Danielle Sampaio is a Senior Procurement and Supply Chain executive with many years experience gained at BAT (British American Tobacco) and most recently as the former head of procurement at iFood, one of the biggest FoodTech businesses in Latin America. Danielle views procurement as a strategic and relevant function that can lead and support digital transformation and the ESG agenda across business.
We were delighted to sit down with Danielle and get a few quick-fire thoughts on what procurement means to her, where it can improve, and the true essence of teamwork.
Danielle, you are passionate about procurement, but what specifically do you love?
I love that procurement is a strategic area connected with the whole business. It is the entrance door for new partners and suppliers, responsible for internal and external relationship management and the spokesperson of the company needs to the market. Procurement professionals must have a broad business acumen with a strong network, and I have to say it delights me.
How do you feel procurement is perceived in general? Why is this?
Historically, procurement is perceived as a bureaucratic area with long and time-consuming processes focused on price reduction at any cost, including poor quality acceptance. Fortunately, I feel that this is changing in the last few years and since I’ve joined procurement (2012), we are evolving and better communicating our processes to the stakeholders in order to eliminate some perceptions. We were not focused on this positive procurement strategic agenda in the past and now we understand that taking customer experience as a central goal to build leaner processes, more digital and agile, and taking Legal, Compliance and Finance areas hand by hand with procurement is crucial for the creation and success of it. This agenda aims to share Procurement ways of working with transparency and bring knowledge to all stakeholders.
What can procurement do better?
Procurement has the skills and tools to support digital transformation and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) agenda in any company. Both are aligned to the future, business long-term sustainability and profitability. Procurement can be more proactive, and should, connecting with the right partners, developing potential new suppliers and raising the bar across supply chain regarding sustainability, D&I and innovation with current suppliers.
Procurement wants the proverbial seat at the table. What does it need to do to earn that seat? What can procurement achieve with this seat?
Procurement has proven over the years that it is relevant and strategic to deliver outstanding results in any business environment, whether than be, a traditional centenary old multinational company, a young technological unicorn or even a new startup. I believe that it is a matter of company size and maturity to have a procurement C-Level. Talking about indirects, procurement is able to implement higher complexity projects, looking for synergies and delivering more financial and structural results when having this seat, with no hidden agenda or conflict of interests like other areas the Board could face. From a direct procurement perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst to prove that procurement deserved that seat, once we were crucial for the security of supply of factories, with strong supplier relationship management, and developed and implemented business continuity plans.
Procurement is evolving at pace. The pace of change often calls for new skill sets and disciplines within a team. What value can Procurement source from adding non procurement skilled staff to their teams? Do you need to be a qualified procurement practitioner to be a successful member of a procurement team?
Not only procurement, but all operations roles and other functions, need to put in place lifelong learning, otherwise, we will be obsolete. The world is changing at a very fast pace and anyone who is not connected to the latest news, will not be able to follow this movement and develop new skills. I believe in diverse and multifunctional teams, because we are aggregating different perspectives, bringing different concerns, questions and experiences. Strategic sourcing is a pack of processes that you can teach and people can learn, so it should not be a “no go” to bring talented people into the team.
Procurement vs Sales. In general terms it appears that these two functions do not always seem to work hand in hand. Why? What is the solution?
It is all about the company’s culture, purpose, and clear objectives. When leadership is aligned regarding these 3 points, functional areas tend to work in the same direction. When conflict comes (because it will!), procurement and sales will work hand in hand and build upon it in order to deliver higher results. How? Being able to be creative, innovative, sharing your thoughts with no fear of failure and learning from failures in a safe psychological environment. That is, building trust within colleagues, this is my true comprehension of teamwork.