In Conversation with  Helen Mackenzie, Director, Vladcat Enterprises Ltd. 

Helen Mackenzie is a former public sector CPO with over a decade’s experience of procurement.  Her pioneering work to put communities at the heart of the procurement process has received international recognition.

Helen describes herself as “Crazy in Love” with procurement and is currently working to support the development of the social procurement to leverage the power of social networks and make a positive impact on the relationship between buyers and suppliers. She is the Director, Vladcat Enterprises Ltd.

Helen Mackenzie

• Even ten years back the procurement process was limited to being functional, transactional and process driven. This has changed over the years. Procurementmust do much more than delivering savings and managing risks. It has to take a much broader look at the entire business and align with providing benefits at all levels of the organization. The role is no longer about putting a contract in place or simply renewing the same contract every year. 
• Procurement is also more conscious about the entire supply chain of the vendor. They would like to ensure continuity, minimize risks,and  also ensure ethical labour practices upline— and not just for risks of reputational damage. They are also conscious about sustainability and ecological effects on a much broader spectrum in general. 
• Based on spend threshold, selling strategies for items will vary, as will buying cycles and the complexity of thedecision-making process. For simple items the seller only must ensure that the product gets visibility. For other products and services buyers are typically looking at value and impact. This demands value judgements rather than simple binary decisions. 

These and more insights you never find in the public discourse around Sales and Buying in this candid episode of The Buyer Side Chat. 

Run time – 41.32 mins.