Dear Members of the IFPSM, dear Colleagues, dear Friends,
What 2020 did to businesses worldwide is no secret. COVID-19 affected almost every function in one way or another, and Procurement &Supply chain has been no exception. Leaders had to change strategies in an instant to adapt to the “ new next normal.” But the change s and complexity were building up even before the pandemic struck. It isn’t just about cost savings and operational efficiency anymore. There is so much more in front of Procurement and IFPSM today innovation, digital transformation, introducing new products and services, not to mention other factors such as climate change, geopolitical stability, increasing societal expectations, and world health that are increasingly becoming a strategic priority for organizations.
At first glance, one would feel Purchasing and Supply chain have more to bite off than they can chew. But by, high performing Purchasing and Supply chain are successfully navigating these complexities. Although we are still heavily focused on costs, most of us have expanded our value propositions to influence demand, drive innovation, and work closely with strategic suppliers and partners to foster commercial compliance, increase speed to market, and drive continuous improvement. To get there, we have had to overhaul legacy processes, policies, metrics, tools, and (perhaps most challenging of all) mindsets, while still delivering measurable value improvements that clearly show up on financial statements. The secret to their /our success? Agility. Agility serves as the solution to an increasingly complex procurement landscape. Procurement agility masters excel at risk mitigation, actively monitor fast moving stakeholders and supply markets, and decisively orchestrate internal and partner resources to nimbly respond and transform the upstream supply chain.
The Covid-19 crisis highlighted the need to better understand the end to end supplier network and the risks that exist beyond direct suppliers. This will be a critical capability to achieve agility.
Talent and human resources teams should consider hiring for specific mindsets instead of skill sets. This means rethinking traditional job descriptions and application requirements, which would widen the pool of applications and increase diversity.
2021 TOP priorities in Procurement and Supply Chain (Deloitte global CPO survey)
1. Driving operational efficiency is top priority
2. Reducing costs
3. Digital transformation - a 20% increase from 2019
4. Innovation - reflecting the need to innovate internal operations (including procurement ops)
5. Introducing new products and services
6. Enhancing risk management
7. Corporate social responsibility - a 22% increase (and largest of any 2019 priority)
From Council to Council
After the last Council meeting on the 25th of November 2020 we have continued to actively follow the Mission of IFPSM:
To increase the ability of IFPSM’s network of member organizations to connect, to collaborate, to share best practices, and to enable them to be more effective in serving their members and the profession.
We have had three board meetings and nine Regional meetings,offering members opportunity to collaborate and to share their best practices in all continents: Africa,Americas,Asia/Pacific and Europe. I am particularly pleased with the activity in Americas and Africa Regions. All regional meetings have been successfully organized virtually,with an excellent participation rate.
We all have to acknowledge the change in our environment. Associations, around the globe are facing the commercial competition and financial challenges. Practitioners are more and more conscious about their limited time for association work and association events. The services of the national and regional association have to meet the needs of the members now and in the future.
Only by joining our forces we are able to reach our Vision:
IFPSM is the global, leading platform in purchasing and supply chain management, which serves the development of the profession and member organisations.
During the 2021 we will follow our strategy on four core areas:
• Leadership
• Value for Membership
• The Voice of IFPSM in Public
• Sustainable Finance.
Leadership and the IFPSM Voice in Public may only be reached by offering professional, valuable services to members and Practitioners all around the Globe.
Our core initiatives are the IFPSM e-Services and the renewal of the Global Standard certification program. IFPSM e-Services platform will offer member associations an opportunity to widen their service portfolio with world class services in various categories e.g. Training&Education, Conferences&Webinars, Fairs&Exhibition, News&Publications. I would like to encourage all Member Associations to take this opportunity as soon as it will be available.
Sustainable Finance is essential to any organisation, also to IFPSM. After moving the IFPSM head office from UK to Helsinki Finland on the 1st of January 2019, we have been able to improve the finance through excellent cost management and efficient operations. Stronger reserves enable also necessary investments for service development.
Looking forward to the 2nd half of 2021, we will continue organizing virtual Regional meetings, and will start with launch of IFPSM e-Services.
Unfortunately, theCovid-19 situation forced the IFPSM Board,together with the host association IAPI, Indonesia, to take the decision to move the IFPSM World Summit for another year. The IFPSM World Summit 2022 will take place October the 18th to 21st in Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center,Indonesia. We all look forward to finally meet face to face;all the good old and new colleagues and practitioners from all over the world. Let's make the World Summit 2022 a great success together!
The effects of the economic crisis,caused by the lock down,will affect us for still quite sometime. But let us continue to use the crisis as an opportunity to develop IFPSM and our member Associations even faster and to make all fit for the future. We count on you to help us to grow, to help us find new members in your regions.
What I am so proud of,is that we continued to improve IFPSM in many areas in this period. We will continue with the strategy process and achieving planned actions to make it happen!Quite some activities we already finished and in some are close to that.
I am extremely happy and proud to be part of this community and I count on all of you and your contribution to making out IFPSM greater, bigger, and better!
I would like to express my gratitude and I would like to warmly thank you all, to the office (Markku and Saana), which are doing great job and all Board members for their fruitful collaboration and I count on all of you also in the challenging future.
Looking beyond the pandemic, the recent growth in complexity, risk, and need for external innovation may have also finally opened the door for procurement`s arrival as true strategic partner!
Stay healthy!
Marina Lindič
President of IFPSM
International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management (IFPSM) Extraordinary meeting of General Membership was held virtually on the 25th of May 2021.
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