430: Partnership as a Service: Driving Change & Delivering Unconventional Returns at UMass

Each change journey is unique - and yet - can benefit from embracing proven best practices that have been formalized by specialists with equally unique expertise. The benefits of taking such a journey are becoming clear at the University of Massachusetts, as they bring their print, marketing, and branded merchandise spend under management through a partnership with SupplyLogic. David Cho is the Chief Procurement Officer and Managing Director at the University of Massachusetts. His team began their change journey with an investment in their partnerships (both internal and external), technology, and data that helped them achieve a deeper understanding of their marketing and print services spend. They worked at the category level to inform strategies and decisions that would have a lasting impact and deliver multiple forms of ROI for the university. In this episode, based on an AOP Live session, David is joined by Phil Schoonmaker, CEO of SupplyLogic, and Host Philip Ideson to answer live audience questions about what he and his team have learned on their change journey: The importance of centralizing procurement so that there can be one 'attack plan' for managing large numbers of suppliers and transactions and one approach to influencing stakeholders When and why to leverage experts outside of the organization to advance the partnerships being built internally Insights and intelligence that can be used to advance corporate social responsibility in the form of local, diversity-owned, and environmentally friendly supplier partnerships