In 2022 the procurement industry learned to cope with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. But 2023 will be a different world with new challenges and new rules. Robert Gottliebsen will map those challenges which include:

1) A completely new trading environment as central banks tighten liquidity and interest rates are higher. Some countries will go into recession while still be battling inflation.  Australia has a unique vulnerability.

2) In most Western countries Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) factors are becoming a prerequisite before business numbers can even be discussed. But trading blocks are being established which do not have ESG agendas and will compromise some global sourcing strategies 

 3) Australia has a government planning new labour rules and looking for local sourcing but the locals have high costs.

The procurement industry was able to adapt well to meet the challenges of Covid and of 2022, so is well placed to adapt to the new environment.

Given the global pressures impacting on organisations around the world and here in Australia, businesses now need to take a fresh approach in order to succeed.

• Why taking a proactive approach now will help businesses win into the future
• A look at organizational resilience and how supply chains can shift from a cost focus to a resilience focus
• Why now is the time to accelerate performance to future proof against inflation and other disruptions
• A look at the key levers businesses can pull to ‘win’ through turbulence. 

Three annual award categories – each of three shortlisted nominees present their case why they should win each award, and the audience votes for the winner in each category on the conference APP: The presentation of THE NIGELS is made at the end of the conference – in two categories by the awards sponsor – GEP, and for the main award by Mrs Lesley Wardropper, wife of Nigel, and the owner of PASA.

The Procurement Supply Chain Resilience Award 2022 – sponsored by GEP

The Procurement Data Intelligence Award 2022 – sponsored by GEP

Legislation, consumer and employee expectations are increasingly creating pressure on organizations to improve Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) performance. Yet, while many organizations have announced ESG initiatives, only a few have made meaningful progress. In this session, learn what the best are doing to not just benefit society, but also increase sales, improve employee retention and more.

• ESG priorities and progress of global businesses today
• The strategies of the most successful ESG programs
• What obstacles are holding organizations back — and how to avoid them
• Spend management technology innovations that can maximize the impact of your ESG initiatives

What can buyers actively do to manage price increase requests? Should we invest time in chasing marginal cost saving opportunities when all costs are rising in an inflationary economy? Most contemporary buyers have only ever known a buyer’s market, let alone a market in which costs and wages are spiralling upwards! What are the top 5 best tactical responses to manage down COST-PLUS inflation?

The discussion on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) has moved past any concept of whether to act. Rather the discussion is how to take action in a way that addresses the expectation of regulators, shareholders and workforce.

We spoke to 30 industry leaders and surveyed 245 more across key sectors – the survey results showed some leaders are ahead, others not.

What can you do TODAY to drive actionable next steps on the supply-side from a pivotal position in procurement?

Economist Impact and SAP recently conducted a joint Global C Suite Survey’ during Winter 2022, asking ‘C’ suite executives to identify emerging trends and issues, how well procurement and the supply-side of business can manage them and what the impacts were for digitisation.

Be one of the first to see the survey results covering procurement, its focus areas and points of difference from other functions in proactively managing 4 of these key issues – namely:

• Sustainability – How geographies differ in their goals, objectives and performance
• Value – How the different personas in the C suite rank focus areas for value
• Digital – What drives it and what blocks it …
• Disruption – Impacts and strategies for overcoming disruption in a VUCA world

The extraordinary challenges facing businesses today have created unique demands upon procurement organisations. Procurement leaders today must now address a range of concurrent challenges including rising inflation, increased supplier risk, market volatility, and evolving environmental & sustainability expectations, amongst others. Procurement leaders are addressing these challenges in innovative ways – join GEP as they present a INNOVATION playbook for navigating and prospering in today’s ‘never normal’ business environment.

In future, buying from an oligopoly in the ANZ market, we may become more dependent on local suppliers. So, what do suppliers REALLY think about the way we execute competitive tendering processes? Truly? 

What do procurement teams do (or not do) – perhaps even unwittingly – that lead to poorer RFx documents, suboptimal tendering processes and lukewarm tenders and proposals?

How can the other side of the negotiating table contribute to procurement best practice? Get the Top 6 TIPS on improving competitive sourcing outcomes – directly from your vendors …  

A lack of compliance and control for supplier-side contracts opens the floodgates for financial leakage and corporate risk. With hundreds of unique supplier partners, Westpac partnered with Corporate Compliance specialist, Profectus, to evaluate supplier compliance and ensure contract terms are correctly executed. Hear from Westpac’s Head of Procurement Services, Damien Lester, details the journey to complete corporate compliance, expanding beyond the procurement and finance space.

The pandemic has given people a new hybrid way of working, in terms of where they work, when they work, and how they work. In this new flexible world, companies are needing to find new ways to adapt to this and we are passionate about helping our customers manage this new way of working. 

Woolworths at Work transforms how businesses buy and manage their fresh, kitchen and office essentials, with free business solutions for businesses big and small. This short session explains how Woolworths at Work has been built to enable smart buying of everyday needs for modern organisations. 

Most Improved Procurement Team 2022 – Presented by PASA

Throughout the pandemic the Astra Zeneca supply chain was front and centre for all the right (and some wrong) reasons. What was really going on and, importantly, what were the procurement lessons and supply chain learnings for the future from the most critical supply chain into Australia during recent times …?

Avoid the traffic and join the crowd for networking drinks complimentary of PASA CONNECT

The simple rules for succeeding at digital transformation:

… with Mark Cameron – Tech-enabled business strategist, Digital Transofrmation expert, successful author, consutlant and speaker:

Today “digital transformation” technology and techniques can completely transform business functions. All too often, however, these initatives are planned and set up in ways that don’t deliver great outcomes – including on the supply side!

In this presentation we will look at the surprisingly simple, but often challenging, steps we can take to ensure that a digital transformation project:

Has a well thought through business case

Is clear and focused on busienss needs

Designed to have an impact and create positive momentum

Understands and manages the organisational change and human impacts

Ensure that your next digital transformation project exceeds expectations by requesting an invitation to theis private networking breakfast presentation with Ivalua

As one of the largest brands in the country with one of the largest procurement team’s as well, Telstra face a multitude of supply side challenges next year – including cost management during inflationary times, de-globalisation affecting global sourcing plans, and a framework of ESG parameters to work through. This summary of their strategy for 2023 will prove insightful for all procurement managers facing similar challenges next year.

The only thing we can predict is that what is different now, will become much different in the future!-Get inspired by a set of success stories how a future of procurement could look like and how to setup your organisation more AGILE to be ready to respond and innovate quickly in a world that is changing at an unprecedented speed. The future is NOW!

Expect a provoking talk with insights about:

• Why AGILE made tech companies like e.g. Tesla are so much more successful
• Why we think supply chain is a concept from the past
• Where you could start your journey with an applicable survival guide

Schneider electric have an integrated procurement strategy to help achieve net zero by 2030 … this session will explain their goals across Scope 1, 2 and 3 targets and their proactive approach on the supply side through three current CASE STUDIES driven by their environmental procurement strategy

An Agile Procurement CASE STUDY – The APA digital metering project 2020-21 : a nine figure agile procurement project conducted during Covid, online, with 5 international vendors competing directly in the virtual BIG ROOM online, with over 60 people present.

How can you make social procurement policy work and achieve broader outcomes beyond just policy? Major Roads Projects Victoria will present the strategies they have used do more than conform to policy and the case studies that demonstrate success. These strategies are focused on creating sustainable and lasting job outcomes, businesses that can deliver into the civil infrastructure sector and leave a lasting skill base of new workers; perhaps more poignant than ever during a significant skills shortage …

The “BIG ROOM” is a LIVE in-person interactive engagement workshop and the culmination of an agile procurment project. It is essentially a LIVE version of the tender process, concertinaed into two full days, or several half-days online. All shortlisted competing vendors are in the room together, they work in turn to present to the Buyer’s team on various topics or aspects of their bids. Some elements are held in private, many are held in public in front of the other vendors.

This half-day BIG ROOM Simulation workshop, guides participants through an actual mock BIG ROOM in a speeded-up timeframe. Participants get to see each step of the BIG ROOM workshop execution in practice – and are Coached through the approach by our PASA AGILE expert facilitators … why not give it a try and see what all the fuss is about?

A vision and practical application of Indigenous procurement today, beyond the policy statements and spend quotas that most have easily adopted, towards real action that brings positive impact for Indigenous communities, through supply side projects, initiatives and programmes that also bring real business benefit for organisations.

The new normal of dispersed teams presents many challenges and hurdles for effective, streamlined processes. What if de-centralised buyers could be self-sufficient and guide themselves compliantly through your procurement policy and system landscape using technology and a digital procurement toolkit

The return of the procurement prize-fight – from the safety of the ONLINE version of the PASA annual conference, into the real-life ring at Flemington.

Hosted by COUPA’s colurful ringmaster, Milos Lekovic, two experienced CPOs compete for your votes.

Each CPO gets 90 seconds a round to answer each tricky question – the audience VOTE the winner of each round, based upon the quality of their answer.

How the Coles procurement team is working to manage cost and inflationary pressures globally and domestically;

and developing the levers that will protect value for stakeholders, shareholders and customers alike whilst

balancing cost advantages with commercial risk on the inbound supply chain to protect value for everyone.

Recognition for good use of data and management information worked into procurement intelligence that genuinely guides your business to better outcomes … through the direct conversion of eProcurement data into information and information into knowledge to make better decisions. This might be category strategies informed by spend analyses or supply chain intel or risk reports or commodity price changes. Your submission could best show how, during the pandemic, or afterwards, your team synthesised various sources of data and made a better business decision as a result of more than one information source from the supply-side.  

Recognition for outstanding or improved supply chain resilience… the de-risking of the supply chain so that the business recognises the reduced impact of supply chain disruptions and greater values supply assurance. Your submission should not just be about holding more stock, but improving resilience for the supply lines that sustain your business in measurable ways 

Recognition for the greatest improvement in procurement team capability – through either people, process, technology, strategic, organisational or cultural improvement, either before, during or after the pandemic. Or, from just good leadership. Your submission is not for the best procurement team – but the most improved; considering the base point and current achievement of the team. This award is a continual award, presented each year solely by PASA and reflects NIgel’s strong view that relative improvement is a greater prize that size or inherited corporate capability.

• Draw of the ‘PASA PASSPORT’ sponsor engagement prizes
• Close of  the event
• Future PASA events – and 2023 programme

Private PASA Bus to the airport departs (17km – around 20 mins ride)

Private PASA bus to Spencer Street Station (6km – around 15 minutes ride)