Jean-Michel Nicolas

Chasing the idea of ‘best in class’ can be a dangerous game in procurement transformation.  🎧https://lnkd.in/eks7rEKm Benchmarks are important, but what if you select the wrong ones? What if they take you in the wrong direction because you’re trying to measure yourself by someone else’s best in class? This common mistake has tripped up many transformations - procurement ends up trying to build something that's not necessarily fit for the purpose of the organization they work in. In this week’s Art of Procurement podcast, I share a conversation I had with Tanya Roach, SCMP, Director of Procurement at Federated Co-operatives Limited while I was at the 2025 Supply Chain Canada National Conference in Calgary. She talks about her team’s transformation, including where they started and where they chose to focus. #procurement #transformation #bestinclass

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Procurement as a Strategic Enabler: Lean-Agile Procurement (LAP) has the power to transform procurement from a bottleneck into a driver of speed, innovation, and outcomes. By streamlining traditional processes, LAP consistently reduces procurement cycle times by 9 to 15 months. If we take a conservative midpoint of 12 months saved per project, then running just 10 LAP implementations in a single year effectively removes an entire decade of cumulative procurement delay from the system. This isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about delivering government mandates within the political and electoral window, before priorities shift or technology becomes obsolete. In practice, that means projects don’t languish in procurement pipelines — they land in the hands of citizens, departments, and stakeholders when they matter most. The math is simple, but the impact is profound: with each adoption, we compound strategic advantage, accelerate innovation to market, and ensure public promises are kept on time. Lean-Agile Procurement Alliance Mirko Kleiner Mike Blanchard MSCM- FCIPS (CS) - MCILT Ron Cormier Ant Boobier Sarah Blackie Simon Reindl Simon Bourk Robert Robinson Alistair Croll Paul N. Wagner Gary Cooper Sophie DURAND Marcus Ward Avi Schneier #procurement #gcdigital #gcdefence

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Why Every Procurement Tech Implementation Needs a BRD (Business Requirement Document) Over the years, I’ve worked hands-on with systems like Epromise, SAP, Oracle, Maximo, JD Edwards, Jaggaer and many more. I’ve also been part of the implementation teams for at least three of them in different organizations. If there’s one lesson that keeps repeating—it’s this: Implementing software without a proper BRD is a shortcut to long term inefficiency. Unfortunately, I’ve observed this too often—founders or senior decision makers choose software based on surface level demos, pricing or persuasive sales talk, rather than actual business needs. The result? ❌ Endless hours of rework ❌ Misaligned processes ❌ Frustrated teams ❌ And ironically, more money spent fixing what could’ve been avoided A BRD (Business Requirement Document) isn’t just a formality. It clearly defines what the business needs—independent of how a system might deliver it. It aligns internal teams and gives vendors a structured path to configure or build the system accordingly. Yet, many companies don’t even know what a BRD is—or worse, they skip it to “save time and money.” Let’s be clear: Buying the cheapest software without a BRD can cost you more than you think. If you're considering procurement automation or system upgrades, make the BRD your starting point. It’s your best insurance against avoidable chaos. #alambaar

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