04 September 2009

David Noble, the new CEO of CIPS, tells SM about his plans for the institute and the profession both in the UK and across the globe

Head of CIPS David Noble knows precisely what he wants: "The institute to be the standard for procurement and supply practice worldwide."

Previously the supply chain head of UK FTSE200 manufacturing multinational IMI, Noble is the first former practitioner to head the institute since 1966.

Three months into the post of CEO, he has already signed an agreement with the OGC to help develop the profile of purchasing within government. He has also reorganised CIPS to ensure it is more customer-focused, and visited Africa and China to promote the work of the institute and support members in those regions.

This summer Noble announced his intention to "refocus" CIPS to become a more commercially orientated organisation (News, 9 July). He said then he wanted the institute to be the "first port of call" for CPOs, and later CEOs, in the private and public sector, and would provide propositions to "tackle their concerns".

Noble has met with a large number of CPOs in the public and private sectors in the UK, Africa and China - including a CIPS-hosted CPO roundtable event in Shanghai - to validate this approach. "The institute primarily receives revenue from four areas: membership, education, publications and corporate products and services," he explains. "It's the corporate area that needs more emphasis. Previously we weren't developing that space, now we are."

COMMERCIAL FOCUS

From this month, senior practitioners will start hearing much more about the corporate solutions that CIPS can provide.

All of these offerings sit within a seven-stage corporate strategy,which CPOs can either work through from bottom to top or mix and match to suit their needs.

Noble is acutely aware that some of these propositions move CIPS from offering only advice to providing practical hands-on help. However, he believes the institute should offer these solutions and adds they will be both more economical and bespoke than those offered elsewhere.

"What I've learned most about the institute - and been bowled over by - is just how well respected it is around the world. It's second to none in terms of integrity, professionalism and standards, so this is about using the strength of the brand to help our members in other key areas. "The charter of the institute is very clear: 'we serve the public interest by acting in an advisory, consultative or representative capacity, relating to the art, science and practice of purchasing and supply'.

"We're not just saying 'here are some services, use them', because the damage to our brand could be significant."

Noble believes the institute has been too reactive in selling its services in the past. "It's almost been a case of 'we're a charity, so we shouldn't sell'. But we're also a business and we have to survive. I make no apologies for that. It's a very commercial route and it's badly needed by our customers.

"Now we're offering a set of standard solutions for bespoke applications. You don't have to use them, but they're there for you if you need them."

Noble says customers have told him they want what the institute has to offer. "They say 'just tell us what it is and how it works'."

The result is the CIPS 'hierarchy of corporate need' - and having been a CPO for more than a decade, Noble says he is well placed to identify these requirements.

In some cases the institute is offering new products and services, in others it is simply clarifying what it already has in place.

CORPORATE STRATEGY

The first stage for any CPO, says Noble, is to ask "how good are your people?". To meet this need, there is CIPS' well-established qualifications programme, leading to MCIPS. "It's the base qualification, the standard in the profession," he says.

Next is corporate capability. "This is saying 'how good is your structure, your overall process?' It's about diagnostics and benchmarking products."

Once your processes are set, you will want to know how your organisation compares with the rest of the world, which is where corporate certification comes in; document management firm Xerox and the UK's Home Office government department are recent recipients.

"It's recognition you've reached a standard of procurement in your processes. The Home Office, for instance was so enthused, it uses it as a standard bearer of where it is."

While corporate certification is a very process-driven activity, the next level up - gold certification - demonstrates strategic capability, and cannot be attempted until an organisation has first succeeded in obtaining the corporate level.

"This is not just how well processes work, but how capable your organisation is at developing strategic business plans around them. Achieving gold certification shows you are one of the elite, it says you've arrived. Only a handful of organisations have it, including Asda Walmart. "In a previous post, I was in receipt of a gold award with my team and there was a huge amount of kudos attached to it within the organisation. The CEO mentioned it in the company's annual report."

The next step is corporate award - this is designed to support people-led business improvement with project-based work. "We'll help you apply techniques to work through a particular problem and if members of your staff are assigned to particular elements of the project they might also succeed in achieving MCIPS at the same time.

"The project is assessed and its value to the business has to be clearly demonstrated. As a CPO I'm not interested in a process that gets my staff MCIPS if I don't get anything out of it. I want to see discrete projects that have led to an improvement," says Noble. CIPS recently ran the corporate award in China and it was held in high esteem there, he adds.

After this is corporate advantage, a suite of advanced tools and techniques that cover strategic sourcing, make vs buy, category management, supplier relationship management and value chain management. For example, on make vs buy, CIPS is working with Cambridge University, which has developed a tool that organisations can customise to establish what they should do in-house and what they should buy or outsource.

The final step is the leaders' programme, which already exists but is to be "re-energised". This is aimed at all senior practitioners responsible for procurement in some way who may not necessarily be purchasing professionals. "They could be operational, finance heads or CEOs who want to hear about the latest developments. Events will be focused on best practice, leading-edge business, not just procurement, thinking."

These leaders will form an exclusive network and be invited to a range of events that help them with both their own development and that of their organisations. Top speakers will present theories, practical tools and techniques, and leaders will be encouraged to share advice and expertise.

"This is an area I will be personally involved in," says Noble. "I want it running in Australia, Africa and eventually China too - everywhere we have a presence. And I envisage people who aren't necessarily members of CIPS taking part as well."

This programme will also help act as a route for identifying potential fellows and candidates for the CIPS board of management. "I see a follow-through process. We will target key public sector and private sector organisations both in the UK and internationally to ensure we get the top people into the institute," Noble states.

CPOs can either work through the whole corporate strategy or just select the steps they need. "You might say, for example, 'our people are fine, the capability is there, but we need some leading-edge tools and techniques'."

To make all this work, CIPS has set out its partner strategy. "We will work closely with selected partners who will be delivering much of this for us," he says. "We've been accused in the past of focusing too much on too few partners. Our strategy shows there's a process to where they fit and why. It demonstrates careful management of our supply base which clearly, would be expected of the institute."

A GLOBAL PRESENCE

Since nearly half of CIPS membership is now international, Noble's vision is to make the institute the global standard for purchasing and supply.

"We'll work with other associations where necessary to develop the purchasing and supply standard across the world."

CIPS is already working closely with the Institute of Supply Management in the US, which will benefit members of both organisations. More details are expected next month. CIPS already has more than 7,000 members in China, a figure Noble expects to increase significantly within a year or two: "There is huge interest and it's spreading like wildfire. We have been able to break into one of the two most closely guarded areas of Chinese culture - media and education. It's taken us six years but we are there. We are their educational standard for purchasing and supply. There is a huge market for us in China that we need to get ready for."

Noble also plans to strengthen the CIPS presence in a number of other countries.

"We're already strong in China, South Africa and Australia. We are going to increase our focus on the Middle East, while also recognising the importance of India, Eastern Europe and the rest of Africa and South Asia. These are the eight regions of the world we're going to focus our energies as well as the UK and, where necessary, make investment to support our members."

He says these plans will help the institute with its refocus.

"There's a new emphasis on senior levels and the corporate space, but we're not losing sight of our core education and membership needs. We're not for one minute ditching what's at the heart of the institute.

"CIPS has to stand for integrity and standards, while also increasing its voice in senior circles, and its national and international media. CIPS is very much a caring institute, here to help with both practical and intellectual knowledge."

Back at Easton House, CIPS is in the process of compiling a new member benefits package, to be announced next month.

In the meantime, Noble highlights an existing but under-used online service called CIPS Business Intelligence. Created in partnership with information service EBSCO, this facility acts like a search engine of more than 3,000 sources of information relating to procurement and supply. "It's a huge online database that half our members don't even know is there," he says.

Noble also plans to make it easier to attract first-rate professionals and persuade them to get involved in the institute. "We want to make CIPS more accessible to senior practitioners to become full members and fellows of the institute," he says.

This will help CPOs network with other C-level executives, enable them to share learning and help educate senior leaders in other departments about the role and importance of purchasing and supply.

The public eye:keeping purchasing on the agenda

Noble is keen to keep the institute at the forefront of comment on purchasing and supply. It will react to supply chain stories - as it did in the case of swine flu - giving its expert perspective in the national press about the impact on supply chains, risk management and the economy as a whole.

In addition, the CIPS Update pages of the magazine are set for a new look - a revamp of contents to increase visibility.

CIPS will continue to use the monthly purchasing managers' indices (PMIs) as a vehicle to promote awareness of the views of purchasers.

"The more we do the better it is for members because it's getting the profession recognised at the top. CEOs read these publications and the Bank of England and senior economists take the PMIs incredibly seriously: what a huge message that is. "Procurement's profile is at the front of the agenda at the moment. We need to think of ways to keep it there."

SMsep2009