Daily Archives: November 21, 2012

The First 100 Days

One week from today, at 11:00 a.m. GMT, in The Salle de Fete Private Dining Rooms in Kettners, on Romily Street in London, England, Bravo Solution is hosting the sixth and final instalment of their Real World Sourcing Series Expert Briefings on The First 100 Days of your tenure as a new CPO.

In this talk, the presenter, Guy Allen, will discuss the priorities of a new CPO against two very different contexts, one where there is a burning platform, requiring immediate action and the other where there is a little more time to plan and get it right. Both situations are difficult. In the first, the CEO/CFO is likely expecting rapid results, and in the second, the CEO/CFO is likely looking for a plan of action to deliver long-term, sustainable results. In either case, credibility with key stakeholders will be key.

A specialist in cost transformation and procurement, Guy Allen, now a managing partner at 4C Associates, has considerable first-hand experience as a senior Procurement professional at Fujitsu, Abbey, and GlaxoSmithKline.

This series is put together quite well. The last presentation was by Peter Smith of Spend Matters UK on Measuring Procurement’s Performance and included a great segment on 12 ways that buyers can falsify Procurement Savings (and get themselves in trouble if it’s ever discovered). The talk categorized spend into Opex vs. Capex and One-offs vs. Recurring and presented methodologies to accurately measure and report savings in acceptable, defensible ways.

If you’re in or around the London area, and are a new CPO, or a senior Director / VP vying for a CPO job, it would be worth checking this event out as the first 100 days is critical to your success as a CPO in an organization. In today’s tight economy, even if the C-Suite is not expecting rapid results, they are expecting rapid acclamation and signs that their faith in you will deliver results in the long run.