&rsquo;ve seen unfold, organizations that have been overly reliant on a small set of suppliers or a single country from a sourcing perspective, and those that are failing to continuously monitor and respond to rapidly evolving supplier risk across the globe, are facing severe supply disruptions. The other lesson: organizations should always be preparing for the next unpredictable event by prioritizing contingency plans for disruption and non-compliance scenarios.</p> <p>The effects of COVID-19 aren&rsquo;t going to disappear anytime soon. But we will overcome it &ndash; we always do. The question is will we learn our lesson? It&rsquo;s not a matter of &ldquo;if&rdquo; the next crisis will hit, it&rsquo;s a matter of &ldquo;when,&rdquo; and we need to be prepared.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-supply-chain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Supply Chain</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supply-chain-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supply Chain Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/suppliers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Suppliers</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-sourcing-procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Sourcing Procurement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="COVID-19: Where is your supply disruption? - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/covid-19-where-is-your-supply-disruption"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Sun, 12 Apr 2020 18:06:12 +0000 Bill DeMartino 1737 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/covid-19-where-is-your-supply-disruption#comments A Brave New Supply Chain World https://www.futureofsourcing.com/a-brave-new-supply-chain-world <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2817%29.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2817%29.png" title="World Supply Chain" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1734-L6zRNSkglic"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Copy%20of%20FoS%20Header%20Images%20%2817%29.png?itok=E-GpuDOM" width="624" height="325" alt="World Supply Chain" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/three-supplier-conversations-you-need-to-have-now">Three Supplier Conversations You Need to Have Now</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>To understand long-term transformations in supply chain and procurement technology, supply chain professionals must be able to understand present trends so they can help shape future realities. Experts believe the following predictions are viable hypotheses that we should consider for 2030.</p> <h1>Predicting the Strategic Sourcing Technology Landscape in 2030</h1> <p><strong>1)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Increase in Population:</strong> In 2030, there will be more people seeking cultural and political self-determination, financial stability and personal self-actualization. Population growth means more economic activity and expanded production capacity.This also creates a greater need for food, water, healthcare, housing and education.</p> <p><strong>2)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Extreme Weather: </strong>In 2030, the upper atmosphere will have warmed significantly. This so-called &ldquo;Greenhouse Effect&rdquo; will create more extreme weather. Because of hotter summers, colder winters and lethal storms, agricultural zones will be forced to shift. Fresh water will become more expensive.</p> <p><strong>3)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Rising Populism and Nationalism:</strong> In 2030, more people will gravitate to populist and nationalistic movements and build political coalitions. For culture, this means that membership in clubs, societies, unions and professional networks will become more important.It also &nbsp;means that these organizations will more explicitly identify with economic and geopolitical agendas. For policy, it means that we can expect more tariffs, more walls and more trade disputes.</p> <p><strong>4)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>More Refugees:</strong> In 2030, the number of people displaced by extreme weather and rising sea levels will have massively increased, while the number of countries willing to host refugees will decrease. Stateless and displaced people will continue to become economic migrants in wealthier countries and will struggle to claim recognition and political power.</p> <p><strong>5)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>More Real-Time Data, More Real-Time Accountability:</strong> In 2030, the largest driving force for change will be the consumers, businesses and shareholders in wealthy countries who have access to data. These groups of people will be skeptical of business claims and will hold companies accountable by voting with their dollars. Consumer and shareholder activism will increase, in some cases driven by viral online outrage events that reverberate through vast global social networks.</p> <p>This is a world where the stakes of business success cannot be overestimated, particularly when it comes to the supply chain. Based on these predictions, being bullish on complexity, chaos, ubiquitous data, ubiquitous computing from a management perspective and ubiquitous feedback loops (real or simulated) will be essential for supply chain success.&nbsp;</p> <p>Consumer opinion and preference will move from analysis of abstracted trends to analysis of large numbers of real people using connected devices in real-time. Companies will be expected to know the physical location of all inventory and shipment arrival time.</p> <p>Wireless sensor networks (WSN) in logistics will automatically optimize lanes, allowing real-time response to weather events, changes in tariffs and current events. Business operations will live at the speed of the 24-hour news cycle and will be expected to take advantage of changing circumstances.</p> <p>Procurement teams will be consultant strategists, analyzing and acting on large datasets concerning real-time demand and changes in the market. They will work with outsourced customer service teams to process buying requests in compliance with approval processes.</p> <h1>Predicting Strategic Sourcing Technology in 2030&nbsp;&nbsp;</h1> <p><strong>1)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Category-Focused B2B Marketplaces Using Hyperdynamic Pricing: </strong>Hyperdynamic pricing, driven by AI, is used today by travel websites like Expedia and Hopper. The price is updated in real-time relative to breaking news and responsive to buying patterns. For example, if a music festival announces a new location, plane tickets to that location may quickly become more expensive. In 2030, Hyperdynamic pricing engines, based on large-volume B2B marketplaces, will become the norm for most categories of spend.</p> <p><strong>2)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Cradle to Grave ESG Supply Chain Accountability:</strong> Corporate leaders, in solving the supply disruptions caused by bullwhips, can leverage demand to make price changes; however, with great power comes great responsibility. In 2030, as corporate boards respond to consumer concerns about deforestation, human slavery, and limiting exposure to infectious diseases or neurotoxic contaminations, the supply chain will come under greater scrutiny. It will also be a driving force that moves the ESG numbers shareholders care about.</p> <p><strong>3)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>The Customer as Procurement Stakeholder:</strong> Think about how data moves through most enterprises today: customers buy things through a website. That data goes to business analysts, to sales, to operations, then to suppliers. As more businesses move to customized, made-to-order inventory, because of process mapping and mining, pressure is put onstakeholders to represent the voice of the customer.</p> <p>In 2030, new data pipelines will enable customers to generate the specifications, evaluate the criteria, and establish the requirements for selecting and managing suppliers. As consumers become more data-driven in their buying habits and more particular about customization, brands will scramble for tools that can incorporate consumer participation directly into their supply chains through interactive web portals.</p> <p><strong>4)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Strategic Suppliers as Fully Integrated Partners: </strong>In 2030, as data from connected devices becomes more readily available and deliverable to ubiquitous interfaces, supplier partners will be brought further along into real-time visibility of sensitive operational data. As videoconferencing, distributed and remote workforces, and work-from-home cultures become normalized, more firms will use both a contingent workforce and integrated suppliers. They will operate more like part of the company&rsquo;s internal team than as an external party.</p> <p><strong>5)</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong>Sourcing Events: </strong>There is supported business evidence that sourcing events add value to a company. In 2030, they will become far more common. Sourcing events will have an arms race effect on CPOs buying the latest and greatest in digital sourcing technology. CPO&rsquo;s will want to arm their category teams so that they are buying the latest and greatest CRM, targeted prospect research, and lead nurturing tools. CFOs will insist on a minimum number of sourcing events per year. Still, CMO&rsquo;s, alongside corporate boards, must demand that procurement delight consumers with suppliers that can deliver on the company&rsquo;s ESG goals. Sourcing event networking is the key.</p> <h1>Betting on Innovation</h1> <p>Predictions are, by their very nature, uncertain. A lot can change in 10 years. Startups like ours (Bid Ops) are notoriously fast paced. Our team tends to think in 30-, 60- and 90-day cycles using annual technology roadmaps. Sometimes, however, we find it advantageous to take the time to make long-term predictions using the following inputs to correct our own inherent biases:</p> <p>1) What do forecasters tend to underestimate and overestimate?</p> <p>2) What are the current supply chain trends? How might they affect the future?</p> <p>3) What are the status quo pain points that can be solved by technology?</p> <h1>A Hopeful Future</h1> <p>There is no doubt that supply chains will look very different in 2030. It is the responsibility of procurement professionals in 2020 to know present trends and understand their impact on the future. &nbsp;We need to embrace technology, but not at the expense of humanity. We need to continue to care about diversity, sustainability and societal impact. Education is now more than ever of the utmost importance.&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-supply-chain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Supply Chain</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/strategic-sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Strategic Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-sourcing-procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Sourcing Procurement</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="A Brave New Supply Chain World - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/a-brave-new-supply-chain-world"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 07 Apr 2020 19:49:03 +0000 Edmund Zagorin 1734 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/a-brave-new-supply-chain-world#comments Think Outside the Box with Tolga Tomar https://www.futureofsourcing.com/think-outside-the-box-with-tolga-tomar <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Podcast_Sourcing_Industry%20Landscape_19.png"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Podcast_Sourcing_Industry%20Landscape_19.png" title="Think Outside the Box with Tolga Tomar" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1499-L6zRNSkglic"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Podcast_Sourcing_Industry%20Landscape_19.png?itok=sUItTLJY" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><strong>Are you ready for the next wave of disruption in procurement? Join Sourcing Industry Group CEO and President, Dawn Tiura, for conversations on The Sourcing Industry Landscape with innovators who embrace technology to improve, influence and inspire procurement professionals.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>Check out&nbsp;<a href="https://sig.org/sourcing-industry-landscape?__hstc=215510152.344406f4865c40604cf6029be7e958e0.1543422516683.1560384261223.1560386358147.373&amp;__hssc=215510152.2.1560386358147&amp;__hsfp=726271731" target="_blank">all episodes of The Sourcing Industry Landscape</a>&nbsp;to date and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. You can listen to the podcast in iTunes, through your favorite podcast app or&nbsp;<a href="https://sig.org/sourcing-industry-landscape?__hstc=215510152.344406f4865c40604cf6029be7e958e0.1543422516683.1560384261223.1560386358147.373&amp;__hssc=215510152.2.1560386358147&amp;__hsfp=726271731" target="_blank">on our website</a>.</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><em><strong>In&nbsp;<a href="https://sig.org/think-outside-box-w-tolga-tomar" target="_blank">this episode of the Sourcing Industry Landscape</a>, Dawn Tiura interviews Tolga Tomar. Tolga Tomar is Director of Procurement at Thirty-One Gifts, a direct-selling company that empowers women to run their own consulting business. Tomar is a visionary who believes global sourcing is the future of the industry and is passionate about the positive impact it can have on communities across the world.</strong></em></p> <div>Dawn Tiura: Hello everybody, this is Dawn Tiura from Sourcing Industry Group, also known as SIG. With me today is Tolga Tomar, and Tolga is just an amazing man that I got to meet a couple years ago. He&#39;s a huge SIG advocate, but most importantly, he&#39;s a visionary, he&#39;s somebody who is always thinking about the future, and about the world.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: So his title is Director of Procurement at Thirty-One Gifts, and while not everybody is aware of what this company is, I&#39;m going to spend some time and share with you what it is, because it&#39;s really a neat company you need to know about. But I want to get to know Tolga a little bit better over this podcast for all of you to get to know the wonderful man that he is. So, Tolga, thank you and welcome to the Art of Procurement podcast.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Thank you, Dawn, and thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Great. So, if I go way back, you came from Turkey, and you were Istanbul Technical University grad; then you came to the United States, and then you went to UMass, and have an MBA as well, is that correct?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: That is correct, yes.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Okay, so you&#39;re a mechanical engineer, and now you are in sourcing. So, let&#39;s go back to the beginning, when you first came out of school, and I&#39;d love to talk about, what got you into sourcing? So when you first started out, you were more in the supply chain transportation, is that correct?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: That is correct, yes. So, when I graduated from my master&#39;s program, MBA, in the Boston area, I basically needed to find a job to not only sponsor my Visa to stay in the country, but also obviously something that was gonna interest me. So I was able to find a job in the Chicago area with a company called C.H. Robinson, which is really heavily focused on the transportation logistics management, and I worked there for about six-and-a-half years, and, upon my departure from C.H. Robinson, I got this opportunity at Illinois Tool Works, ITW, as a senior sourcing and senior logistics analyst.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Okay. So, is that where you got your first introduction, then, to supply chain? Was it at that company, at ITW?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Correct, yes. Well, logistics is part of supply chain, right? So at C.H. Robinson, I was really vertically integrated into the logistics piece of supply chain, but hardly any product sourcing or index sourcing at all. I was still doing some of the things that we do on a regular basis like negotiating or sourcing carriers for the shipments that my company was in charge of, but not to the extent that we do on a regular day-to-day basis.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Oh, alright. So you were actually managing the RFPs on full truckloads and international contracts with primary small parcel providers, that type of thing? Is that correct?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: That was my role at ITW, that is correct. So that&#39;s where I got into the [inaudible], managing RFPs, and looking at more of the sourcing strategies in terms of working, negotiating with carriers, either globally or domestically; national carriers; regional carriers, so it became more strategic than tactical, which I used to do at C.H. Robinson.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: So, Tolga, I recall from other conversations, you had talked a lot about the need to have sales skills to be successful, and that you gained those while you were doing sourcing at ITW. Can you tell me a little bit about that, and how did you develop sales skills, and how did you go from full truckloads and less than a truckload to using sales skills?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: So, when I was at ITW, at that time, ITW was [a] 100% decentralized organization. I was at corporate, and the company owned about, at that time, again, 300 domestic companies in that United States, and total 900 globally. And it was 100% decentralized, so a business unit, is what we called them back then, had the ability to use carrier A versus business unit located in another city was using a whole different carrier. So there was absolutely no mandate from a corporate perspective. I could just basically sit down at my desk at&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 13.008px;">ITW and draw RFPs, and negotiate contracts, and sign contracts with major carriers in the country.</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: If I didn&#39;t find a way to convince my business partners, about those business units, to use the carriers that corporate chose, it was meaningless. And to do that, I was basically a salesman for more than half the time. I was trying to make a case and to convince the business units at that time, &ldquo;Okay, if you use this carrier, this preferred partner, you&#39;re going to gain X, Y, and Z, and it&#39;s going to help you with this from this perspective.&rdquo; It was truly amazing how much that added into the success of the overall department. There&#39;s one thing-</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: And if-</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Go ahead.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: I was going to say, did you sell them on more than just cost savings? It wasn&#39;t just, &ldquo;I got a better price than you did.&quot;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: No, absolutely, it wasn&#39;t cost savings only, because there&#39;s always someone cheaper out there, and when we work with our preferred carriers, partners back then, we basically created a whole big portfolio of things and then we went into those business units with our homework done. &ldquo;Hey, if you switch from this to this, not only are you going to save some money, but you&#39;re going to gain this thing, give that flexibility.&rdquo; And for the most part, it was a home run. There were some instances where we basically, the business units was adamant about using the supplier of their own choice. And at that time, we just basically, &ldquo;Okay, that&#39;s fine, we&#39;ll just come back to it in a year.&rdquo; And eventually I see these business units coming back to us because, when they talk to other business units, they were realizing the benefit that they were gaining using corporate carriers versus them, so there was some sort of an indirect selling there, too. The project sold itself.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s great, because I think so many people don&#39;t see procurement people as sales people, they see them as order takers. And it&#39;s so much more than that to be successful, so that&#39;s really exciting. So when you left ITW, then you went to Cardinal Health, and you sourced some pretty interesting items there, if I recall. Can you share a little bit about that experience?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Sure. So, just to recap ITW, Illinois Tool Works, I was doing only indirect sourcing, 100%, there was no direct product sourcing at that time. But when we decided to move to Columbus for family reasons, and I got this opportunity with Cardinal Health, the team that I joined at Cardinal Health was in charge of direct sourcing. And so all of a sudden, I was sourcing items like wheelchairs, crutches, to electrodes, to body bags&mdash;I think that&#39;s a funny one. And it was interesting because I never sourced of these items before, and there was an element of China sourcing as well as U.S. domestic sourcing, but it was through a seven step process driven strategic sourcing. And while the basic principles of sourcing between indirect and direct are very similar, there were a lot of pieces to it when it came to direct sourcing at Cardinal Health, and I must say, I learned a lot. That was a truly amazing three years that I spent there.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s amazing. So, can I ask you a question about body bags, is it one size fits all?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: (laughs) Yes, it is, actually. And it is latex-free, too, so that&#39;s funny. People joke about it, why do you care?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Why would you care when you&#39;re dead?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Well, it&#39;s the nurses that handle the bags, basically.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Oh.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Yes, and it&#39;s an interesting product, and it comes with a toe tag. There were a couple of times that I used in really heated conversations, and to calm the other person down, I&#39;m like, &quot;Listen, me and you are going to end up with this, so you may have to redo your perspective on this matter, so calm down a little bit.&quot; And it works, it really does work.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: &ldquo;I carry a body bag with me, be careful.&rdquo; (laughs)</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: (laughs)</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s awesome. So from there, now you&#39;re in Ohio, and then you came upon this amazing company called Thirty-One Gifts, and folks, for you guys that are listening right</div> <div>now, if you don&#39;t know this company you need to look it up because they have a mission that I think is absolutely phenomenal. And I think that&#39;s even more exciting is, I&#39;m talking to a man who is going to share his thoughts on a woman-owned corporation and how they&#39;re affecting women around the world, so, can you share that please?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Absolutely. So, if you&#39;re not familiar with Thirty-One Gifts, we are a direct selling organization. Basically, we have over 60,000+ consultants out there who sell our products&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 13.008px;">every day. And, as part of our motto, we don&#39;t sell our products through retail stores or direct to the final end customers, every product we sell goes through a consultant. And not only [do] consultants gain some value out of it, commission, but also it empowers them, and that&#39;s the amazing spirit that this organization is based on.</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: In terms of history, Cindy Monroe started this company out of Tennessee about fifteen years ago. In fact, we&#39;re celebrating our fifteenth year in 2018. And she basically not only wanted to create a business for herself and build her career on top of it, but also she wanted to empower women. I am so happy to be part of this organization where we empower women from all over the country, not only in the U.S., but also in Canada, and with some plans to expand into other countries. But also, you hear these stories from these amazing ladies that some are really facing really difficult financial times; some are basically trying to get that extra funding so they can take their kids to a vacation; or some basically as simple as just buying a new car. It is just not about making money at all for us, it&#39;s about making sure these women had a say in their lives and that they have the financial freedom to do the things that, in some cases, that they need to do or they&#39;d like to do.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: As a man who has a mother and a wife and a daughter, this is an amazing cause for me, especially in this day and age with the Me Too movement, that the women out there and all these unfortunate stores that we hear, it is even more rewarding to be part of such a great organization. So I would strongly recommend everyone take a look at our website or contact me if you&#39;d like to learn more about us, and how we partner with &lsquo;her&rsquo; out there, with all the ladies out there.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: I love that. I love that story&mdash;and especially having it, the passion, that you speak, as a man, about empowering all these women, I just wish there were more people like you. It&#39;s just heartwarming, so thank you. So tell me, what do you do at Thirty-One Gifts, tell me what you&#39;re doing today, or these days.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: I&#39;ve been here almost eighteen months or so, and my team, we are called the procurement team. We basically focus mostly on the indirect spend that the organization has, and we have several different commodities that we work with. We also have some direct commodity items that we&#39;re sourcing, not that many that is very&hellip;is more focused so far is we have a third-party sourcing partner that our organization paired up with, they are managing that piece. However, we work in really with spirit hand-in-hand, making sure that we provide the best value to our internal stakeholders as it comes to products; service; cost; quality.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: One interesting story that I want to share, when I started at Thirty-One, the department&#39;s name was &ldquo;purchasing.&rdquo; Everybody referred to us as the purchasing team, purchasing team members. And a few months after I started, with my boss&#39;s support, I basically pitched the idea of renaming our team from &ldquo;purchasing&rdquo; to &ldquo;procurement.&rdquo; And, Dawn, you and I have discussed this before: purchasing is a tiny fraction of procurement. I think that helped my team a lot internally to sell the value that we can bring in to our internal business partners. Not only we are purchasing goods, Dawn, you know this, and other sourcing professionals, gosh, we manage risk, we manage cost savings, we manage supply chain, we manage quality, or work with individuals who manage those areas. We don&#39;t just come into our offices and write POs every day. That change was taken really well by the organization, which helped my team to gain a lot more traction all across the organization.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: And you&#39;re definitely playing to my music, is that we do so much more, we&#39;re not, and I hate the word &ldquo;buyer.&rdquo; Unless you&#39;re buying fashion, it&#39;s not a sexy title. We don&#39;t buy, we&#39;re sourcing.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: I renamed those titles. We had them, too. We don&#39;t have any buyers anymore.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Good! Oh my gosh, that&#39;s great. I&#39;m so excited that you&#39;re drinking the same Kool-Aid, so that&#39;s great.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: So you implemented a procurement process map, right, and then you chose your procurement tool. Can you share which tool you chose, and why?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Sure. So, procurement process map, let me talk a little bit about that. So, that was one of the first things that we did as a team. One thing that I want to add in there, we did not create that in isolation, just within our group. We made sure that every internal client, internal customer of ours was present as we developed that procurement process map. So not only, this enables them to take ownership of that process map, but also, we gained from their knowledge and experience. So we tapped onto that knowledge, some of them have great ideas that they&#39;ve seen at other companies that they&#39;ve worked in their past, so I want to mention that. It wasn&#39;t a process that is created just within my team.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: As it comes to the second part of your question, we basically did conduct an RFP for e-procurement, e-sourcing tools out there, and upon going through a lot of these steps of irregular actual sourcing exercise, we signed a contract with Scanmarket. It&#39;s a company based out of Denmark, and they have offices in the U.S., and we are, right now, implementing the program. And, I&#39;m not a salesman of Scanmarket, but I&#39;ve got to tell this about them&mdash;that the tool&#39;s extremely easy to use, it&#39;s like using Facebook. Very, very easy, all it takes is just do the one time and then, next thing you know, you&#39;re running an RFP on the tool. So that was one of the main reasons for us to make that decision.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Interesting. Yeah, and that&#39;s a company that I don&#39;t know as well as the other ones, so that&#39;s one of the reasons I wanted to make sure that we mentioned that. So, tell me, what are your future plans? What do you want to do at Thirty-One Gifts that you have not had the opportunity to do before? Where do you see your career taking shape?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: In terms of what I do next here or, who knows, maybe somewhere else? Although I don&#39;t have any plans or intention to be anywhere else, especially working at such an amazing company here. Sourcing is my passion, Dawn. I really enjoy and love what I do. This is, I think I mentioned this to you before, this is not a job to me, it&#39;s like a hobby. And because I think I believe this way, future is an extremely piece of what I do on a day-to-day basis. I always want to be thinking about what I&#39;m going to be doing in the next year, or two years, or three years out, internally, within this organization, that&#39;s going to add value to our bottom line. I can&#39;t just come into this work and then, &ldquo;Okay, it&#39;s been done this way for so long, I&#39;m just going to keep doing it the same way.&rdquo; Having said that, I am very interested in new ideas, innovation, and different pieces, and especially thinking outside the box. You and I both, we agree, I think that we live in a global world. We need to accept that.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Mm-hmm.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: While it&#39;s amazing to support domestic U.S.-based companies or regional companies, there is definitely a niche for that, we have to open our horizon to other possibilities globally. Why not look for a talent company, or a consultant company out of Africa, or South America, or why not source products from Brazil or Portugal. Not only in China, but there are so many good things happening all over the world, and with Internet, and websites like Alibaba, this information is more accessible than ever. We basically use third-parties to even audit these locations so that way we know that we&#39;re safe, so I don&#39;t even have to leave my desk at some cases to know more about an organization than actually visiting them and understanding them. So, global sourcing is the future in my opinion, and if organizations fail to adapt that thinking, I don&#39;t think they&#39;re going to move forward much ahead in the sourcing. Again, this is just my opinion.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: No, I agree. Obviously, politics both here and abroad, there&#39;s a lot of nationalism going on right now, but it&#39;s almost, you can&#39;t unsee something you saw, so you can&#39;t undo global once you&#39;ve gone global. Global, once it happens, it&#39;s out of the box, it&#39;s hard to go back in and say, &ldquo;Now I&#39;m going to only focus nationally.&rdquo; So I absolutely, positively agree. And we can impact. I think the part that I hear you as well is, we can impact countries that are having issues, we can do impact sourcing by helping countries and cities and small towns and villages by procuring their products and using their talent set. So, I just think that&#39;s absolutely fantastic that you have that perspective.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Yeah, I&#39;m a Turk, I always make that joke: I&#39;m a Turk who lives in Columbus, United States, sourcing products from China. You can&#39;t get any more global than that. We have to really keep that open mind, and, in my mind, there is no, &quot;Okay, it&#39;s been set this way. Don&#39;t touch it.&quot; It&#39;s the future, we have to keep an open mind and question everything. At least give it a shot, take a look at it. That&#39;s my perspective on the whole global piece.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Absolutely. And I hope you&#39;re going to be getting involved in this SIG innovation accelerator as well, since your focus is so much on technology and changes and all of that, so I&#39;d love to have you involved in that as well.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: I would love to, yes.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s great.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: So, any parting comments, then, because, what I want to do, folks, for all of you listening, Tolga is so approachable and from the first day I met him I knew we were going to be friends. And so I encourage you to reach out, reach out to me, reach out to Tolga directly, if you don&#39;t have his contact, reach out to anyone at SIG and we&#39;ll help you get in contact, but he&#39;s someone you should have in your network. He should just be someone you look up when you want to brainstorm something. So Tolga, I&#39;m glad you offered to be accessible.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: So with that, are there any parting comments for Art of Procurement today?</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: I think I&#39;m just going to echo what I said earlier. We&#39;re at a day and age that we have to think globally, thinking outside the box, and always, always be innovative, or try to find a way to implement the latest technology out there. It doesn&#39;t mean that everything is going to work all the time, but if you don&#39;t get uncomfortable, try these new things, the chances of us advancing&mdash;both in our careers and/or the organization&#39;s we work for&mdash;is going to be very slim. So that&#39;s what I like to keep in mind all the time, that&#39;s what I challenge my team, and I think that is the future for any sourcing professional.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: That&#39;s fantastic. So you were nominated, I don&#39;t know if you knew that, for the podcast, and the explanation as to why you should be on the podcast, not that I wouldn&#39;t have chosen you myself: but they said that you, &ldquo;exude qualities of leadership, and in terms of strategic sourcing, you have vast industry and functional experience, and you lend credibility to your candidacy as a procurement specialist who can add value through conversations that take place in the Art of Procurement platform.&rdquo; So kudos to you, because you impressed some folks that wanted to nominate you for this podcast, and that was their quote. So I&#39;m lucky to know you, and other folks, you&#39;d be lucky to know Tolga as well.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Thank you, Dawn. Thank you for the nice compliments for the individuals that referred me. It&#39;s very nice to hear them. And one other thing that I want to mention: if you are not part of SIG or thinking about joining SIG, I would strongly recommend this to any organization out there. It&#39;s been two plus years since I got introduced to SIG. It&#39;s an amazing vault of knowledge, pocketed in a very small area, so if you&#39;re not tapping into that, you&#39;re missing it out.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Well, thank you.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: I wanted to mention that.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: I appreciate that. And I&#39;ll see you soon, up in Columbus, when we come on up there in, I think, just a month or two. So take care, and Tolga, thank you again for joining me on Art of Procurement.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Thank you very much again, Dawn. Much appreciated. Have a wonderful day.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Dawn Tiura: Thank you, you too.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Tolga Tomar: Bye-bye.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><span style="font-size: 13.008px;">Dawn Tiura: Bye.</span></div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/global-sourcing-procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global Sourcing Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/strategic-sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Strategic Sourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/direct-selling" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Direct Selling</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/technology" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Technology</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supply-chain" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supply Chain</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/thirty-one-gifts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Thirty-One Gifts</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Think Outside the Box with Tolga Tomar - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/think-outside-the-box-with-tolga-tomar"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 24 Apr 2018 21:47:43 +0000 Tolga Tomar 1499 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/think-outside-the-box-with-tolga-tomar#comments