Zyad Khan, a distinguished Procurement professional with over 25 years of international experience, is renowned for his strategic leadership, innovative sourcing strategies, and commitment to sustainability in procurement. A Chartered practicing Procurement Manager, he has held pivotal roles at Emirates Airlines, the Rulers Office, and currently leads multiple procurement categories at Dubai World Trade Centre, driving initiatives aligned with Dubai’s Vision 2030. With expertise spanning category management, ESG initiatives, and supplier relationships, Zyad also mentors students, trains professionals, and collaborates on food security and sustainability projects. A sought-after speaker, he shared a few procurement insights with us.
Zyad, what were your first impressions of Procurement? Was your perception of procurement different to the reality?
My early buying days were two decades back when procurement functionality was set as tactical to ensure segregation of duties within various sections.
With time and dynamism of business against supply chain complexities and various other factors on demand/supply/price challenges, it was crucial yet evident that procurement professionals will have to leave the comfort zone and understand the risk management element while setting up their category strategies.
I was able to adapt and adopt a mind set that allowed me to understand the role better and one lesson that helped in bridging this understanding was “You Only Get What you Set” and this principal was a game changer in the over all perception where comprehension of Contracts/Risk Management and seamless workflow of transactions was a catalyst in first seeing the impact/utility of a disciplined category set up and then letting end users know how this is going to further enhance their experience around their needs against the supply chain in question.
In short, I did discover the potential to be different than a tactical procurement administrator yet the real challenge was more towards letting the end user know on how this renewed mindset is more strategic and focussed towards not just completion of transactions but about value propositions and partnerships that Procurement will create for them to ensure long term benefits.
How has procurement and the expectations placed upon it changed over time?
The value of Procurement in the last decade and specially post Covid has definitely exceeded all expectations and hit the ceiling. Within my own employment and regional interaction, I have seen Procurement being looked at as the rescuing/litigation agency when faced with disruptions or disputes.
One other thing that has also changed about what is expected of procurement is the commercial aspect and possibilities of generating any revenue streams while leaning on any supply chain levers specially within strategic contracts and partnerships. This resonates with what used to be a tactical function for most has now become a strategic business partner within the organization and procurement leaders, supply chain bodies and academic/professional collaborations are enhancing it further as a continuous effort.
Procurements perception as an administrative support role, together with lack of defined career path, and often a lack of visibility educationally compared to roles such as sales, marketing, finance etc, attracting a new generation of professionals is a challenge. What should procurement do about this?
I have always maintained that the first thing to learn for aspiring procurement professional is the selling skills. If there is a perception challenging the value of procurement inputs and role criticality, it is an absolute must to excel in your communication in how you are seen by the end users and what has to change by evidence or facts that makes Procurement profession more valued.
When it comes to academics or content, there are multiple routes to upskill however the learning from experience and on job knowledge bank is something that is a complete institution but it demands interest, passion and to be better at what you do. Cross functioning with end users on strategies and influencing vendors to deliver right outcomes moulds an individual into a complete package which is the Procurement profession USP in terms of role specifics and how you represent your individuality.
In certain business environments, no 2 days are the same for Procurement professionals and that is a great message for any one looking at Procurement as a career since Next-Gen aspirants are definitely looking at professions where monotony is not pushing them down.
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?
I believe Procurement is already doing enough and has earned that respect and recognition to earn that seat. In the last 5 years, several use cases and case studies show business turn arounds and revenue stories that were driven through strategic procurement inputs and supply chain resets.
Procurement has earned it and rightly so by the purpose and impact it has on the entire business landscape which is directly and indirectly dependent on efficiency of procurement. Yes you are “as good as your team” but equally so you are “as good as your Supply Chain”.
The biggest potential for Procurement at this point from this seat is to lead tech transformation without falling for any hype. The influence is critical as there is no denial on what technology can bring as value however procurement intelligence is an absolute must to ensure there are no cost leakages in any decision making considering the rapidly changing technology domain and clarity of objectives. The “do nothing strategy” when faced with tech adoption pressure is probably something that Procurement leaders can justify while looking at maximising existing tech stacks before looking at any bespoke developments to enhance over all deliverables.
Another significant contribution can be sustainability initiatives across supply chain where Procurement leaders can run structured phases to coach/mentor key supply chain partners and lift standards across ESG landscape which requires change management and alternate strategies to ensure that Organizations are ready to embrace global objective son net zero/reduced carbon footprint.
What have been the biggest changes to procurement during your career?
I would not call it a change but there have been several fronts where entities and governing bodies have changed their mindset towards utility of “procurement as a function”.
One has been the flexibility against stringent Policy and Procedure framework where based on category dynamics, a strategic procurement approach is documented and ratified for execution which has multi-faceted benefits on time, turn around and value in a direct yet ethical/transparent manner. The Management buy in on letting policy be flexed is becoming common and shows trust in capabilities of people running the shortened process without any compromise on perceived value as the eventual outcome of the sad activity.
The other noticeable change has been involvement of vendors early in a project. The previous mindset of keeping vendors away from initial stages till an RFP/RFQ is released is now being replaced with the opportunity of getting vendors early to align with tech teams on an ideal/uniform spec that resonates with industry trends, supply chain risk landscape and how competition is looking at future. These early synergies also allow Parties to look at cost risks very early to ensure that the life cycle of the project or asset goes through minimal impact.
Other elements on Capex investments being formalised as Opex under managed models (negotiated by procurement teams under improved category insights) is another area of procurement that is rapidly being adopted with proven benefits on cost as well as immediate access to asset/services etc. (very similar to a cloud kitchen model vs a purpose built stand alone Kitchen/Restaurant)
Also, more budget allocations on specialised procurement trainings/CIPS enrolments and corporate programmes also indicate leadership’s interest in investing into the skill set alongside all what is being sold as “useful technology”.
In your opinion outside of geo-political, pandemics, and natural disasters, what is the biggest challenge procurement faces in the coming years? How can this risk be mitigated?
The Risk Register by Industry and jurisdiction is an absolute must for Organizations and the obvious risk that I see for big organizations is the reputation connected to ESG/ethics etc.
Most entities are now having a pledge on sustainability (since some of the natural disasters are proven to be a by-product of eco damage caused by industries all over) while supply chains/connected stakeholders/vendors are not ready for the switch due to reasons related to costs, access to technology, isolated objective etc. You are “as good as your supply chain” and also “as sustainable as they are” so Procurement faces this resistance to the positive/climate based change from many vendors who are still contemplating on benefits of ethical sourcing/raw material while considering the cost impact that is a “show stopper” for them.
I have been speaking on the subject for a while and it will require an effort to run workshops for vendors and tier 2/3 on the importance of becoming sustainable for generations to come. The selling skills/change management acumen will have a direct impact while bringing this mindset change across supply chain as eventually the message will have to be clear i.e. “you aren’t our supplier if you cant demonstrate sustainability”.
Some technological input and costs on diligence and supply chain rating/carbon calculators is also in the pipeline which will require adoption to ensure checks/findings on vendor side of sustainability and carbon foot print measurement. The connected risk and evolution around accuracy of scope 3 emissions/measurement is an obvious challenge on vendor side of reporting and can become a lurking risk if not authenticated (limited at this stage).