Ronan Guest

Most SRM strategies stop at performance reviews, but that’s not where risk starts - And it’s definitely not where value ends... After 20+ years in procurement, I advocate a simple blueprint that I call the 3-Layer SRM Checkpoint. It's a framework you can use to assess supplier relationships that are built to last. Use it in your next supplier review and let me know in the comments below if you found this helpful. #Procurement #SupplyChain #CIPS

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LinkedIn's newest procurement experts have never seen a supplier invoice. But they're everywhere. Writing about "strategic transformation." Teaching "value creation." Preaching "digital excellence." Know how to spot them? They never mention what went wrong. Real procurement is 90% failure stories. The supplier who ghosted after contract signing. The savings that evaporated in hidden costs. The "strategic partnership" that lasted 3 months. But LinkedIn's full of success theatre. Perfect transformations. Smooth implementations. Happy stakeholders. Meanwhile, actual procurement pros are in the trenches: • Finance rejecting their business case. Again. • Suppliers who won't answer emails • Stakeholders buying around them The dangerous part? These desktop experts are getting hired. Speaking at conferences. Advising boards. Last week, interviewed a "procurement transformation leader." 10,000 LinkedIn followers. Beautiful posts about innovation. Asked about their biggest procurement failure. Silence. That told me everything. Want real procurement expertise? Look for: Battle stories, not best practices. Warnings about what breaks. Specifics about what they fixed. Names of actual suppliers they've worked with. The best procurement professionals: • Talk about the £2M they lost before the £10M they saved • Name the supplier relationship they destroyed • Admit when they picked wrong Next time someone's selling procurement perfection, ask: What's the worst supplier decision you made? Which transformation failed and why? When did procurement make things worse? If they can't answer, they've never done the job. They're just playing one on LinkedIn. And your business will pay for their education.

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I'm sorry. If 'Procurement' reports into the Head of Supply Chain and their biggest task is buying stock, you've got yourself a Purchasing team. It’s like calling Recruitment your "People Strategy" function, or Client Onboarding your "Sales Engine." Let’s not confuse tactical execution with strategic enablement. “Why does this even matter?” 1. Procurement is misunderstood. Purchasing focuses on cost and availability. Important, yes. But not enough. Procurement manages risk, drives value, and influences long-term outcomes. 2. Artificial Intelligence DOES change the game Because by 2028, almost every Purchasing task will be dominated by AI. And yet, every Procurement leader should be invested in the strategic potential of AI. That’s why I’ve mapped out what a Procurement team will look like 3 years from now: → A leaner team. → A higher bar. → A new skill set focused on leadership, influence, and insight. ______ 🚩 6 signs you’re running a Purchasing function: ➟ Limited analytics - only cost tracked; no sense of total value ➟ 100% savings-focused - missing functional needs ➟ Supplier conflict - friction slows the business ➟ Hierarchy-driven - too much “yes,” not enough integrity ➟ Low reputation - poor visibility and low compliance ➟ No strategy - nothing guiding progress year-on-year ✅ Here’s how Procurement does it: ➟ We track KPIs that move the whole business forward ➟ We assess value, usability, feasibility and risk ➟ We build trusted, collaborative supplier partnerships ➟ We’re in Exec conversations - to challenge, not just approve ➟ We’re known across the business, beyond Procurement ➟ We lead with outcomes, using a now-next-later framework 💬 If you’re building this from scratch: ➟ Understand the market and define your team’s unique value ➟ Align priorities with other functions’ success criteria ➟ Meet key suppliers early, don’t wait for the RFP ➟ Get senior endorsement of policy within 3–6 months ➟ Walk the floors. Join cross-functional workstreams ➟ Use A.I. to enhance decision making Agree? Disagree? Repost ♻️ if this is helpful. P.s. let me know your thoughts on my predictions in the infographic Only the top part that reads 2028 will be the core procurement team👇

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What does successful tenure look like in procurement today? It used to mean five, ten, even fifteen years with one company. Now, two to three years is often considered solid. In some cases, even that feels like a stretch. Job jumping has become part of the landscape. For some, it reflects ambition. For others, it’s burnout. And often, it’s the result of organizational shifts, budget cuts, or limited room to grow. Staying in one place doesn’t always mean stability, and leaving doesn’t always mean failure. But procurement is a long game. The biggest wins often come after months of groundwork: Building internal trust, reshaping vendor relationships, developing sourcing strategies that actually stick. You can’t always do that in a year. So, what are we really valuing? Are we prioritizing short-term results, or the kind of work that takes time to get right? Do we reward the polish of a fast-moving resume, or the grit it takes to stay and fix what’s broken? Furthermore, why are we willing to pay someone new more than someone who has stuck it out and solved complex organizational problems? Maybe tenure isn’t about years anymore. Maybe it’s about impact, trust, and whether you left the function stronger than you found it.

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Procurement is THE MOST brutal job in operations. The one goal of a procurement manager in work life? Not to get fired [for bad supplier decisions]. I can relate to that every day. With MakerVerse we’re both a supplier of parts to our customers and at the same time a customer to our suppliers. So we know how it feels to own supplier performance, without fully controlling all the problems behind it. One major delay – and no one asks what’s broken. Just: "Procurement didn’t deliver!” Procurement managers are in the trenches every day. They are told: “We need to deliver faster, cheaper, better.” But specs are late, the BOM keeps changing, and the supplier pool is thin. If you’re a procurement manager and feel like this some days – read this 👇 Twice. 1️⃣ You were most likely hired into a mess – then blamed for not fixing it fast enough. You didn’t pick all the suppliers. You didn’t define the sourcing process. But you’re expected to fix cost, quality, and delivery with procurement fairy dust by the next project milestone. Procurement isn’t magic. If the foundations are shaky, own that before expecting miracles. 2️⃣ You are responsible for the outcome – but not specs, timelines, or capacity. You’re responsible for everything. But in control of… almost nothing. And no one acknowledges that gap. Procurement does NOT operate in a vacuum. Lead time needs alignment. Certs need clear handover. Supplier load needs visibility. Clearly ask for all the inputs to succeed. 3️⃣ You don’t get stable planning. You get a backlog of chaos. Revised drawings, last-minute BOMs, urgent PO requests. Everyone else changes the plan – Procurement catches the fallout. No time, no budget, no warning – just “make it happen.” But real life isn’t a sheet. Drive escalations before pressure piles up too much. You can’t risk being burned out trying to safe everybody like Atlas did. 4️⃣ You’re compared to companies with 10x tools and 10x leverage. You are still working off emails, shared drives, and duct tape – and someone says: “Why can’t we run sourcing like Siemens or Bosch?” Let’s be clear: Procurement does NOT create flawless execution out of thin air. It needs systems, supplier networks, and real operational support. Without that, you’re just setup to fail. 5️⃣ The pressure is brutal. But the hardest part? Losing belief. You walked into the job confident. But by month 3, you realize it’s 10x harder than you imagined. The suppliers are underperforming. The specs are unstable. The priorities change weekly. And slowly, you stop believing. Yes, procurement leads should be tough, but your’re not robots. To all the managers: Don’t blame the person holding the PO. Support them. P.S. We built MakerVerse to support procurement managers who deal with exactly these challenges. Reliable lead times. Fast quoting. No email ping-pong. You can try it free — create an account and run your first project here: https://lnkd.in/eFaBaYVR

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