698: Optimizing Procurement’s Source-to-Pay Strategy w/ Baber Farooq

“In some weird sense, as we see the power of technology, the more apprehensive we get about how much information it should have.” - Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP Procurement leaders face a number of challenges in optimizing their source-to-pay processes, and they are increasingly relying on AI tools to address those challenges.  In this episode, Philip speaks talks with Baber Farooq, Senior Vice President, Market Strategy, Procurement Solutions at SAP, about the positive and negative trends he is seeing across source-to-pay, including in spend analytics, data management and governance, category management, risk management, scenario planning, and AI integration.   Baber shares his insights on evolving trends in source-to-pay, including: How spend analytics has emerged as the number one technology imperative where AI can enable cost savings and risk management insights Why scenario planning is gaining importance in category management for better risk management amid increased volatility The skills and talent procurement will need to keep up with a shrinking labor force and growing digital demands Links: Subscribe to This Week in Procurement Baber Farooq on LinkedIn [Pod] Bridging the Confidence Gap to Achieve the Best Business Outcomes w/ Baber Farooq [Pod] Helping Procurement Push the Envelope w/ Baber Farooq