In April and May, Ardent Partners hosted The CPO Rising 2K20 Virtual Series – The Resiliency Imperative as a way to bring together our global community of procurement, finance, and supply management professionals and collectively tackle the big issues we were all facing and continue to face as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 2,300 people participated in the 20 virtual sessions including our livestream summit. We also had 27 experts share their ideas and insights. Once the dust settled on the series, Andrew went back to interview many of these leaders so we could learn a little bit more about them and their companies. We’re also working on a plan to replay many of the sessions, so stay tuned.
The next interview in our spotlight series is Larry Williams, a longtime (38 years long!) AP and P2P leader at Procter & Gamble and longtime (11 years long!) friend of the site. During the 2K20 Virtual Series, Larry gave an engaging presentation on Business Continuity Planning. He spoke with Andrew and below is the transcript of that interview.
Andrew Bartolini: Larry, great to connect with you again – tell us a bit about yourself and then SynFyny Advisors.
Larry C. Williams – Partner, SynFiny Advisor: I have leveraged over 40 years of experience in Engineering, Project Management, Production Management, Purchasing/Procurement/Accounts Payable and Acquisition & Divestitures. I have extensive experience transforming suppliers, solutions, processes and organizations, as well as using strategic sourcing practices and best-in-class procure-to-pay practices to order to create value.
I spent the last 20 years at P&G in several roles in Global Business Services as the North American plant “capital & expenses purchases/procurement process” owner and in Global Payment Services responsible for accounts payable and vendor master process solution Ownership, whilst providing operational support to the regional Shared Service Centers. I also spent the last 5 years leading P2P for P&G Acquisitions & Divestitures working on the divestiture of Pringles, Duracell, and Beauty Care brands and the acquisition of Merck Consumer Health brands. I hold a degree in Mechanical Engineering and am certified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
SynFiny Advisors are executives with real world experience who successfully deliver operational, strategic, and organizational improvements for your company. SynFiny Advisors exists to bring talented “been there, done that” experience to bear in solving client problems. Our advisors were managers first. During long and diverse corporate careers, they led and they fixed. They also developed, designed, re-engineered, and transformed. They waded through both the thick and the thin. They know how to get better results from organizations and work processes. Now, they bring that experience and insight to help your business.
AB: Great, thanks for the overview. How did you end up working in this industry?
Other than the last 2.5 years with SynFiny, my entire career (38.5 yrs.) had been with Procter & Gamble. I started at a plant in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in the engineering department and project management. Then, I went on to product supply roles and became a plant purchases manager. When my plant closed in 1999, I transferred to the US, for a North American role working with about 40 plants for training and standardization work. From there, I then moved to order management for a shared service center in Costa Rica. In 2004, I was asked to be a liaison between order management and AP within Shared Services. In 2006, I was offered the same P2P position globally. In my last 5 years, I exclusively worked on Mergers and Acquisitions. I guess you could say that I did not plan on being where I ended up.
AB: Did you have any big influences in your career?
Yes, over my career at P&G and now with SynFiny, there were a handful of managers and mentors who saw my potential and urged me to stretch to the next level.
AB: Recent events have taught us many things regarding short-term preparation and general planning, what should companies be paying attention to now, in the short-term, and in the future?
First, the topic I spoke on, “Business Continuity Planning.” Even during a business disruption, it is never too late to plan for the next one. Second, the need to pick up the pace of digitization in the source-to-pay space. Many companies got caught due to the lack automation when COVID hit.
AB: This decade has gotten off to an inauspicious start, but it will eventually right itself. When you look out this next decade, what is the direction we will take?
I agree with the concept of “Hyper-automation” which predicts that
- By 2024, 20% of buyers will use a shared, “permissioned” supplier network to improve the agility and flexibility of their sourcing
- By 2024, 25% of purchase orders will be created via voice or chat, thus increasing contract compliance and process adoption.
- By 2024, 50% of organizations will have near-real-time procurement analytics.
- By 2024, P2P Software as a Service (SaaS) will triple in value @10% growth rate
- By 2025, over half of procurement hyper-automation efforts will fail because of outdated, legacy ERP and finance applications
AB: During the shutdown, what was the best or most interesting thing you watched, read, or seen?
During the shutdown – well, I never really stopped working due to consultancy nature of my work, however did attend a number of webinars – Most impactful was the need for P2P to digitize and automate going forward, plus the “new normal” will be more work from home.
AB: Fair enough, what is your favorite movie and/or book and why do you like it?
One of my favorite movies is “The Matrix” – due to story line and cutting edge cinema photography
One of my favorite books is “Eat that Frog” – how to do more in less time.
AB: Interesting… great to catch up today – thanks again!
