389: Elevating Procurement’s Impact in a Distributed Organization w/ Robert Bonnar

Art of Procurement

Procurement’s organizational structure is as important as the processes and technology they use. Their operational model has to position them to deliver what the company needs most - requirements that may not remain fixed. When the business needs something different from procurement, their structure will have to evolve as well.

Robert Bonnar is currently the Global Procurement Director at SHV Energy, but he has worked in procurement in a number of industries. As he puts it, “I did cars, drugs, booze, and now energy.” But even that colorful description doesn't capture the breadth of his experience. He has also focused in a number of procurement disciplines, including direct and indirect procurement and supplier-enabled innovation.

In this conversation, Robert speaks with Host Philip Ideson about:

• Whether it is possible to bring innovative or high-performing suppliers from one vertical to another, and what procurement needs to do to help them succeed
• His perspective on how to manage the complex puzzle of qualitative KPIs, quantitative KPIs, and data quality
• How procurement can use access to information to ease the burden placed on stakeholders and shorten the time to results