Rich Sains

Acada

Working with a number of FTSE100 and large enterprises such as M&S, Canon, Boots, Diageo, Costa Coffee, Premier Inn, ASOS, Janus Henderson, Dentsu and Value Retail to transform their IT and procurement functions.

Managing Consultant

The Procurement Conversation

Host of The Procurement Conversation Podcast - speaking to Procurement leaders and industry experts about the biggest topics facing the profession. 

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube

Podcast Host

Marks and Spencer

Head of IT procurement

IT and Ecommerce Procurement Manager

buyingTeam

Working with O2, Reuters, Man Group, Countryside, Universal Music and others to optimise their procurement of IT.

Solutions Developer - IT and Telecoms

Touchbase

Head of Procurement and Logistics

The Procurement Conversation Podcast Host | Elevating Procurement | Procurement Leader | 10x Procurement |

My mission is to increase the love for Procurement. I want our people to love the job and stakeholders and suppliers to love working with us.

I do this through:

1) Acada: Software that prioritises strategic activity, measures the impact we have on our businesses, and facilitates self service for low value, low risk buying.

2) Elevate: An online learning experience to develop our peoples 'Procurement EQ' and the Procurement Lounge community to support this learning.

3) Advisory: Strategy development, transformation, benchmarking and process re-engineering.

I also host the Procurement Conversation podcast and write the Procurement Weekly Newsletter where we share insights and best practices on procurement topics and trends. 

If you are interested in working with us or learning more about our products and services, please feel free to contact me at rich@acadatech.com.

Founder

We help procurement leaders to solve many of the challenges they face in today's complex environment and manage their teams more effectively and objectively.

Virgin Media O2

My team works with the VMO2 IT, digital and technology teams and  our shareholders Liberty Global and Telefonica to add value

Head Of Procurement - IT and Digital 

Procmentum Limited 

Since my John Lewis Partnership role was made redundant (with 1 in 3 at head office), I worked with leading procurement functions leveraging my broad sector, category, and procurement operations experience.    

Efficio / Yorkshire Water (2021 and 2022) - I was asked to lead an opportunity assessment.  This ultimately expanded into a long term procurement managed service with me owning the IT and indirect portfolio.

Jaguar Land Rover / Procuretech (2023) - asked to carry out a strategic contract management review which covered direct, indirect and aftermarket in a 1000+FTE global function.  

Novo-K / Global automotive business (2023) - unblocking the final stages of a global Icertis contract management implementation working alongside client and Accenture resources.

Head of Procurement (Indirect and IT)

Efficio

Covered all areas of indirect spend at one of Efficios largest utility clients.
>IT
>HR
>Consultancy
>Professional services
>Marketing
>Customer services
>FM
>Fleet

Nominated for three awards and loved working as part of a team transforming the commercial function.

Head of IT and Indirect Procurement at Yorkshire Water

John Lewis Partnership

Member of senior leadership team at the centre of a c80 FTE procurement department which is influencing all areas of indirect spend.    

Left as role made redundant (along with 1 in 3 of head office)

>Digital transformation (Coupa) - source to settle systems, processes and operating model.  Will touch 80K of our Partners (employees) and delivers significant P+L benefits
>Performance - finger on the pulse of department delivery as we transform the function to deliver more value than ever before
>Analytics and insight - transformed analytics from reporting to insights which are used at board level
>Processes and policy - delivered a complete refresh of our procurement policy,  developed communications strategy for 80k+ Partners.  Significantly optimised department processes and ways of working with the aim of doubling ROI

Indirect Procurement Senior Leader - GNFR / Group (John Lewis & Waitrose)

I was recruited to head up the Waitrose IT procurement and SRM team during what was the most significant investment in technology to date.

My team and I developed and implemented  a sourcing strategy which covered all of IT : online, digital, hardware, infrastructure, professional services, software, managed services.  Also delivered several large projects myself.

I implemented an SRM programme covering the major relationships such as : Google, Microsoft, Oracle, BMC, Cisco, Cognziant, TCS and many others.

I restructured the team to bring it more closely aligned to the business,  made several key hires and led the team to increase team savings vs. previous year.

Head of IT Procurement and SRM  (Waitrose)

Key leadership role across technology and all other areas of indirect  in an outsourced procurement department which delivered an accelerated transformation which exceeded the target by 20%.    

The team won the management consulting association commercial excellence award and was shortlisted for awards from CIPS and procurement leaders.

>Leading team of six procurement professionals (combination of direct reports and consultants) delivering a portfolio of projects. 
>Developed category strategies for all areas of indirect spend (including IT, HR, fleet, facilities management and business consultancy amongst others) with a  focus on Information Services (IS) and Technology.
>Evolved several hundred million sole supplier IT outsource into multi tower 

https://www.efficioconsulting.com/en-gb/insights/2016/03/01/delivering-step-change-procurement-capability-and-/

Technology and indirect category leader - Thames Water

Yell

Significant budget impacting cost reductions and other benefits deilvered to the business within weeks of joining. Reported into procurement director.

Projects and commercial leadership in areas including :
> Global telephony and network tender
> Outsourcing and managed services (on shore / off shore)
> Hardware / software
> Data Center
> Cloud computing and software as service

Global technology purchasing manager

Acision

Team Leader and Global Category Manager (greenfield).
> IT - Support / off shoring, Software, Hardware,   Global internal network (MPLS), leasing
>Facilities Management - lease negotiation, fit out, hard and soft FM, stationary, catering, couriers
>Telephony - mobile and landlines, VOIP, Video conferencing
>HR - Recruitment, E Learning, Performance Management
>Travel - global travel management, route deals, hotel deals, 
>Product development – management of off shore supplier

Global Indirect / IT Supplier Manager and Team Leader

Vodafone

> Managed the Software and Professional services category within Vodafone UK.  Included management of tier one consultancies, IT support, software (including Microsoft and Oracle)
>  Managed cross functional teams that delivered €2.8m in benefit 
>Supplier performance management - Implemented and measured continuous improvement plans with Vodafone’s main IT suppliers.

Global Supply Chain Management - UK IT

Global performance management and communication role 
>Devised and implemented balanced scorecard to translate strategic objectives into measurable and actionable KPIs against savings targets of €500m per annum
>Key member of the management team for the first Global Supplier Conference. 160 delegates from Vodafone and its top strategic suppliers.
>Extensive experience of preparing briefing packs for the CEO, CTO and GSCM director

Strategy Analyst, Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM), Vodafone Group Services

Device supplier specialist, 
>  Organised Nokia / Vodafone executive reviews 
>  Global project management of device approval 

Procurement Specialist 
>  Led high profile project involving 20 suppliers.  Successfully delivered cost savings of £800K (30%)

Other roles , Vodafone UK
>  Project management – Prince 2 certified.

Graduate / management development scheme

British Airways

One year in the IT Strategy and Architecture team as part of degree studies.   Based at the British Airways Global Headquarters at Heathrow.

Industrial Placement

I am a dynamic and target driven MCIPS qualified procurement leader with a high success rate in driving ambitious procurement strategies for leading global organisations e.g. Yorkshire Water,  John Lewis, Waitrose, Thames Water, Efficio, Yell and Vodafone.    7 years regulated procurement experience.

I have the proven ability to move to any industry and size, bringing my experience from a range of sectors such as telecoms, retail, media, consultancy and utilities.  

I have led teams delivering multi year commercial strategies in all areas of indirect spend including IT, Marketing, HR, property, professional services, travel (covering several hundred million pounds of spend).  My passion is technology procurement as I love the pace of change and constant innovation.

I have a track record of engaging teams and improving delivery performance. I am experienced in working at board level  - providing leadership, clear commercial strategy, and collaboration - as well as on a global scale

Specialities
>Department leadership
>Building strategic category plans to address hundreds of millions of spend
>Coupa Source to Settle transformation
>IT / technology sourcing including : outsourcing, managed services, software, hardware, professional services, implementation, EUC and telecoms
>Indirect procurement including :  HR, FM, marketing, travel, consultancy, property and professional services.
>Category management
>Building  pragmatic policies, systems and  processes 
>Risk management and governance
>Team and function development 
>Major deal negotiation (advanced GAP training)
>Outsourcing and offshoring
>Contracts + terms and conditions 
>Dispute resolution
>Supplier relationship management frameworks 
>GDPR, data protection and compliance
>Systems including Coupa end to end implementation
>Regulated procurement (UK public procurement regulations)

All posts represent personal views.

Outside of work I love family life ferrying my kids to various activities.   I am the treasurer of a local charity which is focussed on saving tiny lives.  I also volunteer at Beavers, enjoy exercising and seeing friends. 

Always interested in expanding my network - please do send me an invite.

taplio

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Rich Sains

Dave Jones MCIPS

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