Design for Impact: How Procurement Can Lead from the Front
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A Humans of Procurement Executive Dialogue ; #Episode 1
Procurement has never had more potential — or more pressure — to drive real business outcomes. But while many teams talk about being “strategic,” few have built the structure and cross-functional muscle to lead from the front.
This session brings together two of the most accomplished CPOs in the world — Richard Crane (CPO, Haleon and Ex-CPO GSK, Philips) and Fredrick Spalcke (former CPO, Philips, Huawei and Unify) — for a candid conversation on how they’ve made strategic procurement real: through early involvement, supplier-enabled design, and decision-making that spans the full product lifecycle.
Bridging their experience is Christoph Flöthmann, Co-founder and CPO at akirolabs. He’ll distill the practices into a repeatable framework — helping you see what separates teams who “get it done” from those stuck chasing influence. Christoph brings the structure behind the strategy: how to connect stakeholders, model trade-offs, digitalize strategic procurement, and orchestrate value — not just measure savings.
Moderated by Jessica Ojelabi, this conversation will challenge outdated procurement playbooks and offer a clearer path to impact.
Who Should Attend
This conversation is for everyone in procurement and supply chain — whether you’re shaping procurement leadership, managing categories, enabling transformation, or simply working to make better decisions every day in procurement.
To make it more specific, If you're in roles such as:
- Procurement leadership or CoE
- Category management
- Procurement excellence or operations
- Digital procurement or transformation
- Sourcing, buying, or purchasing
…then this session is especially for you.
What You’ll takeaway
✅ How world-class CPOs structure for early involvement
✅ What happens when procurement is involved at the point of design — not just sourcing
✅ Why most cross-functional efforts fail — and how to fix them
✅ What separates teams who talk strategy from those who actually deliver it
✅ What akirolabs enables that traditional procurement tooling doesn’t
About the Series - Humans of Procurement
Humans of Procurement is akirolabs’ flagship thought leadership series to celebrate the voices in procurement.
It’s where the most forward-thinking minds in procurement share what’s really working, what’s not, and where we go from here.
Each session brings together bold ideas, tested frameworks, and honest conversations that elevate the role of procurement in shaping the future of business.
What metrics does akirolabs impact?
akirolabs positively impacts several key metrics including time-to-strategy (reduced by streamlined workflows), stakeholder satisfaction (improved through collaborative processes), strategy execution success rates (enhanced by better alignment), and procurement influence (expanded through strategic positioning).
What technology integrations are available with akirolabs?
akirolabs integrates with various procurement and enterprise systems. We use API connections to AI market intelligence providers to curate content on categories from the web, and our platform is designed to complement existing sourcing, supplier management, and spend analytics tools.
What specific challenges does akirolabs solve for procurement teams?
akirolabs addresses key challenges including fragmented strategy development processes, limited stakeholder engagement, inconsistent approaches across teams, difficulty scaling strategic capability, and the struggle to demonstrate procurement's strategic value beyond savings.
What results have customers achieved with akirolabs?
Customers have reported significant improvements in strategy development speed, stakeholder alignment, and value delivery beyond savings. The platform has helped teams digitalize strategic procurement workflows, accelerate strategy development and execution, enhance compliance and traceability, and boost category manager productivity.
Can akirolabs grow with us globally?
Absolutely. akirolabs is multi-lingual, multi-region, and built to scale across business units and geographies without additional configuration or pricing penalties.
Does akirolabs replace our existing tools?
No, akirolabs doesn't replace your existing tools. It acts as a strategic layer that sits upstream - seamlessly integrating with and complimenting your sourcing, supplier, analytics, or intake-to-pay systems among others to unlock greater value across the procurement lifecycle.
Is akirolabs for specific industries and categories?
No - akirolabs is category- and industry-agnostic. Whether you're managing direct materials, logistics, IT, marketing, or complex cross-functional spend, our platform adapts to your taxonomy and workflows.
How does akirolabs ensure alignment with corporate strategy?
Every strategy in akirolabs is developed with business input through structured workflows and stakeholder engagement tools. Our Strategy One-Pager and governance features ensure strategies directly support overarching company goals like cost leadership, innovation, ESG, or risk mitigation.
What is akiroAssist, and how is it different from generic AI tools?
akiroAssist is our proprietary AI engine designed specifically for procurement strategy. Unlike general-purpose AI, it’s trained on procurement logic, equipped with a prompt library, value levers, risk signals, and always-on strategy context. It enhances—not replaces—category managers by helping them move faster, spot risks, and surface smarter options without losing control.
What is Strategic Scenario Modeling in akirolabs?
Strategic Scenario Modeling in akirolabs allows procurement teams to visualize and evaluate the outcomes of various strategic options. This capability enables category managers to simulate multiple scenarios based on different value dimensions of business importance, facilitating informed trade-offs that align category strategies with overarching business objectives.
How does akiroAssist work?
akiroAssist is our proprietary AI engine built on a specialized large language model (LLM) designed specifically for procurement. Rather than attempting to fully automate strategic decisions, akiroAssist augments human intelligence by providing tailored recommendations and strategic guidance throughout the strategy creation process, helping procurement professionals make better, more informed decisions.
What is the Strategy One-Pager feature?
The Strategy One-Pager simplifies communication between procurement teams and cross-functional stakeholders by translating complex strategies into clear, concise narratives aligned with business objectives. Using visual elements like charts and summaries, it ensures stakeholders from various departments can easily understand and engage with procurement strategies, fostering alignment and collaboration.
What makes akirolabs different from other procurement solutions?
Unlike tools based on traditional frameworks like the Kraljic Matrix, akirolabs offers a transformative, business-driven methodology that repositions procurement as a strategic enabler. Our approach integrates holistic value dimensions into category strategies, prioritizing long-term impact over short-term savings to deliver 4.4x higher value through our industry-recognized Category Strategy Workbench.
Does akirolabs integrate with our existing procurement systems?
Yes. akirolabs is designed to complement—not replace—your existing systems. We integrate via APIs or iFrames with tools such as spend analytics, supplier management, and intake-to-pay platforms to ensure seamless data flow and strategic alignment.
What is the akirolabs Category Strategy Workbench?
The Category Strategy Workbench is the core engine of akirolabs — a guided, modular workspace that enables teams to analyze data, develop collaborative strategies, and ensure execution with measurable impact.The three phases — Analyze, Strategize, and Realize — reflect the complete strategy lifecycle: from insight generation, through structured planning, to execution and value tracking. This ensures continuity, governance, and business alignment throughout the strategic process.
Ready to Transform Your Procurement Strategy?
There’s a better way to do procurement. This is IT.
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