This month's podcast is hosted by Dave Jones and Oliver Mountain. We welcome Jonathan Wood, CEO of cybersecurity consultancy C2 Cyber. We break down some of the reasons why cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important, and what we as procurement professionals need to consider around this topic. Jonathan breaks down some of the risks, and explains that often the risk comes from weaknesses within the supply base: B2B vs. B2C businesses - some well-documented examples are cyber breaches at Maersk, British Airways and Spar, where the attack each time came through a supplier. Managing professi ..read more

Due to South Africa's complex history, they are somewhat ahead of the curve when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) legislation. On this month's episode of ProctoCast, James interviews Chimae Goncalves, Co-Founder of Supply Chain Partner, a digital transformation consultancy based in Johannesburg. DEI legislation: How we can learn from South Africa's example and prepare We dive into how the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE for short) legislation has affected many aspects of how South African businesses both hire their employees and source their goods and services fr ..read more

Welcome to April's episode of ProctoCast, where we're digging into a very pertinent topic right now. No, not inflation (that's a whole other episode right there, haha) but the increasing importance of having a proactive third party risk management strategy. Especially understanding who is behind a company's ownership structure in an era of sanctions and complex company ownership / shareholding structures. Proactively Managing Third Party Risk in an era of Geopolitical Volatility and Sanctions ProctoCast is sponsored by third party risk management and supplier insight software startup Continge ..read more

Welcome to our very first ProctoCast of 2022! We decided to do something a little bit different this time and record a live episode, which we streamed to the Proctopus LinkedIn Page. Then we took the recording and edited it into a podcast, which is what you're listening to here. With the start of the new year often being a time to reflect, and perhaps do a bit of window shopping in terms of what jobs are out there, we thought it would be a great opportunity to sit down and discuss recruitment trends in 2022. Joining James and Dave on the podcast are UK-based specialist procurement recruiters M ..read more

This month's podcast is hosted by Dave Jones and Oliver Mountain. We welcome Jonathan Wood, CEO of cybersecurity consultancy C2 Cyber. We break down some of the reasons why cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important, and what we as procurement professionals need to consider around this topic. Jonathan breaks down some of the risks, and explains that often the risk comes from weaknesses within the supply base: B2B vs. B2C businesses - some well-documented examples are cyber breaches at Maersk, British Airways and Spar, where the attack each time came through a supplier. Managing professi ..read more

Procurement often gets a bad rap in organisations because we're seen as only going after cost savings and expense reduction. There's a valid reason for that. Often, procurement only (or chiefly) gets measured on cost savings. It's natural that hitting what you're measured on becomes the top priority. This is slowly, but evidently, changing. Richard Nixon from tech platform Per Angusta is my guest on this episode. We discuss how procurement is more and more seen as being a provider of wider value through the different touch points we have into the business, and the front line role we have in st ..read more

B2B platforms have been around for a while, but have traditionally been more successful as collaboration platforms for sourcing goods rather than services. We take a look at the current landscape for B2B collaboration, from traditional Google searches and using social media such as LinkedIn, right the way through to more focused supplier networks aimed at procurement professionals. There are certain flaws in all of them, and none have become a dominant go-to platform. Jason explores the evolution of B2B platforms, as well as explaining some of the flaws of traditional supplier search technique ..read more

Sustainability is no longer just a box-ticking exercise for companies to get positive PR. That's the message that my two guests today on ProctoCast really want to drive home. We're here to encourage everyone working in procurement to get involved and take collective responsibility for the challenges of climate change through soft action. The decisions we make, and how we elevate sustainability within our own organisations are both key to the long term success of the movement. Collectively making our employers more responsible for decisions affecting the planet is the best way to ensure that we ..read more

Negotiation is a core business skill to procurement professionals. Almost all of us who have worked in procurement for a long time will have been on negotiation training courses of some description. Actually practicing negotiation skills outside of a competitive environment though? Well, that can often be difficult. For example: where do you find people to spar with and hone your skills? And if you don't work in procurement, or maybe you recently joined the function, then how do you play catch-up? Enter The Negotiation Club, and The Negotiation Cards, both of which are the brainchild of my gue ..read more

There's a lot spoken about diversity and inclusion. But one thing's for sure. The industrial manufacturing sector and SMEs tend to lack behind the larger corporates and professional services industries when it comes to diversity. While a lot is spoken and written about making procurement teams more diverse, one thing that is out of procurement leaders' control are the external factors. The reality is, in more traditional industries, the salespeople and the internal stakeholders are still overwhelmingly male. My guest today, Beth Seager, comes from the chemicals industry and has a background in ..read more