Rich Sains

Acada

Working with a number of FTSE100 and large enterprises such as M&S, Canon EMEA, Diageo, Costa Coffee, Premier Inn, ASOS, Janus Henderson, Dentsu and Value Retail to transform their IT and procurement functions.

Managing Consultant

The Procurement Conversation

Host of The Procurement Conversation Podcast - speaking to Procurement leaders and industry experts about the biggest topics facing the profession. 

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube

Podcast Host

Marks and Spencer

Head of IT procurement

IT and Ecommerce Procurement Manager

buyingTeam

Working with O2, Reuters, Man Group, Countryside, Universal Music and others to optimise their procurement of IT.

Solutions Developer - IT and Telecoms

Touchbase

Head of Procurement and Logistics

The Procurement Conversation Podcast Host | Elevating Procurement | Procurement Leader | 10x Procurement |

My mission is to increase the love for Procurement. I want our people to love the job and stakeholders and suppliers to love working with us.

I do this through:

1) Acada: Software that prioritises strategic activity, measures the impact we have on our businesses, and facilitates self service for low value, low risk buying.

2) Elevate: An online learning experience to develop our peoples 'Procurement EQ' and the Procurement Lounge community to support this learning.

3) Advisory: Strategy development, transformation, benchmarking and process re-engineering.

I also host the Procurement Conversation podcast and write the Procurement Weekly Newsletter where we share insights and best practices on procurement topics and trends. 

If you are interested in working with us or learning more about our products and services, please feel free to contact me at rich@acadatech.com.

Founder

We help procurement leaders to solve many of the challenges they face in today's complex environment and manage their teams more effectively and objectively.

I fell into Procurement. Most people do. 

Most young people know nothing about it. It’s not often spoken about in schools or colleges. 

In order for the profession to develop, we need people to hear about it earlier. 

I spoke to Edward Gamble on the Procurement Conversation podcast recently, and he talked about how BP has an outreach programme to talk about procurement in universities. 

And I started thinking that this would be a great thing to organise for the wider community. 

If we could get 1,000 procurement professionals to speak in schools, colleges and universities, we could spread the word to tens of thousands of young people. 

I’m in. Who else would be open to that? Let me know in the comments.

Back from a week away in the mountains and a little break from LinkedIn. 

We ski every year, but this year we also spent a couple of days in the Vanoise national park - walking, spending time in nature and spotting Ibex and Marmottes. 

Whilst I love to ski - getting away from the crowds and out into nature is how I truly relax. 

What relaxes you?

A strong network is so valuable for procurement professionals.

But many do not invest time and effort in developing one. 

Given all the other priorities we have, keeping in touch with old colleagues, suppliers and stakeholders does not appear to deliver immediate value, and so can be deprioritised.

But the longer term value of the network is massive.

In this article I run through some tips to develop yours.

Rich Sains on LinkedIn • 2 min read

Networking - a Procurement Superpower

Too many Procurement professionals are maxed out. 
 
Busier than ever, with headcount constraints.

We cannot keep taking on more and more without changing the way we work. 

Prioritising the most valuable activity and offloading the rest is the only way to protect our people. 

Here are 7 tips to offload low value, low risk sourcing activity through guided buying, letting teams focus on strategic activity, risk mitigation, relationships and innovation.

✅ Minimise governance for low value, low risk
✅ Systemise with a no-jargon, easy to use portal
✅ Keep the process simple. Then simplify further.
✅ Suggest preferred suppliers to talk to (with frameworks to support this approach)
✅ Test and iterate with people outside procurement
✅ Check in to see how it is going. Keep iterating.
✅ Report progress, who is using, what they are buying and how much procurement time (and stakeholder time...) is saved by this approach.

Focus on great user experience for your stakeholders - what if it is their only interaction with procurement?

Enhance the perception of Procurement rather than making people jump through hoops. 

Finally a negotiation book that surpasses Never Split the Difference!

I’ve been looking out for a worthy successor to the brilliant Chris Voss book. 

On the tube the other day I found it. Negotiating and Bargaining. 

Pauletta has written a book which, I feel is life changing. 

Three brilliant tips from this book: 

1. Trust No One: 

In negotiations, always remember that trust is a commodity as rare as a UFO sighting. Trust your instincts, but verify every claim and be prepared for deception at every turn.

2. The Truth is Out There: 

Dig deep, investigate, and gather as much information as possible before entering negotiations. The truth may be hidden, but it's waiting to be uncovered, and it could be the key to unlocking a favorable outcome.

3. Embrace the Unknown: 

Negotiations are like navigating through uncharted territory. Embrace the uncertainty and be ready to adapt to unexpected twists and turns. The truth may be stranger than fiction, but it can also be your greatest ally in the negotiation process.

This great book is available in all good bookstores.

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