SUPPLY CHAIN tions , allowing effective contract life cycle management and integration with the J D Edwards ERP platform . There ’ s plenty of data available fed back from financial and operational communication in the field , but many systems still sit in isolation , Smith feels : analytics draw these together . He gives a simple example : “ It ’ s nearly impossible to compare , when asked , our rate per square metre against a benchmark figure without linking commercial with operational performance . No current system does that but without that link you can ’ t benchmark reliably .” Benchmarking client commercial performance against varying scopes of works is an as yet uncracked nut but he has it in his sights .

THE JOURNEY When Smith came in to lead APAC in 2017 , he found a procurement team with a strong desire to be at the centre of the change process but without a clear idea of the corporate goals . “ My role was to bridge the gap by directing

people towards the objective , articulating that objective to the business and the team , and then breaking that journey down into manageable phases .” Policies and procedure for APAC were , however , decided in conjunction with the global teams and the executive leaders of the business worldwide . Smith ’ s leadership role included making sure that his team had ownership of the journey , were clear about the objectives and that each of the three pillars , ( People , Process , and Technology / Systems ) advanced hand in hand , at the same pace .

The ‘ bite-sized ’ approach proved effective , for example when considering procedures : “ We took our large procedures document and broke it down into a user-friendly form both for ourselves and for our stakeholders .” Getting the technology in place to support these changes is a work in progress , though advances have been made . A whole new system whereby vendors manage their improvement

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