Procurement Strategy as a “Science” of Decision-Making

Looking for digital solutions with a problem in your mind

How to maintain a digital strategy in place and do not fail to adopt technology in response to rapidly changing conditions?

Strategy can be considered the “science” of decision-making and so your strategy should be a framework that allows you to focus on delivering the choices that you have made while operating as a framework for decision-making when the environment shifts. In that way you can remain nimble but also focused on only the choices that are directly linked to the delivery of your business outcomes. If you are clear on the strategy, then as technology changes you can be ready to react with speed.

What are the immediate and realistic opportunities that may be acted upon quickly with AI and ML technologies?

Actually, I disagree with the premise of the question. You should never start to answer a problem with the solution in mind. First clearly define your problem, the impact and how that is felt. Then consider options to address the problem and the relative value of that project vs others that you could be doing. AI and ML technologies can be applied to solve many problems…the key question is should you do anything at all?

Where do you see the future of procurement processes? What has changed for good during the last year?

The process of procurement should be fully automated in my view. That is not to say that we won’t need procurement professionals. I see the activities augmented by Data, AI and other toolsets to allow humans to operate cooperatively with machines thereby reducing repetitive work, eliminating errors caused by humans using “experience” rather than data in decision-making and freeing us up to do what we do well – strategic thinking, hypothesis generation and engaging with other humans!

The change for good? Well that we can work in different ways and technology works when we use it correctly!

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Fraser HILL, General Manager Digital & Process Transformation at Shell has 20 years of commercial experience across a number of sectors (Automotive, Technology, Energy). Originally a Sales & Marketing professional, he gravitated towards digital transformation over a number of years and now Fraser leads a team of 100 professionals that drive Supply Chain Digital Transformation in Shell that includes all aspects of People, Process, Systems and Data.