Digital Digital Transformation Transformation Powered Powered by by People-Driven People-Driven Change Change By Andy Beth Miller
The way Patrick Foelck, Head of Strategy and Transformation Global Procurement at F. Hoffman-La Roche, describes it, his passion for procurement was not necessarily a love at first sight kind of thing. But, it does appear that it was destined to become the stuff of fairy tales: a true, committed, and ever-evolving love. Once upon a time, after spending 13 years as a veteran consultant, Foelck was wooed to the procurement arena after consulting and leading Roche in what he calls their “procurement transformation.” Now, as he fulfills his role as Roche’s Head of Strategy and Transformation, Foelck has a dream. “I am keen to move procurement out of procurement,” he says with a light laugh. I smile at his clever play on words, while also leaning in, intrigued to know what he will say next. Then, as Foelck unravels his seeming riddle, I instantly realize that this concept of his is much more than a dream. It is a goal. What makes me say this? Far beyond a nice sounding concept or exciting flight of fancy, Foelck follows his ideation with a distinct vision. Also following? Action points and next steps. That’s right. Foelck has a vision with feet. Allow me (via Foelck’s expert insight) to explain. But first, we have to go back to the beginning. When Foelck was first starting out, he quickly realized that procurement was a function that was grossly underrated in terms of what it could do and the impact it can deliver. He backs up this assertion explaining, “They speak to all the business functions; they have a relationship with all the suppliers. All of the money technically goes through either procurement systems or processes, or is managed by procurement to some extent.”
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Hence, the influencing power of procurement cannot be denied. That is, if we do it right. And how would “doing it right” look in real life procurement? This is the portion of the interview where Foelck gets right to the crux of his vision: Moving procurement out of procurement via digital transformation, with a twist. The twist comes as this transformation is “a people-driven change,” using Foelck’s exact words, and also requires us to broaden our perspective of procurement.
“ If we continue as a profession to keeping solely doing the things that we have been good at in the past — sourcing, negotiating, purely buying — we will become redundant very, very soon.” –Foelck
Foelck is a proponent of shifting the focus to spending smarter rather than simply spending less, redefining the bottom line to include the bigger picture. This greater procurement perspective focuses on value-adding solutions that account for successfully addressing business needs, while managing key facets like speed to market, cost, compliance, risk and sustainability. According to Foelck, procurement is the only entity in an ideal position to be right there to enact all of the great things that can be done in these realms in the most efficient and wise way possible. Such astute and intuitive work simply cannot be accomplished without people who are constantly innovating and executing creative solutions and ideas for best outcomes.
