Anyone for a Steam Powered Tesla?

Anyone for a steam-powered Tesla?

At a recent Procurement Conference I offered delegates the chance to buy a steam powered Tesla; there weren’t many takers. But in the world of Procurement Transformation, it seems there is quite a demand. 

Perhaps I should explain?

Every procurement team is going to digitize. Whether this means the first tentative steps or a full-blown upgrade, the logic is the same: As Procurement Leaders the change from ‘Buying' to ‘Strategic Procurement’ requires us to consider what changes we need in the capability of our teams (this is No1 and I will come back to this in the next article), the Process we follow and the quality of our Data.

With these three sorted we can set about selecting the right eTool(s) to help us accelerate the transformation.

Ok, so where does the steam come into it?

Process.

Every business has a procurement process and they come in the business's own unique flavour. So often, when we look for an eTool, we decide on the one we like and then spend time and money changing the eTool so it follows our old process.

So here’s the steam-powered Tesla: 150 years ago the steam train and railway was the internet. It enabled travel, trade, communication in a way that was faster, safer and more efficient than ever before. Today we can achieve the better travel in an electric car. So we buy a Tesla, which right now is about as good as it gets. Do we put coal in the boot, a couple of jerrycans of water on the back seat and jab the dashboard with a poker to get going? 

No! We press the button and use the integrated system to drive. Why would you use it the way we had to use a steam train?

So, I asked the delegates: “why wouldn’t you simply adopt the process and experience that came with the eTool, just like you would simply use the Tesla?”

After all, how many of us have written to Amazon to say “listen guys, we love your service and platform but could you just change it to make sure we have to do the bit where we go to the shops, pay in cash and drive the purchase home?”

Of course there might be the odd thing you do need to add... for example if you need certificates to prove origin or quality and your preferred eTool doesn’t yet have this feature then we need to challenge the supplier to fix it. But this should be the exception, not the rule.

No-one wants a steam-powered Tesla; so why keep your old way of working when you are transforming to the future by insisting your eTool uses your old process?