Our Favourite Old Argument... Is Still True

LET’S STEP INSIDE →

In Today's Issue

• The Quiet Fix - YOUR SECRET MARKET INTEL SCOUTS

• The Tech Bit - EVERY TOOL NEEDS A RETIREMENT PLAN

• My Best Post Lately

• Free Template of the Week

The Quiet Fix

YOUR SECRET MARKET-INTEL SCOUTS

A few years ago, I was sitting in yet another software quarterly supplier review.

It was the kind of review with the same PowerPoint template, the same metrics we all pretend to be excited about, and the same polite but slightly soul-crushing small talk.

About halfway through, I convincingly ran out of enthusiasm for hearing their “customer satisfaction index” (which had somehow stayed at exactly 93% for three years straight). So, instead of nodding along, I blurted out:

“What’s the most interesting thing happening in your industry right now that I should know about?”

I expected a polite shrug.

Instead, they leaned forward, lowered their voice (as if they were telling me a state secret), and shared a competitor’s upcoming product launch.

This was something that could have blindsided one of our business units if we’d found out too late.

I walked out of that meeting with new thinking: “Hang on… why am I paying for expensive market reports when my suppliers are basically walking, talking trend radars?”.

Since then, I’ve made that question a permanent agenda item in supplier meetings.

I ask it every time, even with long-standing partners. And guess what: they love it!

It gives them a chance to show off expertise, build credibility, and position themselves as more than just order-takers.

Do you know what my payoff has been??

• I’ve picked up early warnings about material price hikes

• Spotted acquisition rumours months before they hit the press

• Even discovered new tech we could trial before our competitors

It costs me nothing except a few minutes of conversation, but it’s paid off more times than I can count.

So next time you’ve got a supplier in front of you, skip the scripted KPIs for a moment and ask:

“What’s new in your world that I should have on my radar?”

It might just be the cheapest market intelligence you ever buy.

The Tech Bit

EVERY TOOL NEEDS A RETIREMENT PLAN

Procurement loves new toys.

I mean, we REALLY love new toys. Don’t we?

Give us a glossy demo, a roadmap sprinkled with AI buzzwords, and the faint promise of “single source of truth”, and we’re practically clearing shelf space for the awards this thing will win.

But… reality check!

Replacements are rarely clean swaps.

You think you’re heroically taking out one system and slotting in another. What you’re actually doing is adding a shiny new layer of tech on top of the old one… and then finding out the old one is still needed for that one obscure compliance workflow or that 3-person legacy process no one dared touch.

And so, the zombie systems remain. (in case you hadn’t noticed yet, “zombie” is one of my favourite words to use in tech 🫠)

They hide in the shadows, quietly draining budget and spitting out duplicate data, while everyone nods at steering committee meetings pretending they’re “just temporary”.

I’ve walked into many a transformation where the tech stack looked like sediment in a cliff face, each system a fossil from the year someone “fixed everything” by adding just one more platform.

Because no one mapped exactly what the old tool actually did, the end result was a mess of:

• Two sourcing portals, both half-used

• Multiple repositories storing slightly different versions of the same document

• Suppliers wondering which login they’re supposed to use this week

Here’s how to stop this madness:

1. Map the old system like an archaeologist, not a tourist.
   Don’t just list the big-ticket features. Dig into all the weird edge cases and one-off processes people rely on. If you don’t know what you’re replacing, you can’t actually replace it.

2. Plan the funeral before you plan the launch party.
   Build a decommissioning timeline into your implementation plan. One with owners, deadlines, and consequences. No one likes being “the bad guy” who shuts something off, so make it official.

3. Communicate like it’s a divorce.
   Tell users exactly what’s leaving, what’s staying, and when the cut-over happens. Ambiguity is where zombie systems thrive.

4. Track the afterlife.
   Run a post-go-live audit to make sure no sneaky workflows have slithered back into the old system. If they have, decide whether they get migrated, redesigned… or permanently buried.

Because if you skip all that you’re not replacing anything, mah da’lin’. You’re just building a digital lasagna: messy, expensive, and impossible to untangle.

My Best Post Lately

WHERE IS OUR SEAT AT THE TABLE?!

We’ve been saying this for years. I’ve lost count of the meetings, conferences, and offsites where it’s come up… and yet here we are. Still talking about it.

Why do you think that is?

I think that it’s because in so many companies, Procurement still reports into people who don’t get what we do.

We’re still brought in after the big decisions.

And our “seat” is often conditional: “you’re here, but only for this part of the agenda.”

The reality is that procurement is both strategic and operationally critical.

We’re the ones who get the call when supply chains break, costs spike, or compliance goes sideways.
We see the full picture, and we’re the only ones who can link risk, cost, and value in the same conversation.

Until that’s understood at the top, we’ll keep having this conversation every few years.
Not because we like it… but because it’s still true.

READ THE FULL POST →

Free Template(s) of the week 

The RFP Series III - Professional Services

We’ve reached the third (and final… for now) RFP in this little series and it’s a big one.

Professional services can mean anything from your go-to legal counsel to that niche IT consultant you only call when everything’s on fire. HR support, strategists, recruiters, auditors… they all fall into this bucket.

Like the others in the series, this one is designed to stop suppliers from sending you a vague “we can do everything” brochure and start giving you clear, comparable answers. It’s packed with a Word RFP template, an Excel response pack (with HR, IT, and Legal skills matrices), and a user guide so you can run the process without losing the will to live.

If you’ve been following along, you’ll now have templates for Marketing, Travel, and Professional Services, which between them cover the bulk of indirect procurement services. (Maintenance and Facilities might make an appearance one day… if I can face it.)

Download the Professional Services RFP Template here.

A Final Note

I would like to leave you with a quote that is inspiring me a lot lately:

I’ve always liked this quote, but lately it feels like it’s been written just for me. 

Moving my entire family, kids, dog, the whole circus, to Spain has been equal parts exciting and exhausting. There are moments when the logistics feel endless, the to-do list wins, and the harbour looks pretty tempting.

But there is so much truth in this: nothing worth doing has ever come from staying tied to the dock.

Every major leap in my life (personally and professionally) has started with the same uncomfortable mix of uncertainty and possibility.

So when the overwhelm kicks in (usually somewhere between trying to get the kids ready and sorting out international health forms), I remind myself: we’re not built to stay still. We’re built to go.

Catch you all in two weeks!

Until next time,

Procurement worth reading.